Creme de la creme of letters -- thick and sour
While this "letter" will generate considerable negative reactions from readers of the Sunday Independent both at home and abroad, I can only feel pity for the writer who lives with such anger and resentment in her life. The points she raises are incoherent and not based on how we as a society have progressed in so many ways to become one of the most successful and indeed richest countries in the world.
Regardless of our economic success, (although in a recession at present, but hopefully not for long!) our identity is, I feel, stronger than ever.
If I could offer this lady any advice it would be, seek professional help.
Marie C Hill (nee Gleeson),
London
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Amazing to see that the Sunday Indo allowed such an insulting letter to be published in an Irish paper from a cheese-eating surrender monkey.
An old saying: Raise your right hand if you like the French ... Raise both hands if you are French.
Or maybe this from Norman Schwarzkopf: "Going to war without France is like going deer-hunting without your accordion."
Bernard O'Neill,
Dooradoyle, Limerick
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I had no choice but to reply to such sour crème. Her name was not published, but I have an image in my head of her, not unlike the green bloated sluggish frog in the Motilium ad (note I am a pharmacist). Her letter dripped with sarcasm and bigotry. I do feel sorry for her Irish husband. What must he have to bear?
I love France, the food, the culture, the climate. I was married in France this summer. We had a fabulous wedding in the little village of Villefranche-sur-mer on the French Riviera.
To accuse the Irish of "not being interested in other cultures" is ludicrous! The Irish curiosity is infamous.
We are a fabulous race, so bright, optimistic and also so well educated now.
Unfortunately, our economy is facing tough times but nothing we can't weather. France on the other hand is broke, completement fauchee!
I've spent the past four years attending French classes at Alliance Francaise and am now almost fluent. We visited Italy for the first time on our honeymoon and I am devastated to find I preferred it to France! Vive l'Irlande!
Irene McCarthy,
Coachford, Co Cork
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I hope the oul' wan from France who wrote that the Irish are rotten, wasn't just cross with us because she is fed up trippin' over her under-arm hair, or that after 32 years of marriage to a Paddy, she is still waitin' to have her first orgasm. I hope she can understand my accent as, unlike her, I don't wish to offend.
If one was forced to live in a place as poor as France, it could well be the case that we would all have to go around wearing the same type of hand-me-down clothes as the locals do, or be forced by the widespread poverty to join the army of homeless people who are to the authorities invisible on the streets of Paris. Oh, France is wonderful alright, but mainly to those who have never lived in the place or had to put up with its grasping natives who rip off the foreigners by charging €14 for a cuppa and a scone. Cultured me arse, with the smell of sewage on every street, even on the Champs Elysees -- it's a blessed relief every time Aer Lingus gets us the hell out of there.
Robert O'Sullivan,
Bantry, Co Cork
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With reference to Mrs Anonymous "French Farce" of a letter (Sunday, September 21) with origins in Brittany (where people do not like the Irish) may I say God help her poor husband. One cannot help but wonder why she even reads Irish newspapers or more amazingly bothers to come to Ireland on holidays. If she thinks we are so vile and ignorant then I suggest she stays where she is. We can all find fault with other people and their accents. There are some Irish accents I love and others I hate. Also some English accents I love and others I loathe. C'est la vie.
I have never read such bigoted drivel in my life and this from someone who married an Irishman. In my opinion these are the rantings of a very bitter and angry woman who needs to take a good look at herself. My husband who is English said: "She's French -- that explains everything"!
Proudly Irish
Roísín Steed,
Galway
