Quaintness, Rudeness, and Bad Food
Beyond quaintness and cottages: This, too, is Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy
A Travel Guide to Cultural Stereotypes
“Do people in Ireland talk normal?” the 13-year-old girl asked me. “You know, do they say things like cowabunga?” As cultural stereotypes go, this was one of the more intriguing. I’d never thought of cowabunga as a barometer of normality.
Cowabunga is a bundle of cultural stereotypes. Considered surfer slang, it’s a word no real surfer would utter. But actors playing surfers on Gidget, a popular ‘60s TV show, used it frequently. In the ‘90s, animated series like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons resurrected cowabunga.
In Co. Clare, Ireland, surf’s up, but stereotypes are out.
© Joyce McGreevy
It began in 1953 as cowa-bonga, a phony Native American word used by a phony Native American character called Chief Thunderthud...
