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As we noted back on St. Patrick’s Day, the springing up of Irish pubs around the world is making sure you could celebrate that holiday Irish-style just about anywhere. The trouble is, Irish-style isn’t always so Irish.
But no matter. Authentic or not, the branded Irish pub is a sign of the times; and officially so, now that World Hum has ranked it among its “Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet.”
World Hum’s designation, not to be confused with the new Seven Wonders of the World (or the old, for that matter), included some surprising, though compelling picks. That was the fun of it. Their criteria were unique (“places, things and people that embody ways the planet is shrinking and cultures are colliding”), but they suggested questions about where the world is going.
Which, of course, isn’t easy to predict. Interestingly enough, within days of World Hum naming the Starbucks in China’s Forbidden City one of its Wonders, protests shut the place down. And so World Hum was left with six. Rather than pick a new seventh themselves, though, World Hum relied on another of modern times’ wonders, the citizens of the Cyberspace, to make the choice, and opened up the floor.
A few people offered up Coca-Cola, but in the end it was a frothier beverage that prevailed. Citing “the way the Irish pub has replicated itself across the globe,” World Hum honored a suggestion posted to the site, the Irish Pub, concluding “the Irish pub represents an effort to connect the world through something the parts of the world that drink alcohol can appreciate—a night out in a welcoming place, accompanied by a full, creamy pint.”
So, congratulations, Guinness, you purveyor of Irishness! You are a world shrinker!
July 24th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
All too true, but I would have voted for Starbucks period, rather than one in the Forbidden City. Also worth mentioning was the KFC next to the Sphinx, which I understand was removed after protests as well.
July 24th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
All too true, but I would have voted for Starbucks period, rather than one in the Forbidden City. Also worth mentioning was the KFC next to the Sphinx, which I understand was removed after protests as well.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:47 am
I second the Irish Pub. It really hit home when I was in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia and, while the increasingly cosmopolitan city has its share of Bavarian bakeries, British pub ‘n’ grubs, Italian trattorias and Mongolian Grills (read: American-style Mongolian food), it wasn’t until the Irish Pub and Restaurant opened in late summer 2005 that city-dwellers felt like they had finally “made it.” Indeed, their version of an Irish Pub (normally associated with down-to-earth casualness) was, and probably still is, the pre-eminent high-class eatery in town. The good thing about UB is that there weren’t ANY chain restaurants to be found! That, I hope, still is the case.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Great choice. As bluegrass fans we always look forward to going back to our roots sitting comfortably in an Irish pub I with my Guinness and she with her lager listening to the roots of the music we love, or even, as happened one night last May in Sligo (Ireland) American country music. It’s all good and the people are wonderful, as is the Guinness. Do it.
Can I pimp my nonprofit, all-expense website?
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