Dublin’s Salacious Statues

Posted by Jennifer Yap Mar 13, 2007

Got waylaid on my research for St. Paddy's Day and ended up at the Wikipedia page for Dublin Statues and their nicknames.

I’d almost forgotten all about Irish rhyming slang and then all of a sudden whatever little I knew came flooding back.

It’s rude, it’s crude, shockingly un-PC… but it’s such wicked fun! Absolutely no one is spared; even people the Irish *like* get rude monikers. But I enjoy these for their insolence and insistence on rhyme. If you have a warped sense of humour, you’ll enjoy these!

The politically correct will wince but remember not to take things too seriously… after all, the Irish don’t. In fact, they actually have quite a bit of affection for some of the people they lampoon in slang.

Just so you get a sense of what you’ll find:

James Joyce is “The Prick with the Stick” because his statue depicts him walking with a cane.

Patrick Kavanagh is the “Crank on the Bank” because his statue is set on a bench by the river bank looking over the water.

Oscar Wilde is the “Fag on the Crag” because his statue is lounging on a big boulder

Some statues even have quite a few nicknames… you’ll see.