Blarney Castle

On Friday, January 18^th, we took a bus out to the village of Blarney (“An Bhlarna” in Gaelic). Like the thousands of other tourists that visit the town each year, we wanted to see Blarney Castle and kiss the castle’s famous Blarney Stone. In order to do so, you actually have to bend over backwards, while a local suspends you down to the stone. It definitely requires a head for heights, but the view from the top is well worth it.

Legend has it that those who kiss the stone will acquire the “gift of Irish gab.” Since I was going to give my paper the following day at the conference, I simply couldn’t ignore my superstitious side and bypass the castle!

Queen Elizabeth I, fed up with Lord Blarney’s ability to talk endlessly without actually agreeing to her demands, invented the term. Exasperated she stated, “This is all Blarney. What he says he never means.” And a new word was born.