Last summer I had a long conversation with my fellow Dubliner, Damien Dempsey, for an article I was doing on his then brand new album To Hell or Barbados.

I posted the Damo interview in audio but for those of you who don’t fancy the long listen, I’m making the transcript of that interview available now.

Before I pressed record I asked Damo if recording our conversation and posting it on the web was okay. He said yes. I pressed the button. And hearing my Dublin accent he asked me a question:

Damien Dempsey: Where are you from yourself?

Irsh KC: From just by your old Rock School. I’m a Palmerstown man.

DD: Ah Palmerstown, I know it well.

IKC: Well speaking of the Rock School, it’s been a long time since you were there. Does it still mean anything to you after all this time?

[This is a long interview so the transcript is continued below the fold]

Read: Transcript of my Damien Dempsey Interview »

I have a question on terms about our currency in Ireland.

After close on a decade away in which the changeover to the Euro from the Irish Pound took place, followed by little communication with people since my return to Ireland, I’m not as proficient on current words and phrases as I used to be.

You know the way we have change, and in pre-Euro days that change was made up of coppers and silver, well, how do we refer to the coinage that we use now?

Coppers I imagine are still coppers, only now in the denominations of 1 cent, 2 cent and 5 cent, but do we have a term for those goldy kind of coloured coins that are the 10c, 20c and 50c? Officially they’re Nordic Gold but I haven’t heard anybody at a bus stop ask anyone else if they had any Nordic Gold. I wish they would though.

And what of the partly silvered 1 euro and 2 euro coins - is there a colloquial reference to them? Can they still be referred to collectively as “silver”, or do we now have to be horribly specific as in “Do you have any 1-euro or 2-euro coins?”

I hope we’re not stuck with just a single word for all coinage, especially if that word is “coins”, and much as I like the term “slurry” I’d like there to be a range of words to play with.

How do you talk about your coins?

See Related:
   • Banking 365
   • Euro-Dollars
   • Changing Euros to Dollars in the Midwest
   • Finding Money on the Streets of Ireland and America
   • Dublin Slanging Match

Read: Question on Euro Coinage »

Dan Regan, author of the Irish Fest blog, and brother to the mother of my son, has apologised and corrected his post that said he took over the writing of that blog after I “quit and left the country”.

Update: That apology has now been undermined by a string of anonymous comments approved by Regan. I have been told the matter will be addressed, so I’m allowing time for resolution.

Update eile: Both the apology and the original post have now been taken off that site. Closing comments here and moving on. Next time we’ll skip the dance.

Following my initial response Dan Regan’s post was expanded to say that he took over after I “quit in a huff and left the country”.

This prompted my direct request for the correction that has now been published by Dan.

Regular readers will know that I possess neither a sense of humour nor a sense of what is appropriate. So I’ll let matters lie with Groucho Marx, a man who had both:

You can leave in a taxi. If you can’t get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that’s too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff.

Note: This post was compressed for comedic effect.

Read: Huffing and Puffing »