Christmas In Cork: When The Dubs Come to Town

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Christmas In Cork: When The Dubs Come to Town

18th Dec 2002

Christmas in Cork with PeoplesRepublicOfCork.com
Whatever you associate with Christmas in Cork there are many characters that make Christmas on the streets of the City a very different experience to the rest of the year…

Wrappin' Paper Only a Pow-ind
Danny Elbow

Jackeens make an appearance selling wrapping paper every Christmas mainly on the junctions of Pana, around Winthrop Street being the epicentre. All the way down from the pale with their thick and foreign sounding Northside Dublin accents, they fill the air with an unexpected grating twang. The price hasn't changed for years: "ten sheets yer wrappin' paper only a pow-ind". It always amuses me the way they say all of the sentence quickly except for the last word (the price) to emphasise the value at hand.

As a smallie I always wondered if there were Cork people standing on O'Connell Street in Dublin doing the same thing but singing loudly in high pitched Cork accents…"Feens! Beors! Get your wrappin' paper only wan pound like! " and being greeted by mystified jackeen faces wondering what country belongs to that wonderful accent!
Last year I couldn't help wondering what the deal will be this year now that we've changed to the Euro. Will they scale up to two euros? Will there be less sheets for just EUR1.00? Or will they persist and secretly deal in the old currency for the sake of tradition? We'll have to wait and see.

GAA plays such a big part in Cork people's lives that I also wondered if Dublin winning an All-Ireland would affect Christmas wrapping paper sales in Cork. Corkonians grimacing with pain as they'd pass this Dublin Jackeen the thought of a celebrating Hill 16 enough to deter them from a quick and convenient purchase. The Dubs got close this year in the football so we might see a mild slump in line with the economic downturn. Hurling would be a different story however….not much chance of 'em winning that though!

Also check out Danny's Farmer's Day out and Jay Walking specials