69 thoughts on “Was It For This?

    1. dav

      it’s the 1st time I have heard them addressed as such.. ah well they knew what they signed up for including the oath…

  1. Clampers Outside!

    ‘Skinny-Backs’

    Anyone heard that phrase before?
    My Dad explained this phrase to me, it was a term used for Irish men in British regiments in WW1.
    The meaning was quite literal. Irish men on average were a smaller build, shoulder wise. As a result, uniforms were a bit floppy / loose fitting… because of their ‘skinny backs’ / smaller build then their British brothers in arms. I’ll ask him again about it come Christmas :)

    Related to that, I’ve read before how famines can affect a population (average height) two / three generations later.

    So…. Skinny-Backs anyone?

    1. edalicious

      Epigenetics. Apparently there’s a population of Dutch people of a specific age with much higher incidence of obesity because of the “Hunger Winter” caused by the Nazis during WWII. Very interesting stuff!

        1. Go A Way

          SO a proper gender diversity programme could breed a whole squadron of top top female lgbtqi tech engineers? Who knew!

    2. Mé Féin

      Look at the average North Korean’s height vs the average South Korean’s.
      North Korea 165.6 cm (5 ft 5 in) 154.9 cm (5 ft 1 in)
      South Korea 170.7 cm (5 ft 7 in) 157.4 cm (5 ft 2 in)

  2. Kolmo

    All the brass and contrived pomp doesn’t hide centuries of piracy – that all it is. Well armed, well-trained piracy. The worrying thing is, there are many crypto-unionists among us, quietly wishing for a utopian vision of Norman and Myrtle watching cricket on the green all pretending they are living in bucolic 1930’s Kent.

      1. bisted

        …I dont believe a sniper in South Armagh or Helmand Province ever made those distinctions…they were all just brits…

    1. Lilly

      Tell that to the oiks who flood Temple Bar every weekend. Or the ones who pass through the Daily Mail offices in Ballsbridge from time to time.

      1. Charger Salmons

        British newspapers account for about half the daily circulation of all national newspapers in Ireland.
        You know you love us really.
        Heh,heh,heh.

  3. Tucker Done

    This post should be entitled “You had one job”. The magazine is all about the diversity and equality found in the Irish Guards, Up the Mix!

  4. Cian


    The Irish Guards – the ‘Micks’, as they are known to one and all – are unique. They are steadfast and feared in action. Their battle honours read like a roll call of the world wars and conflicts of the past century, including recent campaigns in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. And yet, whenever the name of the Micks is mentioned, a smile tends to play across the lips. This is because they are loved, as much as they are feared and respected. They are loved by other soldiers, by other regiments, by all who come into contact with them – except, of course, their enemies on the battlefield.

    Why should this be so? They are, after all, Foot Guards, a proud regiment of Her Majesty’s Household Division like any other. But they are also Irish – suffused with all the spontaneity, wit, romance and style of that land, birthplace of warriors and poets. This heady cocktail captivates all who sip at it. My great grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, loved the Micks, and they loved her, to distraction. For me, the moment of realisation that here was something fine and unique came at Sandhurst, where my platoon Colour Sergeant was a formidable Irish Guardsman. To be part of an organisation that boasted men like him became a burning ambition, realised when Her Majesty The Queen paid me the supreme honour of appointing me Colonel of the Irish Guards.

    This book captures the essence of what it is to be an Irish Guardsman. It is a superb historical record of a fighting regiment, but its pages also reveal something extra, that something indefinable which makes all who know and love our great regiment cry out in unison:

    “Up The Micks!”

      1. Fatima

        If you read the biography of Anthony Blunt by Miranda Carter you find they loved other things to distraction too!

    1. Steve

      +1 Gwan the lads!

      Most nowadays join up for a bit of adventure as opposed to sitting on their hole in rathmines.

      Some mascot as well, can’t beat a wolfhound.

      Responses on here with the some moral high ground about the English. The micks/paddies were up to our necks in it in India in the 1750s

      1. Pauline.

        They’ve a great mascot, an Irish wolfhound. The wolfhound gets three meals a day, the Micks get a baby Powers on the Queen’s birthday.

    2. rotide

      The Irish Guards carried the Queen Mothers coffinat her funeral. One was from Tallaght, one from Limerick.

  5. Charger Salmons

    The Irish Guards – The ” Micks ” – have always been hugely popular in the British Army and valued far more than they are in their own country.
    Great fighting men,loyal to the Crown with a reputation for playing as hard as they work.
    Blighty has always been immensely grateful for the contribution of the Irish in various conflicts,notably the two world wars.
    The Band of Irish Guards was formed in 1900 – one of five bands in the Foot Guards Regiments in the Household Division whose main role is to guard the British monarch.

    They play every year at the Remembrance Sunday parade, the highlight of which is Elgar’s stirring Nimrod The Hunter.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5sX99HODzg

    Thanks Micks.

  6. Charger Salmons

    The Irish Guards – The ” Micks ” – have always been hugely popular in the British Army and valued far more than they are in their own country.
    Great fighting men,loyal to the Crown with a reputation for playing as hard as they work.
    Blighty has always been immensely grateful for the contribution of the Irish in various conflicts,notably the two world wars.
    The Band of Irish Guards was formed in 1900 – one of five bands in the Foot Guards Regiments in the Household Division whose main role is to guard the British monarch.

    They play every year at the Remembrance Sunday parade, the highlight of which is Elgar’s stirring Nimrod The Hunter.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5sX99HODzg

    Thanks Micks.

  7. Adama

    Why are Irish people called “Micks” in England?

    The Clerkenwell bombing in 1868 killed 12 people and maimed 50 others. Public opinion in England was broadly favourable to Irish nationalism until this event which led to a popular anti-Irish backlash.

    The Irishman convicted of this crime was probably innocent. He was the last person to be publicly executed in England.

    His name was Michael (or Mick) Barrett.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Barrett_(Fenian)

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