>>Black Irish is not hurled as an insult. I remember my mother was quite proud to claim being of black Irish descent so it must be good because hey-my mom was good.<<, Hahahahahah!!! I guess it depended on if you were Black Irish like your mother.....and proud of it....or some dork that couldn't think of anything else to say so flung out an "insult" "Black Irish".....same as, particularly here in the St Louis area, where there was a large population of Irish not unlike Boston....they were called "lace curtain Irish".....many, many, many of the Irish households had lace curtains in their front windows. They were called "lace curtain Irish".....some people said it admiringly....some dorks hurled it as an insult...!!!! Go figure....we are dealing with humans here!!!! The more I have to fool around with people...the much better I prefer my dogs!!! :-)) ..........Judy *********************************************************** cato@primary.net ***********************************************************