We all know clover, those few members of the pea family that love to out our nitrogen poor soils. Recently, in passing, I commented on Shamrocks vs. Four-Leaf Clovers. I’m almost surprised that I didn’t receive any hate mail as a result of my dismissing four-leaf clovers as not being shamrocks.
Perhaps luck is the reason people tend to think of the four-leaf clover. Of course, we have the “luck” of the Irish. That luck thing always reminds me of an old toast, “Here’s to the Irish; doubly cursed. So far from God. So close to the English.” Hundreds of years of “Saxon” rule or part or all of the island, have never been viewed as lucky by most of Ireland. Perhaps, though, having a culture survive such caustic rule and cultural suppression is a sign of incredible luck.
Back to the shamrock. I saw a trailer for a new show on NBC, “The Black Donnellys”. Its logo is a black four-leaf clover. My naive, laissez-faire side believes this is intentional use of a four-leaf clover. It does look cool, all black, and jagged. Very punk rock it is. Maybe confusing the 4-leaf for a shamrock is punk, too. I don’t know.
Tags: shamrock ireland nbc black+donnellys four+leaf+clover
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One Comment to "Shamrocks: Icons of Ireland"
I agree with your shamrocks vs. four-leaf clovers comment. I am bothered by the Black Donnellys graphic because I suspect that it is as you alluded to in your earlier post—an ignorant confusion of the symbols of Ireland and luck. I think that the jagged graphic could have been equally impressive (and more correct) with three leaves.