Hey, you Scots: Jerry Coyne is banging about in your country this week, speaking at the University of Edinburgh Humanist Society on Friday and Glasgow Skeptics next Monday. I hope some of you are planning to give him a haggis and a bottle of Irn Bru at some point (if you need an excuse to absolve you of guilt, you can tell him I made you do it.)
Nov 20 2012
A scientist adrift among the parlous Scots
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43 comments
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richardelguru
20 November 2012 at 8:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
IRN BRU??
You want to kill the poor chap!??!
(Did you know that some years ago there was a Church of IRN BRU, where, mainly Glaswegian, people worshiped their sugary God?)
richardelguru
20 November 2012 at 8:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
BTW we had a haggis shipped to TX and we’re having it for Thanksgiving.
http://howlandbolton.com/essays/read_more.php?sid=195
Moggie
20 November 2012 at 9:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’d like to hear more about the evolution of the haggis. Did you know that there are two different haggis species, the clockwise and the anti-clockwise? True story.
richardelguru
20 November 2012 at 9:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Moggie
That’s what the essay says (though, sadly, it doesn’t go into the speciation any more than mentioning that lack of intercourse between the two).
Gordon
20 November 2012 at 9:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
But… everybody in the world loves Irn Bru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iyAcMi8rjk
Moggie
20 November 2012 at 9:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
There are few things better than Irn Bru when you have a hangover.
AshPlant
20 November 2012 at 9:18 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You’re just fruitlessly bigoted against Irn Bru, PZ, based on nothing other than direct personal experience. Call that skepticism?
AshPlant
20 November 2012 at 9:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
baselessly*. Um…not sure why that happened.
richardelguru
20 November 2012 at 9:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
AshPlant I didn’t read it as PZ being against IRN BRU, and my comment was only because you pretty-well HAVE to be a drunken (or overhung) Scot to survive it. (I’ve always thought that it could easily be the syrup from which other sugary drinks could be made)
Moggie
20 November 2012 at 9:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You know there is sugar-free Irn Bru?
DOES NOT COMPUTE
ChasCPeterson
20 November 2012 at 9:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Just realize that if you give Coyne a haggis, he’s going to post pictures of it for the entire internets to see, plus a gratuitous shot of whatever he’s wearing on his feet at the time. So you know.
Dick the Damned
20 November 2012 at 9:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Anyone on a diet of haggis & Irn Bru is pretty much sure to be a bit parlous, eh.
Nevertheless, he’ll be well-received in Edinburgh, I’m sure.
Dick the Damned
20 November 2012 at 10:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Jumpin’ Jeezus, i for got to mention the deep-fried Mars bars for desert.
evilDoug
20 November 2012 at 10:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Haggis is what you eat because you are too damned poor to afford anything else, and you can’t borrow any money from your relatives because they have short arms and deep pockets, and besides they were all driven out to make way for the sassanach sheep from which your great pudding is made. Haggis is romanticized dreck, much Prince Charlie, “.. a waster all his days.” [quotation from Strong Women Rule Us All by Brian McNeill, who also wrote No Gods (and Precious Few Heroes)]
Sunday Afternoon
20 November 2012 at 10:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I see that Coyne will be speaking in the architectural abortion that is the Appleton Tower. This is memorable (to me at least) for being the location of my fist lecture as an undergraduate in 1989. Sorry to read that it is still there.
Raging Bee
20 November 2012 at 10:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You know there is sugar-free Irn Bru?
There’s also vegetarian haggis. Made from the stomach of a triffid, perhaps?
richardelguru
20 November 2012 at 10:36 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sunday: “my fist lecture”
That’s an unusual subject. What on earth were you reading???
Dunc
20 November 2012 at 10:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Parlous? Come over here, we’ll show you who’s parlous!
Oh, wait…
chigau (無)
20 November 2012 at 10:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Why can I not find out what flavour Irn_Bru is?
Most other soft drinks are identified as ‘cola’ or ‘orange’ or ‘grape’ or something.
Dunc
20 November 2012 at 11:01 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Irn Bru is its own unique flavour. It’s not flavoured of anything else, it’s entirely synthetic.
chigau (無)
20 November 2012 at 11:09 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ah. I see.
Kinda like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocari_Sweat.
theophontes (坏蛋)
20 November 2012 at 11:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
We had Irn Bru in South Africa back in the day. But called Iron Brew and made by Coca-Cola. For the life of me I cannot remember what it tastes like. There is a website (linky) that says: “rosy vanilla, fruity flavoured great taste of Iron Brew”.
““, Scotsman?
Moggie
20 November 2012 at 11:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
chigau:
The flavour is orange. The colour, not the fruit. Irn Bru tastes orange.
Sunday Afternoon
20 November 2012 at 11:48 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
@Moggie & @chigau:
Irn Bru is made in Scotland from Girders:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PxuFQCDis&w=420&h=315
Sunday Afternoon
20 November 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
@richardelguru:
No comment!
Fred Salvador - The Public Sucks; Fuck Hope
20 November 2012 at 12:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I doubt I’ll make it to either of these engagements, but if anyone is thinking about giving Coyne either of these gifts might I suggest a more economical alternative; instead of haggis and Irn Bru, just give him some onion-flavoured sawdust and diabetes.
DLC
20 November 2012 at 12:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Drink Irn Bru, eat Haggis and top it off with a fried mars bar for dessert. No wonder you folk like bagpipes.
=8)-DX
20 November 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
NOT trying out haggis and NOT drinking Irn Bru is what you should feel guilty of if you go to Scotland. Being born in Scotland I highly prefer Irn Bru to Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or any other brand of refreshing soft drink. Sadly its about twice as expensive here =( and they only stock it in Tesco). And haggis is are actually delicious if fresh and quality prepared. Just thinking about the ancient times when hunting parties would scour the hills in an attempt to root out and kill ravening wild haggis in their natural habitat makes my mouth water.
Menyambal --- in flagrante delicto
20 November 2012 at 12:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
chigau, I liked Pocari Sweat. It took me a while to figure out the flavour was vaguely grapefruit, since the label wasn’t in English. And the name was really off-putting, since I’d just been reading about peccaries.
It is indeed a sports electrolyte drink, not just a very odd soft drink. I took some powdered Pocari Sweat on on long bike trip, and was quite glad I had it.
Irn Bru I might try. Haggis maybe, if it was humanely killed.
chigau (無)
20 November 2012 at 1:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Menyambal
I like Pocari Sweat.
I also like Calpis.
johnm55
20 November 2012 at 1:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Irn Bru tastes better than Coca Cola, Haggis as many commenters have noted is delicious if properly made, but I think that my fellow Scots should really have a whip round and present him with a bottle of Caol Isla, so that he knows what we really want to drink.
madscientist
20 November 2012 at 1:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Not sure about Irn Bru, but there’s nothing wrong with a good haggis – at least the innards are cleaned out, unlike a few offal recipes I know from Italy (but hey, there’s not really anything wrong with that either).
Dick the Damned
20 November 2012 at 2:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Something definitely to be avoided is halal haggis.
(The thought of them, strung up by their longer leg, & bleeding to death, is just too much.)
Moggie
20 November 2012 at 2:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
johnm55:
Fuck yes. I’m sipping a Moch right now. Not as much punch as the 12yo, but still gorgeous.
Menyambal --- in flagrante delicto
20 November 2012 at 2:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Chigau, I didn’t know if you liked Pocari Sweat or not, but guessed so. I wrote poorly, and it looked like I thought you didn’t.
Calpis was good, too. I thought it was milk-based, but I hadn’t realized it was fermented. I had a hell of a time getting it, though, as I’d somehow got the name mixed up.
Speaking of names, the Indonesians I hung out with pronounced “Pocari” in a way that was different from their usual language pattern, which would have made it “poCHARRReee”, and it came out like I’d say it. I attributed that to TV advertising.`The “Sweat” part came out as “sweet”, though.
jefferylanam
20 November 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Irn-Bru tastes almost like, yet not at all like tangerine. Caol Isla, or to my taste Lagavulin, is more of a proper thing to offer a guest, especially if you’re going to feed him haggis. Finish off the meal with a bit of tablet, which also goes well with whisky. (And yes, Firefox, that is how it’s spelled!)
Brian McNeill is a legend. I saw him perform in Campbell, CA on the night before a Highland Games. He mentioned that he would be performing for Prince Charles at Holyrood. The next day at the Games he was performing wearing a T-shirt from on of the sponsors of the Games, Bad Boys Bail Bonds. I suggested to him that he should wear it to Holyrood.
Rodney Nelson
20 November 2012 at 2:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I found a discussion of Irn-Bru on the intertubes:
The Dancing Monk
20 November 2012 at 3:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Irn-bru tablet & deep fried Mars Bar
evilDoug
20 November 2012 at 8:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I hadn’t thought about it earlier, but Coyne is an Irish name, and there was a time when the Irish were not held in high esteem in Edinburgh
Dick Gaughan explains.
chigau (無)
20 November 2012 at 11:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Moggie #23
It took me a while but I understand.
It’s like the flavour of purple jelly beans.
Purple.
(’cause there is nothing else that tastes like that)
(anywhere)
Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhD
20 November 2012 at 11:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
There’s definitely some citrus flavouring in Irn Bru, plus almost a spicy warmth, but yes it is very hard to describe.
My grandparents used to live near the Girders factory where it was made.
So, born in Scotland I have had copious amounts of Irn Bru and haggis, but I draw the line at deep fried mars bar. I won’t even eat non-deep fried mars bar. (though I do use it in a slice recipe)
Dunc
21 November 2012 at 3:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Deep fried Mars bars are mainly a tourist thing.
Deep fired pizza, on the other hand…
JohnnieCanuck
21 November 2012 at 3:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
evilDoug,
Gaughan sings several more verses than what you quoted. Do you have the rest? I couldn’t make out everything he sang, though I was able to make out the written words quite well.
Any clue as to the relevance of the image posted with the song?
Thanks.