Off The Desk 3/17/26

Hello and happy St. Patrick's Day. Thanks for joining us here for Off the Desk. I'm Kaylee Collins. I'm Julia O'Keefe. And I'm Chris Bozakis. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Julia, where'd your green go? Oh, it's here. Oh, it's underneath your jacket. You better trust I'm wearing my green today. I was wearing a different dress for the news and I just switched to a green sweater. Nice. But we were explaining on the news this morning why Chris can't wear green, unfortunately. I know. It's so sad because I really like the color green. And as I mentioned, I have like four different green ties, like all different shades. But I can never wear them. You said that on the news this morning. You're like, I really do have so many green ties. I was like, I believe you. But you'll never see them. Oh, unfortunate. Because the green screen or the weather wall is green. And so if I was to wear green and walk in front of it, it's going to like key out. So like my graphics would just like overlap. It would be a floating head. Yeah. Julia, I wanted to try it while we both had green on. Maybe I'll do that. That'd be funny. Yeah. Or like my tie would just kind of like disappear. You would see my graphics on my tie. Oh, okay. Funny. So I can't wear it. So I was going to wear gold because, you know, that's another color that kind of goes with St. Patrick's Day. But when I looked at my tie this morning, it had a little stain on it. And I was like, I can't wear this. I got to wash it. So then I was like, ah, the Irish flag is orange. Yes, there you go. So I threw on an orange tie. That kind of honestly looks like I was learning all the lore about the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade tartan that they have and what all the different colors mean. And it's dark blue and orange, Chris. Oh, solid. I forget what those colors mean. Is there some white in there? You're supposed to know this, but I'll learn. I'm supposed to know this, but yeah. So yeah, I tried. I'm trying to be festive. It works. It definitely works. Yeah, everybody's Irish today. That's right. Yeah, I was saying I got my corned beef ready for tonight. Yes, there you go. And maybe we'll order some Reuben's or something. Maddie got us some Guinness yesterday. Oh, yeah. One day of the year, I'll have a Guinness. There you go. Trying to split the G, as they say. I haven't drank it yet. Oh, we're going to try it today. Do you have a glass that says Guinness on it? Because you can't really split the G unless it's in the glass. I might. I'm not going to lie. I might. Look at that. I have a Guinness shirt. Oh, there you go. Throw that on to drink your annual Guinness. And there you go. There you go. Festive. Yeah. Is the plural of Guinness, Gini? We can make it a thing. To have multiple Gini. I don't know. But yeah, happy St. Patrick's Day. Do you guys like Guinness? I do. Yeah, I think we were talking about this, Chris. I only would have like, not even a full one. A couple sips and I'm kind of like, okay. It's because it's a heavier beer, but I like the taste of it. I just wouldn't be someone who was going to drink like. Yeah. And the Irish might be mad at me for saying this, but I have to drink cold. I would be cold too. They want it like room temperature. It's warm. Yeah. Well, I'm trying to think what it was after my junior year of college. I spent the summer studying abroad in Ireland. So at that point, you have to like Guinness because it really is. When you order a pint, they automatically assume you mean a Guinness. Oh, that's interesting. I learned to like it. Had some this weekend in celebration as well. Nice. Yeah, because you were at the Boston St. Patrick's Parade. Yes, I was. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, the streets of South Boston were packed with. I can imagine. A sea of green. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. The parade was great. A lot of Revolutionary War reenactors in the beginning of the parade. The first hour of the parade was like different, especially because this year's the 250th anniversary. Yeah. But it was fun. I saw Jalen Brown. I was going to say, did you see him? Yeah. He was on the first. We didn't know that it was him because they didn't. No one made a big deal about it or anything. So no one was even like, oh, my gosh, it's Jalen Brown. Like no one batted an eye. And then Noah was like, that's Jalen Brown. I was like, that's Jalen Brown. And he was throwing out. We got like bracelets. They were giving out. So I have a bracelet from Jalen Brown. So that's so fun. Yeah. It was fun, though. I went to see my high school friends, too. Went to two separate places to watch the parade. And I hadn't seen them all in a while. So that was a lot of fun. Ran into two of my really good friends from college that like. Oh, really? From mutual friends circles that I really haven't seen since our homecoming weekend. So that was a fun surprise. They were all at the same party. Because my friend goes to B.C., the B.C. Villanova connection. Like there's a lot of overlap there. So that was really kind of a coincidence. But super fun. And yeah. Going to carry the celebrating into today and then next week for the Holyoke parade, too. So it's, you know, it's the week of the Irish. And the road race. And the road race on Saturday. Did you happen to see, this was something I was seeing discussed online, but then it's been picked up by different newsagents, too. Were there a lot of, I mean, mostly like college age students holding around borks? Actually, I didn't see any. No, I think because last year they were so strict. At least in Southie. I did see one TikTok in Chicago. That's what I was talking about. In Chicago. In the back of a truck. Yeah. Insane. Yeah. They were ticketing. They were taking away. Insane. So many of the borks, which are the, like the gallons of water, like water gallons that. Or milk cartons. Yeah. Then fill up with different and alcohol mixed drink of some sort. Yeah. What does it stand for? It's an acronym. I don't know. I don't know what it stands for. But, yeah, it was especially a problem at the Chicago parade. So I was wondering if that was happening at other places where it was a really big St. Patrick's celebration. Yeah. They were really strict about it. Last year. Yeah. There was, yeah, people, they were, they're very strict about any, like, well, a borg, because that's so obvious, but any type of open carrying is like immediate. There were people getting, you know, tickets and everything. I never even knew what a borg was until I came here and started working here. News stories about it. Yeah. I never had that in college or ever heard about it. Relatively new and very dangerous. It's ended up in the news so much because, I mean, it's, yeah, it's like half a gallon of water and then fill the rest with alcohol. And, like, you put Neo and stuff in it to make it taste not like alcohol. And then it doesn't taste like you're drinking any alcohol. And that's why. Yeah. So even though it's technically like it's concealed in the sense that it's not an open container or anything, it's obviously like a borg. So that still goes and people were getting them confiscated. But, yeah, I really didn't see, I didn't see much of that this year. That's good. Which is a good thing. Yeah. Very good. Yeah. I love the Irish music. Yes. And the bagpipes are always a hit on St. Patrick's Day. I love the Irish step dancing, too. I love watching it. I was saying to Chris, I love the bagpipes, too. Yeah. The bagpipes. I love St. Patrick's Day. It's just so fun and festive. It is. Especially when you are Irish and you can kind of connect to it. Yeah. Yeah, Julia. Are you Irish or something? I mean, I don't know. Yes, I'm very Irish. So, yeah. Yeah. Whatever you're doing, if you're celebrating today, of course, celebrate responsibly. We talked about that in the news this morning. And then, also, with the weather that we got overnight, there is still some lingering issues created from the wind and the rain that came through our area. Chris was mentioning we had a couple. We had Nickias Knockis out in Wilbraham. There were some power outages this morning, trees down, branches. There were some traffic disruptions in Northampton this morning. So, just be conscious of that when you're out and about driving this morning. Yeah. Did you guys hear the wind and the rain last night? Oh, sure. It kept me up all night. Yes. Actually. It was loud. When I woke up, I was kind of like, oh, gosh, I have to go drive in this right now. But it actually wasn't too bad by the time I was on my way to work. But, yeah, anytime I woke up, it was like howling. Yeah. It was so loud. Yeah. It was bad. Thankfully, we didn't lose power at my house. But when I was driving, you could definitely see like sticks down on the road. Yeah. There was one neighborhood I passed that I couldn't tell if maybe every house just had its lights off or it was completely out of power. I'm leaning more towards it was likely out of power. Yeah. Because most mornings when I look down there, you can see like some lights on the house. But it was dark. So, yeah, power outages are definitely a thing this morning for a good amount of people. Watch out for the trees and branches down on the roads. Maybe check your route to work or wherever you need to be this morning to see if the roads are closed before you leave the house. But the rest of the day looks fine. It's going to be a little breezy. Like the wind is still going to be around but not as bad. It's going to be a cold day. But it'll be dry and the sun will be out at times, especially this afternoon. So, not too bad. That's good to know. When I was coming in, I was trying to avoid all the sticks, obviously. There were so many down. It was hard to do that. But I avoided one really big one only to go through a really big pothole. And it was like there was no good way around anything. Avoid the stick. Hit the pothole. Oh, yeah. It's one of those mornings. But, yeah, it's scary out there. Stay safe out there. We're going to take a quick break here and then maybe when we come back, we'll dive into the forestry or something like that. Oh, yes. Stay with us. ♪♪♪ All right, welcome back to Off the Desk on this St. Patrick's Day. Yes, happy St. Patrick's Day. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, so we were thinking we could probably dive into a little bit of where St. Patrick's Day and the celebration that we know it as today kind of comes from. So, obviously, St. Patrick's Day does have a religious connection and a religious history. So, I was kind of like searching online and I found a little more information about it on History Channel. So, the history of St. Patrick's Day dates back more than 1,000 years. Although largely a secular holiday today, the origin of St. Patrick's Day is religious. Christians in Ireland began observing a feast day for St. Patrick around the 9th and 10th centuries. On the holiday, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families traditionally attended church in the morning and celebrated in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people danced, drank, and feasted on a customary meal of Irish bacon and cabbage. So, it's Irish bacon. Corned beef. So, if it's during Lent, if this falls on a Friday, you can eat the meat still? Usually, your bishop of like your diocese has to give like a compensation. Interesting. So, that's happened a few years where if it falls on Friday, certain dioceses will like allow it and others will say like, no, try to abstain from meat. I never thought about that. But that's happened. It's happened a couple times in. Yeah. So, but it's kind of connected to he was a martyr and. Was he killed? Yes, but I want to just. Yeah, I think he was stabbed or something. And today is the day he died, right? I have to keep scrolling. First St. Patrick's Day Parade in America. I'm doing active research. We love this. In real time. Maybe we'll get to this in our recap, but I think, isn't it nowadays more celebrated even here in America than it actually is in Ireland? I believe so. Yeah. That's pretty funny. It's like kind of taken on a different type of connotation to it. Yeah. I would love to go to Ireland during St. Patrick's Day, though. I bet that's so fun. Yeah, it's celebrated annually on March 17th because that is the anniversary of St. Patrick's death. Nice. I knew I read on stuff. Good job. It does say how he died is currently unknown. Oh, okay. He was believed to be in his 70s. Okay. That's crazy. But yes, today is the day he passed away. Yes. What year does it say? It doesn't say the year. Sorry. It was like some sources report he was born in 385, but others say it was 387. AD. Yeah. I believe. Yes. That's crazy. Yeah. So. What was he a saint of? Yeah, this is around 1500, 2000 years ago, so. I know. Let's see. What was St. Patrick the saint of? Sorry, I'm like deep into reading. I'm like sorry for the silence. That may have been implied. He's the patron saint of Ireland. Of Ireland, yes. Well, it was because he was evangelizing and spreading the Christian faith throughout Ireland, so that's what he was known for. Again, it doesn't specifically say how he died. He was unofficially declared a saint, like, after his death. He was in his 70s. That's kind of old for back then. Yeah. So. That's like a long life. Yeah. It's a long life of spreading the Christian faith out in Ireland. But yeah, it's similar to other holidays. It kind of just then transformed into what we know it as today, but like I read earlier, people, it was probably especially during Lent too, that's a time where you're fasting and you're kind of abstaining from a lot of things. If there was that celebration to, you know, commemorate St. Patrick, you got to dance, to drink, to eat meat. Maybe that's where we get the celebration that it's known as today. Yeah. And eventually spread to America and everything. Yeah. Interesting to see where that kind of all comes from and how it evolves over the years and how it's still such a prominent celebration today. Right. Yeah. We think of New York, Boston, Chicago, all these cities that, well, especially in New England when the Irish immigrants came over, a lot of them settled in this area of the country. And so now those cities are carrying out the tradition of celebrations. I'm sure they've evolved a bit then back then, but it's fun. We were talking about this weekend, you know, in Chicago, they dye the river green and things like that. And again, there's all the traditions everywhere, which the dyeing of the river is like, it's whole. That's a whole other. It is. I also love the memes about like the fish in the Chicago River today. And it's like, I don't know, they're all, they're in the green. But yeah, it's funny to see, to see all the different, the different celebrations. Yeah, for sure. And we're next weekend in Holyoke, which is so exciting. Yeah. The countdown is officially on in a few more days. Everybody's getting excited. Yeah. We covered, I was saying yesterday with Chris, there were a few different events held locally over the weekend too. There was a celebration of Irish and Italian culture in Springfield that we had. One of our reporters, one of the buddies was out covering, got a shot of, I think it was Nicole, but, and Mark, our photographer. Oh, I saw that. Eating some Italian food. Yeah, she posted that on Instagram. Yeah. But there were plenty of other ones. There was one in West Springfield, I believe as well. There's the Hibernian Breakfast. That's pretty popular every year, so. That's actually something my brothers and my dad used to do in Connecticut. They would go to the Hibernian Breakfast. Nice. Growing up, so. Cool. Awesome. Lots of Irish festivities going on leading up to the big parade of our region. Of course, yes. Yeah. Do you guys want to learn some words from Ireland? Some terms? Top of the morning to you. Top of the morning. What was I thinking? There's a lot of phrases, like, when I was over there, there's a lot of phrases that, it means the same thing as, like, here, but they're, they sound, they all sound a little bit more formal, like. Except for crack. Oh, yeah. Like, good crack, like, good news, bad news, good crack, bad crack. One of my, like. What's happening? What's crack? Yeah. One of my good friends who studied abroad here in America from Ireland, she would, she had a really thick accent, too, so when she first started, like, she would just go off that whole thing, and then for, like, what's the crack? Like, what are we doing this weekend type thing? And we're like, what? What's the crack? And then she kind of explained it to us, and we're like, oh, that's kind of funny. Yeah. So that's one that I'm familiar with. They also say grand all the time, like. Oh, yes. How you doing? Oh, grand. Grand. How was it? Oh, it was grand. I like that. I say that sometimes, too. My friend Catherine says, read okay. Read okay. Like, every time she's telling a story, I don't know if that's a Irish thing or, like, she'll, you know how, if we're telling a story, and it's a series of events or something, you'll say, so then, or whatever. She goes, read okay. And then goes into the next thing. And then goes in. Interesting. So that's just something, I don't know if it's just a her thing or if it's an Irish thing or a UK thing. I'm trying to think of other really, like, funny ones. I know they say when it was, when it's raining, it was lashing. Lashing? It was lashing. Huh. It was lashing. It was lashing last night. Lashing last night. I'm trying to think of other things she would say. It was lashing. They use, like, X, the letter X in their texts a lot. Oh, really? Yeah. Hmm. Like, when we plan to FaceTime, she'll be like, does 3 o'clock my time work for you? XX or whatever. I don't know. It's like an endearing type of thing they do over text. Okay. I don't know. Okay. What's it mean? I think it's supposed to be, like, I'm thinking, like, for us, like, XOXO is, like, hugs and kisses. It's kind of like a greeting or, like, goodbye. Like a greeting. Yeah. They also, it's always, how are you getting on? I'm getting on. How are you getting on? I want to text her now and see if she has any, like. Also, it's so funny, because when I was there, I worked at a radio station, and so some of the broadcast terms are a little bit different. In Italy? Or not Italy. In Ireland, yeah. Oh, that's cool. So, like, where we say, not super different, but we say, like, the rundown. They have, like, the running order. So, you have to add stuff to the running order. That's just the broadcast different, but the most loved Irish slang phrase is. You kissed the blaring stone? I did, yes. I've always wanted to do that. That's scary. When you're doing that, like, yeah, it's, there is nothing, because it's just, I mean, it's a small opening. I wouldn't say it's more than, like, this wide, but the stone itself is, like, you have to lie down, hold the bars behind you, and then tip your head back. Yeah. So, when you're looking back, like, you're, you can see straight through the castle. Like, it's, it's just grass, and you're up high, and it's, it's not, it's a skinny. Is anyone holding onto your legs? Yeah, yeah, they hold your legs. So, it's a skinny open, where, like, opening, where it's, like, get through there. Like, most people can probably slide through that, but, no, they hold your legs. I don't think anyone has, but, yeah, it's scary. Yeah, that's fun. It's scary. Cheers, obviously, is another one. Cheers to everything. Yeah. Can you think of how many people have kissed that stone? Yeah, and then they put, they wiped, they put, like, a wet wipe after it, and it's, like, is that really helping? Is that helping? Is that really helping? I don't know. It's cool, though, and that, that castle was really cool. Um, yeah. It did, it did a good part, but, um, Clifton's more beautiful. How did the stone become? I wish I remembered. Just kissing a stone. You're kissing a rock. I don't know. Yeah, I wish I remembered. An ancient tale. That's for next week, probably. For next, yeah. Yeah, right? Well, guys, I have some trivia questions. We can take a break and maybe. Oh, yeah. Maybe take a look at them. Yeah, I didn't look at them, too, so. Oh, we can all do it together. Yeah. All right, welcome back to these last few minutes of this lucky version of Off the Desk. Because it's, you know, luck of the Irish. Luck of the Irish. Anyway. Wait, is that what that Disney movie's called? Is it called Luck of the Irish? Yeah. I'd say it's a good day to watch that one. Oh, that is a good one. Where the guy becomes a lover. Yeah. Well, I have some trivia questions. I don't know how good they are, but we're going to give it a go. Let's try it. In the spirit of St. Patrick and such. The first one, guys, I think we're going to get this one right if I had to guess. Buttermilk, salt, baking soda, and flour are the basic ingredients in what traditional Irish food? Soda bread? I think that's correct. Wow. It is. Good job. Solid. Correct. That's a good start. Nice. In which Irish city will you find the Blarney Stone? Is it Dublin? We just talked about this. Is it Dingle? No. I believe it's County Cork. Oh. Wait, is it Dublin? Because I was like, we just talked about Dingle on the break. Yeah. Yes, it's Cork. Okay. We were just talking about that. How many leaves does a typical clover plant have? Four. Three. I'm going to say three because isn't that why it's rare to find a four-leaf clover? Oh, you're right. You're right. But I don't know. We'll see. It is three. I was feeling lucky, you know? Okay. I think you'll know the answer to this one. Four-leaf clovers are considered what? Lucky. Kaylee just said it. And rare. Oh, good luck actually was the correct answer. Aw, bummer. Lucky, lucky. What Irish band had a Billboard Top 10 hit with the 1968 song, The Unicorn? I actually, I don't, I have no idea. I feel like I have them on the tip of my tongue. What year was it? Does it say a year? 1968. Who is it? Is it the Dubliners? No. The Irish Rovers. Not who I was thinking of. The Irish Rovers. What traditional Irish dish combines mashed potatoes and cabbage? Isn't it bangers and mash? Bangers and mash? I think so. I think it's shepherd's pie, I think. Should we see? Let's see. Oh. Cole Cannon. So what's bangers and mash then? I don't know. It is. It is mashed potatoes of some sort. It's something else. Potatoes of some sort. You guessed. I remember that, hearing that though. That's a real thing. What is the term for a young Irish woman or girl? Lass. Lassie. Is it lass? Okay, we're actually wrong. We're not showing the St. Patrick's Committee Colleen. Okay, but I feel like lass, that's not wrong, right? Colleen is true though. You know what's funny? That's my name. Really? Yeah. She's very Irish as well. We should have known that. But that's not necessarily wrong, because lass, lass, lass, you know. It's an Irish thing. All right, well now I know that. The Colleen. As if we don't talk about that. Yeah, let's have the committee not watch the classic. I sincerely apologize. What popular theater show featured Michael, okay, I don't think we're going to. Oh, actually we might. What popular theater show featured Michael Flatley and John Butler step dancing to traditional Irish music? Is it Riverdance? I'm going to go with you, I guess, yeah. Yeah, it is. Nice. Good job, Julia. Thanks. I have no idea. Because I used to walk right by the Riverdance Theater on my way to work. Oh, okay. So I think that's why it stuck out. In Gaelic, what does the word balach mean? B-A-L-A-C-H? I have no idea. Some of these questions aren't great. B-A-L-C-H? L-A-C-H. Balach. The Gaelic language is very complicated. No sláinte? Yeah. I don't know what that one means. I don't either. Okay. Oh, it means boy. Oh. I was going to say it means boy or man. I should have said it. Good job. All right. We could do one more, maybe. I know this one, but I won't pick it just because I know it. On what instrument... Actually, I don't know how to say that. Okay. In an Irish wedding, a bride dressed in blue symbolizes what? I have no idea. I've never heard of that. I don't know either. Peace, love, and happiness. Maybe. Yeah. Love. Maybe love. I'm going to sneeze. Okay, just kidding. Purity. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah. Interesting. That was fun. Yeah, that was fun. Interesting. We didn't actually rush up on our Irish knowledge. I wasn't going to get the one right that I thought I had right, but anyway. Anyways. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody. Happy St. Patrick's Day. We hope you have a fun day filled with Irish festivities. Stay safe, and we'll be back here tomorrow for Weather Wednesday. Weather Wednesday. We'll see you. Bye.