1. You were told about starving babies in Africa when you wouldn’t eat your dinner.

2. Your cousins in Ireland/America were always apparently doing much better than you because they studied.

3. Your Mom and Dad played cards with friends or neighbors every Sunday night and fought bitterly.

4. A spoonful of sugar doused in whiskey was a reasonable remedy for a sore throat.

5. The greatest disaster was not “drawing the tea” right. Your Dad always wanted tea so strong he could “trot a mouse across it”. 

6. You went on a “mystery tour” on a CIE bus, usually to a local seaside place, which was far from a mystery.

7. When you couldn’t find something you were very helpfully told to pray to St. Anthony and look in the last place you left it. 

8. You never got out the door without being sprinkled with holy water from the font at the door. 

9. You did a religious retreat - girls one week, boys the next - at least once a year. 

10. Your mother regularly pointed out the town deadbeat and said you’d end up like him if you didn’t buck up.