Comments on: Tautologos in Hades

By: Eamonn

Eamonn — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:00:03 +0000

OK, I’m laughing but my fiancée is looking bemused … Maybe it’s a guy thing!

By: Angus

Angus — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:36:07 +0000

My love of puns, mostly. The post is a – lame – attempt to play on the two meanings of provisional (both “temporary”, as in the Provos, and “of or relating to provisions, i.e., supplies”. And since quartermasters are responsible for the provision of provisions, a PIRA quartermaster would be provisional in multiple senses of the word (poly-provisional?).

All this came to me in a dream (a pro-vision?). I don’t remember any of the details, except the dream had me making a similar pun on the word “provision”. When I awoke, I thought I’d try to make my dream a reality. Except, it turned into more of a nightmare, as I’m apparently the only one who thinks the joke is funny. (Sarah has condemned the pun in no uncertain terms, though I think her divorcing me over it is unlikely.)

By: Eamonn

Eamonn — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:09:42 +0000

The Provies, Provos or PIRA were (are?) a secret terrorist organisation so nobody’s really sure except them, and at a guess, they ain’t telling! What we’re reasonably sure they did have were “explosives officers” i.e. bomb makers, and OC’s. Not Orange County but officers commanding (usually in charge of a given bunch of prisoners when they got caught).

I can ask my fiancée (who lives in the heart of Provo West Belfast) if she knows anyone who might know but I doubt she will. Her family and friends are all on the Sticky/”Official” side of the IRA split of 1970. She herself tends to invoke a plague on both their houses!

Most of all however, why on earth do you want to know???