EVERY SATURDAY MORNING we take a look at all the best comments left on the site by our readers over the past seven days.
This week there was a lot of talk about a pair of hugging dogs, a self-proclaimed fat bride and women liking kitchens.
So here are the standout comments from the week that was.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. The BBC apologised for a remark made by golf commentator Peter Alliss during the British Open when eventual winner Zach Johnson was lining up to take a putt.
While doing this, the camera panned to Johnson’s wife, Kim Barcley, prompting Alliss to say: “Wife Kim looking on. She’s probably thinking: ‘if this goes in, we’ve got a new kitchen.’”
thejynxeffect – and 2,752 others – didn’t see anything wrong with the remark.
Women like nice kitchens… What’s the big deal?
2. When some people criticised the fact American soccer player Alex Morgan is on the cover of Fifa 16, bub5weetman had this riposte:
They should be grateful to finally have a woman in their bedroom.
Some 2,608 of you approved.
3. John O Neill channelled vintage Sineád O’Connor when commenting on a story about her cancelling concerts due to exhaustion:
she went to the doctor and guess what he told her!
He got 2,002 green thumbs.
4. Sandra Turner made an interesting point under an article about a rickshaw driver who attempted to charge a family €290 for 10-minute lift:
The most shocking part of this story is that it costs €282 to get £200!
5. Amy Molyneaux also failed to see the offence in Peter Alliss’ kitchen comment:
How is this sexist? The overly sensitive PC brigade are really starting to annoy me!
Her comment got 1,932 likes.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. These men tried to launch a new party … but anti-racism protesters gate-crashed their event (415 comments)
2. Couple stranded in Thailand with daughter as surrogate claims she didn’t know they were gay (374 comments)
3. People in Kerry are worried about plans for a public call to prayer at a Tralee mosque (274 comments)
4. Enda Kenny: ‘I expect to win the next election’ (268 comments)
5. ‘Government need a 50% compliance rate’ to make Irish Water work (250 comments)
Standout comments of the week
An article we ran during the week about two dogs who were saved from being put down after a photo of them hugging went viral proved extremely popular – with 530,000 views it’s become one of our most-read stories ever.
Denis Reidy had this to say about human’s best friend:
A dog has so much to offer unconditionally. It’s amazing how they fit into our lives, when allowed.
During a discussion on Lindy West’s wedding, Random Wan shared her own weight struggles and we’re really glad she did.
Not going to lie to you, I’m fat. I’m also only in my early 20’s. But the comments here slightly irritated me. Which, on this topic, doesn’t happen often. Because I know I am fat and I also know it’s not healthy. Believe it or not, I don’t actually want to be fat!For a long time, I have hid from myself, I considered myself less than others. I was (still am) fat so I should be ashamed of myself. Even though I have an alright personality, so people tell me, I couldn’t accept that part of me. Been fat had defined who I am. There is nothing more that I want than to be a skinny b*itch but that takes time and underlying health problems (which attribute to my weight) don’t help.
Reading this article gives me hope. Not hope that someday someone will accept me for been fat and marry me. It gives me hope that even if I try so hard to lose weight and it doesn’t happen, I have a future. I don’t have to be ashamed of who I am. When it comes to guys, I don’t put myself out there because I fear that I will be shot down. Fear that someone will like me on tinder, but if I was to actually meet them, they’d run a mile. I know I should give people more credit, but it’s fairly hard.
The pressures put on people these days are horrible. Male or female, there is a certain image of perfection we all have in our heads. For some, they are lucky enough to have a fast metabolism. For others, they enjoy sports and been active. Then there are those who didn’t let life get in the way and stayed healthy. I let my life get in the way, mostly cause of exams. From the leaving cert to college, there was always something. I actually do enjoy sports and am quite competitive, but not been able to run 50 meters without collapsing makes it hard to start.
People are not speaking out to be fat feminists, even if they are, that is not what I get from the many articles or videos posted lately. There are many people, myself included, who try so very hard. There of course are also those that don’t. But every summer I have tried, this summer is the 3rd time I have seen some progress for myself, my third success.
Which means, I have had 2 failures before, I just hope I don’t have anymore. I know it is not healthy to be fat, you really don’t have to tell me that. But imagine if you tried so very hard in school and kept getting set back and people around you were pressuring you, telling you every day that you aren’t the brightest button but they don’t know that you are trying so very hard. Of course there are people who just don’t put in the effort, but why not lift those that do make the effort up rather than putting them down.
I can’t speak for everyone in the world who is fat, I can only speak for myself and pray that people become more encouraging and supportive rather than accusatory and negative.
All I can hope for myself, is this time I don’t let life get in the way and I allow myself to be happy.
Yes I did create a new twitter profile just to post this. Yes, that is how sad my life is.
Watching Patsy Carville take his first flight at the age of 57 led catherine to open up about her dad.
My father flew for the first time at 78 years of age. He wanted to come visit me. He got his first passport for the flight too. He opened his first bank account at 80 years of age too. Now he loves using his debit and visa cards in store. Also bought his first laptop and took computer classes at 80 years of age. He was always up to try new stuff. Two years after though his health started to deteriorate and he’s not able to do so much now.
Friends of the Berkeley survivors held a fundraiser during the week, with the likes of Kodaline, Jape and Gavin James performing. A lot of you send your good wishes for the event, including jenni:
Well done and fair play to all those artists that have helped, that is truly awesome. best wishes to the lads and lassies still recovering…best wishes
There was cause for celebration when Hozier’s Take Me To Church was nominated for two MTV video awards.
MaryMary summed up the achievement well:
Best of luck to the lads, would be a great acknowledgment of a fantastic video, especially given the budget compared to the €1000s spent by other artists.
And finally, Galway Club Hurler managed to compare surfer Mick Fanning punching a shark to the GAA – sort of.
Wouldnt see that in the Galway hurling championship.
See any good comments? Send them on to orla@thejournal.ie
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