In honor of St. Patty's Day:


One day (over 20 years ago) this guy was working clearance delivery in the tower, and one of the new-hires came over to observe him. The new guy said "when Aer Lingus (the Irish airline) calls for a clearance, tell him "pogue mahone," which means "have a nice flight" in Gaelic." So sure enough Aer Lingus calls for a clearance, and the clearance guy says "Shamrock*** cleared to Shannon via***, squawk ****, and "pogue mahone"." Then the Aer Lingus pilot reads back his clearance and says "say again the last part." The clearance guy said "pogue mahone." The pilot: "what did you say?!" The clearance guy: "pogue mahone." Several minutes go by and Aer Lingus starts to taxi out of the ramp. Then the phone rings in the tower and the supervisor answers it. It was Aer Lingus operations, and they wanted to know "why was clearance delivery telling our pilot to "kiss my a$$?!!!""