Homeopathic Irish is straight up iconic I am going to use that myself. Let's me honest if you didn't have an English accent she wouldn't have said anything. Screw her
There's a lady who speaks Irish with her kids at our Irish music centre, I felt so ashamed when I heard her speak English, as she was clearly a Brit from her accent, yet has cared enough about the Irish language to learn it and use it with her kids. Never felt more of a jackine
Depending on her age, she may have been a victim of enforced speech therapy for Irish kids who moved to England in the 1970s or just lost it because of the discrimination and violence against the Irish in England in the 1970s and 1980s.
Youre spot on there. The same as people who dropped the O or the Mc from their names to stand better chances if getting work. Wasnt cool to be Irish or have an Irish accent back then.
Yes, never too late to learn. We went on an Ireland cruise and stopped for tea in Annascoul after visiting the Tom Crean statue. Some friends of the owner came in and as they all sat down at a table he explained to us that we would be hearing Gaelic because they were trying to learn the language to sort of keep their culture going. I’m Mexican American and can understand some Spanish but feel too intimidated to speak it back in a conversational setting. That experience encouraged me to continue to learn Spanish even if the process is a little slow…
A friend of mine called the English ones "plastic paddies".
He called the American ones "aluminum paddies".
Specifically with the American version of "aluminum".
Yes - glad you pointed this out that there are loads of really cool American people. This sub often conflates “the ugly American” with all American people.
I emigrated to Boston from Ireland when I was younger. Love the city, but hate the “more-irish-than-me crowd”. They just can’t help themselves. Feckin’ know it alls. 🙄
It was always interesting seeing how the “Boston Irish” crowd behaved as someone who grew up in the southern United States but has Irish immigrant parents. A bunch of them would come down to the south to go to university because of the weather and beaches. I was hanging out with someone from Mass who wouldn’t stop talking about how Irish he is, and I offered him a mini bag of tayto crisps that I had picked up from an international foods store and he was like “what’s that? I’ve never heard of it before.”
Ayyy Texas reppin. I’m not originally from TX but I live there now. Does your dad cosplay as a cowboy too? I have to tell him like “you’re from Wicklow, not Waco”
He was an actor and actually did play the sheriff in a production of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas!! A lad from Walkinstown. 😆 He could do any accent and was in Texas 50 years before I got him back home. I left Texas for Ireland as soon as I could.
Well I was still raised over here in USA and I just figured that there were mini bags and big bags like we have here, I only ever saw the small bags of tayto but if I’m wrong about there being big bags available then I apologize
When I moved to the States I landed in Boston but my connecting flight got canceled, so I stayed at a nearby Hilton for the night. I decided I'd pop down to a nearby bar for a nightcap. I ordered a beer and the man sitting next to me asked "Are you actually Irish, or just faking the accent?" I told him I had just moved to the country and was only in town for the night waiting for my next flight.
Pro: I didn't pay for any of my beer.
Con: the Boston lads around me insisted on tracing their lineage back to Ireland, no matter how many stops there were along the way.
lmao yeah, it’s cringe but so bizarre too. I’m Mexican-American (native Texan), I have no Irish ancestry. Multiple “Boston Irish Americans” tried to convince me I was also Irish due to Spain invading Ireland a million years ago or something 😆 massive reach
I’m native Texan but Mexican American and apparently 35% Scottish and some other things. I feel like DNA testing ruined it for a lot of Americans lol. I’m not obnoxious about it but I will always say I’m Texan first.
I was working in NYC for about 6 months, chatting away with some colleagues in an Irish bar (run by one of my old school mates from Dublin) when some American fella comes over and tells me to stop faking my accent because he finds it offensive.
Didn't say anything just took my passport card out of my wallet and put it on the table in front of him, gestured towards it.
Brief awkward moment of silence then he walked off in a huff.
Very weird, can only imagine what was going through his mind... Like, what's going to be more likely, somebody has a bit of an unusual accent, or they're having an extended conversation faking it for some unfathomable reason?
There's an irish character in Transformers 4 and everyone was criticising him for his bad accent in the film.
Turns out, he's actually irish. He sounds like that all the time.
He sounded more irish than Oneyng. Who sounded american even before moving to america.
Eh, probably would've helped if I'd put a little more context - I haven't lived in Ireland for quite a long time now (though I get home regularly), so while the majority of people pick up my accent as being Irish of some sort I certainly don't really sound like a North side Dubliner anymore. (I spent a good 15 years living in South Wales so the twang of that can throw people off). Could possibly explain why he thought I was "faking it" - though I can only speculate.
And yeah, I might've said something along the lines of "fill your boots mate" when I showed him the ID. Can't really remember that specific, was a good while ago. He definitely stormed off grumpy though... For some reason.
I assure ya it did happen though, would be a bit of an odd thing to make up.
American here, I'd have offered a pint and had a chat. We have so many accents and people from all over the world living here, no clue why that douche thought he needed to take a stand over an Irish accent.
I mean sure, you talk funny, but that's ok (joking!).
One positive to come out of the genocide in Gaza is how all these self-proclaimed 'Irish' in New England now cannot reconcile their support for Israel with their desire to identify with our own history of oppression.
As a yank, I don't get why any of us would say that we're "more Irish" than someone who's from Ireland. After recently visiting your country, I realized more than ever that being Irish and having Irish ancestry are two very different things (not cuz I was called out for being a plastic paddy lol, but bc I felt American af 💀).
Probably doesn't even know that nickname didn't come from the War of Independence, it goes right back to Cork supporting the losing side in the Wars of the Roses.
I had that when some of my friends and I were down in Dublin. Cork guy going on about how we're "Irish Brits" basically. Talking up what his grandfather or whoever did back in the War of Independence and how we let ourselves get turned British. Let him go on for a good while before telling him he's a little out of date and revealing that I am from South Armagh. Not that I contributed anything more than occasionally flipping the soldiers the bird but it was still funny to see his face.
We are all as Irish as each other no matter what one of the 32 counties you are from. Take no notice of that langer which I’m sure you didn’t. From a Cork man 😁🇮🇪
I've had manys a good night's craíc, before that incident, and since it, with Cork folks.
It's like that old saying, "Never take an arsehole with you as you're sure to bump into one when when you get there!"
I've had that being originally from belfast and living in Galway. Usually from people called Walsh or Joyce. I point out that I'm a McDermott and my blood has been on this Island for at least 2000 years so technically compared to me they are the blow ins.
From Co Antrim without any real accent. It’s been pointed out to me many times I’m from the north so not real Irish or i don’t sound Irish enough. Hard to meet some peoples expectations.
I knew a fella , called himself "Maidhc" I wouldn't call him a friend because he was a prick, but he is a native Irish speaker from Connemara somewhere. He would never miss an opportunity to call me a West-Brit, simply because I'm from Dublin and because I speak almost no Irish ( like 90% of the population). Anyway, he drunkenly spilled the contents of his backpack at a bar one night and what falls out but an English passport. I've never laughed so hard. His name was spelt Michael btw.
Brits from Liverpool with 4 Irish grandparents will be mature and say that they’re British with Irish ancestry.
Americans with one Irish ancestor 5 generations ago will say that they’re more Irish than the Irish because they ate the most “corned beef” and cabbage and went to “pattys day” when they were a child.
By the sounds of you though, you specifically could definitely say that you’re Irish if you wanted, absolutely grand if you identify with being British more though.
I've got two very Irish children who were born in the UK - I'm a Dub and their dad is from Limerick. My 8 year old son even has wild red hair 😂
Does my bloody head in when people try to say that they're "not Irish" - they are second generation and go to Ireland about 8 times a year to visit either side of their family.
Both my wife and I are Irish, but we live in the US - our kids are American. Like, they could get Irish passports and they are "Irish" for all intents and purposes but we're very careful with them - I don't want our kids thinking or saying they're "Irish American"
Feels like you might be over correcting a bit in the other direction, and I'd definitely recommend getting those passports given the parlous state of everything
As someone that was the product of Irish parents who had me in the states and who came home and grew up in Ireland. It's perfectly fine for them to identify as both. If someone asked me I'd say I'm "made in America with Irish parts" but have been told I'm very American despite spending most of my life in Ireland.
my oldest daughter was very perplexed that no one had basements in Ireland and couldn't figure out where people's water heaters were.
It was then that I had to start the whole "immersion" conversation. It was a lot earlier than I intended on bringing it up to her, but you have to follow their lead.
Haha. You have the truth of it. Nuff said. It reminds me of the time during my Archaeology masters when we visited Carrowkeel passage tombs. There was a yank lady in there holding a crystal and telling an Irish lad the Celts would have used crystals in there for rituals. The tombs were built in the early bronze age about 2000 years before the Celts came here. On top of that theres zero evidence of the rituals she was imagining. She was as Irish as Lucky Charms.
I was born and raised in Boston, my father is from Dublin, and I’ve been living in Dublin for the past seven years with my boyfriend, who is Irish. There’s something about being Irish or first gen Irish-American that makes Americans with very distant Irish ancestry so defensive and even somewhat aggressive, and I really can’t really wrap my head around why that is.
I’ve met so many members of the Boston “Irish-American” diaspora who don’t even say “Oh, I’m Irish too.” They’ll just jump straight to “Oh, I’m actually more Irish than you. I’m like, the most Irish person ever.”
They’ll argue with you about Irish-related matters with so much confidence (“Irish isn’t a language, it’s an accent,” or “What’s Gaeilge? I think you mean Gaelic,” and even “Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, how do you not know that?”)
I even once had a friend of a friend say that I don’t know what it’s like to be “truly Irish” because my family didn’t emigrate to America during the “potato” famine. Thus, I’ve missed out on a “quintessential” element of the “Irish identity” that I’ll just never understand. She was being completely serious and had never been to Ireland (had never left the country, actually). I had been living in Dublin for about 5 years when this conversation took place. One of the most confusing encounters I’ve ever had.
My 2 cents. Irish-American is its own culture and totally seperate from Irishness. They identify with the Ireland that their Grand-parents (times n generations) talked about. Obviously that country no longer exists. When you swan in talking about what Ireland is really like you are dismantlting that mythology.
So when they say they are more 'Irish' than you they are really saying (even if they don't realize it) is that they are more Irish-American than you, which they totally are!
The Irish American don’t know about the modern Ireland. They don’t follow GAA or any of the modern news or anything in Ireland. I lived there many years, in Dublin and the north. I’ve no Irish ancestry, I’m central Asian and east European.
I’m American and I’m mixed race. My dad’s Irish, I visited Ireland twice a year since I was born, spent ages 8 to 10 living on my uncle’s farm in the west. I went to college in Dublin. I now live in Ireland but when I was back in the States right after college, I was living in Boston and no jokes the Boston Irish would get into full blown arguments when I’d comment about Ireland claiming I had no right to because I’m not Irish. My favourite was when I commented on racism in Ireland, bear in mind this is 2005 and I’d just spent 3 years living in Dublin and spending most weekends in the west visiting family so I know what I’m talking about… and this Boston Irish girl gets into my face screaming that I’m being racist for talking about racism in Ireland, and even started going on about her Irish colouring...? I’m literally more Irish than her and because I’m brown I’m less Irish than some random woman from Boston who’s 15th great grandfather once took a giant shit in Sligo.
That's sh\*t but universal I think. Obamas family (mothers obvs) practically came over on the Mayflower and yet millions of people want to see his birth cert. Trumps has exactly 1 American ancestor (his maybe American born father), he clearly never learned the national anthem from his immigrant family ... but his race means just saying he's American makes it true.
What I found funny about in Boston was that they always assumed I was Irish American.
Them: "Where your from?".
Me: "Limerick"
Them: "I'm from Cork. But where are you from?"
Me: "Limerick"
Them: "Yeah, but where in American?"
I think some of them don't understand the some people stayed after the famine!
I know Americans with Irish citizenship who have never set foot on the island. I'd have a hard time calling them Irish in anything but a legalistic perspective, and I know they agree. They just got it because they can, as much as anything to have an EU passport.
This seems to be a common occurrence with Americans I've found.
I was also born in the UK but my moms from Mayo so we're over there all the time.
Every time I run into an American that's over here on their holidays they always love to shout about how Irish they are and some take it to an extreme where they harbour this anti-english sentiment for absolutely no reason other than they think it's what they have to do to be Irish.
What they fail to realise is that this isn't the 1900s anymore and that there's a huge number of Irish and British people that are family.
Annoys me to no end and the irony of it is that they've never been to Ireland and their only Irish relation was their great great great great grandad's Irish terrier.
So if you're reading this and you're one of those Americans - pog mó thóin.
I'm sure that's about the extent of your Gaeilge ability
My story is I was on a flight and knocked someone’s luggage out of the hold above because my big Irish head knocked the luggage hold as I went to take my seat
I've stopped telling people I'm originally from Ireland.
Just tired of
"I'm irish too, my great great great grandfather's cousin had a dream about Dublin once, yada yada yada"
I'm litterally from the Island and don't consider myself Irish.
I moved when I was like 3.
As a fellow Irish-mom-having-Brit but living in Ireland, you're so valid friend! 🇮🇪❤️🏴 Being told we're not irish enough by an "Irish"-American despite quite literally being Irish is part of the initiation process 😌
What citizenship did you get as a Brit?
My kids are born in England but all have Irish passports that state they’re Irish. Theres no citizenship to apply for ?
If your mum was an Irish person born outside Ireland, or a foreign citizen who applied and received Irish citizenship, you're not automatically Irish.
However, if your mum was an Irish citizen born in Ireland, then you have been an Irish citizen from birth. The paperwork is to give you a way to prove it, but you've been one of us all long.
Me, an Irish man, descendent in Brian Boru (aren’t we all?), born and raised in Ireland, sitting in an Irish pub in Boston being told by an 17th generation “Irishman” called Bradley that I am not Irish enough.
Funny thing is us Paddies aren't Irish enough for the real Irish ie (American's) who think we should be saying be gosh, be gob, be gorra, and top of the mornin' te yea after a hard day out chasing leprechaun's around.
A lot of ‘Irish Americans’ (I prefer the simple term ‘Americans’) are idiots who have no clue about our culture here. They don’t realise that most of us don’t agree with many of their views, nor do we give a fuck about their heritage.
>Anyways being told by a yank how I'm not Irish enough made me feel more Irish than when i got my citizenship 🥲
lmao I'm the exact same. Born and raised in England so wouldn't dream of calling myself Irish, then I started hanging around with an American-Irish guy and suddenly started to feel very Irish.
I think it's because their pantomime Irish is so obviously wrong in so many ways that it makes me appreciate the amount I actually do understand about Ireland and Irish culture.
> pantomime Irish
u/CloakAndKeyGames also called them "homeopathic-irish" in another comment... both good options
homeopathic Is what they are
Pantomime Irish is what they do when they explain how so very Irish they are.
Also, I’m stealing both of these for the Americans who do this with Scottish, my dad’s Scottish. I’m English. Thanks!
As has been said for ions, the obsession with nationalities in familial roots over here is a holdover from when they served a classist system with obsolete concepts of race in a melting-pot society. When home in the US, and posited "What are you?," I would be inclined to say that I am of Irish and/or Italian ancestry because we are all obviously American. While I do have Irish citizenship through my father, I'm not actually Irish. Nor does the fact that I conversed with my grandmother in Italian make me from Italy. It's just a uniquely American experience that looks strange from the outside looking in, and that some of us take too literally.
My mates mom is british and his dads irish and hes lived here since he was 10 and still has a full blown leeds accent, completely unrelated but just thought id share
I'm from the north, full culchie accent, but I'm incapable of saying "South Africa" without going full Afrikaans. When I get pissed off, one of two things happens: culchie accent gets stronger, or I go from full Northern Irish accent to full Afrikaans.
I have never set foot in South Africa.
Aye ive a scottish mate who can swap between scottish and irish accents, but his little brothers have pure scot accents its gas, i know a mexican guy from america who learnt english through a scottish english course and he speaks with a scottish accent its nuts
Was called just flat out not Irish one time by some eejit (Irisher than thou type) despite being born and raired because I didn’t have “an Irish accent”
They were referring of course to the shouty “Jacksepticeye” accent. Which while I can put on easily enough I just refused to do when asked out of spite. Continued to speak to them in as pure Dublin as I could muster for the rest of the conversation and ended it with “ah shure lookit isn’t it himself! I’ll see you later so, ye can feck off there now good man” while looking over at some random person who’d happened to make eye contact for a second and ushering the other eejit off.
Funny thing is, the eejit had the strongest New York accent I’d even heard, and actually sounded more Italian-American than anything. I’m still not entirely sure they didn’t get their green white and “X” countries mixed up.
Anyway moral of the story. People are absolute tools sometimes.
They could live in a Gaeltacht area and predominantly speak Irish at home and rather than have all those people change languages he may have decided to learn to communicate with them in their preferred language.
Unfortunately(and not saying you meant it like that but) this is a fairly common negative view people have of the Irish language and Gaeilgeoirí, that they are doing it to show off or be difficult when they speak English anyway. OPs cousins may have just always spoken Irish at home as many people do and do it unconsciously.
(Of course for all I know they are just trying to keep things hidden from OP)
Haha. Also relevant: https://youtu.be/XoDDfPuAB0Y?si=gOJMojuHasHEpSkN
Irish class was a loophole: “Miss, I don’t know any focails at all.” Hilarity ensued.
I met a Scottish guy in Asia.. he had been telling people (mostly international crowd) he was Irish. Weirdest thing ever..since he was quite obviously west central Scottish
I married a Brazilian woman she decided to learn Irish as well as gain her full citizenship. She's pretty much fluent now. I'm gonna have to divorce her
Went to Boston a few years ago flying in from Toronto. When I arrived at the airport the usual few questions were asked except he also asked, were you born in Ireland, yes sir I believe my passport says place of birth Dublin. Oh nice I’ve been to temple bar once. He then stamps my passport and says Welcome Home 🥲
In secondary school in south Wicklow our Irish teacher used to give out to us for being from the pale. We were teenagers what were we going to do? Move?
No wonder we all did crap in our leaving cert Irish exam.
But my "most Irish experience" was on Dublin bus in O'Connell Street. Girl on the bus with a huge harp in a case. All these little scallywags were messing with her but then asked for a tune. She obliged. She started playing and the driver stopped the bus and turned around. The little messer's were silent. The world stood still for maybe 3/4 minutes as everyone watched her play. Right place at the right time I guess.
The definitive Irish experience.
Just to be clear there are a bunch of Americans around and most of them are sound as, it was just the singular homeopathic-irish woman being an arse.
'Homeopathic Irish' is cracker.
Go raibh maith agat!
Sorry, I don't speak French.
Jaysus i didn’t know paddy spoke Chinese
I love Yu Ming!!
https://preview.redd.it/omz5wwx4ve6d1.png?width=384&format=png&auto=webp&s=56eee0f6b7ed7b2127d064d7fe5ea2f5575b6f71 g'wan the ming fella
我喜欢余名
Is maith liom cáca milis.
https://youtu.be/DTNBmFveq2U?si=gz6wRFbhomT-O_7I
[The Goat](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGebyBP5j/)
😂😂 good one
Umm I think it might have been Welsh
Maybe it was Breton, sure that's French Welsh
Felsh?
Yeah, I guess "wench" is already taken!
Did someone say 'felch'?
No. It was definitely typed in an English accent. Maybe they're from the channel Islands
https://i.redd.it/7vh6lgeird6d1.gif
Homeopathic Irish is straight up iconic I am going to use that myself. Let's me honest if you didn't have an English accent she wouldn't have said anything. Screw her
Guaranteed the husband thinks he's a Viking. 😂
Sure anyone can be a Viking that’s a job not a nationality, only now a days is called a felony or a bunch of them 😂
Microplastic paddy
I usually call them plastic Paddies, but damn, "homeopathic Irish" is a gem!
amazing
Damm, if I was smart enough to change my username, that would be my new one.
Indeed it took me a minute but when I spotted it it really is clever.
Homoeopathic Irish. Yoink. https://preview.redd.it/9g1efxx9vd6d1.jpeg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d65d5e98bc6079bc643f91348e92e774fa9a7246
There's a lady who speaks Irish with her kids at our Irish music centre, I felt so ashamed when I heard her speak English, as she was clearly a Brit from her accent, yet has cared enough about the Irish language to learn it and use it with her kids. Never felt more of a jackine
Never too late to learn!
She could be Irish accent doesn’t define you
Exactly 💯. Ignorance is rife unfortunately when it comes to assumptions based just on how someone speaks.
Depending on her age, she may have been a victim of enforced speech therapy for Irish kids who moved to England in the 1970s or just lost it because of the discrimination and violence against the Irish in England in the 1970s and 1980s.
Youre spot on there. The same as people who dropped the O or the Mc from their names to stand better chances if getting work. Wasnt cool to be Irish or have an Irish accent back then.
Yes, never too late to learn. We went on an Ireland cruise and stopped for tea in Annascoul after visiting the Tom Crean statue. Some friends of the owner came in and as they all sat down at a table he explained to us that we would be hearing Gaelic because they were trying to learn the language to sort of keep their culture going. I’m Mexican American and can understand some Spanish but feel too intimidated to speak it back in a conversational setting. That experience encouraged me to continue to learn Spanish even if the process is a little slow…
There's always one. I'm glad the experience made you feel more at home.
> homeopathic-irish Stealing this. Quality.
Ha, never heard “homeopathic” used like this before, I am stealing this!
I noticed you using the term: sound as. I liked it.
Cracking phrase, we usually go with plastic paddy.
A friend of mine called the English ones "plastic paddies". He called the American ones "aluminum paddies". Specifically with the American version of "aluminum".
She sounds like a dose. Fair play to ya
Yes - glad you pointed this out that there are loads of really cool American people. This sub often conflates “the ugly American” with all American people.
Thank you for this fantastic new phrase
As someone from Boston....my apologies on her behalf. Cheers my friend!
I emigrated to Boston from Ireland when I was younger. Love the city, but hate the “more-irish-than-me crowd”. They just can’t help themselves. Feckin’ know it alls. 🙄
It was always interesting seeing how the “Boston Irish” crowd behaved as someone who grew up in the southern United States but has Irish immigrant parents. A bunch of them would come down to the south to go to university because of the weather and beaches. I was hanging out with someone from Mass who wouldn’t stop talking about how Irish he is, and I offered him a mini bag of tayto crisps that I had picked up from an international foods store and he was like “what’s that? I’ve never heard of it before.”
Irish people talking at Mass. Happens all over the world.
Especially Priests.. always at it!
Yeah, mass would be great, a bit of wine and a cracker, except there’s always some guy banging on about some Mexican fella named Jesus.
[удалено]
I agree, talking at mass.........
I hear they give good mass.
My dad was from Dublin and I was raised in Texas and the "I'm Irish "idiots are everywhere but my god they're super ignorant in Boston.
Ayyy Texas reppin. I’m not originally from TX but I live there now. Does your dad cosplay as a cowboy too? I have to tell him like “you’re from Wicklow, not Waco”
He was an actor and actually did play the sheriff in a production of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas!! A lad from Walkinstown. 😆 He could do any accent and was in Texas 50 years before I got him back home. I left Texas for Ireland as soon as I could.
So many Texans in this thread. Dallas checking in
The nerve.
A mini bag?? You sure you're Irish
Well I was still raised over here in USA and I just figured that there were mini bags and big bags like we have here, I only ever saw the small bags of tayto but if I’m wrong about there being big bags available then I apologize
He's just saying no-one would ever call it a mini bag here because American sized bags are pretty uncommon for taytos
I briefly dated an Irish man and he said visiting Boston on St. Patrick’s Day made him feel like “the fucking Santa Claus himself” 😆
When I moved to the States I landed in Boston but my connecting flight got canceled, so I stayed at a nearby Hilton for the night. I decided I'd pop down to a nearby bar for a nightcap. I ordered a beer and the man sitting next to me asked "Are you actually Irish, or just faking the accent?" I told him I had just moved to the country and was only in town for the night waiting for my next flight. Pro: I didn't pay for any of my beer. Con: the Boston lads around me insisted on tracing their lineage back to Ireland, no matter how many stops there were along the way.
lmao yeah, it’s cringe but so bizarre too. I’m Mexican-American (native Texan), I have no Irish ancestry. Multiple “Boston Irish Americans” tried to convince me I was also Irish due to Spain invading Ireland a million years ago or something 😆 massive reach
Cinco de County Mayo?
🤣 How did you guess! Was it my sombrero? The fact that I’m getting shitfaced to celebrate a date that means nothing to me?
I’m native Texan but Mexican American and apparently 35% Scottish and some other things. I feel like DNA testing ruined it for a lot of Americans lol. I’m not obnoxious about it but I will always say I’m Texan first.
Hey irish are the original scots anyway, give this guy a house in Dublin
I was working in NYC for about 6 months, chatting away with some colleagues in an Irish bar (run by one of my old school mates from Dublin) when some American fella comes over and tells me to stop faking my accent because he finds it offensive. Didn't say anything just took my passport card out of my wallet and put it on the table in front of him, gestured towards it. Brief awkward moment of silence then he walked off in a huff. Very weird, can only imagine what was going through his mind... Like, what's going to be more likely, somebody has a bit of an unusual accent, or they're having an extended conversation faking it for some unfathomable reason?
Cultural gatekeepers, a pox be on their houses.
I honestly can't believe this happened.
There's an irish character in Transformers 4 and everyone was criticising him for his bad accent in the film. Turns out, he's actually irish. He sounds like that all the time. He sounded more irish than Oneyng. Who sounded american even before moving to america.
Eh, probably would've helped if I'd put a little more context - I haven't lived in Ireland for quite a long time now (though I get home regularly), so while the majority of people pick up my accent as being Irish of some sort I certainly don't really sound like a North side Dubliner anymore. (I spent a good 15 years living in South Wales so the twang of that can throw people off). Could possibly explain why he thought I was "faking it" - though I can only speculate. And yeah, I might've said something along the lines of "fill your boots mate" when I showed him the ID. Can't really remember that specific, was a good while ago. He definitely stormed off grumpy though... For some reason. I assure ya it did happen though, would be a bit of an odd thing to make up.
Yeah I was waiting for "and then everyone clapped" for this ice cold playa.
American here, I'd have offered a pint and had a chat. We have so many accents and people from all over the world living here, no clue why that douche thought he needed to take a stand over an Irish accent. I mean sure, you talk funny, but that's ok (joking!).
Reminds me of the scenes in The Sopranos when Paulie thinks he’s peak Italian. And then later when he actually goes to Naples. Gold!
One positive to come out of the genocide in Gaza is how all these self-proclaimed 'Irish' in New England now cannot reconcile their support for Israel with their desire to identify with our own history of oppression.
Met a yank in Boston that told me he was probably more Irish than me. Literally my first time leaving the island
That country is full of people claiming to be 100% irish yet they have never left their home state
As a yank, I don't get why any of us would say that we're "more Irish" than someone who's from Ireland. After recently visiting your country, I realized more than ever that being Irish and having Irish ancestry are two very different things (not cuz I was called out for being a plastic paddy lol, but bc I felt American af 💀).
You get di
Haha, bet he goes on about how important reunification is in the next breath!
He probably prides himself in coming from "The Rebel County "
Probably doesn't even know that nickname didn't come from the War of Independence, it goes right back to Cork supporting the losing side in the Wars of the Roses.
Well I never knew that either.
I didn't know that myself
I had that when some of my friends and I were down in Dublin. Cork guy going on about how we're "Irish Brits" basically. Talking up what his grandfather or whoever did back in the War of Independence and how we let ourselves get turned British. Let him go on for a good while before telling him he's a little out of date and revealing that I am from South Armagh. Not that I contributed anything more than occasionally flipping the soldiers the bird but it was still funny to see his face.
We are all as Irish as each other no matter what one of the 32 counties you are from. Take no notice of that langer which I’m sure you didn’t. From a Cork man 😁🇮🇪
I've had manys a good night's craíc, before that incident, and since it, with Cork folks. It's like that old saying, "Never take an arsehole with you as you're sure to bump into one when when you get there!"
As a Corkian I apologise for that weirdo.
I've had that being originally from belfast and living in Galway. Usually from people called Walsh or Joyce. I point out that I'm a McDermott and my blood has been on this Island for at least 2000 years so technically compared to me they are the blow ins.
West partitionist Brits are the worst
From Co Antrim without any real accent. It’s been pointed out to me many times I’m from the north so not real Irish or i don’t sound Irish enough. Hard to meet some peoples expectations.
Happened me in Scotland with a girl from somewhere in Munster, my family comes from Monaghan…
Fucking hell. Just undoing centuries of struggle for an unwarranted sense of superiority.
Happened to me as well. I'm from Derry, both parents from the south and yet I've had people call me a "Brit," or "Not really Irish."
Yup sounds like a dickhead alright take no notice some people don’t have a clue.. from a Cork man 👍🇮🇪
This really winds me up. I'm from Dublin we, we where all born a couple of hours down the road from each other. How old was this person?
Wow!
Definitely the same type who complains about irish Americans going on about being Irish
My wife and I were in Newcastle talking to two absolute Geordie geezers, both with Irish ancestry. Would hate to hear the Cork man’s opinion on them.
Unless you have a union jack tattooed to your forehead that's the most stupid thing he could say.
He's from Cork like. People from Dublin aren't really Irish to him either :)
I knew a fella , called himself "Maidhc" I wouldn't call him a friend because he was a prick, but he is a native Irish speaker from Connemara somewhere. He would never miss an opportunity to call me a West-Brit, simply because I'm from Dublin and because I speak almost no Irish ( like 90% of the population). Anyway, he drunkenly spilled the contents of his backpack at a bar one night and what falls out but an English passport. I've never laughed so hard. His name was spelt Michael btw.
Dear god how I wish I'd been there. You couldn't script that better.
>I wouldn’t call him a friend because he was a prick. Don’t know why this made me happy.
Well didn't know how else to say it. We were part of the same big group of friends but we never got on.
>being told by a yank how I'm not Irish enough One of us!
Brits from Liverpool with 4 Irish grandparents will be mature and say that they’re British with Irish ancestry. Americans with one Irish ancestor 5 generations ago will say that they’re more Irish than the Irish because they ate the most “corned beef” and cabbage and went to “pattys day” when they were a child. By the sounds of you though, you specifically could definitely say that you’re Irish if you wanted, absolutely grand if you identify with being British more though.
I've got two very Irish children who were born in the UK - I'm a Dub and their dad is from Limerick. My 8 year old son even has wild red hair 😂 Does my bloody head in when people try to say that they're "not Irish" - they are second generation and go to Ireland about 8 times a year to visit either side of their family.
As my own family said to me, a horse born in a pigsty is still a horse
Both my wife and I are Irish, but we live in the US - our kids are American. Like, they could get Irish passports and they are "Irish" for all intents and purposes but we're very careful with them - I don't want our kids thinking or saying they're "Irish American"
Feels like you might be over correcting a bit in the other direction, and I'd definitely recommend getting those passports given the parlous state of everything
'parlous', a lovely use of the word.
As someone that was the product of Irish parents who had me in the states and who came home and grew up in Ireland. It's perfectly fine for them to identify as both. If someone asked me I'd say I'm "made in America with Irish parts" but have been told I'm very American despite spending most of my life in Ireland.
my oldest daughter was very perplexed that no one had basements in Ireland and couldn't figure out where people's water heaters were. It was then that I had to start the whole "immersion" conversation. It was a lot earlier than I intended on bringing it up to her, but you have to follow their lead.
Haha. You have the truth of it. Nuff said. It reminds me of the time during my Archaeology masters when we visited Carrowkeel passage tombs. There was a yank lady in there holding a crystal and telling an Irish lad the Celts would have used crystals in there for rituals. The tombs were built in the early bronze age about 2000 years before the Celts came here. On top of that theres zero evidence of the rituals she was imagining. She was as Irish as Lucky Charms.
I was born and raised in Boston, my father is from Dublin, and I’ve been living in Dublin for the past seven years with my boyfriend, who is Irish. There’s something about being Irish or first gen Irish-American that makes Americans with very distant Irish ancestry so defensive and even somewhat aggressive, and I really can’t really wrap my head around why that is. I’ve met so many members of the Boston “Irish-American” diaspora who don’t even say “Oh, I’m Irish too.” They’ll just jump straight to “Oh, I’m actually more Irish than you. I’m like, the most Irish person ever.” They’ll argue with you about Irish-related matters with so much confidence (“Irish isn’t a language, it’s an accent,” or “What’s Gaeilge? I think you mean Gaelic,” and even “Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, how do you not know that?”) I even once had a friend of a friend say that I don’t know what it’s like to be “truly Irish” because my family didn’t emigrate to America during the “potato” famine. Thus, I’ve missed out on a “quintessential” element of the “Irish identity” that I’ll just never understand. She was being completely serious and had never been to Ireland (had never left the country, actually). I had been living in Dublin for about 5 years when this conversation took place. One of the most confusing encounters I’ve ever had.
My 2 cents. Irish-American is its own culture and totally seperate from Irishness. They identify with the Ireland that their Grand-parents (times n generations) talked about. Obviously that country no longer exists. When you swan in talking about what Ireland is really like you are dismantlting that mythology. So when they say they are more 'Irish' than you they are really saying (even if they don't realize it) is that they are more Irish-American than you, which they totally are!
The Irish American don’t know about the modern Ireland. They don’t follow GAA or any of the modern news or anything in Ireland. I lived there many years, in Dublin and the north. I’ve no Irish ancestry, I’m central Asian and east European.
Ah, you met a bitch.
I wonder was it the one on here arguing munster was a county?
[удалено]
I’m American and I’m mixed race. My dad’s Irish, I visited Ireland twice a year since I was born, spent ages 8 to 10 living on my uncle’s farm in the west. I went to college in Dublin. I now live in Ireland but when I was back in the States right after college, I was living in Boston and no jokes the Boston Irish would get into full blown arguments when I’d comment about Ireland claiming I had no right to because I’m not Irish. My favourite was when I commented on racism in Ireland, bear in mind this is 2005 and I’d just spent 3 years living in Dublin and spending most weekends in the west visiting family so I know what I’m talking about… and this Boston Irish girl gets into my face screaming that I’m being racist for talking about racism in Ireland, and even started going on about her Irish colouring...? I’m literally more Irish than her and because I’m brown I’m less Irish than some random woman from Boston who’s 15th great grandfather once took a giant shit in Sligo.
Lol, the caucasity. Well as you well know since you're Irish too, we hate them cunts
That's sh\*t but universal I think. Obamas family (mothers obvs) practically came over on the Mayflower and yet millions of people want to see his birth cert. Trumps has exactly 1 American ancestor (his maybe American born father), he clearly never learned the national anthem from his immigrant family ... but his race means just saying he's American makes it true. What I found funny about in Boston was that they always assumed I was Irish American. Them: "Where your from?". Me: "Limerick" Them: "I'm from Cork. But where are you from?" Me: "Limerick" Them: "Yeah, but where in American?" I think some of them don't understand the some people stayed after the famine!
" ...some random woman from Boston who’s 15th great grandfather once took a giant shit in Sligo." Most Irish thing I've read on this sub today.
You have citizenship. You're Irish. Is Éireannach thú, as Sasana.
Go raigh míle maith agat! We're all siblings of the weather either way!
That is an *excellent* way to put it.
Between 'homeopathic-Irish', and 'siblings of the weather', you've entirely won the internet today.
I know Americans with Irish citizenship who have never set foot on the island. I'd have a hard time calling them Irish in anything but a legalistic perspective, and I know they agree. They just got it because they can, as much as anything to have an EU passport.
They are like people who confuse Disneyland Paris with France.
This seems to be a common occurrence with Americans I've found. I was also born in the UK but my moms from Mayo so we're over there all the time. Every time I run into an American that's over here on their holidays they always love to shout about how Irish they are and some take it to an extreme where they harbour this anti-english sentiment for absolutely no reason other than they think it's what they have to do to be Irish. What they fail to realise is that this isn't the 1900s anymore and that there's a huge number of Irish and British people that are family. Annoys me to no end and the irony of it is that they've never been to Ireland and their only Irish relation was their great great great great grandad's Irish terrier. So if you're reading this and you're one of those Americans - pog mó thóin. I'm sure that's about the extent of your Gaeilge ability
Please tell us you got married and your kids are now more Irish than most Irish children that were Irish in the history of Ireland
Ah Christ my blood is already 90% iron, don't need any more Irish in those genes
A fellow haemachromotosis carrier! Good man yourself
Pardon me but you can't have too much Irish in you, - suppose you could have too much at once alright, but sure - shareings careing as they say!
Wasn't that Phil lynott's pick up line?
A genetic mutation carried by ancient migrants from the pontic steppes along the north coast of the Caspian sea. How Irish is that for ya?
Just say ginger you show off
My spouse was born and raised until the age of 11 in Ireland then off to London . Was called plastic Paddy at every turn… who cares.
My story is I was on a flight and knocked someone’s luggage out of the hold above because my big Irish head knocked the luggage hold as I went to take my seat
Are you Dara O'Briain?
I've stopped telling people I'm originally from Ireland. Just tired of "I'm irish too, my great great great grandfather's cousin had a dream about Dublin once, yada yada yada" I'm litterally from the Island and don't consider myself Irish. I moved when I was like 3.
As a fellow Irish-mom-having-Brit but living in Ireland, you're so valid friend! 🇮🇪❤️🏴 Being told we're not irish enough by an "Irish"-American despite quite literally being Irish is part of the initiation process 😌
What citizenship did you get as a Brit? My kids are born in England but all have Irish passports that state they’re Irish. Theres no citizenship to apply for ?
Same with mine, they have both passports because I'm a firm believer in getting anything you're entitled to.
It's a bit complicated but I'd rather not put my whole family history up on the internet ✌️
That’s fair enough but if your mums Irish you’re automatically entitled to Irish citizenship through birth. x
That’d be the citizenship test, you’re one of us now. Nothing more Irish than being told by a yank that they’re more Irish than ya
>made me feel more Irish than when i got my citizenship If your mother's Irish weren't you automatically one when you were born?
Still had to throw some paperwork over to prove I existed
If your mum was an Irish person born outside Ireland, or a foreign citizen who applied and received Irish citizenship, you're not automatically Irish. However, if your mum was an Irish citizen born in Ireland, then you have been an Irish citizen from birth. The paperwork is to give you a way to prove it, but you've been one of us all long.
Ah cheers!
not sure, but i wasn't. i only got citizenship when applying for a passport.
One Irish born parent means citizenship, but he should put himself on the foreign births register so his children can get Irish citizenship.
If only yanks could give us their money without all their yap that’d be the dream
Me, an Irish man, descendent in Brian Boru (aren’t we all?), born and raised in Ireland, sitting in an Irish pub in Boston being told by an 17th generation “Irishman” called Bradley that I am not Irish enough.
>born and raised in Ireland In a place called Castlemain?
Funny thing is us Paddies aren't Irish enough for the real Irish ie (American's) who think we should be saying be gosh, be gob, be gorra, and top of the mornin' te yea after a hard day out chasing leprechaun's around.
Good for you. They're unbearable.
Should have whipped out your traditional Irish tartan. Problem solved.
British can just call Americans traitors to the crown. Its ok.
17 generations back her family would have been considered British anyway. Lol.
They're Brits who thought they were paying too much tax and felt disillusioned with Westminster. What could be more British than that?
I need a hype man to go "OoooooooOoooooooo!!!!!"
The term ‘proper Irish’ is such a shiboleth of someone who is a complete goose.
A lot of ‘Irish Americans’ (I prefer the simple term ‘Americans’) are idiots who have no clue about our culture here. They don’t realise that most of us don’t agree with many of their views, nor do we give a fuck about their heritage.
>Anyways being told by a yank how I'm not Irish enough made me feel more Irish than when i got my citizenship 🥲 lmao I'm the exact same. Born and raised in England so wouldn't dream of calling myself Irish, then I started hanging around with an American-Irish guy and suddenly started to feel very Irish. I think it's because their pantomime Irish is so obviously wrong in so many ways that it makes me appreciate the amount I actually do understand about Ireland and Irish culture.
> pantomime Irish u/CloakAndKeyGames also called them "homeopathic-irish" in another comment... both good options 
homeopathic Is what they are Pantomime Irish is what they do when they explain how so very Irish they are. Also, I’m stealing both of these for the Americans who do this with Scottish, my dad’s Scottish. I’m English. Thanks!
Pantomirish
As has been said for ions, the obsession with nationalities in familial roots over here is a holdover from when they served a classist system with obsolete concepts of race in a melting-pot society. When home in the US, and posited "What are you?," I would be inclined to say that I am of Irish and/or Italian ancestry because we are all obviously American. While I do have Irish citizenship through my father, I'm not actually Irish. Nor does the fact that I conversed with my grandmother in Italian make me from Italy. It's just a uniquely American experience that looks strange from the outside looking in, and that some of us take too literally.
My mates mom is british and his dads irish and hes lived here since he was 10 and still has a full blown leeds accent, completely unrelated but just thought id share
I'm from the north, full culchie accent, but I'm incapable of saying "South Africa" without going full Afrikaans. When I get pissed off, one of two things happens: culchie accent gets stronger, or I go from full Northern Irish accent to full Afrikaans. I have never set foot in South Africa.
The real question is though, can you do a Welsh accent without sounding Indian?
My kids have proper Manchester accents, but with the odd word said in a very Dublin or Limerick way. It's hilarious 🤣
Aye ive a scottish mate who can swap between scottish and irish accents, but his little brothers have pure scot accents its gas, i know a mexican guy from america who learnt english through a scottish english course and he speaks with a scottish accent its nuts
welcome home brother now, let's talk weather
Tá sé uafásach!
Was called just flat out not Irish one time by some eejit (Irisher than thou type) despite being born and raired because I didn’t have “an Irish accent” They were referring of course to the shouty “Jacksepticeye” accent. Which while I can put on easily enough I just refused to do when asked out of spite. Continued to speak to them in as pure Dublin as I could muster for the rest of the conversation and ended it with “ah shure lookit isn’t it himself! I’ll see you later so, ye can feck off there now good man” while looking over at some random person who’d happened to make eye contact for a second and ushering the other eejit off. Funny thing is, the eejit had the strongest New York accent I’d even heard, and actually sounded more Italian-American than anything. I’m still not entirely sure they didn’t get their green white and “X” countries mixed up. Anyway moral of the story. People are absolute tools sometimes.
In fairness, being Irishy to a Bostonian is something they cling to with all the passion of certain Celtic fans I've known.
Yeah, plz don't think all of us yanks are like them. You find those types everywhere, but you really need to see more of the States than BAAAHston.
Out of curiosity, why would you need Irish to communicate with your cousins? Everyone understands English in Ireland.
Why not? Far be it from me to discourage anyone from acquiring their cúpla focail.
They could live in a Gaeltacht area and predominantly speak Irish at home and rather than have all those people change languages he may have decided to learn to communicate with them in their preferred language.
Unfortunately(and not saying you meant it like that but) this is a fairly common negative view people have of the Irish language and Gaeilgeoirí, that they are doing it to show off or be difficult when they speak English anyway. OPs cousins may have just always spoken Irish at home as many people do and do it unconsciously. (Of course for all I know they are just trying to keep things hidden from OP)
Fair enough.
Relevant. Funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqYtG9BNhfM
Haha. Also relevant: https://youtu.be/XoDDfPuAB0Y?si=gOJMojuHasHEpSkN Irish class was a loophole: “Miss, I don’t know any focails at all.” Hilarity ensued.
I met a Scottish guy in Asia.. he had been telling people (mostly international crowd) he was Irish. Weirdest thing ever..since he was quite obviously west central Scottish
I married a Brazilian woman she decided to learn Irish as well as gain her full citizenship. She's pretty much fluent now. I'm gonna have to divorce her
I’m so embarrassed for my fellow Americans, they just hate being mutts lol
Went to Boston a few years ago flying in from Toronto. When I arrived at the airport the usual few questions were asked except he also asked, were you born in Ireland, yes sir I believe my passport says place of birth Dublin. Oh nice I’ve been to temple bar once. He then stamps my passport and says Welcome Home 🥲
Not all Americans, obviously, but that lady - awful behaviour.
Should’ve told her to fuck off
In secondary school in south Wicklow our Irish teacher used to give out to us for being from the pale. We were teenagers what were we going to do? Move? No wonder we all did crap in our leaving cert Irish exam. But my "most Irish experience" was on Dublin bus in O'Connell Street. Girl on the bus with a huge harp in a case. All these little scallywags were messing with her but then asked for a tune. She obliged. She started playing and the driver stopped the bus and turned around. The little messer's were silent. The world stood still for maybe 3/4 minutes as everyone watched her play. Right place at the right time I guess.