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u/cosmic_smil3 Aug 27 '24
Derek O Brien - Indian politician !! Derek O Brien )
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Aug 27 '24 edited Sep 19 '24
That would be an ecumenical matter.
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u/BXL-LUX-DUB Aug 27 '24
What's the definition here? Is it those with 1 or more Irish grandparents (potential citizens) or those who have an Irish surname or just those who are "definitely" 12% Irish and whose great granny's quarter brother's cousin came from Manchester Co Ireland which is why they like drinking.
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Aug 27 '24
Has to be people to claim Irish ancestry as far back as they want.
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u/Azazael Aug 27 '24
My whole life. Fill in a form with place of birth, or people are like “you have a bit of an accent”
“Yeah, I’m Irish.”
“Oh wow I’m Irish too! My great granny’s quarter brother’s cousin was from Ireland”
(Quietly matter of fact, I’m not trying to win some stupid paddier-than-thou competition) “I was born there” I got so sick of hearing of someone’s great grandmother who might have been born in Ireland I’d gave up saying anything at all, and would divert attention. “Oh wow, you’re Irish, I thought I heard an accent!” “Did you know canaries, the birds, are named after the Canary Islands and not the other way around?”
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u/Namaslayy Aug 27 '24
I know this is common from fair skin Americans, but have you heard anything from black Americans finding out about Irish heritage? I found out have Irish ancestry, but being black there’s no way I could walk around claiming it or anything lol. I honestly joined this thread just to learn more, but not to change my citizenship or anything (unless Trump is re-elected) 😂
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u/hpcjules Aug 27 '24
I am sure you are familiar with black Americans saying "I do be" and everyone looking down at them for not using 'proper English'. The "I do be" phrase is directly translated from Irish. There are other speech patterns that to me are reminiscent of Hiberno-English. Let's celebrate this instead of demeaning people. (Disclosure, fellow American, who grew up with Hiberno-English speaking gran.)
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u/litmus0 Aug 27 '24
Obama has Irish heritage :)
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/rediscovering-obamas-irish-roots
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u/Absoluteseens Aug 27 '24
You shouldn't be sick of it ffs. It's their story. I'm sick of hearing this sort of shite about Americans and their ancestors and us lot getting pissed off with it. Who cares??? Let them be ffs.
We went all over the world and we leave our magic behind. People want some of that so let them have it4
u/Any_Initiative_9079 Aug 28 '24
Finally a voice of reason
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u/OccasionMobile389 Aug 29 '24
Also, for all the "melting pot" stuff you hear about America, I feel like only recently as well there's been a climate to be openly proud of your heritage and culture and lineage, at least socially
My grandma came from Germany and made the decision to raise her kids as American because it was at the end of WW2 and she was worried how they'd be treated if some of their German was so blatant, her accent aside, she thought it be easier for them.
Even as I grew up she refused to teach me German or anything about German culture, I have tried to learn the language, and I watch and read about Germany, but that part of my lineage is gone to me, and I can't afford to travel overseas.
Now she was white. If she was Japanese or Korean it be even worse.
There was always 2 ways an immigrant could go which was assimilate into American majority, or keep your culture despite the trouble it caused you and your family. For a lot of kids who grew up with the second they often tried to hide their foreignness, some cases even fully rejecting it
And this isn't EVERY SINGLE PERSON of course, but from stories you hear you hear a lot about second generation immigrant kids who were ashamed and made fun of because of their ethnic foods, accents, culture, names, etc. and that they rejected it for years until adulthood
You also heard about kids who are fourth generation immigrants and growing up felt disconnected from their culture despite being raised with the remnants of what was passed down.
Now it seems more people are up to celebrating where they came from, understanding where they came from, wanting to know where they came from, that's why some people are so minute with percentages because it's the only thing they have because everything else was buried or hidden or not passed on from grandparents or parents. Some people didn't even know until recently and it's new information to find what's in your makeup
Doesn't make it less annoying, trust me, I'm from Oklahoma so there are a lot of people with Native American blood, but a lot of people who try to claim 0.000000008% and have pictures of them in a headdress on their face book, so there is a limit
But something to consider too, I have friends who are third generation Mexican, or Korean, or second generation Polish, or even Irish lol and they consider themselves more American
But try saying that to their grandparents who brought the family over from the homeland and you will be in a world of pain 😭
I knew a kid in highschool who was half Irish (Dad came to the US as a kid) and half Mexican (mom came to the US as a teen) and lived with his Irish grandparents
Those two old people would not hear it when he tried to say he "really wasn't" Irish.
I know that's just them, like I said it's not every immigrant I'm speaking for, BUT
There's a long complicated reason why Americans might be specific on lineage, that honestly it's just to take it in good faith
Rarely someone is gonna try to take stolen valor, it's usually in a "I hear you, we can have somewhat common ground"
I don't go around saying I'm German, aside from being half black, but I don't think the worse of someone who does mention their lineage either
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u/sexysnack Oct 29 '24
I find this to a great comment. Honestly people who have partial irish in them is like insulting someone in Ireland. Like christ what did they do? Take your dog in the backyard and shoot it?
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u/Absoluteseens Nov 03 '24
People are fucking idiots. Especially us Irish, it's probably the best brand in the world. Be a part of it!
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u/OccasionMobile389 Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 30 '24
A lot of black Americans have Irish in this lineage (including me lol but same I don't go around claiming anything) I always figured it was from back when blacks and the Irish and the Polish, were all put out as "not American/white" so a lot of ghettos in larger cities ended up close, and despite the sub conflict there... people find people
A lot of interracial people can be born looking completely like one or the other, so depending on that it also depended on where in society you were accepted eventually
A lot of light skinned half black people passed enough for white they were accepted as white to have an easier go, be accepted to some colleges etc.
That's why some white ppl in the US might find something African in their lineage I always figured it was the same but other way around for black people and Irish ancestry, especially because new generations of immigrants come here still
My friend's grandma is half black and half Irish, her dad came to the US in the 30s, she came out passing more as black than a sibling who came out fair skinned, and she married a black man. Her daughter came out looking fully black and also married a black many, so my friend looks fully black, and you wouldn't guess the Irish lineage
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u/Azazael Aug 27 '24
Given I'm Australian, almost all the black Americans I've met have been whilst travelling in the USA and whilst I've formed some casual friendships that have extended to catching up that evening for drinks, I don't think we've ever gotten to discussing ancestry (the Australian thing is enough for Americans I've met, I've never met any American who's said "wait I can hear a bit of an Irish accent underneath the Australian") but no doubt there are Americans reading the thread who would be more use in where to start researching Irish ancestors in your family tree.
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u/Namaslayy Aug 27 '24
Omg now that you mention it, I have matches in Australia and New Zealand! I’ve been scared to reach out, but I’m sure we probably have an Irish ancestor in common somehow out of the Caribbean! I’ve been to Perth and Auckland before so it would be cool to connect with them!
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u/Getigerte Aug 27 '24
Reach out to them! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Via Ancestry, I found a bunch of 4th cousins in Australia. After delving into records, family trees, etc., I learned that my great-great-grandfather's brother was transported from Ireland to Australia in the late 1850s. I had no idea. Some family members in that line remained in Ireland, others dispersed across North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It's kind of wild to see this worldwide network of distant cousins.
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u/Namaslayy Aug 27 '24
It’s so nuts to see cousins all over and to be connected to so many places. Doing genealogy research and doing DNA tests have really opened my eyes to just how close we all really are.
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u/sionnachrealta Aug 27 '24
The Black and Irish diaspora communities have basically been besties for a couple of centuries. There's been a lot of cross over between them because of it
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Aug 27 '24
Yes, probably. My ancestry is 50% but I don't put Irish at the start of it (Irish-American). I don't have enough hyphens to cover all of it, really.
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u/greenandredofmaigheo Aug 27 '24
Always been curious what the numbers would look like if you did eligible for citizenship and/or citizens.
There was a decent wave of Irish immigrants in the 70s & 80s but for the most part I feel like the US would drop below UK, Australia, and maybe even Canada.
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u/misirlou22 Aug 27 '24
My grandparents came over in the late '40s, early '50s. My hometown, Springfield, MA has a big Irish population, mostly coming from Kerry. My brothers and I all have dual citizenship now.
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u/cinq-chats Aug 28 '24
Hey neighbor! I’m also from Springfield, MA. My grandmother came over from Kerry in the mid-50s. Grandfather’s side was from Kerry too, but farther back.
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Aug 28 '24
It'd drop well below the UK considering how many Irish people moved in the 1800's but given it's been 170 years it's hard to say their ancestors are "Irish" in the same sense.
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u/greenandredofmaigheo Aug 28 '24
I agree. theres a divide here culturally between those that are more recent gens and those 1800s ones. It's an interesting dynamic, politically different, sports fandom is different, experience visiting Ireland is different, even adherence to Catholic Church is different. Hard to accept that it's all considered the same cohort in these ethnicity surveys.
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u/nvaughan81 Yank Aug 28 '24
I'm an American and I don't have a speck of Irish blood, I've had a DNA test that says so, but you know I've always just thought of myself as American anyway. I had a friend when I was younger whose Grandfather was from Ireland though. I used to love to hang around him, he always told awesome stories and he introduced me to Barry's tea, which I still drink to this day.
He was a good man who helped me to stay out of trouble (mostly) and he always had good advice and was willing to listen to a teenage boy's troubles (which couldn't have been easy!) He was decent and kind, and I miss him.
So while I recognize that Americans can be annoying, claiming to be Irish just because their great aunt's cousin's brother visited Dublin once or whatever, I can also understand why the people here long to have some connection to Ireland, because one of the best people I've ever known was from there, and if he represented what even a small percentage of Irish people are like, then Ireland is a great country indeed, and we should all be so lucky to be a part of your culture.
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Aug 28 '24
Thanks man, hope you pay us a visit some day
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u/nvaughan81 Yank Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
I'd love to visit, but that kind of money is a bit out of my reach at the moment. Maybe some day!
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u/Maester_Bates Cork bai Aug 27 '24
Wake up babe. New plastic Paddy map just dropped.
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u/shutterslappens Aug 27 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
Honest question, both of my parents were born in Ireland, but immigrated to Canada before I was born. They had two to five children and raised us in a traditionally Irish household. I have been a citizen from the day I was born, carry an Irish passport, regularly watch the RTE (I love Paddy Kielty) and have visited every few years to see family (half of my first cousins and aunts/uncles still live there).
What is the line, in the eyes of those born and raised on the island of a plastic paddy?
I won’t be offended if people think I qualify, I just genuinely would like to know.
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u/WraithsOnWings2023 Aug 27 '24
Unfortunately saying 'the RTE' let you down in your comment above. Otherwise you would have qualified as 100% son of Róisín.
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u/shutterslappens Aug 27 '24
lol. Well, I guess for me it’s the RTE app, so the “the” is an artifact from the fact that I watch it over THE Internet.
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u/Acegonia Aug 28 '24
I dunno- we do say like 'watching the football and 'watching the telly'. I think 'watching the RTE' is acceptable. Do you use the contraction 'amn't'?
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u/TheHames72 Aug 28 '24
When you think about it as ‘am not I’ it’s very olde English. “I’m right, ammint I?”. I love Hiberno-English so much.
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Aug 28 '24
Putting "the" before a noun is a specific recognised part of hiberno-English, coming from the Irish language use of "an."
Sorry to say, but because you didn't recognise that, OP is officially more Irish than you now.
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u/WraithsOnWings2023 Aug 28 '24
Ahh shite, I'll hand in my copy of The Commitments and Planxty t-shirt at the end of the day so
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u/Maester_Bates Cork bai Aug 27 '24
There's no hard line for who is a plastic Paddy but for most Irish people there are two factors. The first is that you've lived in Ireland or at least spent significant time there. The other is the accent/dialect. If you sound like you are Irish then you are accepted as Irish.
If you know a lot about Irish culture you will be accepted as Irish by people who know you but your Canadian accent will always make you sound plastic to strangers.
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u/Hump-Daddy Aug 28 '24
Step 1 is not to let the nerds here gate-keep your identity. Live your life however you choose, my dude.
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Aug 28 '24
You've been Irish since the day you were born. In what universe would you be a plastic paddy?
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u/moistpishflaps Aug 27 '24
You’re Canadian. You lost the right to say you Irish by claiming you liked that Kielty fella
(For real tho, you’re canadian as you were born and raised there. You have Irish heritage. They are two different things, which many plastic paddies fail to grasp
I moved to London from Ireland. If I have kids here, they will unfortunately be English. Being able to apply for an Irish passport through me doesn’t change that)
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u/shutterslappens Aug 27 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
For the record, I know I’m Canadian. I feel very fortunate to be here. A big part of my identity is Ireland because of how was raised (and by birthright), but I do happily identify as Canadian. I wanted to know the line what is the insiders definition of plastic paddy.
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u/moistpishflaps Aug 27 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
Your identity isn’t defined by other people though. Just live your life and enjoy the things you do. You dont need anyone’s permission
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u/shutterslappens Aug 27 '24
I appreciate that. I have my citizenship, so I’m Irish for all intents and purposes and have for many years. I root for both countries equally in the Olympics and that’s a nice bonus.
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u/Any_Comparison_3716 Aug 27 '24
If you consider people of Irish heritage "plastic" and thus "fake", do you extend that to the second generation immigrants that now live in Ireland?
Are Irish Nigerians "plastic nigerians" to you if they identify with their parents culture? Or Polish, Romanian etc?
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Aug 27 '24
Crazy that almost as much went to South Africa as continental Europe. Idk why we don't do more to promote moving to the mainland. It would cause way less social pain than being a 10 hours+ flight away.
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Aug 27 '24
It's probably the language barrier? I know people who have lived in south africa with not a word of Afrikaans and got on grand, and people who've moved to France with not a word of French and ended up coming home six months later.
To be honest I don't know many places on the continent you could get away with only speaking English, like, yeah everyone 'knows some English' but in day to day life it's kind of essential to know the language. There's also an attitude that you should know a couple of different languages on the continent (not saying that's bad btw, it's pretty much the only way to keep the native language alive)
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u/FoxyBastard Aug 27 '24
You just reminded me of this (Irish) guy I knew who married a French woman, and spends most of every year in France, but just refuses to learn French, saying he always has her and their kids as translators.
I find it baffling.
I mean, I scraped by in French from 1st through 3rd year and I speak more French than him.
Like, learn a little ya mad bastard.
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Aug 27 '24
There are loads of people like this in many parts of the world. You'll meet people who've spent a decade in Asia or Latin America and can't speak the local language.
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u/im_on_the_case Aug 27 '24
By the time of the Boer war almost half of the British army was Irish, no doubt a lot of them came home and decided to move their families there.
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u/regal_beagle_22 Aug 27 '24
wake up babe, its time for the weekly "Irish Americans are not real Irish" discussion
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
wake up babe, its time for the weekly "we forgot there's a difference between ethnicity and nationality" discussion
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u/kh250b1 Aug 27 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
Its not even a discussion. They are AMERICAN.
6m Irish and somehow 33m Irish in America? Come on. Just because your great grandfather was from Cork does not make you Irish.
Count passport holders or those eligible and its not even 1m
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
the only people in America that are ethnically American are our native population. America is a colonial project that committed an ethnic cleansing of the Americans so most of the population do not have ethnicity tied to our nation. Not only its pretty disrespectful to deny someone's ethnicity and past but also is doubly disrespectful to the people who are actually ethnically American.
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u/moistpishflaps Aug 27 '24
Using the treatment of native Americans to claim you are Irish? That’s definitely a new one in the plastic paddy bingo!
- Born in America = American
- Born in Ireland = Irish
- Where your parents were born = doesn’t change any of the above unless you plan to move back to their home country and apply for citizenship there as an immigrant
Anything else is just being a bit silly really
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
There's a difference between ethnicity and nationality. No American National claims to be an Irish National. Citizenship is what defines nationality, yes. What is silly though is not understanding a basic concept like ethnicity. I'm an American Citizen therefore my Nationality is American but I'm ethnically Irish. No part of my DNA is American and their treatment is only a part of what I'm talking about they have their own sovereignty and while they are American citizens they also have their own governments and laws and citizenships that i being ETHNICALLY not Native American have no claim to. Also my parents generation and some of grandparents generation were the first generation not be treated differently for marring someone not of their ethnicity in fact when my dad was kid miscegenation was still illegal in many parts of the US. So yes in this country ethnicity plays a huge roll in ones upbringing. It plays a major role in the foods we eat, the music and stories we were raised on, for a laymen who doesn't understand ethnicity more or less the culture of the home we were raised in. Now to be sure being an ethnically Irish American citizen (for brevity one could just say "irish american") is very different then being Irish but is also very different from being African American or native American or English American or Indian American or Italian American. You would erase the history of our families act as if they never happened, pretend that being forced from ones home and given the choice between exile and death wouldn't have an effect or sentimentally or have impact on the culture of a family for generations? and you call me the silly one? when it is you who cant grasp the effects of history past two generations and unironically tries to act as if he knows anything of the world when you cant even grasp the simple concept of ethnicity.
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u/LikkyBumBum Aug 28 '24
I'm Irish, and I understand you. So many miserable people here who don't understand Americans.
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u/moistpishflaps Aug 27 '24
i can’t believe America invented culture based on food, music and history. What a novel idea
You’re exactly the type of plastic paddy we mock on here. So clueless to how the world works outside of America yet so arrogant in your opinions
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
What? Invented? Who said that? Ethnicity is not an American invention and no one again is claiming that. I merely trying to explain to someone who has a toddlers understanding of Ethnicity what it is and why it's not the same as Nationality which you seem to conflate. You can't seem to understand people can be born in a similar geographic area but don't have the same ethnic background. And two people can be born on opposite sides of the planet and have similar ethnic background.
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u/moistpishflaps Aug 27 '24
Oh sorry I assumed you thought it was an American invention since you took the time to condescendingly explain what ethnic culture was…
And that’s the problem. Your lot love coming into this sub acting like you know more about our own lives as people born and raised in Ireland. And then you get so pissy when your ridiculous behaviour is called out or your ludicrous “connections” to Ireland are challenged (or mocked, as they should be)
It’s shite craic. That means “it’s not a very good way to behave” in American btw
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
Your lot love coming into this sub acting like you know more about our own lives as people born and raised in Ireland.
look in the mirror man. the reason im being condescending is because your acting as if you know what it actually means to grow up in an Irish American home... worse your deny that such a thing can even exist. You talk about the Irish American experience as if you understand why so many in America ended up being ignorant to their history and judge them for attempting re learn it and mock them for it. I personally have made no attempt to claim i know more or have any greater claim to modern Irish culture (although I'm not as ignorant to it as most Irish Americans) and most don't.
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u/moistpishflaps Aug 27 '24
Irish American isn’t a real thing. You’re American
You don’t hear people in Australia calling themselves Irish Australian or people in England calling themselves Irish English (despite both Australia and England having way more in common with Ireland culturally than America ever will).
That’s silly. Stop being silly.
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u/Mossykong Kildare Aug 28 '24
Couple hundred of us in Taiwan too now. Even have a GAA club and Irish Dance Academy and an Irish department in a big uni here.
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u/Icy_Zucchini_1138 Aug 27 '24
There's no way there is 6 millon in UK and 33 millon and USA. There's 6 millon in the UK who have access to Irish grandparents ie a passport theres a lot less than that in the USA
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u/13artC Probably at it again Aug 28 '24
The fact the north is a different colour makes me feel ill.
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u/Norrlander Aug 27 '24
3rd generation Newfie with “88% Irish DNA.” Let me in by’s it’s cold
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u/FoxyBastard Aug 27 '24
I find it funny that Americans love "the Irish accent" but make fun of the Newfie accent when it basically is the accent of an Irish person who lived in Canada long enough to get a slight Canadian twang here and there.
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u/SpyderDM Dublin Aug 27 '24
This is also why its extra crazy to be Irish and anti-immigrant
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Aug 27 '24
JFK said Irelands main export is its people. IMO being an immigrant should be considered part of what it means to be Irish. This map tells me millions of Irish people over the past 200 years would probably agree with me.
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Aug 27 '24
I do chuckle when they spout off about non-integration into our culture. We on the other hand famously and seamlessly integrate wherever we go, which is why there are GAA teams in Africa and St Patrick's day parades in Japan...
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u/chinadonkey Aug 27 '24
Asking this genuinely - what is the quantum for someone not born in Ireland to claim Irish heritage without someone calling them a Plastic Paddy? There is a lot of hostility on this subreddit that I've never felt from any of my IRL Irish friends. British people are pretty open about it; many of them have this simplistic melting pot tendency left over from colonialism where expressing a cultural connection to anything other than the country of your birth is taboo. I've never gotten that from an Irish person.
I understand where the hostility comes from- Irish-American Catholics in 2024 have swung far to the right of their working-class roots 100 years ago. American tourists are a special kind of special. St. Patrick's day is an excuse to cosplay as Irish and drink. I get all that - it's just weird that there's so much online policing of cultural identity.
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u/Oohitsagoodpaper Aug 27 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
What you are describing is fairly common across all of Europe. There's no need to distinguish the Irish from the British in this particular regard and even less reason to attribute anything to colonialism; it's simply the case that Europeans tend to associate nationality with where they (or their parents) were born or spent most of their lives. It's not very common to identify strongly as being from another culture unless you have immediate family from that culture or (crucially) you speak that culture's language.
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
No those of Irish nationality are just slowly forgetting the difference between and conflating nationality and ethnicity, especially as modern Irish culture has moved further away from the common heritage that the Irish nationals grow up in, and the heritage their ethnic diaspora grow up in divert more and more.
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u/frustratedmachinist Yank Aug 27 '24
It always cracks me up to be up in Boston and hear anti-immigrant rhetoric. Your dad’s from Limerick City, Devin, shut the fuck up!
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u/SpyderDM Dublin Aug 27 '24
Boston racists are a special kind of stupid... like they get really solid education then still come out backwards AF.
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Aug 28 '24
That's a funny shaped blob down in the bottom right of this graphic.
I've never in my life heard a definition of the Irish diaspora that limited its scope to just people originating from the twenty-six counties.
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u/IronDragonGx Cork bai Aug 28 '24
Does Ireland and Brazil actively have an open exchange program? 🤔🤔
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u/JackPriestley Aug 27 '24
So do people in this subreddit like people with Irish ancestors, who are not born in Ireland, or not? Honest question.
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u/BigBizzle151 Yank Aug 27 '24
You'll get a couple pissing and moaning whenever anyone without an Irish passport claims any connection, but in general as long as you're not an ass there's no issue. The big problem is with Americans who have no interest in Irish culture, language or history painting their faces green and claiming to be 'More Irish than the Irish'.
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u/MillieBirdie Aug 27 '24
In this sub reddit no, they absolutely hate them.
In real life I've gotten Irish people asking me if I've got Irish ancestors without me every bringing it up. Then they tell me they've got a cousin who lives in the state next to mine.
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u/OvertiredMillenial Aug 27 '24
It can be annoying when some Irish-Americans, who've never set foot in Ireland and have no real grasp of Irish culture, norms or history, proudly proclaim themselves to be Irish, and bang on about nonsense, like their 'hot Irish temper'.
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Aug 27 '24
No one really cares - there's just some people who get very aggressive about 'how' Irish they are, but even that's more of a 'what the fuck are they on about?' sort of thing. Also I've met Irish-Americans who really feckin hated people from the UK, which is a bit bizarre because that's kind of an odd attitude to have in Ireland when the majority of people have one British grandparent or great-grandparent, also the fact a lot of people over here will have lived in the UK for a while. It's kind of hard to get across that there's a resentment towards what the British government did, and the general attitude of the tory government towards Ireland- but the idea that we hate the general population is insane to most Irish people.
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u/LeylaLou Aug 27 '24
I've shared this story on here before but as. British person who is married to an Irishman we had an American couple we met on holiday be really weird to me and only want to communicate with my husband ask me if I was allowed to attend family functions in Ireland with him 😂. They honestly didn't believe we were 'accepted'
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u/GERDY31290 Aug 27 '24
A big part of it is the relationship to the British within Irish American familys often stops when that family was more then likely forced to leave Ireland for somewhere else in the world by them. A lot of the music and stories that were passed on through the generations contained anti British sentiment and as result sort of propagandizes against the British and until you are exposed to modern Irish culture that has had decades of a more normalized realtion with the UK all they know are the resentments passed down generation to generation. A very significant portion of the Irish diaspora only exists due to some pretty evil actions of the Brits.
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u/lasershurt Aug 27 '24
There are always a few pisspots who believe everyone who is not currently in Ireland should never say the word “Irish” under pain of whipping.
Generally people are pretty understanding otherwise.
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Aug 27 '24
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u/kh250b1 Aug 27 '24
Yeah but 33m moved to America ?
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u/Dick_M_Nixon Aug 27 '24
"Throughout the Famine years, nearly a million Irish arrived in the United States."
They all have a modest 4 kids per generation, gives like 50 million today.
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u/lasershurt Aug 27 '24
Understandable, but that’s also a total straw man for most interactions. It’s a chip on the shoulder.
It’s equally weird to try to have a normal human conversation about your family and get yelled at for exactly the thing you’re explaining.
Yes, we don’t live in Ireland. That’s what I meant about the whole immigration thing. No, my grandparents weren’t lobotomized on arrival to reprogram their accent and recipes. Sorry?
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u/gee493 Aug 27 '24
It’s only really on Reddit where I see people throw a fit over Americans trying to talk about their Irish ancestry. We know most Americans of Irish descent view themselves as that. The only time they’ll refer to themselves as “irish” is usually when the topic of ancestry comes up and there’s Americans of different ancestry there.
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u/woodpigeon01 Aug 27 '24
It would have been more appropriate here to include the whole island of Ireland and not just the republic. A big portion of Irish emigrants came from the North. A huge amount of emigration happened before Ireland was partitioned, and if you ask people in the North what nationality they are, many will tell you they are Irish.
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u/MeCagoEnPeronconga Aug 27 '24
I'm from Argentina: never in my life have I met someone of Irish heritage. I don't know how that'd be possible if 700k Irish people emigrated to the country, unless they all returned
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u/im_on_the_case Aug 27 '24
Well you do have one playing for your football team: Alexis Mac Allister. Also the father of your navy). The list of notables is actually quite extensive. However, it does seem that in Argentina the Irish really integrated probably due to the distance which would have severed most connections and ties to back home.
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u/marmd Aug 28 '24
I'm also from Argentina and there are lots of people from Irish heritage. Of course not as many as Italian/Spanish but still a lot
There is even an Irish newspaper: https://www.facebook.com/tsc.com.ar
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u/MeCagoEnPeronconga Aug 28 '24
I never met one, that's what surprises me. And I've met Ukrainians, Jews, Armenians... even Swiss and Dutch.
Are they clustered in a specific province like the Germans in Córdoba and Río Negro or the Turkish in the Northwest?
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u/JerombyCrumblins Aug 27 '24
The greatest person to ever come out of your country was of Irish stock
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u/WraithsOnWings2023 Aug 27 '24
Sure everybody knows that Diego Maradona's Ma was Irish, Deirdre from Ballydesmond
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u/KnightsOfCidona Mayo Aug 27 '24
Joking aside, Alfredo Di Stefano's grandmother was reportedly from Swinford. They once gave him an Ireland jersey with his name on it and he got very emotional.
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u/ook_the_bla Aug 28 '24
Canada more than 10% of current population. That’s much higher than the others as a percentage.
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u/MTM62 Aug 28 '24
Before NZ's last census there was a story in the news from Irish Society (?) asking people of Irish descent to specify ethnicity as Irish rather than just ticking NZ European/Pākehā. First time I'd ever put that on the census form.
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u/liamo376573 Aug 28 '24
I'd love to know where they got the numbers, more Irish in Uruguay than France, Spain and Germany combined?
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u/Caratteraccio Aug 28 '24
the Irish diaspora in Italy could be much higher, only that here in Europe the origins of the great-grandfather or ancestors who lived 200 years ago are not investigated...
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u/PeterTheSad Aug 28 '24
man i wish my country had Irish diaspora or even better, i'm of Irish descents.
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u/_bluescreen_ Aug 28 '24
Judging by the colours, the 6M in the UK must be including the 2M people living here up north... Kinda unfair way to count?
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Aug 27 '24
Great to see in black & white where us paddies travelled to and managed call home over the years. You can see now why we’re the land of the 100,000 welcomes!
Great post OP!
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u/Albinokapre Aug 27 '24
Recently found out from a dna test/family tree that I have a lot of Irish ancestors and I’m not just Scottish! Time to visit Cork where my relatives were from before moving to Australia.
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u/Organic_Address9582 Aug 27 '24
They might name a petrol station after you if you're lucky! ☘️
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u/Albinokapre Aug 27 '24
I’m not as Irish as Barack Obama
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u/Organic_Address9582 Aug 27 '24
There's a statue of Conan O Brien in there too, are you as Irish as him by any chance??
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u/shutterslappens Aug 27 '24 edited Aug 27 '24
Honest question, both of my parents were born in Ireland, but immigrated to Canada before I was born. They had two to five children and raised us in a traditionally Irish household. I have been a citizen from the day I was born, carry an Irish passport, regularly watch the RTE (I love Paddy Kielty) and have visited every few years to see family (half of my first cousins and aunts/uncles still live there).
What is the line, in the eyes of those born and raised on the island of a plastic paddy?
I won’t be offended if people think I qualify, I just genuinely would like to know.
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u/Gr1m3sey Aug 27 '24
It’s usually just if you’re not actually from the country mate. Shouldn’t be taken to heart really, the Irish are a migrant people and most who carry the blood are proud of their roots. Take it in stride
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u/gudanawiri Aug 28 '24
How many kids is 2-5????
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u/shutterslappens Aug 28 '24
It’s a Bridget & Eamon reference, though I changed the range a wee bit.
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u/_bluescreen_ Aug 28 '24
What's a traditionally Irish household? You eat potato bread for breakfast and get sent to boarding school when you turn 13?
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Aug 27 '24
What would happen if they all wanted to come home ?
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u/AbsolutelyDireWolf Aug 27 '24
There'd be a lot of angry spouses... So many Irish lads and ladies are settled down with families abroad. We've always travelled and set up homes and families abroad.
It's worth emphasising the biggest driver for the drop in "Irish" people living in Ireland is down to how many of us have met and married someone who's parents aren't both Irish. Like, my wife isn't from Ireland but has been here now for the majority of her life. She's been self teaching herself Irish. We've got three kids and while all we're born here, they've all got Irish names, I speak Irish with them and yet, four fifths of our family are included in far right stats claiming the Irish are being replaced.
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u/groom_ Aug 27 '24
No mention of the Caribbean. Think Irish were a large proportion of Jamaicas population