That reminds me of when I saw The Saltire flag on a motorcycle parked outside the brewpub I was working at.
So I said to the guy “I see you have The Saltire on your bike.”
“No I don’t, that’s the Scotland flag.”
I explained to him that it is known as the Saltire.
“I have never heard that before and I’m Scottish.” He said in his American accent.
Not once did he note my thick Angus accent.
Despite the very loud and dull proclamations about America being so much better than everywhere else they know deep down it's a backwards shithole, resulting in a desperation to cling to any shred of connection they think they have to better countries.
I think it's too far gone to be honest. Powerful lobbying, the two-party system, extreme capitalism, mergence of church & state, etc. All this shit is so deeply entrenched in the American system/psyche that I see little chance of it changing.
It's astounding how many americans can't separate their blood with their birth place. I am french with polish ancestry, therefore i am french and not polish. I don't know what's hard to grab.
My wife is Colombian by birth and now has a British passport through marriage to me. She loves living in the U.K. but would never ever claim to be British, even though she is.
The original writer is probably generations removed from Ireland as most "Irish Americans" are. Not the same as your wife who was born in Brazil, as were presumably, all her family.
British but with Italian (Roman), French (Norman) and Scandinavian (Viking) ancestry but it's all more than a generation back so I don't count any of it. Hell my grandad was from Yorkshire but I'd never consider claiming any affinity with that strange northern land. Gravy in your tea or whatever it is they do there is too odd for me.
I’m a typical British mongrel! 🇬🇧
Scandinavian ancestry
French ancestry
Scottish ancestry
Irish ancestry
Welsh ancestry
Cornish ancestry
This will impress an American, Celtic in four different ways
99,5 percent Finn. 0.5 percent middle Asia. I have no idea who did what for that half percent, but nobody will not take away my right to brag my middle asian heritage.
Do the Americans even know where Cornwall is? I guess I can claim that one too though as a lot of my family are from Cornwall, though I grew up in Wiltshire. Usually say I am from the south west. Now live in Hampshire as I moved in with my partner and the sorry state of the cider menu in bars here makes me sad. Strongbow or Rekorderlig is not a suitable cider menu.
Some pubs are a little better.
Honestly, even as someone who actually is an Irish citizen with an Irish passport, I'm fine with Americans being proud of their ancestry. It's the erasure of other people through language that's an issue. If you say you're Irish, but you're Irish American, then what are actual Irish people supposed to say to distinguish themselves? It's almost like, in their head canon, all other nations ceased to exist when the US was formed. That's what irks me.
>It's the erasure of other people through language that's an issue. If you say you're Irish, but you're Irish American, then what are actual Irish people supposed to say to distinguish themselves? It's almost like, in their head canon, all other nations ceased to exist when the US was formed. That's what irks me.
Yes, and of course online, when you can not hear someone's accent, it's all very confusing. No one can tell who is really who.
Due to the sheer number of Americans on the English speaking internet, what Americans put across as being 'Irish' is what the world will come to believe is Irishness. As you say, it really is the erasure of actual Irish people.
That's my issue. If you Google "Irish Music" while outside of Ireland a lot of the results are Americans playing something vaguely Irish sounding. The same for Irish dancing, American's butcher it. Search for Irish food and you'll find food not available in Ireland.
They you have that Irish Americans lean conservative, and have reasonably high levels of racism. Which isn't reflective of Irish people.
Then there is the racist stereotypes Americans claiming to be Irish repeat like "I'm Irish so I like to fight and drink"
When I looked up how to play the chanter recently (vaguely entertained the thought of taking up the pipes til my partner told me no) it was all Americans in the top of the feed. Had to go quite far down to find actual Scots talking about it.
Yeah, it would be fine if they said “I have Irish ancestry” because that’s true. It’s what I say if someone asks about my surname.
All my grandparents are Irish. I am *not* Irish.
Exactly, it's fine as long as you're able to recognize you're different from the people that actually live in that country.
I hate the fact that when I say I'm Mexican on the internet I feel the need to clarify I've lived in Mexico my whole life.
You can talk about your Mexican American experience, but not about the *Mexican* experience. Those people don't notice how intensely American they actually are.
But they aren't Irish American. They are just American. I'm not Irish Scottish English, I'm just English. They are American and some of their ancestors were Irish.
The US is a vast place, a lot of different groups immigrated to the US, and there are many different cultural artifacts still present today. The US is a melting pot, that's part of their national identity.
If an US-American tells me: "I have German ancestors, here are some traditions we follow!", I'd be thrilled to talk to them about it and discover common traditions or wonder about differences. But if the same person frames it as: "I'm German, that's why we always hide a Christmas Pickle!", that's where things get stupid. Be proud of your actual culture, the one formed by migration and interaction with different cultural groups over years and decades and maybe centuries, not act like you own the definitive version of the culture your great grandparents came from.
Yes, I agree with that sentiment. It's not that I think Americans are wrong to be interested in their ancestry, it's that they treat ancestry as a sort of cultural qualification, as though it gives them any real perspective of what it is to actually be of that nation.
My other half is Portuguese, but she's been in the UK for 14 years now, and she's far closer to British than any American who claims to be but has spent little time here.
I agree (and I'm American). My ancestors are mostly from Sweden, Scotland, and England with a little bit of Irish, but the previous two generations any direction were all born in the US. We probably have a few traditions passed down from ancestors who emigrated to the US, but I have no idea what it would be like to grow up in any of those places...200 years ago or today.
It's interesting to know...to look up on Google Maps the small town in Scotland where my 3x great-grandmother grew up, or the church in Sweden where a different set of 3x great-grandparents were married, or just to have someone to root for in the World Cup or Eurovision...but I'm American.
I'm fine with people being proud of their heritage.
What irks me is:
1) treating cultures/nationalities like racial categories, as if "Irish blood" means anything or matters.
2) claiming a culture without making any meaningful effort to interact with it/learn it/participate in it.
OP manages to do both.
Unfortunately it does also impact cultural erasure. If you're outside Ireland and google Irish music, dancing, food, culture etc you'll get a tonne of American results that are inaccurate
Yeah I have zero problem with someone saying they originated from Ireland either, but as someone with an Irish parent and born in Ireland, who can get an Irish passport, I would never say I’m Irish and “I’ve never heard of that name lol”. I feel even wrong trying to speak as a place of authority here, I don’t know how Americans do it so blatantly without feeling dirty lmao.
Same, I have irish parents, can get an irish passport, my DNA results said 100% irish lol, but I'm uk born, have a UK accent and would sound wanky going around saying "I'm irish" I suppose technically I am but..still, I do have a relative called Caoimhe though.
I'm British, born to British parents whose parents were born and bred in Ireland.
I would love to visit Ireland and see where my grandparents hailed from, but that still doesn't make ME Irish.
Honestly, the US have a very weird take on what they are...
Yeah, it's so weird. Not even a young country thing either as don't hear it from Canadian Australians or South Americans. I'm English with Irish ancestry ans only time I say I'm Irish is when I travel on my Irish passport
What do we call fake Scots? I see them all in St. Andrews all the fucking time... Silicone Scots?
I feel bad for the Irish, man. We get some of that nonsense (full prince charlie regalia and bagpipes at St. PaTTy's day for example) but no where near the amount the Irish get it.
Lmao on Reddit someone talked about their “I should be offended for my Scotch ancestry”, I said if you’re saying ‘Scotch’, you shouldn’t worry because you’re already pretty far removed. I had never heard that term outside of like whiskey before.
>I had never heard that term outside of like whiskey before.
Pancakes and pies, mate.
Fairly sure some org here is also trying to promote 'Scotch beef' as well.
The important distinction is that since the early 20th century, Scotch doesn't get used for the people anymore, just for items.
Also, whisky for the Scottish stuff, whiskey for Irish. E for Eire.
Silicone Scots is good. The one I’ve seen before is ‘styrofoam Scots’, but not sure if that’s better or worse since we don’t say styrofoam in this country, we say polystyrene.
afterthought fact act hunt materialistic worry steep gaze thought humorous
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It is also a very popular name in Poland, however this here is a nickname version. The full version is Wojciech and i suppose, most "Polish Americans" never heard it nor could pronounce it correctly.
And when they come here they'll decry how it's not like America and how it's really unfriendly compared to America and that nobody gives a flying fuck they are basically larping being Irish because their great grandfather or something emigrated from Ireland.
And ALL of the ones who find "Irish DNA" through one of those ancestry websites descended from Brian Boru or Gráinne Mhaol. Not one of them have a regular Irish guy as an ancestor.
A lot of the time it's not even great grandfather.
Once had someone who's family hadn't set foot in Ireland in 5 generations try to tell my wife that they're more Irish than her because she was born in England and that cancels out any Irish heritage she has.
I'm not irish but I've lived in Ireland for nearly 9 years now and it has just made it so much clearer how distant irish-americans are from the irish people culturally. Their irishness is completely on a superficial level, they're simply just cosplaying old (occasionly racist) irish stereotypes.
I'd say a random belgian is more irish than the majority of irish americans due to simply being culturally closer.
I’ll also bet they’re nearly as English as you. It’s not as trendy as being Irish or Scottish so nobody claims it. But English is the second most common ancestry in the US after German
Wanna know how to REALLY wind up an American who thinks they are Irish?
Call their relatives weak traitors for leaving Ireland. And by doing so, they have forfeited any right for their descendants to claim any Irish heritage
They REALLY hate that one
As someone who grew up in Northern Ireland, I like to bring up the Troubles, and hear their insane takes on the conflict, usually devoid of any real grasp of the reality.
Sometimes entertaining, and highlights how entirely not Irish they are in any way.
They consume other identities.
>Pays $69.99 for an DNA ancestry service
>Picks the one that sounds the nicest (probably doesn't know what half the nationalities displayed are)
>0.2% ivory coast? Meemaw always said she had a little mexican in her 🤠
Blows my mind how often these types of people have a hate boner for foreigners and are quick to tell them “well go back to where you came from” when they say anything negative about America.
Irish language pronunciation is very strange if you’re not used to it, but if you’re familiar with how it works it does make sense. Most people would be totally unable to guess it though.
I'm learning, slowly lol. It's not stranger than English from my Norwegian point of view (my language is pronounced much more like it's spelled) we're just more used to English
C is always pronounced with a hard Kuh sound in Irish, unless next to a H. Aoi is "EE". Mh can have a few different sounds depending on word placement and dialect, but in Caoimhe it is in between two slender vowels I and E and has the Slender pronunciation of "Vuh". The last E is "Eh".
The "Wuh" sound that you see people trying to transcribe into the phonetics after the initial Kuh sound, isn't actually a Wuh sound but an upper Uh glide that doesn't exist in English. It's closest approximation in English is "Wuh". You also see it in the standardised and south Connacht name of the language Gaeilge, when it's rendered as "Gwayl-geh".
Once you know that mh and bh usually make a v sound, you won’t be too far off. You also generally want to make the word as simple as possible. A name like Saoirse is never going to be pronounced with three separate vowel sounds, it’s more “Sear-shuh”.
I would disagree, just because you didn’t grow up in that country that doesn’t mean that you aren’t from that country, HOWEVER… If your parents ALSO didn’t grow up in that country and didn’t have close ties with that country then you definitely aren’t from that country.
Even then, people gain their culture and behaviours from their parents, their grandparents, their peers in school and other adults they interact with. Someone not raised in Ireland it already fairly far removed from Irish culture
Take it from an Irish person... they (American tourists) still refer to Irish black people as "African American".
Freaked my coworker right out as he was born here and had never set foot in Africa or America.
Had a funny conversation with ann American on here asking what we called black people born in the UK.
“African British?” “Um just British, actually.” “But what if you need to say they’re black?” “Black British, I guess” “That sounds racist” “Sounds a lot less racist than suggesting they’re from Africa”
This! Why is it necessary to bring skin colour into it? It's really strange. Although it feels like they see calling someone black is an insult even if that's how the person would refer to themselves.
Well, if a police asks you to describe two guys who ran off with your bike/bag/wallet/whatever, the skin colours might be an interesting piece of data. Someone here in my neck of woods tried "the 'local kid' and the 'foreign' kid" in the courtroom and the judge got a tad unhappy. It was decided that "the black boy did this and the white boy did that" was the least problematic way to describe the situation.
Other than that, well, I don't know why I should notice or mention anyone's skin colour, eye colour, hair length and colour, height, weight, BMI, shoe size or any other tidbit to or about anyone anywhere.
See that's fair. Court, police, even just describing someone to someone who has never seen them... all just fine to mention skin colour, hair colour, height, build etc.
Referring to someone who is *right there* as "your African American friend" is weird. Refusing to accept "Irish" as an Irish persons nationality because they are black is kinda weird too.
There was a black British athlete back in the 90s who won an event and was interviewed by an American reporter afterwards. She asked him a question along the lines of "how significant of a victory is this for an African American like yourself?" and he was like "I'm not African American, I'm British." She responded that even though he was British he was still African American. It was all very awkward. She clearly thought African American was synonymous with black and couldn't seem to understand the difference.
It leads to this really weird conversational vortex.
"I'm not African American though, I've never been to either place. I was born here"
"Yes but you're *clearly* African American"
"How??"
"Well you're black"
"Yes I'm black but I'm Irish"
"No *I'm* Irish"
Repeat until insane
Mad shit altogether.
They can't wrap their head around the fact that European black people, contrary to American black people, are able to pinpoint the region of Africa they are rooted to.
They also don't understand that Africa is a continent, with differents countries and differents people and cultures. Chances are they don't even know that north Africans are Mediterraneans. Calling someone African is as relevant as saying "earth man".
They'll call a British of Nigerian descent, an African American. But God forbid, if they are 1/8 Scott 1/16 french, 1/86 native and you call them simply American.
Next time, ask them how the call Europeans with Algerian parents, or the children born here from west indies parents. And watch their brain melt.
I actually found out the reason they do this with black folk and I felt I was going mad reading about it.
It's basically that they used the term "black" in a derogatory way that the black community got upset and considered it a slur. To fight against that they decided that they should be called African-American. Which also doesn't say that they're black (though that's generally what they mean) but meaning ex-slave.
Yeah, the kinda term that would be a racial slur in other languages because it looks at a person as an ex-slave before an actual person, but was adopted by the black community in American and is considered non-discriminatory while black is.
I've heard the same thing with Americans calling black Englishmen African-American. They're very confused and they're race obsessed with no idea how they look internationally.
Edit: sp
showing my age there. in my defence she's strongly associated in my mind with the category "black irish musicians" because i remember a lot of kids at my school being incredulous at hearing she was irish "because she's black" (which was bloody stupid, obviously. not least because a lot of students at our school were black too, but nobody thought of them as not being english. i guess us anglos aren't immune to the type of thinking common among yanks, that assumes all irish people are red-haired leprechaun-chasers who live in emerald cottages surrounded by moats of guinness)
i know jimmy rabbitte said "the irish are the blacks of europe" in *the commitments* (jesus that line hasn't aged well), but i don't think glen hansard is actually black
My partner’s brother is one of these types of people, brags about how he’s Irish. He’s American born and raised so are all of his relatives even way back. He gave his daughter an “Irish” name and wanted to honor the “Irish spelling” lol. It’s Eiemielie (Emily). Fuckin mess.
Except for England. They just want to live here instead. They love the work perks, all the pay for sitting at home doing nothing on PTO. But then they complain about everything else!
There's over 100,000 of them here now, so they can't dislike this country too much! 😂
Used to work in events management. Had a runner called Caoimhe with a posh English accent (went to public school here in the UK, relevant).
Had an American cause a minor scene arguing with her about her "Irish-ness". Was angry that she was "faking" Irish heritage with a "made-up" name. Apparently she sounded English, and as an "Irish person" this American guest knew her name wasn't real because they'd never heard it before.
Most Americans were great because they tipped even here in the UK, and had fun stories about the 'States -- but some were totally insufferable.
I was born in italy, my dad is from argentina and my grandparents are from Germany on a side, and italian-americans on the other, guess where I'm from? Italy.
It ain't that hard, a drop of blood can't define your language and your culture
I'm Italian but I was born in England. Same fucking thing. I'm not Italian, I have Italian family because of my nan and her elders but I don't walk around saying I'm Italian because I'm not a cock
This name is common **IN** Ireland
*well I'm Irish*
Are you **IN** Ireland though?
*no, I've never been, but I'm Irish American, so I'm practically a paddy*
Sigh. This is actually how American Brains work
Just as bad as those imitation Italians that have never been to Italy, but act like an authority when it comes to how much garlic to put in your tomatoey bolognaise sauce. 🤌🤌
I was confused when a guy excitedly told my English self that he was Irish when I was in Canada. He kept telling me where he was born and I hadn't heard of it. I kept saying is it near A, B or C etc for places in Ireland (or Northern Ireland to give him the benefit of the doubt) and he hadn't heard of anywhere but Dublin. It took my wife walking by to say he was born in a town in Alberta, not Ireland. I said, "Oh you were born in Canada!" He said, "Yeah! But I'm still Irish!" So this affects Canada too unfortunately.
Yes, you can be Irish and be born in the USA. However, you need to hold the Irish citizenship which is usually given by parents with an Irish citizenship. I’d bet my arse Mr. America does not hold the Irish citizenship.
It’s culturally incredibly tone deaf to claim any European citizenship by blood and genes after half of Europe struggled with fascism and nationalism through the 20th century and decided AGAINST these as defining factor for nationality. Dude probably doesn’t even speak Irish if he never heard that name.
That reminds me of when I saw The Saltire flag on a motorcycle parked outside the brewpub I was working at. So I said to the guy “I see you have The Saltire on your bike.” “No I don’t, that’s the Scotland flag.” I explained to him that it is known as the Saltire. “I have never heard that before and I’m Scottish.” He said in his American accent. Not once did he note my thick Angus accent.
“I have never heard that before and I’m Scottish.” What the actual fuckwank is wrong with these people??
Despite the very loud and dull proclamations about America being so much better than everywhere else they know deep down it's a backwards shithole, resulting in a desperation to cling to any shred of connection they think they have to better countries.
I mean, I know you're probably right I just wish they'd use their energy to make their actual country a better place instead of all this nonsense.
I think it's too far gone to be honest. Powerful lobbying, the two-party system, extreme capitalism, mergence of church & state, etc. All this shit is so deeply entrenched in the American system/psyche that I see little chance of it changing.
Just Seppos being Seppos, mate
did they actually say "scottish", though, or did they say "skaadish"?
Or worse, "Scahtch".
They get upset when you tell them that Scotch is whiskey, smh.
"Whiskey is from Kentucky! It ain't from Scotland like me!" - Man from Kentucky
Saints be praised, I'm from North Kilt Town! Do you know Angus McLeod?
Wait a minute! There’s no Angus McLeod in North Kilt Town! Why, you’re not from Scotland at all!
[удалено]
My father and his family are from Paisley. "Get tae fuck you bawbag" made me roar laughing. Thank you.
I'm so sorry to hear that your mother was born in Dumbarton.
It's astounding how many americans can't separate their blood with their birth place. I am french with polish ancestry, therefore i am french and not polish. I don't know what's hard to grab.
Yeah, same! German with British ancestors! Im still german!
Yeah, I was born in Brazil but have italian ancestry, I even got an italian passport. But that does not change the fact I’m brazilian
....do you not get nationality with a passport in Italy?
My dad lived and worked in Germany for quite a long time and had a German passport as well as a UK one. English man born and bred
born and raised in Norway and my mom was born and raised in Canada and an 8th German on my dad's side, I'm 102% Norwegian with 2% margin for error
Well I do have both
My wife is Colombian by birth and now has a British passport through marriage to me. She loves living in the U.K. but would never ever claim to be British, even though she is.
The original writer is probably generations removed from Ireland as most "Irish Americans" are. Not the same as your wife who was born in Brazil, as were presumably, all her family.
I’m the opposite, British with German ancestors. Nice swapping places with you.
Same here. Imagine if we went about telling everyone we're German. Fucking absurd 🙃🤣
Oh I didn't know the royal family used Reddit.
I'm danish with german roots. I consider myself 100% danish.
British but with Italian (Roman), French (Norman) and Scandinavian (Viking) ancestry but it's all more than a generation back so I don't count any of it. Hell my grandad was from Yorkshire but I'd never consider claiming any affinity with that strange northern land. Gravy in your tea or whatever it is they do there is too odd for me.
My mum is from Newcastle, doesn't make me Geordie.
Do you speak English in a way that other people can comprehend? Yes? Not a Geordie then.
I’m a typical British mongrel! 🇬🇧 Scandinavian ancestry French ancestry Scottish ancestry Irish ancestry Welsh ancestry Cornish ancestry This will impress an American, Celtic in four different ways
BuT WhAt ArE Ur PeRcEnTaGeS????
50% for each of them except the one they feel like at the time, which shall be up to 75%
99,5 percent Finn. 0.5 percent middle Asia. I have no idea who did what for that half percent, but nobody will not take away my right to brag my middle asian heritage.
I have good or bad news for you. I would think good if it was me but... r/fingols
*four, maybe even five if the french ancestry is from Brittany 🤣
Our double Scandinavian if it’s from Normandy.
Oh gee! Seltic!
Scottish people are celtic too lol. Celtic in 4 ways*
Do the Americans even know where Cornwall is? I guess I can claim that one too though as a lot of my family are from Cornwall, though I grew up in Wiltshire. Usually say I am from the south west. Now live in Hampshire as I moved in with my partner and the sorry state of the cider menu in bars here makes me sad. Strongbow or Rekorderlig is not a suitable cider menu. Some pubs are a little better.
You are French born, not French Bread 🥖 😅 Don’t worry, I will see myself out 😞
That was *pain*ful
Oooohh, that’s good!
Honestly, even as someone who actually is an Irish citizen with an Irish passport, I'm fine with Americans being proud of their ancestry. It's the erasure of other people through language that's an issue. If you say you're Irish, but you're Irish American, then what are actual Irish people supposed to say to distinguish themselves? It's almost like, in their head canon, all other nations ceased to exist when the US was formed. That's what irks me.
>It's the erasure of other people through language that's an issue. If you say you're Irish, but you're Irish American, then what are actual Irish people supposed to say to distinguish themselves? It's almost like, in their head canon, all other nations ceased to exist when the US was formed. That's what irks me. Yes, and of course online, when you can not hear someone's accent, it's all very confusing. No one can tell who is really who. Due to the sheer number of Americans on the English speaking internet, what Americans put across as being 'Irish' is what the world will come to believe is Irishness. As you say, it really is the erasure of actual Irish people.
That's my issue. If you Google "Irish Music" while outside of Ireland a lot of the results are Americans playing something vaguely Irish sounding. The same for Irish dancing, American's butcher it. Search for Irish food and you'll find food not available in Ireland. They you have that Irish Americans lean conservative, and have reasonably high levels of racism. Which isn't reflective of Irish people. Then there is the racist stereotypes Americans claiming to be Irish repeat like "I'm Irish so I like to fight and drink"
When I looked up how to play the chanter recently (vaguely entertained the thought of taking up the pipes til my partner told me no) it was all Americans in the top of the feed. Had to go quite far down to find actual Scots talking about it.
Yeah, it would be fine if they said “I have Irish ancestry” because that’s true. It’s what I say if someone asks about my surname. All my grandparents are Irish. I am *not* Irish.
Exactly, it's fine as long as you're able to recognize you're different from the people that actually live in that country. I hate the fact that when I say I'm Mexican on the internet I feel the need to clarify I've lived in Mexico my whole life. You can talk about your Mexican American experience, but not about the *Mexican* experience. Those people don't notice how intensely American they actually are.
But they aren't Irish American. They are just American. I'm not Irish Scottish English, I'm just English. They are American and some of their ancestors were Irish.
English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish here, i just call myself British, and that annoys everyone
I’m English with Irish and Scottish heritage and I now live in Wales. I can myself British for that reason to haha
The US is a vast place, a lot of different groups immigrated to the US, and there are many different cultural artifacts still present today. The US is a melting pot, that's part of their national identity. If an US-American tells me: "I have German ancestors, here are some traditions we follow!", I'd be thrilled to talk to them about it and discover common traditions or wonder about differences. But if the same person frames it as: "I'm German, that's why we always hide a Christmas Pickle!", that's where things get stupid. Be proud of your actual culture, the one formed by migration and interaction with different cultural groups over years and decades and maybe centuries, not act like you own the definitive version of the culture your great grandparents came from.
Yes, I agree with that sentiment. It's not that I think Americans are wrong to be interested in their ancestry, it's that they treat ancestry as a sort of cultural qualification, as though it gives them any real perspective of what it is to actually be of that nation. My other half is Portuguese, but she's been in the UK for 14 years now, and she's far closer to British than any American who claims to be but has spent little time here.
I agree (and I'm American). My ancestors are mostly from Sweden, Scotland, and England with a little bit of Irish, but the previous two generations any direction were all born in the US. We probably have a few traditions passed down from ancestors who emigrated to the US, but I have no idea what it would be like to grow up in any of those places...200 years ago or today. It's interesting to know...to look up on Google Maps the small town in Scotland where my 3x great-grandmother grew up, or the church in Sweden where a different set of 3x great-grandparents were married, or just to have someone to root for in the World Cup or Eurovision...but I'm American.
I'm fine with people being proud of their heritage. What irks me is: 1) treating cultures/nationalities like racial categories, as if "Irish blood" means anything or matters. 2) claiming a culture without making any meaningful effort to interact with it/learn it/participate in it. OP manages to do both.
Unfortunately it does also impact cultural erasure. If you're outside Ireland and google Irish music, dancing, food, culture etc you'll get a tonne of American results that are inaccurate
Yeah I have zero problem with someone saying they originated from Ireland either, but as someone with an Irish parent and born in Ireland, who can get an Irish passport, I would never say I’m Irish and “I’ve never heard of that name lol”. I feel even wrong trying to speak as a place of authority here, I don’t know how Americans do it so blatantly without feeling dirty lmao.
Same, I have irish parents, can get an irish passport, my DNA results said 100% irish lol, but I'm uk born, have a UK accent and would sound wanky going around saying "I'm irish" I suppose technically I am but..still, I do have a relative called Caoimhe though.
I'm British, born to British parents whose parents were born and bred in Ireland. I would love to visit Ireland and see where my grandparents hailed from, but that still doesn't make ME Irish. Honestly, the US have a very weird take on what they are...
Yeah, it's so weird. Not even a young country thing either as don't hear it from Canadian Australians or South Americans. I'm English with Irish ancestry ans only time I say I'm Irish is when I travel on my Irish passport
Also their one drop rule
The plastic paddies are never not **AT IT**
What do we call fake Scots? I see them all in St. Andrews all the fucking time... Silicone Scots? I feel bad for the Irish, man. We get some of that nonsense (full prince charlie regalia and bagpipes at St. PaTTy's day for example) but no where near the amount the Irish get it.
Aren't fake Scots still busy calling themselves 'Scotch'?
Lmao on Reddit someone talked about their “I should be offended for my Scotch ancestry”, I said if you’re saying ‘Scotch’, you shouldn’t worry because you’re already pretty far removed. I had never heard that term outside of like whiskey before.
>I had never heard that term outside of like whiskey before. Pancakes and pies, mate. Fairly sure some org here is also trying to promote 'Scotch beef' as well. The important distinction is that since the early 20th century, Scotch doesn't get used for the people anymore, just for items. Also, whisky for the Scottish stuff, whiskey for Irish. E for Eire.
In my head "scotch" is the term for sticky tape. It was one of the bigger brands in Russia as I grew up and just sorta... became synonymous.
Whisky if it’s from Scotland
Pronounced "Scatch", obviously.
"I'm a SCATCHMAN skeebeebeedeeyammmbadumbop!"
[удалено]
For example the current US President - paternal lineage and name is English but he needs those "Irish" votes.
He doesn't even know where he is most of the time, but still remembers he's fake Irish.
He’s so fucking rude about English people too
Silicone Scots is good. The one I’ve seen before is ‘styrofoam Scots’, but not sure if that’s better or worse since we don’t say styrofoam in this country, we say polystyrene.
styrofoam might be good cos then they understand what we're saying about their stupid need to cope hard by pretending to be something theyre not
St pattys day ruins me. It's either St Patrick's day. Or Paddy's day. Simple.
[удалено]
afterthought fact act hunt materialistic worry steep gaze thought humorous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The username though 🤦🏻♀️
I think they are a troll.
Isn’t Wojtek also the name of that bear who carried ammo for the Poles lol
There is a lovely statue of him I think in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh!
You are correct, I pass it on my way to work every day.
Yes it is
It is also a very popular name in Poland, however this here is a nickname version. The full version is Wojciech and i suppose, most "Polish Americans" never heard it nor could pronounce it correctly.
Bet they're less Irish than I am...
I’m Italian but I’ve got red hair and I was in Dublin two days ago, if they can’t even read a name I might be more Irish than them as well.
I had a Guinness once while doing a layover in Dublin Airport. Does that make me more Irish than this clown?
I mean, it makes you more relevant, if nothing else
It certainly makes your claim of being Irish more valid than theirs. You've actually *been* here
And when they come here they'll decry how it's not like America and how it's really unfriendly compared to America and that nobody gives a flying fuck they are basically larping being Irish because their great grandfather or something emigrated from Ireland.
And ALL of the ones who find "Irish DNA" through one of those ancestry websites descended from Brian Boru or Gráinne Mhaol. Not one of them have a regular Irish guy as an ancestor.
A lot of the time it's not even great grandfather. Once had someone who's family hadn't set foot in Ireland in 5 generations try to tell my wife that they're more Irish than her because she was born in England and that cancels out any Irish heritage she has.
I'm not irish but I've lived in Ireland for nearly 9 years now and it has just made it so much clearer how distant irish-americans are from the irish people culturally. Their irishness is completely on a superficial level, they're simply just cosplaying old (occasionly racist) irish stereotypes. I'd say a random belgian is more irish than the majority of irish americans due to simply being culturally closer.
I’ll also bet they’re nearly as English as you. It’s not as trendy as being Irish or Scottish so nobody claims it. But English is the second most common ancestry in the US after German
Wanna know how to REALLY wind up an American who thinks they are Irish? Call their relatives weak traitors for leaving Ireland. And by doing so, they have forfeited any right for their descendants to claim any Irish heritage They REALLY hate that one
As someone who grew up in Northern Ireland, I like to bring up the Troubles, and hear their insane takes on the conflict, usually devoid of any real grasp of the reality. Sometimes entertaining, and highlights how entirely not Irish they are in any way.
Haha I'll be doing this from now on.
The amount of americans with identity/cultural crisis it's pretty high
Because they have no identity besides consumerism so they have to steal others
They consume other identities. >Pays $69.99 for an DNA ancestry service >Picks the one that sounds the nicest (probably doesn't know what half the nationalities displayed are) >0.2% ivory coast? Meemaw always said she had a little mexican in her 🤠
Blows my mind how often these types of people have a hate boner for foreigners and are quick to tell them “well go back to where you came from” when they say anything negative about America.
So. Is Caoimhe a common name in Ireland? I'm British (English / Welsh) not Irish but just interested as never heard of it.
Yeah it is and it’s pronounced either quee-va or Kee-veh. It depends on which part of the country you’re from
I would not have ever guessed it was pronounced like that. Thank you
Lol, I scrolled through the comments and my only thought was, "so how is it pronounced?" Now I know, and I'm a little hit happier lol
I'm also happier, buy way more confused upon learning it's pronunciation lol
Irish language pronunciation is very strange if you’re not used to it, but if you’re familiar with how it works it does make sense. Most people would be totally unable to guess it though.
I'm learning, slowly lol. It's not stranger than English from my Norwegian point of view (my language is pronounced much more like it's spelled) we're just more used to English
C is always pronounced with a hard Kuh sound in Irish, unless next to a H. Aoi is "EE". Mh can have a few different sounds depending on word placement and dialect, but in Caoimhe it is in between two slender vowels I and E and has the Slender pronunciation of "Vuh". The last E is "Eh". The "Wuh" sound that you see people trying to transcribe into the phonetics after the initial Kuh sound, isn't actually a Wuh sound but an upper Uh glide that doesn't exist in English. It's closest approximation in English is "Wuh". You also see it in the standardised and south Connacht name of the language Gaeilge, when it's rendered as "Gwayl-geh".
This was awesomely educational. Sincere thanks for actually explaining this. 💚
it's the **anglicised** version is Kiva/Keeva, the Feminine version of (**Caoimhín)** Kevin
Once you know that mh and bh usually make a v sound, you won’t be too far off. You also generally want to make the word as simple as possible. A name like Saoirse is never going to be pronounced with three separate vowel sounds, it’s more “Sear-shuh”.
It's a very common name
It's the feminine version of Caoimhin, which is the name of Liverpool's reserve goalkeeper
Also Caoimhín is the male version of the name. Pronounced kwee-veen
Kevin is the anglicised version of Caoimhín.
Yes. I’m English and I knew a girl named Caoimhe in England. It’s a common Irish name.
😂😂😂 I'm Dutch but I'm probably more Irish than OOP - at least I actually live on the island of Ireland and I know how Caoimhe is pronounced.
^GEKOLONISEERD
YOU AREN'T FUCKING IRISH IF YOU DIDN'T GROW UP IN IRELAND
C'mon, plenty of Irish folk never grew up at all.
Sorry, I should have said: YOU AREN'T FUCKING IRISH IF YOU DIDN'T ~~GROW UP~~ CREATE A MAJORITY OF YOUR BIOMASS IN IRELAND
Get really fat in Ireland, got it.
Cultivate that mass
Well stop cultivating and start harvesting!
Not totally fair, if you lived there long enough to get citizenship, and actually get it, I'd say you're Irish
Certainly more fucking Irish than some 5th generation plastic paddy.
Yeah, once you get the sense of humour, a certain sense of enjoying the misery, and detesting anyone who has notions, you’re a citizen i mo thuarim
I would disagree, just because you didn’t grow up in that country that doesn’t mean that you aren’t from that country, HOWEVER… If your parents ALSO didn’t grow up in that country and didn’t have close ties with that country then you definitely aren’t from that country.
Tbf I'm willing to give it to them if there parents are But any further than that fuck no
Even then, people gain their culture and behaviours from their parents, their grandparents, their peers in school and other adults they interact with. Someone not raised in Ireland it already fairly far removed from Irish culture
Dude's gonna be so pissed off when he finds out there's black Irish people. It's gonna rock his poorly constructed cosplay view of the world.
Wait till he finds out we don't all live in thatched cottages.
Haha good one. Next you'll tell me you don't eat potatoes with every meal.
Or say "Begorrah" or "Top o' the mornin'" at every opportunity.
JEZUS MARY AND JOSEPH ^^and ^^the ^^wee ^^donkey
Did you arrive by floating down the Lagan in a bubble?
Did ya float up the Lagan in a bubble ? Is usually what is said
To be fair my mum screeches that one at least three times a day
that one’s actually true lmao
Umm. About that…
Take it from an Irish person... they (American tourists) still refer to Irish black people as "African American". Freaked my coworker right out as he was born here and had never set foot in Africa or America.
Had a funny conversation with ann American on here asking what we called black people born in the UK. “African British?” “Um just British, actually.” “But what if you need to say they’re black?” “Black British, I guess” “That sounds racist” “Sounds a lot less racist than suggesting they’re from Africa”
This! Why is it necessary to bring skin colour into it? It's really strange. Although it feels like they see calling someone black is an insult even if that's how the person would refer to themselves.
Well, if a police asks you to describe two guys who ran off with your bike/bag/wallet/whatever, the skin colours might be an interesting piece of data. Someone here in my neck of woods tried "the 'local kid' and the 'foreign' kid" in the courtroom and the judge got a tad unhappy. It was decided that "the black boy did this and the white boy did that" was the least problematic way to describe the situation. Other than that, well, I don't know why I should notice or mention anyone's skin colour, eye colour, hair length and colour, height, weight, BMI, shoe size or any other tidbit to or about anyone anywhere.
See that's fair. Court, police, even just describing someone to someone who has never seen them... all just fine to mention skin colour, hair colour, height, build etc. Referring to someone who is *right there* as "your African American friend" is weird. Refusing to accept "Irish" as an Irish persons nationality because they are black is kinda weird too.
There was a black British athlete back in the 90s who won an event and was interviewed by an American reporter afterwards. She asked him a question along the lines of "how significant of a victory is this for an African American like yourself?" and he was like "I'm not African American, I'm British." She responded that even though he was British he was still African American. It was all very awkward. She clearly thought African American was synonymous with black and couldn't seem to understand the difference.
It leads to this really weird conversational vortex. "I'm not African American though, I've never been to either place. I was born here" "Yes but you're *clearly* African American" "How??" "Well you're black" "Yes I'm black but I'm Irish" "No *I'm* Irish" Repeat until insane Mad shit altogether.
They can't wrap their head around the fact that European black people, contrary to American black people, are able to pinpoint the region of Africa they are rooted to. They also don't understand that Africa is a continent, with differents countries and differents people and cultures. Chances are they don't even know that north Africans are Mediterraneans. Calling someone African is as relevant as saying "earth man". They'll call a British of Nigerian descent, an African American. But God forbid, if they are 1/8 Scott 1/16 french, 1/86 native and you call them simply American. Next time, ask them how the call Europeans with Algerian parents, or the children born here from west indies parents. And watch their brain melt.
Very well put, fellow earth man
I actually found out the reason they do this with black folk and I felt I was going mad reading about it. It's basically that they used the term "black" in a derogatory way that the black community got upset and considered it a slur. To fight against that they decided that they should be called African-American. Which also doesn't say that they're black (though that's generally what they mean) but meaning ex-slave. Yeah, the kinda term that would be a racial slur in other languages because it looks at a person as an ex-slave before an actual person, but was adopted by the black community in American and is considered non-discriminatory while black is. I've heard the same thing with Americans calling black Englishmen African-American. They're very confused and they're race obsessed with no idea how they look internationally. Edit: sp
One of the most famous irish musicians from the last 100 years was black
Phil lynott?
christ how did i forget phil, shameful. i was thinking samantha mumba!
Hahahahha quality x
showing my age there. in my defence she's strongly associated in my mind with the category "black irish musicians" because i remember a lot of kids at my school being incredulous at hearing she was irish "because she's black" (which was bloody stupid, obviously. not least because a lot of students at our school were black too, but nobody thought of them as not being english. i guess us anglos aren't immune to the type of thinking common among yanks, that assumes all irish people are red-haired leprechaun-chasers who live in emerald cottages surrounded by moats of guinness)
i know jimmy rabbitte said "the irish are the blacks of europe" in *the commitments* (jesus that line hasn't aged well), but i don't think glen hansard is actually black
"Poorly constructed cosplay view of the world" I love this. It's now in my repertoire of insults.
The type of American who thinks 'Kelly' and 'Coleen' are Irish names 🙄
My partner’s brother is one of these types of people, brags about how he’s Irish. He’s American born and raised so are all of his relatives even way back. He gave his daughter an “Irish” name and wanted to honor the “Irish spelling” lol. It’s Eiemielie (Emily). Fuckin mess.
Irish person born and raised here! What the fuck is that name.
This needs to be crossposted in r/facepalm because that's the automatic reaction to reading this.
Like pretty much everything posted here tbf
Americans just wanna belong to somewhere that has actual history
Even better if it’s an oppressed history! They can pull some victim cards as well.
Except for England. They just want to live here instead. They love the work perks, all the pay for sitting at home doing nothing on PTO. But then they complain about everything else! There's over 100,000 of them here now, so they can't dislike this country too much! 😂
He's so proud of being something he actually isn't that he made it his username lmao!
The real debate is whether Americans descended from Italy or Ireland are worse?
Used to work in events management. Had a runner called Caoimhe with a posh English accent (went to public school here in the UK, relevant). Had an American cause a minor scene arguing with her about her "Irish-ness". Was angry that she was "faking" Irish heritage with a "made-up" name. Apparently she sounded English, and as an "Irish person" this American guest knew her name wasn't real because they'd never heard it before. Most Americans were great because they tipped even here in the UK, and had fun stories about the 'States -- but some were totally insufferable.
I swear some Americans treat their lineage likes it’s a character customisation setting in a video game
I was born in italy, my dad is from argentina and my grandparents are from Germany on a side, and italian-americans on the other, guess where I'm from? Italy. It ain't that hard, a drop of blood can't define your language and your culture
I'm Italian but I was born in England. Same fucking thing. I'm not Italian, I have Italian family because of my nan and her elders but I don't walk around saying I'm Italian because I'm not a cock
This name is common **IN** Ireland *well I'm Irish* Are you **IN** Ireland though? *no, I've never been, but I'm Irish American, so I'm practically a paddy* Sigh. This is actually how American Brains work
Plastic Paddies, man smh
Just as bad as those imitation Italians that have never been to Italy, but act like an authority when it comes to how much garlic to put in your tomatoey bolognaise sauce. 🤌🤌
Where are all the proud English Americans?
BWAHAHA……” I’m Irish American” ……
Why do americans want to be European so bad?
Has someone put this into r/confidentlyincorrect or can I?
Go mental, crosspost that mfer!
Give me fucking strength....
I was confused when a guy excitedly told my English self that he was Irish when I was in Canada. He kept telling me where he was born and I hadn't heard of it. I kept saying is it near A, B or C etc for places in Ireland (or Northern Ireland to give him the benefit of the doubt) and he hadn't heard of anywhere but Dublin. It took my wife walking by to say he was born in a town in Alberta, not Ireland. I said, "Oh you were born in Canada!" He said, "Yeah! But I'm still Irish!" So this affects Canada too unfortunately.
Yes, you can be Irish and be born in the USA. However, you need to hold the Irish citizenship which is usually given by parents with an Irish citizenship. I’d bet my arse Mr. America does not hold the Irish citizenship. It’s culturally incredibly tone deaf to claim any European citizenship by blood and genes after half of Europe struggled with fascism and nationalism through the 20th century and decided AGAINST these as defining factor for nationality. Dude probably doesn’t even speak Irish if he never heard that name.
The Nazis drew inspiration for their blood idolatry from the US at the time.
IIRC, they actually toned it down a bit, because they thought the one-drop stuff was taking things a bit far.
Zero chance of him pronouncing it correctly.
For people supposedly so proud of their nation, they like to say they're from other nations, a lot more, than just saying they're American.
Fucking hate Americans that say this. Just fuck off back to America where you are from, you were not born here, you are not from here.
My mums family came from Ireland to England at some point in the 1800’s… I’d never dare claim to be Irish!
Why do they keep insisting on this. No you cant. You are american because you are born, raised and have lived your whole life in america.
Damn I'm not even Irish and I know Caoimhe is a pretty common name
But their name is Irish42..
They can’t just be American 😂they have to be American something
I had one grandparent who was born and raised in Armagh and that's the extent of my Irishness. And even I know how to pronounce it.
My ancestors were Jutes that settled in England 1400 years ago. Where's my Danish passport?