For people who have live/lived abroad what differences do you find between Irish and

JPA

Hazys wrote: »

I live in Cambridge in Boston and its nothing like the stereotypes people expect from America. I live in the middle between Harvard and MIT.

You don’t get the image of very fat Americans as the main supermarkets are Wholefoods and Trader Joes which sell all organic foods and crap (just give me food I can just throw into oven). They have great facilities in the area, there are several soccer, baseball pitches, basketball courts, playgrounds and parks all within 10 mins walk of my house.

You also don’t get the uneducated, uncultured Americans, everyday I walk home from the T, I walk past art galleries, open jazz sessions, spice shops, book shops full of hippies. The T (subway) all the advertisements are for free yoga classes, language classes, colleges etc.

The main square I live on has no franchises only home grown businesses, so I see very little of corporate America in my neighbourhood. My area has many different ethnic shops and restaurants, my area is considered little Portugal.

Nightouts are pretty good too. There are some great Irish pubs, one even serves a half decent pint of Guinness. The main bars/clubs vary massively in type and none play mainstream music.

Cambridge has a pretty cool vibe off it, nothing like stereotypical America. Its so different to what you get back home. America is a vast country with different cultures and traditions so I do find it funny when people try to pick out the typical American. Overall i find Americans very friendly and very chatty.

Well I don't know who would expect stereotypical fat, unintelligent Americans to be living between Harvard and MIT.:rolleyes:

Cormb

gary the great wrote: »

Russia, St petersburg -
England:
The moaniest nation of people ive ever come across, they never stop.
A lot of them want something for nothing.
Funny enough, but not as much as Irish.
A lot of know it alls.

I can identify with this based on personal experience - of course not all are bad, but there seems to be a fair few know-it-alls there.

JPA

Cormb wrote: »

I can identify with this based on personal experience - of course not all are bad, but there seems to be a fair few know-it-alls there.

I think we've all met know-it-all English people.
They seem to produce them in great numbers.

Also they can get everything cheaper in England. No ****, we didn't know that.

Hazys

asdasd wrote: »

In American nobody watches NFL.

i don't know if your being sarcastic or not, the NFL is the biggest and most followed sports league in the world, it makes the Premiership look like the minor leagues.

There are 100 times more Americans than Irish people.
I agree its hard to compare Irish people's scientic achievements to the US's due the different sizes in population. Didnt Clinton when visiting Ireland said we had 17x more nobel prizes for our population average.

As for Europeans, America's scientific achievements were helped enormousl by the war because of fleeing Europeans. Since then their universities have been top notch but their science courses are increasingly dominated by non-Americans.

TBF the best colleges in the USA are the best colleges in the world so the best students in the world aspire to go to these colleges instead of their own. MIT has a large amount foreign students but the majority are Americans.

In any case we are not talking about smarts, but insularity,

.

m@cc@

JPA wrote: »

I think we've all met know-it-all English people.
They seem to produce them in great numbers.

Also they can get everything cheaper in England. No ****, we didn't know that.

I find the know-it-all English are most common in the South of England and more specfically, in London and the surrounding areas. The Northerners, for the most part, I find decent, funny folk.

flas

did you ever think not to lump all us irish into one catagory,were not all the same,for example have found myself while living here that dublin is not the best place for anyone coming to Ireland to try and find irish culture or beauty spots yet its litered with tourists,if only they would go down the country to the west,far more laid back and beautiful...

me-skywalker

they dont have any LEPRACHAUNS!!!

El Siglo

luckylucky wrote: »

simple bo£$%^"s more like :rolleyes:

Have a look at this then:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1956/pdf/ukpga_19560052_en.pdf

http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/ban-coal-burning-dublin-cleans-air-reduces-death-rates

Development of Railways (mid 19th century), the closures of railways (post-WWII to the late 1980s), the planning system; the 1967 Planning Act, The 1967 Act from Donagh O'Malley (Free Secondary School Education), the 1944 Eduaction Act (England & Wales) free secondary school education. Really whatever is done in England, whatever happens in England happens 20 to 30 years later in Ireland; immigration, economic growth, contrast the early 1980s in the UK to the early 2000's in Ireland.
Really it's not even funny, whether we like it or not, we're all west brits, you can hark on about language, culture and all of that but bottom line we're west brits, I don't like it one bit but the proof is there. Think about comedy for example, one thing Irish people are proud of and good at. Tommy Tiernan in 'Bovinity' taking the piss out of immigrants and minorities is there much difference between that and the stuff Bernard Manning did? A joke is a joke, what's the difference when Tiernan does it and when Manning did it?

Latchy

getz wrote: »

i spend all my holidays in ireland now about two months a year i find [and i am a english pensioner] that i have made closer friend with the irish than at home. to me its like having an extended family ,as well as being a more friendly race i also find when i go to the pub younger people will always come over to say hi-something that dosent happen in the uk now, when i first came on holiday i stopped a irishman to ask directions ,and soon found the normal conversation should be--good weather ,like over here,do you have any irish family ?,[if so you will need to go into details] then you may ask ;do you know how i can get to!!, honestly [as a ex merchant seaman] i have found you the nicest race of people i have ever met

That's good that your expierence of Ireland is positive .It always was a character trait of the Irish to be friendly to tourists and I like to think that my expierences of living in uk have helped me see the good points of both races

m@cc@ wrote: »

I find the know-it-all English are most common in the South of England and more specfically, in London and the surrounding areas. The Northerners, for the most part, I find decent, funny folk.

As somebody living in north west England and sometimes visitor to the south of England I would agree .Northern English people are very similar to Irish people in many ways .

Woger

Does anyone else find the way Irish people flock to Iriash bars abroad a bi embarassing? Don't get me wrong I like the layout and atmpspheres of irish pubs but there are Irish people who don't go anywhere else. I was guilty of it for a summer in Boston.

m@cc@

Woger wrote: »

Does anyone else find the way Irish people flock to Iriash bars abroad a bi embarassing? Don't get me wrong I like the layout and atmpspheres of irish pubs but there are Irish people who don't go anywhere else. I was guilty of it for a summer in Boston.

I only go to them because they're the only place you can see footie and rugby. Otherwise, they are s***holes.

irish_bob

Hazys wrote: »

.

nonesense , outside the usa , hardly anyone watched the joke of a sport that is american football or its stupid league

the premiership and the champions league are watched in every continent bar north america by millions

xOxSinéadxOx

most noticeable difference between ireland and other countries - everything runs on time! it's really weird

live2thewire

not in italia, well not in rome anyway.

asdasd

not in england.

Crumble Froo

m@cc@ wrote: »

I only go to them because they're the only place you can see footie and rugby. Otherwise, they are s***holes.

actually, city i live in, the irish pubs are frequently the best place to be on a night out, even the locals love them. think this is one of the very very few places though.

nitrogen

Does anyone else find this a very hard question to answer.

I haven't lived in Ireland for five years, but visited lots and when in university, I recall interacting with and befriending Europeans and North Americans on an equal level to the Irish. Since then my friends and colleagues have been a mix from all over the world, and don't define themselves by their culture as much as maybe their counterparts who haven't travelled, or stuck with the flock.

People are people, and the cultural differences become much smaller the longer you spend in a foreign culture. The more rural you delve in a country, the more you'll find the exact same positive and negative aspects to rural Ireland.

I suppose I just don't see myself that shaped by nationality, but if I was put on the spot, I'd say European.

m@cc@

live2thewire wrote: »

not in italia, well not in rome anyway.

No, it's Italy all over.

live2thewire

nitrogen wrote: »

Does anyone else find this a very hard question to answer.

I haven't lived in Ireland for five years, but visited lots and when in university, I recall interacting with and befriending Europeans and North Americans on an equal level to the Irish. Since then my friends and colleagues have been a mix from all over the world, and don't define themselves by their culture as much as maybe their counterparts who haven't travelled, or stuck with the flock.

People are people, and the cultural differences become much smaller the longer you spend in a foreign culture. The more rural you delve in a country, the more you'll find the exact same positive and negative aspects to rural Ireland.

I suppose I just don't see myself that shaped by nationality, but if I was put on the spot, I'd say European.

Well firstly I'd say I'm a donegalman(teenager really ) because this is who i feel even though i was born in munich and live in dublin now. but i would consider myself more european than irish. my first language is irish so thus i don't really feel any more or less 'connected' with irish anglo speakers anymore than i would with a parisien.

so first
donegal
european
irish
human.

i never felt bavarian or german at all even though i love germany


*ps i love ireland and i am the biggest fan of the country in sports so its not denying who i am just how i feel.*

Hazys

irish_bob wrote: »

nonesense , outside the usa , hardly anyone watched the joke of a sport that is american football or its stupid league

the premiership and the champions league are watched in every continent bar north america by millions

Lol i love these ignorant statements without any facts or figures.

The premiership has a market of 60 million of English maybe double that to 120 million if you want to add in the asian and africian countries that watch also. While the market in the US is 350 million people for the NFL.

The average attendence in for NFL games is 67000, how many premiership teams have stadiums that can fit that amount of people?

TV money for the Premiership is 1.7billion ($2.5b) sterling a year for 38 games while the NFL gets nearly $5 billion a year for 16 games and playoffs.

Not 2 mention the Super Bowl is the largest viewed sporting event of the year outside the world cup and olympic years.

In terms of TV viewers, attendence and player salaries the Premiership is most definitly a minor league in comparison to the NFL.

Hazys

Woger wrote: »

Does anyone else find the way Irish people flock to Iriash bars abroad a bi embarassing? Don't get me wrong I like the layout and atmpspheres of irish pubs but there are Irish people who don't go anywhere else. I was guilty of it for a summer in Boston.

Ud be going well out of your way to avoid Irish bars in Boston tbf

live2thewire

Hazys wrote: »

Lol i love these ignorant statements without any facts or figures.

The premiership has a market of 60 million of English maybe double that to 120 million if you want to add in the asian and africian countries that watch also. While the market in the US is 350 million people for the NFL.

The average attendence in for NFL games is 67000, how many premiership teams have stadiums that can fit that amount of people?

TV money for the Premiership is 1.7billion ($2.5b) sterling a year for 38 games while the NFL gets nearly $5 billion a year for 16 games and playoffs.

Not 2 mention the Super Bowl is the largest viewed sporting event of the year outside the world cup and olympic years.

In terms of TV viewers, attendence and player salaries the Premiership is most definitly a minor league in comparison to the NFL.

Compare NFL to Champions League and I wonder how it comes out.

350 million vs over 500 million.

allabouteve

Xavi6 wrote: »

Australians drink as nuch, if not more, than the Irish.

They are quite racist, though generally very friendly and welcoming, once you're white I guess.

Sense of humour isn't a patch on ours, though no ones' really is.

They have real tans. None of that out of a bottle crap or streaks.

I lived in Ireland for two years. I wouldn't say we're more racist, just more obvious about it than the average Irish person would be.

Love the Irish sense of humour, but then my Dad was Irish so its not like I haven't been primed.

Not a drinker myself, so who wins in the drinking stakes isn't as obvious to me.

As far as tans go, I'd much rather Australians embraced the use of high factor sunscreens rather than bake themselves. We unfortunately have the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world.

Hazys

live2thewire wrote: »

Compare NFL to Champions League and I wonder how it comes out.

350 million vs over 500 million.

Well i was only comparing the NFL to the Premiership cos i dont have any figures for the CL.

The only thing i could find on the CL is it costs 120m sterling a year in the UK to show the CL. 120m X 10 (maybe?) is still a lot less than $5billion.



Like i said before, the NFL is by far the biggest sporting league in the world.

lala stone

Darkbloom wrote: »

And in a couple of decades they'll look like this:
http://www.spray-tan-byron-bay.com/images/sundamagedskin.jpg

Vom... is that actually real?

alkev

Hazys wrote: »

Lol i love these ignorant statements without any facts or figures.

While the market in the US is 350 million people for the NFL.

Population of USA is 303 Million (July 2008 estimate)so where does that figure come from?

Hazys

alkev wrote: »

Lol i love these ignorant statements without any facts or figures.

While the market in the US is 350 million people for the NFL.

Population of USA is 303 Million (July 2008 estimate)so where does that figure come from?

it was just an estimate, do you have nothing better to be doing?

m@cc@

Hazys wrote: »

Lol i love these ignorant statements without any facts or figures.

The premiership has a market of 60 million of English maybe double that to 120 million if you want to add in the asian and africian countries that watch also. While the market in the US is 350 million people for the NFL.

The average attendence in for NFL games is 67000, how many premiership teams have stadiums that can fit that amount of people?

TV money for the Premiership is 1.7billion ($2.5b) sterling a year for 38 games while the NFL gets nearly $5 billion a year for 16 games and playoffs.

Not 2 mention the Super Bowl is the largest viewed sporting event of the year outside the world cup and olympic years.

In terms of TV viewers, attendence and player salaries the Premiership is most definitly a minor league in comparison to the NFL.

You haven't really countered his point since he clearly said 'outside the USA'. The Superbowl is the exception, but even then, no one really gives a s*** who wins it.

Hazys

m@cc@ wrote: »

You haven't really countered his point since he clearly said 'outside the USA'. The Superbowl is the exception, but even then, no one really gives a s*** who wins it.

Well the debate started when asdasd said "In American nobody watches NFL." which is clearly wrong then it got sidetracked when IrishBob replied to my reponse of "the NFL makes the Premiership look like a minor league" by saying thats rubbish.

Obvously the Premiership has a more widely spread fan base but its pretty minor in comparison to the NFL, i have nothing more to add to this conversation.

maninasia

Get a room with a satellite dish and you can debate you your hearts content.


I think Ireland as a country is kind of like a teenager that's growing up and now Irish people are going through a huge introspection period and a bit of loss of confidence after a hell of coming out party. That's Ireland as a country.

As people 'Irish' is too general. What I can say is I miss the easy conversation I can have in Ireland with people about any topic. At least it was like that before and I hope it still is. Is there anywhere like Ireland where you can talk to people about any subject under the sun...I don't know. I spent sometime in Sweden once and I couldn't deal with their reserve, I'd try to talk to strangers as I didn't know anybody and was lonely and they just didn't reciprocate, that was tough (I live in Asia now and one thing I love about it is that it is fairly easy to talk to locals if you want, they don't see any angle in it). Irish people are a bit insular and don't know much about foreign cultures, especially Asia, but that could be said about a lot of countries. They think they are more important than they are when in reality large parts of the world don't really know anything about it and couldn't care less. Irish people are generally friendly to each other (this is not common for many English for example), that's a nice trait. They are also fairly welcoming of foreigners and even though a little racist most people are grown up to control it and realise we live in a changing world. I think that's the capacity that I most admire about Irish people, the ability to realise the world is changing and there were mistakes and bad things about Irish culture in the past (e.g. child abuse, discrimination against unmarried mothers) but that we can go past that on our terms.
Irish people could lay off the drink though...that's really out of control...this coming from a person who likes his beer!