Culchie/Townie Relationships

Panthro

We all need air in our lungs and food in our belly, sure we are all the same really!

What an idiotic question! I'm sorry, but it is. There is no reason why a relationship wouldn't work between someone from the country and someone from the city. Both would have received the same education, the same experiences mostly. There would be no difference.

squeakyduck

My boyfriend is from Tallaght and I'm from county Waterford. we gel well together, he finds some of my mannerisms funny and vice versa. We have lived different lives growing up, but I appreciate where he is from and he appreciates where I'm from! All good.

donfers

if both people in the relationship think in such reductionist terms such that they define each other according to the labels in the thread title then yes it will work and they are made for each other.

parker kent

donfers wrote: »

if both people in the relationship think in such reductionist terms such that they define each other according to the labels in the thread title then yes it will work and they are made for each other.

As much as I disagreed with there being a problem, there is no need to attack the OP either!

Neyite

my mother is from a large UK Industrial type city, my dad was from a place in ireland so rural they didnt get electricity until the 1980s..
there was also a significant age gap - 20 years, pretty much a generation gap really. theirs was a very happy marraige - lots of differences, and some ups and downs, but they had 30 odd years of love, until dad died a few years ago.

its thanks to them that im a hopeless romantic

Scarinae

I used to go out with a guy from 'the country' (Well, he lived near a town so he wasn't a full-blown culchie, and I'm almost from Wicklow so I wouldn't be a full-blown Dub) God knows what his parents thought of the whole thing - I was older than him, from Dublin and a Protestant. I don't drink tea, not that fond of potatoes, knew next to nothing about GAA, have never seen Michael Collins...

One of his aunts once asked me if I could make something called boxty, and told me I'd never get a husband if I couldn't make it (I'd never even heard of it!) He also had a great uncle whose accent was so thick I couldn't make out most of what he was saying, I would just end up nodding and smiling whenever he spoke to me

But yeah, of course they can work... Couples have overcome much bigger cultural differences than that!

This is boxty and it's actually quite nice. Haven't had it in years though.

Malari

I think there's something about Irish people that makes them want to label you so they think they have an idea of who you are. I constantly get asked where I'm "really" from when I say I'm from Cork. Apparently living here for 20 odd years doesn't count. I don't have a strong accent, I lived my early childhood in different cities, so therefore to a lot of people I'm not really allowed say I'm from Cork. Or they try to slag me over GAA when I've barely watched two matches in my life! It's about putting people in boxes - you are from Cork therefore you have a superiority complex, you hate Dublin and you speak in a high voice that is ever-spiralling out of control. If you don't, then....how can you really be from Cork? :rolleyes:

I know people who grew up in the burbs who now live in the country and love it. Or like me, HAVE to live in a city, right in the city, and would hate living in the country. I mean my parents are just in a large satellite town and I think of it as the countryside!

I think more than your background, what is really important is where you like to live now. No point in having dreams of bringing your child up in the country surrounded by fields when your partner never wants to leave the apartment in the city centre.

snickerpuss

The only reason that this would be an issue for me is if the other person wanted me to move out of Dublin. (I won't say 'a town' since I really just mean Dublin) There is literally no way I could cope with small town country life, I would die of boredom. Plus all that fresh air, I'd be knackered! :-D Couldn't expect it of a 6th generation Dub really!

Elle Collins

The term 'townie' doesn't refer to people from Dublin. It refers to people from Dublin 1 & 2. Inner city Dublin, in other words. (Though it'd probably take a culchie not to know that:D)

starlit

I guess they can work. It depends on each other's location I suppose but it shouldn't really matter. Of course people who are townies are more like to want to go out with someone who is a townie rather than a culchie and those who are culchies are more likely to end up with someone who is a culchie. They can work though, location should matter! You'd do anything for love!:o

I'd be happy enough to live in either the city or country, i've lived in both!

IrishEyes19

From a rural area myself and moved to a city for college purposes. Have always hated the term culchie, find it so vulgar to be honest as if people from rural areas are brought up in a backwards society or something, but in relation to the OP's question. It shouldn't impact one bit Id imagine, have had relationships from both sides of the equation and they have been the same to be honest, going out, films, dinner, sports, and so on, have all been the main interests give or take. Only difference would be distance I'd imagine if you werent from the same area but that applies to city/city relationships too.

Logical Fallacy

snuggles285 wrote: »

Of course people who are townies are more like to want to go out with someone who is a townie rather than a culchie and those who are culchies are more likely to end up with someone who is a culchie.

Why? Genuine question.

Surely it's just about who the person is, not where they are from?

Wait - when people say "townie" are they solely referring to people from Dublin and when they say "culchie" they mean the rest of the country?

newmug

I'm from a rural area. I consider myself a culchie.

• Townies are anyone who is a non-culchie, they can come from rural areas too.
• You are from wherever you went to primary school.
• If you're not a culchie, you're not really Irish.
• Dubs are neither, they're a different species altogether!

baby and crumble

I'm like some weird hybrid, I consider myself as coming from the countryside ( I HATE the term culchie), I'm protestant, went to boarding school and have lived in Dublin 10 years. I have no idea about anything that's typically 'culchie' like farming ( I didn't live on a farm), GAA (like I said, protestant), and I don't drink tea. Been going out with my partner (who's from the Liberties) for 7 years. I love cities, but I have memories and love the stuff I did as a kid growing up at home. My partner thinks it's hilarious that I would be out cycling around the countryside all day when I was 10, I find it weird she was drinking at 12. I still can't deal with any ambient light in my bedroom at night, she freaks out if she can't see everything from the street lamps streaming in the windows...

It does irritate me when she assumes that everyone 'down there' is a bit backward, which tbh she does sometimes. Telling her that I never really went to the cinema as a kid because there just wasn't one in my COUNTY is like telling her a never saw the sun. There can be an assumption that city-dwellers are very sophisticated. Which to me is complete bollox.

Hazys

lol at this thread.

Ireland is way way too small have any real diffferences in personality or culture between somebody from Dublin City (a tiny city in the world view) to a person living in a town in the country with a population of 2,000 people.

The majority are white, catholic, have the same education, watch the same 4 TV channels, eat the same food, etc.


I dont know where some people from Dublin get a supriority complex when considering the whole city would only be a suburb of London or New York or Paris. It'd be a larger culture shock for somebody from Dublin to move to NYC as opposed to that same person moving to Ennis.

dfx-

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Why? Genuine question.

Surely it's just about who the person is, not where they are from?

Are the two separable?

Where they are from will generally define them to a degree.

starlit

I'm confused, I asumed townie meant for those living in a town or city and those who are culchies living in the country? Didn't think it was that townies are dubs and that culchies are referred to those in the rest of the country?!:eek:

newmug

zoegh wrote: »

I'm like some weird hybrid, I consider myself as coming from the countryside ( I HATE the term culchie), I'm protestant....................... saw the sun. There can be an assumption that city-dwellers are very sophisticated. Which to me is complete bollox.

You are a townie

Hazys wrote: »

Ireland is way way too small have any real diffferences in personality or culture

Wrong. Just listen to the variety of accents we have in Eire.

Hazys wrote: »

The majority are white, catholic, have the same education, watch the same 4 TV channels, eat the same food, etc.

Not really. The food is different, some dubs I know never ate stew, some Culchies I know never ate lasagne or chinese, Catholicism is way more diluted among the population of dublin versus the rest of the country, most townies I know have sky or upc, and hardly ever watch irish tele.

Hazys wrote: »

I dont know where some people from Dublin get a supriority complex when considering the whole city would only be a suburb of London or New York or Paris. It'd be a larger culture shock for somebody from Dublin to move to NYC as opposed to that same person moving to Ennis.

Fully agree.

snuggles285 wrote: »

I'm confused, I asumed townie meant for those living in a town or city and those who are culchies living in the country? Didn't think it was that townies are dubs and that culchies are referred to those in the rest of the country?!:eek:

People, people, people. There is a third variable some of you are missing here, its not just townies or Culchies. You are all forgetting that dubs are seperate again, they are JACKEENS. Totally different.

Scarinae

newmug wrote: »

zoegh wrote: »

I'm like some weird hybrid, I consider myself as coming from the countryside ( I HATE the term culchie), I'm protestant....................... saw the sun. There can be an assumption that city-dwellers are very sophisticated. Which to me is complete bollox.

You are a townie

Even though she is from the countryside? How?

newmug wrote: »

Wrong. Just listen to the variety of accents we have in Eire.

Sure, there is a variety in accents etc... It is hardly comparable to the differences between an Irish person and someone from rural Cambodia, for example. People from different parts of Ireland are still from the same country, speak the same languages, study the same curriculum, have the same government, and are predominantly white and of Christian upbringing. Just because someone has never eaten stew, or watches British TV channels, it doesn't mean that they have nothing in common. I see bigger differences living in the UK, and have seen huge differences in countries outside of Europe. Anyone who really thinks there is a gaping chasm between different types of Irish people needs to open their mind more to what goes on outside the country.

newmug wrote: »

People, people, people. There is a third variable some of you are missing here, its not just townies or Culchies. You are all forgetting that dubs are seperate again, they are JACKEENS. Totally different.

I thought jackeens were just the Dublin football supporters? Can someone give me a better definition? Urban dictionary was not much help:

Definition 1
Used to describe someone from Dublin, typically used by muck savages from Cork with their grating, whining accents.
"Anto is a ****in' jackeen bai."

Definition 2
In Ireland, somebody from Dublin.

Definition 3
A person from Dublin (derogatory)

Given as how Dubliner sloved the queen some much and used waived the Union Flag when Victoria visited they are known by the rest of us true Irish people as Jackeens
If it was a bag of heroin you'd catch it ya jackeen scumbag ya

blue5000

Try this definition; If you burn smokeless coal, then you are a townie.

If you or your parents (mammy or daddy, not your ol dear or ol fella or da) ever used big bale net wrap to light a turf fire (not briquettes), then you are a culchie.

Blowfish

blue5000 wrote: »

Try this definition; If you burn smokeless coal, then you are a townie.

If you or your parents (mammy or daddy, not your ol dear or ol fella or da) ever used big bale net wrap to light a turf fire (not briquettes), then you are a culchie.

What if you've central heating? :pac:

5live

blue5000 wrote: »

Try this definition; If you burn smokeless coal, then you are a townie.

If you or your parents (mammy or daddy, not your ol dear or ol fella or da) ever used big bale net wrap to light a turf fire (not briquettes), then you are a culchie.

Jaysus blue5000 dat stuf be danjerus. Don be mussin wid stuf lik dat or oil tel yer mammy:D. The difference, IMO, is a state of mind. Culchies just get on and do it as there is nobody else to do it for you. After living in Dublin for years, the attitude seems to be (in general) who is going to do it for me. As for relationships between both sides, many have suceeded as many from townies and culchie pairings havent

johnmcdnl

snickerpuss wrote: »

There is literally no way I could cope with small town country life, I would die of boredom.

What do you do in the city on a day to day basis that makes life so interesting right now???? surprisingly 90% of the things you have in the big smoke are down the country too... you might have to hop in a car for 10-15 minutes to get to them but sur what's the difference between that and having to get the dublin bus too them in the city... we have pubs, cinemas, shops, and whatever else you want down here too.. what's so boring about the countryside in comparassion?????????

tinkerbell

I thought a "townie" was used to refer to someone who lived in a town, rather than out in the countryside.

And I thought "culchie" was used to describe all of us who are not from the likes of Dublin / east Kildare / southern Louth.

Namlub

johnmcdnl wrote: »

What do you do in the city on a day to day basis that makes life so interesting right now???? surprisingly 90% of the things you have in the big smoke are down the country too... you might have to hop in a car for 10-15 minutes to get to them but sur what's the difference between that and having to get the dublin bus too them in the city... we have pubs, cinemas, shops, and whatever else you want down here too.. what's so boring about the countryside in comparassion?????????

Yes, but like one of each...

blue5000

Blowfish wrote: »

What if you've central heating? :pac:

someplace in between, suburbia perhaps.

doctor evil

I thought it was a state of mind? Like a townie would be someone giving out about tractors on the road/cow moowing etc and a culchie would have more of a small town thought process. I suppose you could get both being the other way and to different degrees.