"I'm Irish"...but what does that mean?

Richard Dower

The national identity eh?....it's like when you go abroad, oh....you're Irish.
What does being Irish mean to you?.....because for me, it's meaningless. Ireland is where i was born, nothing more.

I don't identify with what it means to be Irish, i hate GAA, i don't speak Irish, i don't enjoy the craic or going on the lash.

Hell if i'm honest i identify more with being Martian.

pragmatic1

No good will come of this.

hondasam

It means I'm Irish.

WindSock

You have an Irish passport, accent, a sense of humour that other Irish people get, some words that other Irish people get/understand, a certain way and affiliation with your fellow Irishes towards socialising, a general understanding of your history and culture....dunno, I'll come back to it when I think of more.

Richard Dower

^ i have no accent, loads of people comment on this...posh or middle class is the best description, and most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

Kylo Ren

OP I totally get what you're saying man. For a very young age I always knew I wasn't 'Irish'.

I always knew I was meant to be black and aspire to my dream to be a harlem globetrotter.

Duckworth_Luas

YAWN

WindSock

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ i have no accent, loads of people comment on this...posh or middle class is the best description, and most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

No accent? How does that work....are you like Stephen Hawking? Even he has one, it's a mix of English & yank.

Posh and middle class what? Polish?

Are they more polite to you here in Ireland? or have you been there as an Irishman and interacted with the larger community as one?

SomeFool

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ i have no accent, loads of people comment on this...posh or middle class is the best description, and most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

You're moaning, of course you're Irish

Owwmykneecap

1. I was raised from a relatively young age, for the majority of my young life, somewhere on the island of Ireland, primarily in the area known as the Republic of Ireland, but possibly also Northern Ireland

2. One or both of my Parents fit the abouve criteria although I do not, the proximity to them satisfies the claim.

3. One or more of my many many many, ancestors satisfies the first claim and although I may not be of a close enough proximity to the irish ancestory to satisfy the majority of those who live in Ireland, I feel a real or imagined kinship with a country I may or may not know anything about, I possibly come from a country without a strong national identity or are from a community which to some extent rejects that in favour of one carried by some ancestors.

Think that just about covers it.

Coeurdepirate

It means you don't tan in the 'summer'. Grr.

Richard Dower

SomeFool wrote: »

You're moaning, of course you're Irish

hondasam

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ i have no accent, loads of people comment on this...posh or middle class is the best description, and most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

everyone has an accent. Most Irish people you know are arseholes, maybe that says more about you than them.

Chuck Stone

For a human it's just a word to describe the majority of people who were born on this island or have a heritage here.

DingChavez

"I'm" is a contraction of "I am".
"I" is a pronoun used to refer to oneself.
"am" is a first person singular present indicative of "be".
"Irish" refers to the the people of Ireland. An island off the coast of Europe. Planet Earth.

OPENROAD

Coeurdepirate wrote: »

It means you don't tan in the 'summer'. Grr.

I do

WindSock

Oh yeah, you pretend to have more money than you got.....

innt that what it is.

guitarzero

Ha, you sound like myself. You dont have the craic, you dont take a simple approach to things, you dont have an appreciation for anything thats of our heritage and culture.
I think more importantly, does it really matter what it means? I think milking the whole Irish thing when your abroad is a strong indicator of being Irish, you gota milk that cow MO CHARA!

Duckworth_Luas

DingChavez wrote: »

"I'm" is a contraction of "I am".
"I" is a pronoun used to refer to oneself.
"am" is a first person singular present indicative of "be".
"Irish" refers to the the people of Ireland. An island off the coast of Europe. Planet Earth.

Yeah, but what does that mean?????????????? What does it mean?????????????????? Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh??????

Naikon

It means you aren't british...

:pac:

gonedrinking

I actually hate traveling because I'm Irish. Pretty much everyone views the Irish as being hard drinkers, bringing the party wherever they go, having a great sense of humour, and a way with words. I'm none of those things! I always feel like I'm letting the side down when I travel abroad as I ruin peoples perception of the Irish.

Duckworth_Luas

gonedrinking wrote: »

I actually hate traveling because I'm Irish. Pretty much everyone views the Irish as being hard drinkers, bringing the party wherever they go, having a great sense of humour, and a way with words. I'm none of those things! I always feel like I'm letting the side down when I travel abroad as I ruin peoples perception of the Irish.

Have you ever gone drinking?

deise go deo

Richard Dower wrote: »

The national identity eh?....it's like when you go abroad, oh....you're Irish.
What does being Irish mean to you?.....because for me, it's meaningless. Ireland is where i was born, nothing more.

I don't identify with what it means to be Irish, i hate GAA, i don't speak Irish, i don't enjoy the craic or going on the lash.

Hell if i'm honest i identify more with being Martian.

I will give the same answer here as I gave in another thread on this exact topic,

To me being Irish means Everything, and Nothing, Its just who I am, I can no more change it than I can my Skin. There are certain aspects of 'Irishness' that I identify with, especially the language, other aspects hold no meaning for me at all.

OP, Can I ask what really is the point of this thread, If you find nothing meaningful in being from this country, don't identify with anything from this country, then fine, but I don't understand why some people need to bang on about Ireland being nothing more than where they happened to be born.

WindSock

gonedrinking wrote: »

Pretty much everyone views the Irish as being hard drinkers.... I'm none of those things!

gonedrinking.....hmmmm?




There could be worse stereotypes to be than the fun loving partying self depricating types....

Duckworth_Luas

deise go deo wrote: »

I will give the same answer here as I gave in another thread on this exact topic,

To me being Irish means Everything, and Nothing, Its just who I am, I can no more change it than I can my Skin. There are certain aspects of 'Irishness' that I identify with, especially the language, other aspects hold no meaning for me at all.

OP, Can I ask what really is the point of this thread, If you find nothing meaningful in being from this country, don't identify with anything from this country, then fine, but I don't understand why some people need to bang on about Ireland being nothing more than where they happened to be born.

It's because they're 15 years old. They're still only children.

DOC09UNAM

DingChavez wrote: »

"I'm" is a contraction of "I am".
"I" is a pronoun used to refer to oneself.
"am" is a first person singular present indicative of "be".
"Irish" refers to the the people of Ireland. An island off the coast of Europe. Planet Earth.

The coast of Europe eh??



:pac:

steddyeddy

Richard Dower wrote: »

The national identity eh?....it's like when you go abroad, oh....you're Irish.
What does being Irish mean to you?.....because for me, it's meaningless. Ireland is where i was born, nothing more.

I don't identify with what it means to be Irish, i hate GAA, i don't speak Irish, i don't enjoy the craic or going on the lash.

Hell if i'm honest i identify more with being Martian.

Your probaly haplogroup r1b and lactose tolerant.

gonedrinking

WindSock wrote: »

There could be worse stereotypes to be than the fun loving partying self depricating types....

Its a very good stereotype that the Irish have, but I'm not the fun loving partying type. I usually collapse after about 4 drinks.

starviewadams

It means you're not fúckin English!!

WindSock

"I'm Irish"...but what does that mean?

It means you're a fag.

Cypher_sounds

Richard Dower wrote: »

The national identity eh?....it's like when you go abroad, oh....you're Irish.
What does being Irish mean to you?.....because for me, it's meaningless. Ireland is where i was born, nothing more.

I don't identify with what it means to be Irish, i hate GAA, i don't speak Irish, i don't enjoy the craic or going on the lash.

Hell if i'm honest i identify more with being Martian.

So your Irish and to you its meaningless? Jeez that sucks to have such a lack of pride of where you come from, I bet you wish you were American or something.

Owwmykneecap

Why would anyone have pride about where they came from, it's idiotic, it's no achievement, you might as well be proud to have brown hair or be proud to be 6 foot tall.

DEFTLEFTHAND

A nation is society united by a delusion about its ansestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.

WRI

Icarus152

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ i have no accent, loads of people comment on this...posh or middle class is the best description, and most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

I'd say you're missed in the pub.

Icarus152

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

A nation is society united by a delusion about its ansestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.

WRI

Eh,everyone hates the English,not just us.

KeithAFC

Richard Dower wrote: »

The national identity eh?....it's like when you go abroad, oh....you're Irish.
What does being Irish mean to you?.....because for me, it's meaningless. Ireland is where i was born, nothing more.

I don't identify with what it means to be Irish, i hate GAA, i don't speak Irish, i don't enjoy the craic or going on the lash.

Hell if i'm honest i identify more with being Martian.

Your a loyalist.

Sunnyisland

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~Abraham Lincoln

Dionysus

Discussing "being Irish" is juvenile. These days it's invariably an exercise in self-hatred and lamentation about how terrible the Irish are and how comparatively sophisticated/nicer/better people from other countries (Britain particularly) are.

It's long past time to grow up. Nobody is forced to be Irish. If you really do not want to be Irish then choose another nationality and change to it legally. If you cannot legally be accepted by your preferred state, then choose another state. Any identity, after all, must be better than being Irish.

It is that simple.

You're Irish, Richard? I could have sworn you were American.

One of the things I hate is when someone makes a comment about their having no accent. Everybody has an accent- if you have a voice, you have an accent of some form.

suicide_circus

If you identify yourself as Irish above all other nationalities and have and affinity or connection to Ireland which supersedes or is equal to your affinity or connection with any other nation, then youre Irish. Plenty of people without an Irish passport are Irish and plenty with one are not.

m@cc@

Richard Dower wrote: »

"I'm Irish"...but what does that mean?

You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!

Kevin Duffy

Richard Dower wrote: »

most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

Are you just generally misanthropic, or specifically racist about Poles and Irish?

fryup

do you still have to be a catholic to be seen as true-blue irish?

or has that narrowminded notion gone out the window?

JBnaglfar

"It never ceases to amuse me how every single Irish person thinks themselves witty just because they were born on the same island as me.”
~ Oscar Wilde on Ireland

Ireland, not to be confused with Iraq, is the boggy, green mound located a fair bit west of Japan and is renowned for its rolling drunks, being a former Soviet republic, green hills, paints and scholars, friendly, 364 days of rainfall each year, unexcused sentimentalism, Luck of the Irish and the turf (ah, the turf). Ireland has been president of the Federation of Nations that hate Britain since 1169. The island of Ireland is split into two parts, Northern Badlands and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Badlands is part of the UK and has been since 1955.

Linky

Diving Board

Why do Irish people, particularly on this site, go on about being Irish, and what it means so much. It was just an accident of birth, no more no less. Contrary to what many on here believe, Irish people arent special, they are no better or worse than anyone else. Enough of this who are we navel gazing and maybe try asking questions like where do we want to go as a nation and how do we get there?

Dwellingdweller

Owwmykneecap wrote: »

Why would anyone have pride about where they came from, it's idiotic, it's no achievement, you might as well be proud to have brown hair or be proud to be 6 foot tall.

I'm proud to be 6 foot tall! and I'm also proud to be irish. What does that make me? :pac:

JBnaglfar

Diving Board wrote: »

Why do Irish people, particularly on this site, go on about being Irish, and what it means so much.

I don't know but possible answers: Herd mentality. The concept of a national identity provides a sense of togetherness, comfort, maybe even purpose. Postcolonialism and establishment of a national identity go hand in hand.

As a country, this cannot be formed around an easily identifiable commonality. Our native language is fairly marginal, Catholicism (which rightly or wrongly has been associated with Irishness) and the Church have been rocked by scandal and its numbers have fallen - the census will be interesting in this regard. Republicanism can hardly be the thing around which we gather, just look at the debate around Queen Elizabeth's visit. Again, Republicanism seems to be in the margins of Irish society. For fecks sake, the first thing we did after the war of independence was to start the civil war.

You ask where we go as a nation, while questioning the search for identity. Are we just a state, a collection of people united only by the boundaries within which our political and legal systems have infuence? Or, are we a nation with a national identity (or identities)? This does not need to be based on past national identities - we can be Irish without being Anti-Brit for example. It must also take into account that a significant amount of people living in Ireland do not share our history.

I don't know what Irishness is, but it must be based on the present, how we live today, and our vision(s) for the future. Without such an identity, we are merely a collection of individuals and small groups bound together by law. National identity is not about being better or worse than other nations, but recognising the things which make us a society, and what makes us want to be and remain a society.

Tubsandtiles

Op men of only eighteen fought and died many years ago yesterday, whenever you get the sudden urge to acclaim your sense of not wanting to be Irish, think of the young lads that willingly gave their life so that you could question too what does it mean to be Irish"

Dudess

KeithAFC wrote: »

Your a loyalist.

Don't be silly. Where has he said anything about supporting Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom? Unless you feel loyalism also constitutes looking down on the Irish...?

KeithAFC

Dudess wrote: »

Don't be silly. Where has he said anything about supporting Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom? Unless you feel loyalism also constitutes looking down on the Irish...?

Dunno. He could be.

St.Spodo

It means you're not English :pac: