"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.