What are the differences between British/Irish people?

smash

Irish people are aware of the history between the two countries, most British are ignorant to it and don't understand the bone of contention. Then again they're so self obsessed that they don't see why anyone has any issues with them.

squeekyduck

Its hard to generalise British into one ideal person because its made up of four countries. However my observations are as follows;

In a work environment in Ireland when passing someone in the hallway it is common curtsy to say good morning, good evening etc. In the parts of Britain I have worked in people generally dont say acknowledge you as you pass. This is not always the case but it is more common in the UK.

The British dont have a well rounded education system as Ireland and therefore their general knowledge is lacking. This is not always the case but it is certainly linked to their 3 subject A levels Vs our 7 subject LC.

They love caravan holidays for some strange reason, go their on any bank holiday and you will see what I mean.

who the fug

The only people who claim to be British live in Ireland , so no difference then.

Also the only people who yak on about class in the UK don't live here or sell the Socialist Worker

Beefy78

squeekyduck wrote: »

Its hard to generalise British into one ideal person because its made up of four countries. However my observations are as follows;

In a work environment in Ireland when passing someone in the hallway it is common curtsy to say good morning, good evening etc. In the parts of Britain I have worked in people generally dont say acknowledge you as you pass. This is not always the case but it is more common in the UK.

The British dont have a well rounded education system as Ireland and therefore their general knowledge is lacking. This is not always the case but it is certainly linked to their 3 subject A levels Vs our 7 subject LC.

They love caravan holidays for some strange reason, go their on any bank holiday and you will see what I mean.

See, not a single one of these I'd reconcile with my experience of 30 years in the UK. The only difference between the office environment in both I've noticed is that people here swear more.

I've never met anyone in my life who has been on a caravan holiday.

smash

squeekyduck wrote: »

In a work environment in Ireland when passing someone in the hallway it is common curtsy to say good morning, good evening etc. In the parts of Britain I have worked in people generally dont say acknowledge you as you pass. This is not always the case but it is more common in the UK.

The British dont have a well rounded education system as Ireland and therefore their general knowledge is lacking. This is not always the case but it is certainly linked to their 3 subject A levels Vs our 7 subject LC.

It might seem like a generalisation but they're horrible to work with. I've worked with companies that have uk mainland offices and have always found them condescending and they treat the Irish as if they're thick.

whisky_galore

smash wrote: »

Irish people are aware of the history between the two countries, most British are ignorant to it and don't understand the bone of contention. Then again they're so self obsessed that they don't see why anyone has any issues with them.

For a country supposedly ignorant of its history, it has lots of fine museums that put ours in the ha'penny place and looks after its heritage far better than we do. Heritage lottery grants for projects vs. crumbling castles and roofless historic houses.

Beefy78

smash wrote: »

It might seem like a generalisation but they're horrible to work with. I've worked with companies that have uk mainland offices and have always found them condescending and they treat the Irish as if they're thick.

Maybe they've been put off by the huge Anti-Brit chip you clearly have on your shoulder?

I'm a delight to work with

squeekyduck

Beefy78 wrote: »

See, not a single one of these I'd reconcile with my experience of 30 years in the UK. The only difference between the office environment in both I've noticed is that people here swear more.

I've never met anyone in my life who has been on a caravan holiday.

You have probably lived in the nice parts!

The only people I know in Ireland who own caravans are of the howya boss types while in the UK I can name countless people who all own a caravan. Its a past time that came in after WW2 due to low manufacturing cost and seems to have stuck.

I agree with the office swearing. Also in the office environment in Ireland its typically levi jeans and a shirt, in the UK its shirt and tie only (Based on industry I am in at least)

Beefy78

squeekyduck wrote: »

You have probably lived in the nice parts!

The only people I know in Ireland who own caravans are of the howya boss types while in the UK I can name countless people who all own a caravan. Its a past time that came in after WW2 due to low manufacturing cost and seems to have stuck.

I agree with the office swearing. Also in the office environment in Ireland its typically levi jeans and a shirt, in the UK its shirt and tie only (Based on industry I am in at least)

You do defintiely see a lot of caravans on the roads on Bank Holidays but it is a small country with a lot of people in it. I don't think a significant proportion of the population holidays in them these days, although that probably wasn't the case 30 or 40 years ago before cheap air travel.

Henry Sidney

squeekyduck wrote: »

You have probably lived in the nice parts!

The only people I know in Ireland who own caravans are of the howya boss types while in the UK I can name countless people who all own a caravan. Its a past time that came in after WW2 due to low manufacturing cost and seems to have stuck.

I agree with the office swearing. Also in the office environment in Ireland its typically levi jeans and a shirt, in the UK its shirt and tie only (Based on industry I am in at least)

Ah Levi jeans, boot cut. The uniform of the 35-55 year old Irishman who thinks he has "made it".

Willfarman

smash wrote: »

Irish people are aware of the history between the two countries, most British are ignorant to it and don't understand the bone of contention. Then again they're so self obsessed that they don't see why anyone has any issues with them.

Irish people are are far more ignorant of our shared history. The paint the postboxes green and blow up the records republic.
Now children" English rich landlord, poor irish starved catholic" repeat.

Mantis1234

Henry Sidney wrote: »

The Irish are obsessed with the English, the English don't give the Irish a second thought.

This. We're very insecure. Whenever an Irish person does something bad abroad, everyone is so quick point out that "n-not all of us are like that! He's barely even Irish anyway!". And whenever a celebrity says something good about the country you can almost hear the blood rushing to the cheeks of everyone in the country in one big collective blush.

AnLonDubh

The British have a secondary circulatory system with blood formed from an iron-copper compound and are most comfortable in roughly 1.8 Earth's gravity due to their large high-tensile strength carbon-nanotube muscle analogues.

smash

whisky_galore wrote: »

For a country supposedly ignorant of its history, it has lots of fine museums that put ours in the ha'penny place and looks after its heritage far better than we do.

That has nothing to do with the fact that most British people are ignorant to the history between their own country and Ireland. I've met English people who think Ireland is part of the UK ffs.

Agricola

Irish culture is more laid back, go with the flow, accept what comes. When the good times come, party like it's 1999. When the bad times come, shure fúck it we did alright while we had it.

British culture is.......... not really like this!

Hoop66

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Wow that seems really snobbish by your mates

Perhaps I've not expressed it well. What I mean is that they would generally socialise in a house situation with people they know from having kids in the same school etc. rather than go to the pub. In that case nearly all of the people would be "middle class", but I find over here that even in a similar situation there is more mixing of people from different backgrounds.

I can only speak from my own experience though.

Paddyfield

Most Irish people support British football teams, just like British people do. I don't understand it but it's a fact.


(I'm an avid supporter of a League of Ireland club....)

Henry Sidney

Hoop66 wrote: »

Perhaps I've not expressed it well. What I mean is that they would generally socialise in a house situation with people they know from having kids in the same school etc. rather than go to the pub. In that case nearly all of the people would be "middle class", but I find over here that even in a similar situation there is more mixing of people from different backgrounds.

I can only speak from my own experience though.

My experience is quite different. Here in England last week we met at a friend's house then went out to a few pubs. Present were a joiner, two nurses, a physiotherapist, a chemical engineer, a welder, a tesco checkout worker, a solicitor, a teacher and a company CEO. Quite a varied crowd really.

whisky_galore

Agricola wrote: »

Irish culture is more laid back, go with the flow, accept what comes. When the good times come, party like it's 1999. When the bad times come, shure fúck it we did alright while we had it.

British culture is.......... not really like this!

The 'shure it'll be grand' culture and the sneaking regard and even open admiration for stroke pullers served us well.:rolleyes:

Birneybau

British people drive like-

'Do bi do di do'

Irish people drive like-

'Da di da di da'

who_me

Godot. wrote: »

Yes, but the differences in our nationalities culturally. What we stand for.

We stand for Amhrán na bhFiann, they stand for God Save The Queen.

* except for people who can't stand, obviously.
** and most of us don't stand for the anthems, part of the post-colonial "feck authority" attitude maybe?
*** and it could be God Save The Queen for those Irish in the North too.
**** or God Save The King, depending...
***** And we also stand for Ireland's Call, which is neither here nor there.

whisky_galore

smash wrote: »

That has nothing to do with the fact that most British people are ignorant to the history between their own country and Ireland. I've met English people who think Ireland is part of the UK ffs.

'Most'

Every country breeds thickos. I've maybe met just one or who were under this illusion. There's lads here who just obsess non-stop about Cromwell or the Tans as if they actually fought them and making references to 'West Brits' or whatever which is really fcuking tiresome.

smash

whisky_galore wrote: »

'Most'

Every country breeds thickos. I've maybe met just one or who were under this illusion. There's lads here who just obsess non-stop about Cromwell or the Tans as if they actually fought them and making references to 'West Brits' or whatever which is really fcuking tiresome.

Yep. Usually the same types who support English clus and refer to these clubs as "we".

Tarzana

As a general thing, Brits are more reserved, at least on initial meeting, and less eager to please.

I like the reserve thing, sometimes the much-mooted Irish friendliness can have a two-faced element to it.

fleet_admiral

Our standard of food and living are much higher

Tarzana

Henry Sidney wrote: »

The Irish are obsessed with the English, the English don't give the Irish a second thought.

Every country has some other country they are obsessed with. For us it's the UK and probably the US. For the UK, OK, it's not Ireland, it's France, Germany and again, probably the US. Every country probably obsesses about the US, it being a cultural hegemony and all.

Overflow

Laois6556 wrote: »

The Irish are decent people for the most part while the Brits are mostly horrible people. The horrible Irish people are west Brits and the nice British people are our fellow Gaels.

Good reply, I especially like the part where you generalized two entire nations.

Tarzana

riffmongous wrote: »

I'd also say class snobbery is a fairly big difference, in Ireland people think a wage or wealth makes your a certain class while in England it is as much a mindset as anything (for some)

Definitely a mindset.

No matter that Kate Middleton's family are millionaires, I bet there was more than a few eyebrows raised when William rocked up to Windsor with her. The upper classes would be more accepting of a broke aristocrat than a moneyed commoner.

jonnyfingers

As a Irishman living behind enemy lines..............eh, in Kent....................there are lots of little differences but very few major ones. We can all happily get along together without too much trouble.

Realtine

smash wrote: »

. I've met English people who think Ireland is part of the UK ffs.

HA! I agree with this, used to work in a hospital A&E registering folks as they came in the door one evening a bunch of english guys from a stags do came in after running the gauntlet in temple bar - this was a good few years ago - when it was a very popular pastime, anyhow one of the questions that had to be asked was "what area have you come from", usually the answer was Dublin 2, or 6 or whichever area of dublin or the country the patient had travelled from (HSE stats was why they wanted that info) anyway this english gentleman looked slightly confused at the question and says in all innocence "The Mainland".