Taboos in Ireland

HairyCabbage

Nighttime wonderings... what taboos exist in Ireland that don't exist in other countries? Which ones annoy you the most?

Your Face

All is permitted !

Fourier

You can't touch randomers' knobs in the street or walk around in the nip with a French tickler in your backdoor. Our Catholic background has left us very repressed compared with Continental Europe where ticklers are not only legal, but mandatory.

castletownman

Suicide.

Mental health

The Hill Billy

Leaving the immersion on.

Harry Palmr

Breast feeding. Some sort of Catholic guilt thing I presume.

donegaLroad

I was watching this Rich Hall clip on his experience of Ireland.. skip to 1:15

'Cork Man Drowns'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox1CoCHR1o8

stampydmonkey

Not finishing your dinner in the presence of your mother... Que... "think of the poor people in africa"

Solomon Pleasant

Stepping outside of any social norm is usually pointed out and criticised in Ireland. It's the nature of many people in this country. We generally don't like or trust those different to us and we tend to fear what we don't understand.

Example include, but are not limited to people who don't drink, people who are career focused rather than people focused and I've also found that a lot of people look at me strangely when I tell them that I read. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a taboo, but as it's different than sitting in front of the tv for hours on end, it can be frowned upon and viewed as boring or unimaginative.

RayM

"What do you mean, you don't drink?"

munster87

A scary tattoo

LirW

Not having the classic Irish hotel wedding with 250 guests.

Omackeral

Saying you support a football team from this country is certainly taboo. Allow me to demonstrate.

''Who do you support?''
''Shelbourne.''
''No but who do you really support?''

You have to pretend to be a Manc or a Scouser and call each other the scum and things like that. Basically you're to adopt English football as if it's your own... unless England are playing that is.

lazybones32

I can't think of anything that is taboo. I can think of lots of things i wouldn't want to discuss with randomers/strangers and lots of stuff from said people that i don't want to hear about. I don't want to hear about your period, for example, but menstruation isn't taboo...just not my problem.

lazybones32

Omackeral wrote: »

Saying you support a football team from this country is certainly taboo. Allow me to demonstrate.

''Who do you support?''
''Shelbourne.''
''No but who do you really support?''

You have to pretend to be a Manc or a Scouser and call each other the scum and things like that. Basically you're to adopt English football as if it's your own... unless England are playing that is.

Have a bag of walkers taytos next time someone says that to you.

Academic

Paying for water ...

Spider Web

castletownman wrote: »

Suicide.

Mental health

Just my opinion but I don't think either are taboo anymore - or maybe they are in certain parts of Ireland I've no experience of.

WoollyRedHat

People speaking in fluent Irish is seen as almost exotic and strange.

AMKC

Sex talk in public

Death

Fourier

Solomon Pleasant wrote: »

Stepping outside of any social norm is usually pointed out and criticised in Ireland.

I've also found that a lot of people look at me strangely when I tell them that I read.

I really don't think Ireland is unusual in this regard. A lot of the Med, especially rural areas would be hyper normative and anti-reading.

Vita nova

Building roads through or near fairy forts:)

RayM

"What did you think of the match?"
"What match?"
"What do you mean, 'what match?'?"

bazz26

brown sauce in your tea.

RhubarbCrumble

Having absolutely no interest whatsoever in reality tv or 'celebrity' culture.

jigglypuffstuff

Solomon Pleasant wrote: »

Stepping outside of any social norm is usually pointed out and criticised in Ireland. It's the nature of many people in this country. We generally don't like or trust those different to us and we tend to fear what we don't understand.

Example include, but are not limited to people who don't drink, people who are career focused rather than people focused and I've also found that a lot of people look at me strangely when I tell them that I read. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a taboo, but as it's different than sitting in front of the tv for hours on end, it can be frowned upon and viewed as boring or unimaginative.

Totally agree to this... I love reading, hate drinking..did the obligatory bit of drinking from 18/22 but it got old fast... Started reading, training and studying

I barely see my friends anymore as a side effect...

LirW

Mentioning that certain areas are a lot better than they were a few years or decades ago.

Trying to finance things by saving and not taking a few small loans out.

major bill

Living at home with the parents!! although it's more common now, whenever anyone says they do its usually followed by an excuse as if they have to justify it to the person they are talking to.

eviltwin

Not wanting children

Ludikrus

Hating GAA

RayM

Hating the Irish rugby team, and all who sail in it.

fleet_admiral

Male victims of domestic violence

AllForIt

Proclaiming your not interested in GAA especially when your home county is in the final. I'm from Mayo and in the last few years I've had to pretend I'm really disappointed when we loose.

Vita nova

Smoking in houses that are shared with non-smokers.
In general, smoking in shared spaces seems to be a lot more frowned upon in Ireland than most countries

Malari

Discussion of wealth.

You should, by rights, pretend to have purchased everything you own in Penney's for €2.

mahamageehad

Saying you drink neither tea nor coffee.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Not littering

Mrs OBumble

Not owning a car: some people look at me as if i have two heads when i say that.

HairyCabbage

I think that being seen to have emotions or be emotionally affected by events in your life seems taboo in Ireland.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

murpho999

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Not owning a car: some people look at me as if i have two heads when i say that.

Omackeral wrote: »

Saying you support a football team from this country is certainly taboo. Allow me to demonstrate.

''Who do you support?''
''Shelbourne.''
''No but who do you really support?''

You have to pretend to be a Manc or a Scouser and call each other the scum and things like that. Basically you're to adopt English football as if it's your own... unless England are playing that is.

mahamageehad wrote: »

Saying you drink neither tea nor coffee.

Vita nova wrote: »

Smoking in houses that are shared with non-smokers.
In general, smoking in shared spaces seems to be a lot more frowned upon in Ireland than most countries

AllForIt wrote: »

Proclaiming your not interested in GAA especially when your home county is in the final. I'm from Mayo and in the last few years I've had to pretend I'm really disappointed when we loose.

RayM wrote: »

Hating the Irish rugby team, and all who sail in it.

Ludikrus wrote: »

Hating GAA

I don't think people understand the word taboo.

Taboo means something that people don't talk about not peculiarities that people find odd.

Rubberlegs

Telling a Barry's tea drinker that you drink Lyons:)

Steve F

Putting new shoes on the table
WTF is all that about?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Malari

Steve F wrote: »

Putting new shoes on the table
WTF is all that about?

What IS it about? I've never heard anything about that. It must REALLY be taboo. :P

KungPao

Saying that Jack Charlton wasted a golden generation of players who could have done a lot more if they didn't just hoof the ball up into the air and keep passing it back to the keeper, and ultimately 88, 90, and 94 were failures.

Resist ZOG

Expressing admiration for Israel or Jews in general.

Criticizing the lgbt movement.

Vita nova

murpho999 wrote: »

I don't think people understand the word taboo.

Taboo means something that people don't talk about not peculiarities that people find odd.

You have a point but the meaning of taboo is a lot broader than you present:

Synonyms (http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/taboo)
Banned, outlawed, prohibited, unthinkable, anathema, disapproved, forbidden, proscribed, reserved, restricted, unmentionable, beyond the pale, frowned on, illegal, off limits, out of bounds, ruled out, unacceptable

Etymology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo)
The term "taboo" comes from the Tongan tapu or Fijian tabu ("prohibited", "disallowed", "forbidden"),[3] related among others to the Maori tapu, Hawaiian kapu, Malagasy fady. Its English use dates to 1777 when the British explorer James Cook visited Tonga, and referred to the Tongans' use of the term "taboo" for "any thing is forbidden to be eaten, or made use of".[4] He wrote:

Not one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of any thing.... On expressing my surprise at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.[5]

murpho999

Vita nova wrote: »

You have a point but the meaning of taboo is a lot broader than you present:

Yes, so saying you prefer Lyons over Barry's is not taboo.

Or shoes on the table is superstition not taboo.

KungPao

Resist ZOG wrote: »

Expressing admiration for Israel or Jews in general.

A German (true story) once mentioned to me that Ireland seems a little anti-Jewish as 'we' are staunch supporters of Palestine and didn't give a fook during WW2 about the Jews seeking refuge. Also our president sending his condolences for the passing of Herr Hitler also raises eyebrows!

Vita nova

murpho999 wrote: »

Yes, so saying you prefer Lyons over Barry's is not taboo.

Or shoes on the table is superstition not taboo.

No, but go back and look at all the cases you list (7 in total) in your original post and apply the definition above and you'll see how some of them could certainly be considered taboo in Ireland.