How would you describe the Irish character

Edgware

blinding wrote: »

Very Subservient People . Love being on their knees to the Powerful .

Ooooh Matron!

Paddy Cow

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

like how everyone goes into meltdown if Americans or people in the UK see some hurling by accident on tv and go on to mention it on Twitter. The indo actually publishes articles on this.

In fairness I enjoyed the American who discovered hurling on youtube and then got invited over to the final this year. He was really enthusiastic about it and great craic.

dd973

I'll speak to everyone, home and abroad with an Irish passport and be back to you...

Hal3000

We accept mediocrity...

pgj2015

Paddy Cow wrote: »

In fairness I enjoyed the American who discovered hurling on youtube and then got invited over to the final this year. He was really enthusiastic about it and great craic.

we soon sorted that out.;)

Cookie_Monster

chancers

amadangomor

Paddy Cow wrote: »

In fairness I enjoyed the American who discovered hurling on youtube and then got invited over to the final this year. He was really enthusiastic about it and great craic.

I was too and then found out that it was a commercial thing with him being paid to promote irish tourism on his channel.

Niallof9

machaseh wrote: »

I am from the Netherlands and I've been living in Dublin for 2 years. In my experience irish people have the following traits:

- Sly and untrustworthy. They are very good at being very 'nice' with a nice smile, but then they f*** you over behind your back or talk sh*** about you. Absolutely awful.

- Pretentious and authoritarian when in any position of power. You can have the sweetest and kindest Irish colleague, but then they get a promotion to manager or a senior role. And OOOOFF then they completely change, they suddenly think they are everything and are always right and start to boast about themselves and belittle others. Super terrible attitude to have.

- Low level of education (at least compared to the Netherlands). The vast majority of Irish people do not know a second language, no not even the Irish language. Most of them are also unable to speak a standard variety of English, only speaking with their thick Dublin or whatever accent which for non-Irish people is very hard to understand. Luckily I've been living here for 2 years now so the Dublin burr is no issue for meself, but when I go to Belfast I have to ask my friend to translate it into Dutch for me.

- Drunkards. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, I love me pints as well. But it would be quite uncommon to go out with your manager on friday night and have 10+ pints in the Netherlands while it's certainly not uncommon here.

- Absolutely no taste in terms of food. 'Fine dining' for your average irishman is having the largest burger at eddie rocket's.

- Oblivious about domestic politics and generally an attitude of 'I dont care'. A lot of things are wrong in this country but Irish people don't WANT change and seem to think that things that are wrong are so for a reason and can never be changed.

- Very friendly and kind, that has to be said in contrast to the negatives above.



-

Some astounding generalisations there. I work with Dutch people who can be extremely arrogant, cold and direct to the point of rudeness but of course this is a generalization but also many of my foreign colleagues live in many parts of Dublin that could be the equivalent of say Biljmer or something due to high rents. So the traits you describe are only really a small per cent of Ireland.

I’ve seen Dutch larger louts en masse holiday in Turkey.

You have to remember unlike the Dutch we didn’t rape and pillage other countries ( although who’s to say we wouldn’t have if history was different) for centuries so we were dirt poor, right up to about 1993.

Anyway it seems you should get out of here.

In regards to the thread again huge generalization which I will say having worked with hundreds of different nationalities the idea of Irish exceptionalism good or bad is strong. The only in Ireland refrain...take begrudgery the Danes will not allow people to get above their station,they even adopted a cultural law around it, which I know isn’t necessarily begrudgery. But the exceptionalism is a thin line between neurosis and self praise. I love Dublin but I see it’s bad traits. The housing crisis has been directly affected by Irish exceptionalism..take the idea of Dublin as a unique low rise city which has fueled this anti high rise mentality . It can be utterly infuriating.

Working in multinationals with hardly any Irish has really opened my eyes, yes , the cliches can be correct in some parts but we’re actually all very similar in parts.

But the Irish mentality can be summed up by the Irish football team. Passionate, hard working when it matters, but negative, afraid to take risks at times, living in hope, talking ourselves down. When we actually don’t have it bad at all. I think future generations won’t share these things with full globalization and the internet etc. look at a kid like Aaron Connolly.

The antidote to this is the Stephen Kenny thinking.We’re as good or bad as anyone else. We can do things sexy or big or whatever...good football, good food, high rise, good transport, realistic ambition. There’s no reason ireland can’t have a domestic football league for instance.

Stop obsessing with negativity including the idea of Irish traits or exceptionalism.

dxhound2005

Good luck to Denmark, if they think they can outlaw begrudgery.

fryup

when nazi spies were parachuted into ireland during WW2 they were each given pamphlets about ireland in which it contained a section about irish traits which included the line....

"untrustworthy and always looking for a fight"

Edgware

Niallof9 wrote: »

Some astounding generalisations there. I work with Dutch people who can be extremely arrogant, cold and direct to the point of rudeness but of course this is a generalization but also many of my foreign colleagues live in many parts of Dublin that could be the equivalent of say Biljmer or something due to high rents. So the traits you describe are only really a small per cent of Ireland.

I’ve seen Dutch larger louts en masse holiday in Turkey.

You have to remember unlike the Dutch we didn’t rape and pillage other countries ( although who’s to say we wouldn’t have if history was different) for centuries so we were dirt poor, right up to about 1993.

Anyway it seems you should get out of here.

In regards to the thread again huge generalization which I will say having worked with hundreds of different nationalities the idea of Irish exceptionalism good or bad is strong. The only in Ireland refrain...take begrudgery the Danes will not allow people to get above their station,they even adopted a cultural law around it, which I know isn’t necessarily begrudgery. But the exceptionalism is a thin line between neurosis and self praise. I love Dublin but I see it’s bad traits. The housing crisis has been directly affected by Irish exceptionalism..take the idea of Dublin as a unique low rise city which has fueled this anti high rise mentality . It can be utterly infuriating.

Working in multinationals with hardly any Irish has really opened my eyes, yes , the cliches can be correct in some parts but we’re actually all very similar in parts.

But the Irish mentality can be summed up by the Irish football team. Passionate, hard working when it matters, but negative, afraid to take risks at times, living in hope, talking ourselves down. When we actually don’t have it bad at all. I think future generations won’t share these things with full globalization and the internet etc. look at a kid like Aaron Connolly.

The antidote to this is the Stephen Kenny thinking.We’re as good or bad as anyone else. We can do things sexy or big or whatever...good football, good food, high rise, good transport, realistic ambition. There’s no reason ireland can’t have a domestic football league for instance.

Stop obsessing with negativity including the idea of Irish traits or exceptionalism.

Don't be criticising the Dutch. Their colonial escapades really showed them how to stand up to the Nazis

pgj2015

Niallof9 wrote: »

Some astounding generalisations there. I work with Dutch people who can be extremely arrogant, cold and direct to the point of rudeness but of course this is a generalization but also many of my foreign colleagues live in many parts of Dublin that could be the equivalent of say Biljmer or something due to high rents. So the traits you describe are only really a small per cent of Ireland.

I’ve seen Dutch larger louts en masse holiday in Turkey.

You have to remember unlike the Dutch we didn’t rape and pillage other countries ( although who’s to say we wouldn’t have if history was different) for centuries so we were dirt poor, right up to about 1993.

Anyway it seems you should get out of here.

In regards to the thread again huge generalization which I will say having worked with hundreds of different nationalities the idea of Irish exceptionalism good or bad is strong. The only in Ireland refrain...take begrudgery the Danes will not allow people to get above their station,they even adopted a cultural law around it, which I know isn’t necessarily begrudgery. But the exceptionalism is a thin line between neurosis and self praise. I love Dublin but I see it’s bad traits. The housing crisis has been directly affected by Irish exceptionalism..take the idea of Dublin as a unique low rise city which has fueled this anti high rise mentality . It can be utterly infuriating.

Working in multinationals with hardly any Irish has really opened my eyes, yes , the cliches can be correct in some parts but we’re actually all very similar in parts.

But the Irish mentality can be summed up by the Irish football team. Passionate, hard working when it matters, but negative, afraid to take risks at times, living in hope, talking ourselves down. When we actually don’t have it bad at all. I think future generations won’t share these things with full globalization and the internet etc. look at a kid like Aaron Connolly.

The antidote to this is the Stephen Kenny thinking.We’re as good or bad as anyone else. We can do things sexy or big or whatever...good football, good food, high rise, good transport, realistic ambition. There’s no reason ireland can’t have a domestic football league for instance.

Stop obsessing with negativity including the idea of Irish traits or exceptionalism.

we have a domestic football league.

Snails pace

From my own experiences with friends, neighbours and working abroad. We are great to help neighbours, friends or other irish when in another country. We are good fun to be around, we're mainly talkative, witty and generally in good form. Most things revolve around GAA, we're probably a bit too fond of pints (me included), we can't/don't talk about how we feel and then we turn to influencers for guidance. We can't talk to a member of the opposite sex on a night out unless we're loaded. Anyone who goes against the grain is shot down or ridiculed until they conform.

The Tetrarch

"... inbreeding does not in itself produce an evil disposition ... may produce an excitability of temperament. This is a well-established fact, and it is demonstrated by human races which were very closely interbred in their early history. Compare a typical Sufflolk labourer with a South Western Irishman of the same station. The Suffolk man is the product of many Teutonic peoples, and is phlegmatic and slow, whilst "the boy straight down from Clare" is a pure Iberian, and the product of a very small population at that."

fryup

fryup wrote: »

when nazi spies were parachuted into ireland during WW2 they were each given pamphlets about ireland in which it contained a section about irish traits which included the line....

"untrustworthy and always looking for a fight"

The Germans' notions about race and ethnicity have been somewhat debunked in the intervening period, it has to be said.

pgj2015

The Irish character when it comes to money is as I see it people from poor areas are usually generous and good tippers, people from rich areas are usually as tight as a fishes arse and will haggle and fight with you over what you are owed, farmers are usually a miserable shower when it comes to paying for a service or goods. id prefer to deal with someone from crumlin than blackrock when it comes to doing business.

pgj2015

pgj2015 wrote: »

The Irish character when it comes to money is as I see it people from poor areas are usually generous and good tippers, people from rich areas are usually as tight as a fishes arse and will haggle and fight with you over what you are owed, farmers are usually a miserable shower when it comes to paying for a service or goods. id prefer to deal with someone from crumlin than blackrock when it comes to doing business.

So would I if they're so easily parted with their money. Nothing wrong with a bit of frugality. The Buddhists swear by it.

pgj2015

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

So would I if they're so easily parted with their money. Nothing wrong with a bit of frugality. The Buddhists swear by it.

being frugal is one thing but im talking about people arguing and fighting with people over money they owe. i have been called awful names from people from so called well off areas where as the people from disadvantaged areas are usually nice people who pay what they owe you and more.

Bigboldworld

Bigboldworld wrote: »

Insincere, talk **** behind peoples backs then smile in their face.

This is a big one in Ireland. Think of how many times you have seen someone say terrible things about a person. Then you see them being all smiles and friendly to that same person.

dd973

I've spent a lot of time in the Netherlands and generally like and get on with them but there's one real oddball trait over there, they're obsessed, and I mean obsessed, with 'Homo's', either that word or 'Flikker' or 'Nicht' (meaning the same thing) seems to crop up again and again, mostly used as a generic derogatory slight about people.

Once saw a road rage incident where two blokes, almost definitely straight as most people are, get out of their cars, square up and screech 'Homo!' at each other in that gutteral Dutch way. Weird.

Franz Von Peppercorn II

The Tetrarch wrote: »

"... inbreeding does not in itself produce an evil disposition ... may produce an excitability of temperament. This is a well-established fact, and it is demonstrated by human races which were very closely interbred in their early history. Compare a typical Sufflolk labourer with a South Western Irishman of the same station. The Suffolk man is the product of many Teutonic peoples, and is phlegmatic and slow, whilst "the boy straight down from Clare" is a pure Iberian, and the product of a very small population at that."

fryup wrote: »

when nazi spies were parachuted into ireland during WW2 they were each given pamphlets about ireland in which it contained a section about irish traits which included the line....

"untrustworthy and always looking for a fight"

Ireland has got to be the only place on Earth where people quote Nazi or 19C racist tracts about themselves approvingly

It’s an extreme pathology.

Franz Von Peppercorn II

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This is a big one in Ireland. Think of how many times you have seen someone say terrible things about a person. Then you see them being all smiles and friendly to that same person.

A worldwide trait.

Raconteuse

Franz Von Peppercorn II wrote: »

Ireland has got to be the only place on Earth where people quote Nazi or 19C racist tracts about themselves approvingly

It’s an extreme pathology.

Yeah that nazis quote is just... wtf.

topper75

fryup wrote: »

when nazi spies were parachuted into ireland during WW2 they were each given pamphlets about ireland in which it contained a section about irish traits which included the line....

"untrustworthy and always looking for a fight"

Achtung Skangeren und Skobheit!

"Bist du startin' meine freund?"

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

like how everyone goes into meltdown if Americans or people in the UK see some hurling by accident on tv and go on to mention it on Twitter. The indo actually publishes articles on this.

And joe.ie. Headlines like ‘People Are Watching Hurling In Other Countries And The Tweets Are Hilarious’. And it’ll be about five tweets. I mean, it’s just somebody briefly catching a foreign sport and pointing and laughing for a minute. No big deal but the Indo and Joe cream themselves over it.

Niallof9

pgj2015 wrote: »

we have a domestic football league.

I meant a proper functioning domestic league. My bad.

Dermot Desmond looking to invest in Rovers etc.

I was using it as showing a lack of ambition many people espouse the idea we can't have a good , well marketed domestic league. It makes no sense. A large part of the Irish character in general. I suppose years spent at heel and in a split Island, where the notion of Irishness is so unclear has made us very unlike a good few nations. Like we laud Anglo Irish writers, architecture and support their football teams etc. yet carry such anti english notions, call people west brits for following rugby etc.

pgj2015

Niallof9 wrote: »

I meant a proper functioning domestic league. My bad.

Dermot Desmond looking to invest in Rovers etc.

I was using it as showing a lack of ambition many people espouse the idea we can't have a good , well marketed domestic league. It makes no sense. A large part of the Irish character in general. I suppose years spent at heel and in a split Island, where the notion of Irishness is so unclear has made us very unlike a good few nations. Like we laud Anglo Irish writers, architecture and support their football teams etc. yet carry such anti english notions, call people west brits for following rugby etc.

Do you like soccer? do you go to english premier league games? do you go to LOI games?

bullpost

Theres some truth in the following:


“In France, people know their Marx, Freud and Camus; people will engage intelligently with each other,” says Paul O’Grady of TCD’s philosophy department.

“In a way, we have gone from a premodern to a postmodern society without a long period of modernity. We’ve gone from John Charles McQuaid to Father Ted without anything in between.”

Your Face

bullpost wrote: »

Theres some truth in the following:


“In France, people know their Marx, Freud and Camus; people will engage intelligently with each other,” says Paul O’Grady of TCD’s philosophy department.

“In a way, we have gone from a premodern to a postmodern society without a long period of modernity. We’ve gone from John Charles McQuaid to Father Ted without anything in between.”

Haughty words, I wonder does he remember stating the following:



"The primary location of wisdom is ‘in a person, not a book’, says Prof Paul O’Grady"


https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/how-to-become-wise-it-takes-more-than-googling-1.3344008

Niallof9

pgj2015 wrote: »

Do you like soccer? do you go to english premier league games? do you go to LOI games?

i am not being critical i am pro league of Ireland!!

I'm talking about the naysayers .

The league of Ireland is a good example of how small we think in this country. I'm talking exactly about the people who think its better supporting ENglish football than their local league. The idea that Georgia is a good result etc

I don't know how you thought that was critical.

I know the LOI has made great strides. I have friends who are related to Vinny Perth. I'm talking of QUinns ambition and people deriding him for it etc.

There is a complete lack of ambition in the FAI and some others, fans as well. I would say this is a dying characteristic.

Its like the idea of Dunphy saying 1990 was actually a failure if you see our team...that type of things. 2002 the same

I support Liverpool but its dying as i slowly realise the folly of following a foreign team.

To bring it back on topic, i would say sport is a good tool to analyse the psyche of our nation - living in hope, knowing the solutions but no will to do so, having the building blocks there but alot of naysayers and begrudgery and suspicion, too many chiefs, a split identity between the "poshos" playing rugby, the salt of the earth gaels playing GAA and the soccer crowd playing round ball. For me its all bull**** but it definitely defines us look at the rugby reaction of the defeat to Japan.

But we had people who hate cricket watching us win that time in the cricket. We're a nation of contradiction. Misanthropic on some level, social, prickly, warm, humourful, mournful, spiteful, grateful, story tellers, gossip mongers, violent, avoid confrontation, peaceful, hypocritical, hyperbolic, self depreciating and so on.

And again if you take sport we're a nation who would say ah isn't great competing but why would we invest in the league of Ireland. What about the homeless or along these lines. This is all changing for the better anyway

In 10 years we will have a LOI that will compete in Europe imo.