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How would you describe the Irish character

completedit

With images of love of a good time, light hearted, easy going, they all seem kinda at odds with our economy and high productivity ranking. How would you define Irish people in the 21st century. How do Dubs differ from rest of the country. I was having a conversation with a south Eastern European girl last night and was trying to explain Irish character. From my perspective I see us as having an aversion to seriousness and being overly earnest is definitely not a trait I'd associate with Irish people.
But maybe that's just my bubble. When I think of Irish people, I think of Ross O Carroll Kelly, he's an extreme but a good example.

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[Deleted User]

Edgware wrote: »

And why exactly would we give a ****e about what the Dutch think?

I don't think you're being asked to care what anyone thinks, he's just answering the question posed by the OP and giving his personal opinion based on his personal experiences. It wouldn't be much of a discussion if only completely flattering responses were allowed.

ChikiChiki

Definitely work hard and play hard. We seem to do everything at full throttle. Drinking, Eating, working, exercise etc.

Edgware

Candie wrote: »

I don't think you're being asked to care what anyone thinks, he's just answering the question posed by the OP and giving his personal opinion based on his personal experiences. It wouldn't be much of a discussion if only completely flattering responses were allowed.

Except that his contribution is so full of ****e he doesnt deserve a civil response

Chris_Heilong

Good, honest, hard working, not bothered by little things, a bit gullible at times.

blinding

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Very prone to group think

I agree with that !

coolbeans

Edgware wrote: »

Except that his contribution is so full of ****e he doesnt deserve a civil response

Don't get so easily triggered hun.

pgj2015

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

Saoirse Ronan is an example of someone who has done remarkably well, but gets a lot of abuse. Her accent has been picked on in particular, but if it wasn't that, it would be something else

conor mcgregor had huge support from Ireland a few years ago, there was huge numbers taking out loans to go over to las vegas to support him in his fights. everyone i talked to before his fights here were all excited about his fights and wishing him well, it was only after people realized how much of a knacker he was that they turned on him. people love to hear of an Irish man scoring in the premier league, championship etc katie tayor gets big support from her fellow irish. its only when we think one of our own are getting too big for their boots or putting on an act that we run them down, ronan puts on a fake exaggerated irish accent.

blinding

Very much in awe of the Powerful . Very quick altogether down on the knees to the Powerful .

Elemonator

Begrudging, patting ourselves on the back as seen with the reaction to the Euro 2016 fans, a "it'll be grand" attitude to just about everything including mediocrity are the negative hallmarks.

Positive aspects are friendliness (overrated imo, I meet friendly people outside of Ireland), high levels of education and a more accepting society than many could only dream of in other parts of the world.

We do have it great in many ways, travel outside Europe and you will see that. But we can definitely improve some things.

y0ssar1an22

Flawed in many ways imo. An over reliance on alcohol in social scenarios being the main one I can see.

Edgware

And of course we turn on our national heroes so quickly like Michelle Smith and Roy Keane

Edgware

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

Flawed in many ways imo. An over reliance on alcohol in social scenarios being the main one I can see.

Is that a flaw?

NotToScale

Having lived in a few countries over the years, I think trying to portray anywhere as having “a national character” is a futile exercise in lazy stereotypes.

All that ever happens is someone has one bad experience, applies a set of stereotypes and then blames the entire country when one incident fits a caricature: an encounter with a particularly rude Parisian, an condescending person they bumped into on a train in England in 1975, an overly direct Dutch forum poster, an Irish person who is an alcoholic who seems to get off on begrudgery or some American who spends all their time talking about guns and Jesus.

Most people don’t meet those stereotypes at all and a lot of the time they are just based on a set of prejudices that are looking for facts to confirm.

You’ll also get the person who has a bad experience in a narrow context, like an office with a toxic culture, and they blame the entire country as that’s the only experience they have had of that country. I remember talking to some French people about Irish culture and it actually turned out it was the corporate culture of a large US multinational that had a deliberate policy of playing staff off each other and encouraging aggressive completion which ended up in back stabbing. They assumed that was Irish culture because that’s what they were exposed to. In reality it was just a horrible company with a culture that was ripping it apart.

pgj2015

Edgware wrote: »

And of course we turn on our national heroes so quickly like Michelle Smith and Roy Keane

michelle most likely cheated to win olympic medals and disgraced us on the world stage, half the country never turned on roy keane.

Church on Tuesday

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I hate how people say that. We are the total opposite. We big up every tiny little achievement and any sporting success like no one else does. Just because people think Bono is a wanker, which he is, doesn't mean we are seething at the success of others.

We big up our people who have been successful globally in whatever field and rightfully so, but there's any amount of parish pump, begrudging bull**** that goes on in ordinary Irish society from day to day.

y0ssar1an22

Edgware wrote: »

Is that a flaw?

Debatable I guess. If someone isn't drinking on a night out they're usually greeted with suspicion and peer pressure to have a few

tdf7187

Corrupt and untrustworthy.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Loveable chancers.

ToddyDoody

I'm glad this thread didn't resort to stereotypes.

amadangomor

machaseh wrote: »

Yeah it's something I really don't like, especially when it comes in combination with the "attitude once they get a promotion " part

Example from my previous job : my senior colleague made a big mistake didn't follow procedure. Só i told him this is wrong you are supposed to handle these this and this way. Then all I got back was a big mouth ' don't tell a senior agent what to do ". Even though I was right.

Would be absolutely unacceptable in my own country

Whether right or wrong you are living in another country and need to adapt to that culture. I have lived in NL and the Polder mentality was an eye opener to me. One example was with workers openly criticising directors of a company for taking too many holidays in front of everyone. They were right but we have more of a face culture here and the directors would loose face here even though in NL it was ok.

You seem to be overly talking about Irish people in a work context, maybe you need to get out and meet more people out of work. Head to the West of Ireland and get a lock in in a pub. Also we have one of the highest proportion of degree educated people in Europe (maybe too much so ) so don't get he uneducated point. We speak Hiberno Irish, do you want us to all speak generic American English or a rich form of English that has developed here over 1000 years and has been heavily influenced by Irish? Maybe if the Germans hadn't been kicked out of your country by the Yanks and British you would have German as your native tongue.

Mad_maxx

machaseh wrote: »

completedit wrote: »

With images of love of a good time, light hearted, easy going, they all seem kinda at odds with our economy and high productivity ranking. How would you define Irish people in the 21st century. How do Dubs differ from rest of the country. I was having a conversation with a south Eastern European girl last night and was trying to explain Irish character. From my perspective I see us as having an aversion to seriousness and being overly earnest is definitely not a trait I'd associate with Irish people.
But maybe that's just my bubble. When I think of Irish people, I think of Ross O Carroll Kelly, he's an extreme but a good example.

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.

-

Truth in some of that post. Two things however

1.Any country looks bad compared to the Netherlands when it comes to language prowess, we are no worse than any other English speaking nation

2. Holland is known for having sh1t native cuisine

Blazer

We are a bunch of cvnts though.
There's no chance irish people today would get off their holes and protest unless something was in it personally for themselves.
You'll never see anything like the PAYE protests like back in the 80's, or what;s going on in HK etc.
We're too busy screwing each other over to get ahead.
This whole Cead Milte failte is the biggest scam the Irish ever pulled....we don't give a crap about you once your money is gone etc.

Greentopia

Too much bar stool complainers and no action to back it up to do anything about the problems that beset the country. And not only that but often those who do protest or speak out and try to change thing are ridiculed or derided. Especially if they're on the left. :rolleyes:

Whoever said untrustworthy? yeah sorry I think it's true. I never believe another Irish person will follow through on a promise or commitment until I see it happen.
Too many people say things like "oh we should meet up" and then you never hear from them or "I'll call around next week" and they don't make any effort to do so, Just empty words to seen to be "polite" and friendly.
For this reason it's a nightmare to get any trades people to get jobs done around the house. You wait and wait and they often don't turn up.

An inability to say no or to say what you really think because it might hurts someone's feelings. The mental gymnastics Irish people will perform to avoid saying no can be comical. I prefer directness and honesty.

Same with the habit by many of being late. Lack of respect for other people's time.

A prevalent 'Me Fein' attitude that if something is not directly affecting them they don't want to know and turn a blind eye to all kinds of injustices and bad governance especially.

Too tolerant of violence and drunkenness.

Greedy. See Irish landlords.

The dreaded "shur it'll do" attitude and acceptance of mediocrity. It's why the country is run the way it is and it's maddening.

Irish people are quite conservative and conventional in career and lifestyle choices and their outlook on life-they go for safe choices, though that is changing with the younger generations. We wouldn't have an organic sector, many arts and crafts, animal welfare and environmental groups if it wasn't for others who came here from abroad and lead the way.

On the positives- there is a lovely casual friendliness to people here I've never seen to the same degree elsewhere in Europe anyway. Older people especially are always up for a few friendly words on public transport or waiting in the dentists office for example. Makes for a nice, relaxed convivial atmosphere. Try that in Sweden or Germany on a bus or tram and people will look at you with distrust like you're an alcoholic or a loon.

People will often go out of their way to do something kind even for a stranger without looking for anything in return.

Good neighbours are great here, so kind hearted and helpful generally.

We do death very well. The Irish funeral, death notices, wakes. May it never change.

Good sense of humour and wit. But then that's not unique to us either.

Good sense of community. I've found that people like to include you in things and include newcomers as part of their community. Maybe more a rural Irish thing?
As long as you're not in direct provision centres anyway... :pac:

We're interested and involved in the arts, although there's a definite negative feeling among some Irish towards art that's it's elitist and not for them which is a shame.

Some Irish are genuinely eccentric and out there compared to our European counterparts and we accept them rather seeing them as just weirdos or locking them up.

Tell me how

Blazer wrote: »

We are a bunch of cvnts though.
There's no chance irish people today would get off their holes and protest unless something was in it personally for themselves.
You'll never see anything like the PAYE protests like back in the 80's, or what;s going on in HK etc.

Apart from the water charge protests, the beef protests, the repeal the 8th protests, the same sex marriage protests and the climate change protests, you might have a point there.

Blazer wrote: »

This whole Cead Milte failte is the biggest scam the Irish ever pulled....we don't give a crap about you once your money is gone etc.

I disagree with this summation but, if you feel that way, be the change you want to see in the world. Start from there.

Your Face

Over-rated.

parc

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.

-

Good post. It's way more interesting to hear what a foreigner living here has to say.

I disagree about the education though - we're 3rd in Europe in terms of % with a territory education

Were also 11th in the world in terms of Science/Math/Reading scores (PISA ranking)

Now if you're just talking about language education, then I completely agree. We're terrible, but it's something all "native" English speaking countries suffer from.

parc

Here's one thing that I've noticed about Irish people:

Semi-successful, semi-rich Irish people seem to play up the whole snobby rich thing way more than other countries, from what I've noticed.

Is it some sort of nouveau rich thing?

"Omg, look at those povs!" or a more subtle "Omg, can you imagine flying to the States in economy!"

You never hear this sort of stuff from English people.

Your Face

parc wrote: »

Here's one thing that I've noticed about Irish people:

Semi-successful, semi-rich Irish people seem to play up the whole snobby rich thing way more than other countries, from what I've noticed.

Is it some sore of nouveau rich thing?

"Omg, look at those povs!" or more a subtile "Omg, can you imagine flying to the States in economy!"

Sadly, I have to agree with this.

I had a friend say about someone he we both knew:
"Imagine being on only 26 grand a year".

dxhound2005

Agricola wrote: »

Not being overly earnest is a great national character trait. You couldn't imagine a shítshow like Brexit befalling us in Ireland, simply because the majority of people would be sensible enough to realize you don't rock a boat that's sailing along nicely enough. Whereas the British get so hung up on earnest pursuits like "sovereignty" and "taking back control" that they don't realize or don't care that they are about to torpedo their own vessel.

That's enough marine metaphors.

We voted against the Lisbon Treaty. A subject which just like Brexit should never have been put to the people for a Yes No answer. They are far too complex. Every other EU country ratified the Treaty through their representative democracies, but some cranks here got their way and forced a referendum.

They are still crying about how we were made to vote twice. We had to vote the second time, because otherwise we would be out of the EU. A country can't be a member unless they accept the treaties. So some of us are no better than the Brexit supporters.

Raconteuse

I don't mind constructive criticism from people of other nationalities.

Irish people themselves going on about how sh1t Irish people are though... arrogant and thick.