What the Americans think of Ireland

Gaz · 31-03-2005 11:41AM

When you have a population of 200 million or so , if only 1% are idiots , thats still 2 million morons.

Just remember most of your favourite movies are made there , most major scientific/medical advaces happen there , alot of technology is developed there , I bet your using an american OS ?

Maybe its just more and more trailer parks are getting internet access.

Sparky · 31-03-2005 11:51AM

plazzTT wrote:

I heard a story about an American exchange student who came over to one of the secondary schools in Cork for transition year, and was asking about the noises that the pedestrian crossing makes:

"What's that noise from the traffic lights?"
"That's so blind people know when the lights have changed."
"Oh, in America, we don't let blind people drive."

They did on Jackass

Actually we do allow blind people to drive, thats why our insurances are so high

Sparky · 31-03-2005 11:56AM

I remember hearing the story of an americian filling in his medical stuff in his wallet and in the BLOOD GROUP he writes in the word RED.

Thick or what.

[Jackass] · 31-03-2005 02:00PM

What Irish People Think Of Americans:

Fat, Igonorant, Stupid, Hippocrits, with a government that took part in the most flawed, illegal, and nationally embarresing war campaign since history has been recorded. They re-elect him. They come from the most hated country in the world, which will cause them to be spat at in at very least anywhere outside the western "axis of evil", but more than likely they will be kidnapped or murderd for there nationality.

We're Irish, we're loved in every corner of the globe. We won the lottery of life by being born here. If you don't like us, go home.

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 03:48AM

Sparky_S wrote:

There are just 3 things to sum up americas stupidity

GEORGE W BUSH

I'd have to agree wholeheatedly with that one! And yes, I say LOL, i'm just too lazy to type "Laughing Out Loud" I can't wait to move UGH!

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 03:51AM

ColHol wrote:

You shower of stereotyping little feckers!

Well, That's mostly true, but we aren't all that way. However if I had tuppence for every time someone asked me where my English co-worker was from, I'd buy a small island and retire.

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 03:58AM

plazzTT wrote:

I heard a story about an American exchange student who came over to one of the secondary schools in Cork for transition year, and was asking about the noises that the pedestrian crossing makes:

"What's that noise from the traffic lights?"
"That's so blind people know when the lights have changed."
"Oh, in America, we don't let blind people drive."

Oh my God, tell me you made that up.....sadly, I believe you and I'm reminded of stupidity everyday. We even have people who think they need a passport to go to Hawaii because it's out of the country. I think the Irish have a name for these people - you guys call them tourists.

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 04:00AM

Darth Homer wrote:

When you have a population of 200 million or so , if only 1% are idiots , thats still 2 million morons.

Just remember most of your favourite movies are made there , most major scientific/medical advaces happen there , alot of technology is developed there , I bet your using an american OS ?

Maybe its just more and more trailer parks are getting internet access.

You make an excellent point. However, most of our prominent doctors, scientists and engineers came from India, the middle east, Japan, China. There are a few home grown, but they are getting fewer in number.

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 04:04AM

DubGuy22 wrote:

What Irish People Think Of Americans:

Fat, Igonorant, Stupid, Hippocrits, with a government that took part in the most flawed, illegal, and nationally embarresing war campaign since history has been recorded. They re-elect him. They come from the most hated country in the world, which will cause them to be spat at in at very least anywhere outside the western "axis of evil", but more than likely they will be kidnapped or murderd for there nationality.

We're Irish, we're loved in every corner of the globe. We won the lottery of life by being born here. If you don't like us, go home.

You forgot apathetic. And the rest of the country is fat because they eat McDonalds and drink Starbucks, maybe it's becoming a world wide trend. And, yes, the war is stupid and Bush is an Idiot. Luckily I'm working hard on sounding like I'm from anywhere but here

tovalee · 01-04-2005 04:23AM

these kinds of threads make me laugh. I'm american and when i was in Ireland, i got the same kind of ignorant remarks from the Irish. "you mean everyone doesnt have a gun?" "you're american? have you ever seen a bear?" wtf?

the truth is theres idiots everywhere, and if more americans knew what a sore lot you all really were they wouldnt be falling all over themselves for you.

boo4842 · 01-04-2005 07:03AM

Anna971 wrote:

Many Americans are ignorant, uncultured swine who can barely speak one language let alone 2. So , do you really have McDonalds? (just kidding)

Many Irish are the exact same? You think everyone is multilingual in Ireland and speaks them both fluently? "Oi'm goin te me bleedin mot's gaf"

Imagine if an American came to the square for a day, and concluded that all Irish have babies, wear tracksuits or knock off 501's with tight haircuts, football jersey's and are showered with the cheapest jewelry money can buy.

And "money" as in social welfare cheques.

And "buy" as in steal.

cordelia · 01-04-2005 07:03AM

Where's the hospitality folks?
Talk about stereotyping...get back to your dancin' in the crossroads, begorra jeysus, 'tis a soft day don't ye know, and all that yerself.

I'm gonna put my fat a@@ in a pair of stirrup pants and head on down to McDonalds for a doublecheese burger and a Starbucks coffee (hell, there's one on every corner...) before I go back to my trailer park and watch Fox News to find out if the Pope has been witnessed to by Jerry Falwell and finally discovered the Lord (can I hear an amen?). Then I'm gonna put on the Jerry Springer Show, cornrow my hair and go pick up my ten illegitimate children on the way to the welfare office.

Meanwhile, yous lads go put on yer white socks and black slippers, grab yer favourite sheep and head on down to the pub for a few pints o' the black before yes go to mass to be fondled by the parish priest at the top o' the mornin' and head back home to yer mammies. :eek:

*Yeah, half the country are f#nkin' idiots, but there are quite a lot of smart and informed people around as well... why, some of us even gradiated university with a dawgree o higher learnin'.

boo4842 · 01-04-2005 07:11AM

Anna971 wrote:

And I have to say the whole metric conversion screws a lot of Americans up. I guess everyone here think thigs haven't changed over there since Frank McCourt grew up.

Maybe its because Ireland uses BOTH systems that confuses people. Street Sign: Sligo - 140kms

"Oh well the limit on the road is 70, so I should get there in 2 hours."

No I'm afraid some of the signs are metric, the others are imperial.

Oh so the distance signs are metric then?

Yes! ... I mean no, I mean yes, except for the older white signs they are still in miles. Well most of them. Some towns have them in kms. Well maybe not the whole town, but some roads have the same system.

Which roads?

Well the one that paddy with the red hair lives on. We're not entirely sure the names of all the roads. We prefer to give directions as "the road with the hill on it." "Or 2 roads passed the 3rd roundabout after the spar shop."

:cool:

boo4842 · 01-04-2005 07:15AM

Sparky_S wrote:

Yea i got mine installed just 2 days ago, it even re-fills itself
I feel like 1 in a million

When I worked in Dublin, we had a quick poll, and about 70% of our dept had a relation who either had or still has a toilet that is detached from their house, that they remember using as a child. Or at least had parents that did.

Cake Fiend · 01-04-2005 07:47AM

cordelia wrote:

*Yeah, half the country are f#nkin' idiots, but there are quite a lot of smart and informed people around as well... why, some of us even gradiated university with a dawgree o higher learnin'.

Are we talking about the US or Ireland here?
Seems to me (especially after reading this thread) that it applies to both countries

I love the irony of people blah-blahing about ignorance and stupidity, while tarring almost 300 million people with the same (ill informed) brush...

Branoic · 01-04-2005 08:50AM

There's a slight difference between tarring 300 million people with the same brush and various people relating various encounters they've had with various stupid people who just happen to be American.

I certainly don't judge all Americans this way. I know a lot of very intelligent Americans. I also know a lot of mind bogglingly stupid ones.

Hobbes · 01-04-2005 09:12AM

Encounters I've had...

1. One asking me if I knew "Micheal Collins" because he is Irish too.
2. One person asking me if I knew "The knights of tir na nog".
3. Someone asking me where is Ireland? After widening the area to "Europe" they said "Ooh France".
4. Asking how are things in Belguim because thats in Europe too.

cordelia · 01-04-2005 05:44PM

Did you know Michael Collins?
Knights of Tir Na Nog?

Please tell me you're joking, man, please!!!
If not, please tell me that you strengthened the gene pool by offing these people...

Sleepy · 01-04-2005 06:31PM

I think the majority of Americans have the same rose-tinted ideas of Ireland as the ex pats who gave them that idea. Think about it, every genuine Irish pub (i.e. one that Irish ex-pats drink in) that I've ever been in has been full of Ra-loving, ballad singing people that have no concept of what life's like "back in the old country".

When you consider how many Americans would have some Irish heritage or other (given that we sent millions of people over there during the past few centuries), it's not hard to understand why the country as a whole shares the same rose-tinted glasses.

It seems to be a fact of life that anyone that leaves their home will eventually forget all that was crap about it and only remember the good things (or in extreme cases, start to think of the bad things as good with the brain-adling elixir of nostalgia). It's pretty similar to school. When you meet old school-friends you don't recollect all the dreary wet tuesdays when nothing exciting happened, you remember all the fun things that were pretty out of the ordinary when you were there.

iguana · 01-04-2005 06:38PM

Working in Dunnes 6 years ago and a couple come to my register.
"Oh my gawd, George," says the woman looking at the rows of sweets by the checkout, "they have all the same candy here that we have at home. Mars, Snickers, Twix.........................."

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 06:42PM

boo4842 wrote:

Many Irish are the exact same? You think everyone is multilingual in Ireland and speaks them both fluently? "Oi'm goin te me bleedin mot's gaf"

Imagine if an American came to the square for a day, and concluded that all Irish have babies, wear tracksuits or knock off 501's with tight haircuts, football jersey's and are showered with the cheapest jewelry money can buy.

And "money" as in social welfare cheques.

And "buy" as in steal.

You speak the truth. THe language comment was from a book. Many Americans are angry that so many people are coming into the country and can't speak english. Many groups are bi-lingual and they don't like it cause they are so self centered that if someone is speaking in a foreign tongue, it must be about them...

Welfare? Yeah we have our share of that too. Many who get it are better off than those of us who work for a living.

MissyKiki · 01-04-2005 06:51PM

Hobbes wrote:

Encounters I've had...

1. One asking me if I knew "Micheal Collins" because he is Irish too.

Well, to clarify, they were really asking (I hope) if you know Liam Neeson because some poeple don't know the difference between a character and an actor. I only did amateur theater and I got the same thing....ugh!

Kernel32 · 01-04-2005 07:04PM

Anna971 wrote:

You speak the truth. THe language comment was from a book. Many Americans are angry that so many people are coming into the country and can't speak english. Many groups are bi-lingual and they don't like it cause they are so self centered that if someone is speaking in a foreign tongue, it must be about them...

Thats only a small part of the reasoning as I understand it. The probelm that people are having with non-english speakers is that is an extra cost involved to educate a non-english speaker due to having to provide special classes just to learn english. This really pi$$es off many republicans. As it is they don't like newcomers, not only that, they see more money being spent on education of an immigrant than their own child. The republicans have always wanted, or say they want smaller government, even though their actions do not reflect that. Part of that is to dismantle the federal education system, personally I believe the No Child Left Behind Act was setup to cause this failure in an attempt to move all education to state and private levels.

I love to see the multi-lingual immigrants in the USA, even if it does cost more to educate that child it still more than pays for it down the road. I also have absolutely no doubt that this is going to become a problem in Ireland and some of the same people here complaining about the US will be complaining about the extra cost of educating non-english speaking immigrant children in Ireland.

tovalee · 01-04-2005 07:14PM

Anna971 wrote:

Hobbes wrote:

1. One asking me if I knew "Micheal Collins" because he is Irish too.

Well, to clarify, they were really asking (I hope) if you know Liam Neeson because some poeple don't know the difference between a character and an actor. I only did amateur theater and I got the same thing....ugh!

please tell me you realize that Micheal Collins was a real person! Of course i see your point, unless the person they were asking was reallly old....

paulcr · 01-04-2005 08:00PM

Well that's a complicated question. I can only give you my opinion as I cannot speak for everyone or even for people I know.

When I was growing up I used to hang around with a kid last name Mooney. All he talked about was the old country (like he'd ever been there). Although after while I did be come enamored with this view.

For while I was stationed in Germany (army) and would frequent a place in Frankfurt an Irish Pub and found that most had the same views I shared and the girls were pretty although not attracted to GIs (proabably a bad reputation). I'm hoping that was their lose not mine.

I recently became interested in what other citizen of this planet felt about the US. Although I don't think i was surprised by what I heard.

Then I stumbled upon this site and started posting. I see that we have alot of the same issues. Alot of the same prejudices. Alot of the same idiots. We are just seperated by alot of water.

I read some about "The Troubles" but have yet to find anyone to discuss them with. I was hoping to discuss lives in general. But it is hard to find people open enough to share this info with and not seem like some sort of freak.

I am interested in many aspects of life in Ireland since I doubt I will ever visit.

I guess to sum it up I get the impression Dublin has lot of bad areas. Try not to live in one. Other areas I haven't read much about. It looks as tough it my be expense place to live? There seems to be a fair amount of prejudice.

And yet it really doesn't change my overall impression, I think most Irish people are good people and would make good friends.

dlofnep · 01-04-2005 08:10PM

I like Americans. I speak for myself.

Pet · 02-04-2005 05:48AM

I guess to sum it up I get the impression Dublin has lot of bad areas. Try not to live in one. Other areas I haven't read much about. It looks as tough it my be expense place to live? There seems to be a fair amount of prejudice.

Americans have this view of Dublin as being this lovely little town, full of bagpipers and irish music, full of friendly people who will stop you in the street for a chat. Really though, it's a ****hole. It's got all the bad points of a big city (violence, dirt, pollution, ridiculous prices) and none of the good. If you don't like getting pissed off your face at the weekends, there's nothing for you to do really. It's full of scumbags, arseholes, scangers, junkies, drunks, D4 muppets and annoying business people. It's absolutely disgusting, I can't stand the place. and I know it better than most.

MissyKiki · 02-04-2005 03:29PM

tovalee wrote:

Anna971 wrote:

please tell me you realize that Micheal Collins was a real person! Of course i see your point, unless the person they were asking was reallly old....

Yes, I do I saw the movie, but I have numerous books on Irish history as well. Fascinating and tragic stories abound. That wasn't the first movie that Julia Roberts and Liam Neeson were in together either.

MissyKiki · 02-04-2005 06:15PM

Pet wrote:

Americans have this view of Dublin as being this lovely little town, full of bagpipers and irish music, full of friendly people who will stop you in the street for a chat. Really though, it's a ****hole. It's got all the bad points of a big city (violence, dirt, pollution, ridiculous prices) and none of the good. If you don't like getting pissed off your face at the weekends, there's nothing for you to do really. It's full of scumbags, arseholes, scangers, junkies, drunks, D4 muppets and annoying business people. It's absolutely disgusting, I can't stand the place. and I know it better than most.

I have been reading about Dublin's inner city schools and all of the issues involved there. Every place in the world has poverty, drugs, good, bad, fun and sorrow. Look at Iran where it used to be against the law to teach women to read. I like learning about other countries. The USA isn't the center of the universe that many Americans think it is, but (politics aside) it does have some good points and some "down home" hospitality.

ApeXaviour · 02-04-2005 09:30PM

Pet wrote:

Americans have this view of Dublin as being this lovely little town, full of bagpipers and irish music, full of friendly people who will stop you in the street for a chat. Really though, it's a ****hole. It's got all the bad points of a big city (violence, dirt, pollution, ridiculous prices) and none of the good. If you don't like getting pissed off your face at the weekends, there's nothing for you to do really. It's full of scumbags, arseholes, scangers, junkies, drunks, D4 muppets and annoying business people. It's absolutely disgusting, I can't stand the place. and I know it better than most.

Ronan letting loose offtopic. :rolleyes:

I've travelled much of europe and each city is different. From my experience Dublin tends to be no worse and no better than most of them. You focus too much on the worse bits and build them up in your head simply because you cannot see them in other cities. You say dublin has no redeeming features?! I seriously laugh at that. I'd rather not make a list because I'll be here forever tbh, I'd rather let you think about them..

There is only one day of the year that I would agree with you.. march 17th. 364 of the other days however it's a haven of beauty, history and happy people.

What the Americans think of Ireland

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