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Lonely Planet says Irish people are pessimistic and lacking self esteem

Kohl

Do you agree with them or think that's a load of crap. I personally think its a dumb thing to say in a guide to Ireland.

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FlyingIrishMan

They're badmouthing us for not rioting? Seriously...

It may be true, about a lot of the Irish, but its still better then what could be said about other countries.

Eve_Dublin

"Garrulous sociability"....I'd have to agree....we're the Kings and Queens of just saying whatever comes into our heads. ****e talk extraordinaires. I miss that...

Captain_Generic

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

“peculiar art of self-deprecation”.

Is it just me or does that sound kinda hawt :P

About as hot as a poo on the face

Seomra Mushie

peculiar art of self-deprecation

That's a bad thing?

I love a bit of self-deprecating humour. Done well, it's very amusing and witty.

Sky King

I love a bit of self-deprecating humour. Done well, it's very amusing and witty.

If you're Michael Bublé and you keep going on about how great you are for being so self depricating it tends not to works as well though

Logical Fallacy

What the hell is Lonely Planet and why should anyone give a ****?

Seomra Mushie

Sky King wrote: »

If you're Michael Bublé and you keep going on about how great you are for being so self depricating it tends not to works as well though

Heh, nail on the head.

Reminds me of Maggie Thatcher saying "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to say you are, you aren't" :pac:

mikemac1

The book says “everything good about Ireland can be found in County Cork”.

If they said Kerry and Cork then it would have been a stronger point. If I was planning a weekend away I'd go to Kerry

Galway city has “an overlaying vibe of fun and frolic that’s addictive” but it is also “a very rainy city, even by Irish standards”

True and who cares about the rain. It's also very mild, it's a few degrees warmer by the ocean. Thinking back to my secondary school geography. It's warmer then the midlands, wind not as bitter

Derry city is a “pleasant surprise to many visitors”

Derry is a hole and there's a menacing air about that town. One that you would not find in friendly Belfast

Letterkenny has been “ruined by the excesses of the Celtic Tiger era”.

True

mattjack

Seomra Mushie wrote: »

Heh, nail on the head.

Reminds me of Maggie Thatcher saying "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to say you are, you aren't" :pac:

RIP Maggie... she won't get to enjoy our pessimism and low esteem now..

KeithAFC

Is anyone on here actually offended by that?

krudler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WwqA7wAqYE

Fuinseog

Kohl wrote: »

Do you agree with them or think that's a load of crap. I personally think its a dumb thing to say in a guide to Ireland.

yes tis true. they are also self depreciating. I despair that the high point of our culture is the pub.

AudreyHepburn

It's a dumb thing to say in a guide book but to be honest it's true.

We, as nation, seem to constantly moaning and protesting and we cannot take compliments.

cursai

That writer got a bad pint.

paddyandy

Maybe it's a Guide Book we can believe in .

Johnny Foreigner

mikemac1 wrote: »

Bit of a generalization

I may as well say the French are rude and the little Englanders are arrogant

Englanders?
I think you mean English.

FTGFOP

The comments are the kind of insight I'd like to have before going to a country so I think it's perfectly fine to say in a guide book. As long as it's pretty accurate, and I think it is, I don't see any problem with it.

Captain_Generic wrote: »

All you need to travel is an electric heater and google streetview.

You, my friend, are a genius. To Barbados, maximum dimplex!

woodoo

They are right about the begrudgery thing. So so right...

Dyr

Is'nt it one of those ya-roysh tools of ****etalk 104 FM that wrote this?

mikemac1

Johnny Foreigner wrote: »

Englanders?
I think you mean English.

I didn't misspell it, it was posted for a reason

You've never heard the phrase little Englanders?

guitarzero

Wah? Pessimistic? I really find that hard to believe, I find most Irish people to be almost superficially optimi....ooooh.....right.

Solair

I think a lot of it has to do with the current economic situation. It would be very surprising, in fact, weird, if Irish people were going around feeling all cocky and self-confident at the moment.

We were very self-confident a few years ago in my experience of the place. Everything was possible, everything was booming.

We have gone from a situation where we were literally on top of the world in terms of our economy and everyone was in great humour to a situation where we are quite literally financially embarrassed.

The national ego has taken a massive bruising and it will take a long time to get over it and readjust.

There really are very few things for most people to be positive about at the moment.

I do think too that there is a sense of collective embarrassment/humiliation rather than a sense of anger amongst a lot of the people who were out rooting for Bertienomics back in the day. After all, we had the warnings of impending doom. Yet, most people (not me) voted for Fianna Fail, and continued to buy into the property bubble hysteria, Bertism, the boom could only get boomer etc etc etc.

While some of us are rightly annoyed and angry, I do think there's a large swathe of middle-Ireland that is just feeling a bit like the guy who put the house and life savings on the wrong horse.

I think that's why we aren't seeing massive social unrest too. A large % of the population were very culpable in what happened. Fianna Fail didn't elect itself and 2nd and 3rd mortgages for harebrained investment schemes didn't get imposed upon anyone.

I just constantly get the sense of a lot of people (not by any means everyone) going 'ooops!' and cringing.

I think a lot of those people are also the opinion formers in the media and chattering classes so their sudden ego-bruising is trickling into the mainstream.

Nyan Cat

We might be - on a whole - Fatalistic pessimistic b'stards but were bloody humorous fatalistic pessimistic b'stards!

I'm optimistic - am i irish?
lonely planet has me questioning me roots!

kraggy

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

What the hell is Lonely Planet and why should anyone give a ****?

This inane method of posting, whereby the poster states that they've no idea of what people are talking about, is getting really old and annoying.

"I'm too cool to google it and can't help but express how cool I am by showing my supposed indifference"

For the record, the BBC-owned Lonely Planet guidebooks are the books that most potential travellers to a given country read before and during their travels. So they're pretty damn important.

Bambi wrote: »

Is'nt it one of those ya-roysh tools of ****etalk 104 FM that wrote this?

Yup, Fionn Davenport, that pain in the hole from Newstalk 106. I used to find him tolerable but now just find him pompous, annoying and I feel he might just have a thesaurus by his side in studio.

Show Time

"Everything good in Ireland can be found in Cork"

Spot on and as usual it is left to us down in Cork to save the day.

Dudess

mikemac1 wrote: »

If they said Kerry and Cork then it would have been a stronger point. If I was planning a weekend away I'd go to Kerry

True and who cares about the rain. It's also very mild, it's a few degrees warmer by the ocean. Thinking back to my secondary school geography. It's warmer then the midlands, wind not as bitter

Derry is a hole and there's a menacing air about that town. One that you would not find in friendly Belfast

True

Just opinion though, as are all critiques/reviews - not purporting to be fact.

Ficheall

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Here's what the Irish times report.

I wouldn't disagree with any of that, to be honest.

Haven't been to Armagh or Derry though, so can't comment there.

flahavaj

Lonely Planet must have read AH.

flahavaj

Lonely Planet must have read AH.

Logical Fallacy

kraggy wrote: »

This inane method of posting, whereby the poster states that they've no idea of what people are talking about, is getting really old and annoying.

"I'm too cool to google it and can't help but express how cool I am by showing my supposed indifference"

For the record, the BBC-owned Lonely Planet guidebooks are the books that most potential travellers to a given country read before and during their travels. So they're pretty damn important.

Google would answer the first part of my question, but not the second.

So basically what you are saying is that Lonely Planet is an unfunny, less inclusive version of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy...but with some kind of misplaced attitude about you?

Cool.