Have you ever experienced hibernophobia?

I was in Kansas City a while back and met a very nice couple at a diner. They showed me around the city and of the places that they brought me to was an Irish heritage centre. They showed me a job vacancy sign that said "no Irish need apply" so that was kind of showing me how leople have become less racist over the years or else that some are racist and others aren't.

DISCLAIMER: This is purely anecdotal evidence based on living in southern England all my life (ie. since 1970). I'm of Irish descent but have a British passport, a Scottish-sounding Christian and surname and an English accent.

I've never witnessed any nasty anti-Irishness. By that I mean hatred rather than ignorance. Even during the Troubles the ire was directed at the IRA and their supporters rather than the Irish as a whole. News reports from Belfast or (London)Derry filled with people squawking about "Cath'lics" and "Prodder-stunts" could provoke irritation and anger, but this wasn't aimed at "Southern" Ireland.

In the 70's, stories about thick Irishmen abounded and were fairly common on TV. I'd see this more as ignorance than hatred. It's unpleasant to be thought of as childlike, but it was patronising rather than loathing. Also Irish people, notably Frank Carson, were just as likely to perform such material as any British comic. Not an excuse, mind...

Since the 80's, such material has become largely unacceptable. Irish gags are pretty much off-limits nowadays.

The term "That's a bit Irish" was once commonplace but is dated and largely unacceptable nowadays. It was used to describe something that used a skewed logic. Again, I don't think it was a hate-filled term but I can imagine people finding it a bit patronising.

I was at school 1975-87. For a couple of years I had an Irish teacher and there were kids with names like O'Keefe, Doody etc. I never heard any nasty cracks about their heritage.

I remember when I was in middle school spending a cold hour or so on the playing field along with the rest of the school. Someone had phoned the secretary and said there was a bomb in the school. Everyone suspected it was a bored local youth putting on an accent to cause a bit of trouble, but the police had to be called. I'm fond of a laugh so I put on an Irish accent and said, "Teachers, you were Game For A Laugh," referring to a prank show of the time. But the Irish accent was just an imitation of the presenter, Henry Kelly. It never occurred to me or anyone else to equate his Irishness with the IRA.

As mentioned before, British TV was full of Irish faces like Wogan and Eamonn Andrews. They were much-loved.

These days I'd say the Irish were liked by most British people. You can always find haters, but I'd say they were very rare. Irish history isn't taught here and I doubt people know or care about the potato famine. For most people here, what happened pre-1939 doesn't count. They'd no more feel responsible for the Famine or Black and Tans as modern Italians feel responsible for anything Garibaldi did. And why should they?

One thing about Southern English people is that if they hear an accent that's different to theirs then it's worth remarking upon. This seems to be more friendly curiosity than anything although it could probably get boring after a while. Stuff about "potato" and "say three" are probably feeble attempts at banter for the most part.

And if people here imitate your accent it's probably because, as with the Australian accent, it sounds like such fun that people want to have a go. Annoying, but not fuelled by malice.

Again, these are just personal observations.

I was the bus from Dublin airport into the city centre. A group of 6 or 7 young German fellas were sitting across from me. The TV in the bus was playing that tourist video about things to see in Dublin. Long and the short of it was they seemed to make an effort (through english) to have a great skit about how the only things to see in the city was the Guinness Brewery and........ eh, Ive forgotten the other thing the ad mentioned.....

Maybe they had a point!

Seemingly the Romans were not too keen on Hibernia. This surely must be the first recorded Hibernophobia.