"I'm 1/4 irish"

funt cucker · 22-09-2013 12:41PM

Bannasidhe wrote: »

They were???

Myself, my siblings and all of my many, many, cousins were born more than 30 years ago and not one of us was born within 100 miles of Dublin but we were all born in hospitals in Ireland...

Oh...I forgot, 'Ireland' consists only of the Pale. That crap annoys me waaay more than Americans saying they are fractionally Irish

Fair enough, It was always my understanding that you travelled to Dublin to give birth, my granny's (God rest them), Aunties etc.... all travelled to Dublin to give birth.

tara73 · 22-09-2013 12:42PM

they do the same with germans/germany. almost everybody has a german granny or grandpa or whatever.
Sometimes it's true, sometimes maybe not. who cares.
I actually kind of like it, I think often they just want to create a connection or 'good feeling' with their unknown aquaintances and keep the conversation rolling...nothing worse for an american than silence between people...:D

funt cucker · 22-09-2013 12:42PM

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

I was born in a fully functioning hospital in Cork in 1978.

:pac:

Bill G · 22-09-2013 12:44PM

alexlyons wrote: »

having lived in the USA all summer, they seem to believe that if they have Irish (or any other country) heritage then that's present in the culture in which they're brought up hence they claim they are 1/4 Irish or whatever.

Bollox. Your American

So Paul McGrath and Phil Lynott are British then? Thanks for clearing that up.

Meangadh · 22-09-2013 12:46PM

funt cucker wrote: »

In the bath or sommat?

Hahaha! For feck's sake!

At the time I was born there were actually two hospitals in my home town where babies were born. Only one now although it's a bigger maternity area.

crockholm · 22-09-2013 12:49PM

Well,mr cranky OP,I think the phenomenon you mentioned is starting to die out.The grandkids of Irish immigrants in the US are (in my experience) now more likely to drop the hyphen and declare themselves American(with Irish heritage).

9/11 seems to have speeded up the the process.

It will be a lot more common for an American actor/musician/personality to be asked about their possible Irish ancestry by Tubridy or Cooper.

Besides,who are you to tell some punter what he is or how he feels

MadsL · 22-09-2013 12:50PM

demanufactured wrote: »

Usually said by an American.
Always hated this ****e, used to come up in chatrooms back in the day..

American:"Im half irish"
Me:Really? Where were you born?
American: Chicago
Me : You're American so.
American:No...you see my great grand papa was irish he lived in the county of Cork.
Me: You have an irish relative, You were born in the USA , You are 100% American.

Another one: im 1/4 irish
Me: Wow do you have 4 parents??
Them:.....

Well done. For an encore do you tell black people living in America that they are not African-American?

Do you also tell those with one half Native American heritage that they have no right to refer to their Native American ancestry?

22-09-2013 12:53PM

I'm sure they were speechless at your inability to do simple maths. Being 1/4 Irish means you have one Irish grandparent.

I'm technically only 1/4 Irish (one grandparent born in Ireland with pure Irish ancestry, another born in Ireland to Mediterranean parents, other 2 grandparents English) - still feel Irish. Having an Irish grandparent is quite a close connection to Ireland - it's hardly comparable to people who say their great-great-great-great-grandad was Irish.

greenflash · 22-09-2013 12:56PM

Bill G wrote: »

So Paul McGrath and Phil Lynott are British then? Thanks for clearing that up.

Philo was born in Birmingham and supported Manchester United. You can't get much more Irish than that.

Red Kev · 22-09-2013 01:08PM

markomuscle wrote: »

I'm 1/200 Iberian due to the o'neill clans routes in Iberia

You wouldn't be related to the Lloret del Mar O'Neills by any chance ? Or the Santa Ponsa O'neills ?

Mint Sauce · 22-09-2013 01:26PM

In that case I'm 1/2 English, 1/3 Irish, 1/8 American, 1/16 Scottish.

Dont like them odds.

thee glitz · 22-09-2013 01:28PM

It doesn't bother me once they don't say they're 1 fourth Irish.

Pawwed Rig · 22-09-2013 01:33PM

This thread certainly uncomplicates matters. So those in NI are UK citizens so cannot claim Irishness anymore. Those born before the establishment of the fee state are also not Irish. The 2004 referendum would have been alot simpler too as any child born in the 26 counties is 100% Irish whether they like it or not.

22-09-2013 01:36PM

It used to annoy me especially if they just said "I'm irish" without any halves or quarters or roots, but meh

IngazZagni · 22-09-2013 01:41PM

I think it's great that people like to associate themselves as being part Irish. We should be proud of that.

MRnotlob606 · 22-09-2013 01:41PM

they love ireland but none of them wanna live here

MadsL · 22-09-2013 01:45PM

bluewolf wrote: »

It used to annoy me especially if they just said "I'm irish" without any halves or quarters or roots, but meh

It annoys you if someone is born to an Irish mother in Ireland and holds Irish citizenship, but fails to qualify it by saying - I'm half Irish.

22-09-2013 01:46PM

MadsL wrote: »

It annoys you if someone is born to an Irish mother in Ireland and holds Irish citizenship, but fails to qualify it by saying - I'm half Irish.

No, it doesn't annoy me. Past tense, yea? And I'm pretty sure you knew that's not what I meant anyway

shruikan2553 · 22-09-2013 01:46PM

What confuses me is they dont tend to like immigrants and yet nearly all have (greatxN )grandparents who were immigrants and they consider themselves some fraction of where they were from.

Tinwhistle* · 22-09-2013 01:47PM

My Great Grandparents were from MAYO!!!!!

22-09-2013 01:51PM

MadsL wrote: »

It annoys you if someone is born to an Irish mother in Ireland and holds Irish citizenship, but fails to qualify it by saying - I'm half Irish.

In fairness, someone born in Ireland with one foreign parent saying they're Irish is very different to someone born abroad with one Irish parent/grandparent who has never really spent any time in Ireland saying they're Irish.

markomuscle · 22-09-2013 01:56PM

Fad wrote: »

America is a very young country (most of it anyway) with very little heritage of its own (aside from native american which they sort of tried to erase), I find Irish people dont care too much about their root but Americans are desperate to figure out where they came from, how their family got there and all that jazz.

I used to get very impatient with people who made strained connections between themselves and Ireland, but in reality it makes no real odds to me. They come here, spend a pile of money, head home and fondly remember that time they had a real pint of stout in a 'real' Irish Pub. No real harm done.

that's because in a lot of cases our ancient ancestors came from 15 minutes down the road.

Mickeroo · 22-09-2013 01:59PM

It doesn't really bother me, the country is only a few 100 years old. I don't see a problem with someone being proud of or acknowledging their heritage. Do people from Africa get pissed off when a person refers to themself as African American?

I think it's worse when someone doesn't acknowledge/realise they're descended from immigrants tbh.

Stojkovic · 22-09-2013 02:00PM

tara73 wrote: »

they do the same with germans/germany. almost everybody has a german granny or grandpa or whatever.

The biggest ethnic group in the USA is not, Irish or Italian or African its German.

Co-indidently I'm 1/8 German.
Yes I have 8 parents !!!

markomuscle · 22-09-2013 02:03PM

Red Kev wrote: »

You wouldn't be related to the Lloret del Mar O'Neills by any chance ? Or the Santa Ponsa O'neills ?

are they the bunch of plastic paddies who claim to be the chiefs of the clan due to the flight of the earls?

Bog Standard User · 22-09-2013 02:05PM

Stojkovic wrote: »

The biggest ethnic group in the USA is not, Irish or Italian or African its German.

Co-indidently I'm 1/8 German.
Yes I have 8 parents !!!

was your mother a porn actress?

EdenHazard · 22-09-2013 02:07PM

go to boston and say this, they will kill you. irish people see lame americans saying this who wear fanny packs on holidays, in the ghettos in boston being Irish is badass.

Irish Guitarist · 22-09-2013 02:08PM

This usually doesn't happen with anyone who has black skin though. Jimi Hendrix was part Irish as well as being part native American but most Americans would think of him as being solely African American.

I think it was great that Barack Obama acknowledged he had roots beyond his 'African' roots. When he was elected there was all the talk about him being the first black president, which is somewhat offensive to his mothers side of the family.

I don't really think much of Barack Obama or feel any pride that he considers himself Irish but it's good to see people embrace as much of their heritage as they can.

I do however think if you're talking to someone who isn't American it can be confusing to claim to be a nationality of a country you weren't born in.

amazingemmet · 22-09-2013 02:08PM

If this doesn't russle Op's Jimmies I don't know what will:

http://www.heritagecertificate.com/

Stojkovic · 22-09-2013 02:09PM

Bog Standard User wrote: »

was your mother a porn actress?

Still is.

www.GermanMilf.com

"I'm 1/4 irish"

Comments