Are the stereotypes of the Irish people actaully correct ?

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 11:35AM

Overflow wrote: »

Actually I do, because I now live somewhere where they actually give a **** and don't leave you sitting in a waiting room for 12 hours with a collapsed lung That's one example, i have many more.

I didn't ask for examples.

I did ask you 2 specific questions so give em a bash son

jimgoose · 21-11-2014 11:37AM

Maccon wrote: »

...Stereotypes are are everywhere and good old Paddy's is getting slagged sometimes. As Sigmund Freud said, he can categorize all groups of people except the Irish, they don't fit in any box. I would see this as a compliment.
And believe me, not all Germans are always on time and the built quality of the cars is not as good as you would think.

Have a good day

Wilkommen. What Freud is supposed to have said about the Irish is "This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." There's no actual evidence that he ever said anything like that, though. The average Irish psyche is a psychoanalyst's dream, an acre of wheat before the combine. I think we Irish like the idea of being so impenetrable and "cute" as to be able to misdirect the likes of Freud and Carl Jung, though. :pac:

Overflow · 21-11-2014 11:42AM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I didn't ask for examples.

I did ask you 2 specific questions so give em a bash son

Your two questions open a can of worms for which there is no simple solution.

21-11-2014 11:49AM

Great first post lad !
I actually agree with what you say, we accept so much here it is unbelievable.
I would also add to the mix that it is ingrained in Irish people to think we are brilliant, hey we beat the English out, the Irish rebel, the quick witted Irish man, this in my opinion is utter nonsense. A myth created so people can sentimentally drink there pints whilst getting buggered by a chosen few.

Maccon wrote: »

This is my first Boards post, so don't burn me

I think this guy has a few points and you can't blame him if you see this country in the last 5 years. And you don't know what he has been thru.
I'm not Irish, I'm German living here for 12 years now with family and all the rest.
If I compare the politicians of both countries on the local level it is not that much different I guess. But Ireland has mostly politicians which were teachers or barrister. And you can see that some regions are "ruled" by a family for decades.

If I remember what some politicians got away with here blows my mind. Best example is Bertie Ahern.
Having seen the last few budgets of any government, I didn't know that you can do that many U turns and still go on as nothing happened. This is a joke and has been seen as this sometimes in the German media. You do it properly or you don't do it at all!

Reg. hospitals..I know a few people working there and the common say is, there is enough money but the system is run by muppets. And having spend 8 hours in A and E with the kids myself, I agree. I worked the UK for a while and due to my job I went to A and E 6 or 7 times to translate. Ever time we were out within 2 hours regardless of time and which day. Germany isn't as good but by far not as bad as Ireland. If you compare the money spent and the service provided in Ireland, it simply doesn't work.
It's sad to see so many hard working hospital staff and they have to deal with it every day.

The roads got a lot better over the last 10 years. Just the quality how there are getting built, well some bad roads are just bad because there are badly done in the first place causing more repairs on the long run.

Reg. Water.. the never ending story. I remember my last water bill in Germany 12 years ago. What a single person spends in 1 year here ( I think at the moment it's 160 E) I spent this easily in 2 or 3 month in Germany due to the high water prices.

Yes we have to pay for water in some way or the other which I agree. But to force the whole population of a country into a contract with a semi private company when the cost for the customer not set up yet, giving out PPS numbers and so on, well.. this is a very good example where the rest of Europe is looking at Ireland and says, their must be joking. But the politicians will get away with this again. They just did another U turn, again.

Stereotypes are are everywhere and good old Paddy's is getting slagged sometimes. As Sigmund Freud said, he can categorize all groups of people except the Irish, they don't fit in any box. I would see this as a compliment.
And believe me, not all Germans are always on time and the built quality of the cars is not as good as you would think.

Have a good day

Overflow · 21-11-2014 11:54AM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

You don't know how good you have it.

Our health service is excellent and we should give ourselves and those who work in it huge credit. That doesn't mean I think it's perfect or the best in the world.

Health services are bottomless pits for money and there is no such thing as perfection.

How much more would you like to invest in the health service?
Where would you cut money from to fund the increase?

From this morons salary and the rest of the ignorant and corrupt fools in government.

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 11:55AM

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Irish drunkard stereotype.

We do tolerate much more drunkenness than other countries.

Having lived in the UK for 3 years the most annoying stereotype is the notion that we are all republicans and the whole island was a rubble-strewn war zone. As recently as last week I got chatting to an ex paratrooper who served in NI in the 80s. They think they are being so gracious by allowing that 'things have changed for you'. There's no point telling them that it was never like the North.

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 11:59AM

Overflow wrote: »

Your two questions open a can of worms for which there is no simple solution.

We can only make services as good as you can afford.

The point I was making, and you appear to agree with whether you realise it or not, is that our health service is probably as good as we can afford.

As I said before there is room for improvement and better economy

21-11-2014 12:00PM

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/people-are-not-stupid-its-getting-worse-ming-hits-out-at-services-across-ireland-30762435.html

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 12:04PM

Overflow wrote: »

From this morons salary and the rest of the ignorant and corrupt fools in government.

Which moron exactly?

Your answer is devoid of content (the hallmark of a fool)

Overflow · 21-11-2014 12:06PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

We can only make services as good as you can afford.

The point I was making, and you appear to agree with whether you realise it or not, is that our health service is probably as good as we can afford.

As I said before there is room for improvement and better economy

I absolutely don't agree with you and you have obviously missed my point, if you believe what you just said, your just part of the problem.

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 12:17PM

Overflow wrote: »

I absolutely don't agree with you and you have obviously missed my point, if you believe what you just said, your just part of the problem.

You conceded the questions were too difficult for you and went on to answer them with a one liner straight from a tabloid. Best leave it there champ

Marion Morrison · 21-11-2014 12:24PM

we're no different than any other country.
you can't tell me that we're the only country with cute hoors, dodgy planning, crap hospitals/roads etc. not possible for even one second.

your chap sounds too bitter for his own good.

Here is a fun fact. There are more Generals in the Italian Army than in both the US and English armies combined and that is only the start of it.

the country is crippled with the amount of civil servant types on the books.

Roads are not third world. Go to Bulgaria. They have potholes on the motorways.

Hospitals work fine in my experience.

The government agreed that an exploration company would take the risk for finding the resources, and as a consequence, the company got a % of the reward.

The rest of your friend's points are either nonsensical or ill thought out.

mad muffin wrote: »

Ireland is ... not alone though. It's in good company with, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.

Your depressing "friend" illustrates only one of the classic clichés: he is a whinger.

Moreover, a tragically uninformed one!
- who has never seen the roads of India, or China.
- or needed a hospital in a very poor country
- or had to pay bills for water services in...well...almost everywhere.
- or noticed that nepotism and cronyism are endemic in human nature everywhere, not just in our little local village.

Whatever point he may wish to make, whinging disqualifies. And ignorance doubly disqualifies. Thumbs down.

murpho999 wrote: »

No I'm not...go to the like of Africa where if you can die if you break your leg.

I don't think this is where we should be setting the bar, yet so many people think as long as we do, the rest is not worth striving for.

There are still major problems in this country, and the causes need to be treated as well as the symptoms. They are treatable if the will of the people is there. Ireland has the potential to be as least as good as any of the benchmark Scandinavian countries.

First and foremost we need to start getting honest people into Irish politics, that's fundamental for any democracy. At the moment honest and educated people avoid going into Irish politics. This is not a good situation. None of the Irish political parties are in any way trustworthy. The sum ambition of all Irish politicians is to get into government to look after your particular personal gang of cronies and hangers on, and to qualify for the fabled ministers pension.

For far too long the chronic problems in Ireland have been silenced and swept under the carpet.

The problems in Ireland are worth highlighting, and demanding change, I don't believe we have yet slipped the point where demanding change and desiring improvement is pointless.

What is worrying is for as long as I can remember the Irish people seem to be happy to lurch from one corruption scandal to the next. They get annoyed about the current scandal, but then it just dies down and is forgotten about until the next one. This season its Irish Water, last season it was the CRC, before that it was Anglo, and it goes on , and on, and on , and on , and on, right back to the 80's and beyond, the same families, the same connections, the same scandals, the same temporary annoyance of the people before we trundle onto the next scandal.

Meanwhile for generations, our least connected and often our best and brightest and most honest young people leave every year, and continue to do so.

This is not a complaint. It's a desire for permanent change, for the better, for everyone.

21-11-2014 12:29PM

Well said !

Marion Morrison wrote: »

I don't think this is where we should be setting the bar, yet so many people think as long as we do, the rest is not worth striving for.

There are still major problems in this country, and the causes need to be treated as well as the symptoms. They are treatable if the will of the people is there. Ireland has the potential to be as least as good as any of the benchmark Scandinavian countries.

First and foremost we need to start getting honest people into Irish politics, that's fundamental for any democracy. At the moment honest and educated people avoid going into Irish politics. This is not a good situation. None of the Irish political parties are in any way trustworthy. The sum ambition of all Irish politicians is to get into government to look after your particular personal gang of cronies and hangers on, and to qualify for the fabled ministers pension.

For far too long the chronic problems in Ireland have been silenced and swept under the carpet.

The problems in Ireland are worth highlighting, and demanding change, I don't believe we have yet slipped the point where demanding change and desiring improvement is pointless.

What is worrying is for as long as I can remember the Irish people seem to be happy to lurch from one corruption scandal to the next. They get annoyed about the current scandal, but then it just dies down and is forgotten about until the next one. This season its Irish Water, last season it was the CRC, before that it was Anglo, and it goes on , and on, and on , and on , and on, right back to the 80's and beyond, the same families, the same connections, the same scandals, the same temporary annoyance of the people before we trundle onto the next scandal.

Meanwhile for generations, our least connected and often our best and brightest and most honest young people leave every year, and continue to do so.

This is not a complaint. It's a desire for permanent change, for the better, for everyone.

Overflow · 21-11-2014 12:38PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

You conceded the questions were too difficult for you and went on to answer them with a one liner straight from a tabloid. Best leave it there champ

Debating an obvious problem does not inherently infer that one has a solution, but since you think it such a trivial thing to answer, please do enlighten us to your solution to Ireland's economic woes and improving our health services.

....yeah best leave it there champ !

Overflow · 21-11-2014 12:44PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

You conceded the questions were too difficult for you and went on to answer them with a one liner straight from a tabloid. Best leave it there champ

Interesting that you liked the above post by Marion Morrison, re: corruption and need for change but still believe our health services are the 'best we can afford'

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 12:46PM

Overflow wrote: »

Debating an obvious problem does not inherently infer that one has a solution, but since you think it such a trivial thing to answer, please do enlighten us to your solution to Ireland's economic woes and improving our health services.

....yeah best leave it there champ !

I don't think you've been keeping up with the conversation.

I was the one saying the health service isn't all as bad as you were making out. Remember you had all the anecdotes about how bad it is? No I don't suppose you do. Not to worry son.

dont bother · 21-11-2014 12:50PM

i agree with the OP. this country is horrible, for the most part. Rain, cold, miserable people everywhere, high suicide rates, no abortion, no proper equality rights, a viciously corrupt government, nasty people who are driven by money, low morals, very expensive cost of living, no good-looking people, horrible scenery, violent un-policed streets, huge social divides, etc etc....

and yes, i've travelled quite a bit of the world. even some 3rd world countries, and YES, some of those countries ARE better.

you just need nice weather and decent people for the country to work.

not what we have currently - horrible weather and greedy pigs

Overflow · 21-11-2014 01:00PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I don't think you've been keeping up with the conversation.

I was the one saying the health service isn't all as bad as you were making out. Remember you had all the anecdotes about how bad it is? No I don't suppose you do. Not to worry son.

It seems you are the one that is not keeping up and have you just conceded your own questions were too difficult to answer ?

[Insert patronizing phrase]

El_Duderino 09 · 21-11-2014 01:07PM

Overflow wrote: »

It seems you are the one that is not keeping up and have you just conceded your own questions were too difficult to answer ?

[Insert patronizing phrase]

I said it's about as good as we can afford so I'm not proposing spending more. Catch up

The_Captain · 21-11-2014 01:10PM

Irish people are thick, reliant on booze and are generally all massively culturally homogenous

21-11-2014 01:19PM

The_Captain wrote: »

Irish people are thick, reliant on booze and are generally all massively culturally homogenous

I think this statement sums it up really !

jimgoose · 21-11-2014 01:24PM

The_Captain wrote: »

Irish people are thick, reliant on booze and are generally all massively culturally homogenous

Oi, we're not all homo innit. I've been saying it for years, what Castletown needs is a West-African themed restaurant.

bodice ripper · 21-11-2014 01:29PM

Well this miserable, alcoholic, thick, parochial, corrupt, aimless eejit can't wait to come home.

Haters gonna hate.

Laura Palmer · 22-11-2014 03:13AM

6541 wrote: »

I think this statement sums it up really !

If you're Irish, don't be so hard on yourself.

Criticism of one's country is necessary, particularly when there are a good few problems (and there are here) but it can be done without the self loathing and downright anti Irish sentiment here.

Also, when criticising one's own country, the critic should be considering what THEY can do to address problems, otherwise... well they're also part of this homogenous mass they're criticising.

HardenendMan · 22-11-2014 03:15AM

Having worked with many many foreign companies, whose employees have had the chance to visit ireland, I can say that we as a people are held in high regard.

nocoverart · 22-11-2014 03:31AM

I can tell you one Irish stereotype that is completely wrong... the whole "cead mile failte" thing we have going on is complete BS! we are no better or worse than any other country in welcoming other people in. The only difference is we believe our own hype.

Corvo · 22-11-2014 03:42AM

Your friend sounds like a fool

M.T. Cranium · 22-11-2014 05:47AM

One stereotype that I find to be generally true as an outsider is that you have a great facility with the language, actaully. Well in most cases.

Not only that, a wonderful sense of humour, an unwarranted modesty, a civilized demeanour, and occasionally quite good looking too.

I would keep the place a secret in case the outsiders spoil it all.

Areyouwell · 22-11-2014 06:29AM

6541 wrote: »

Traditionally Ireland had large families. Most of them where encouraged to immigrate. The one or two that remained then had to become cute hoors in order to survive. Therefore they excelled in the ingrained Gombeen culture in order to survive

At best, the OP is living in the 1950's.

osarusan · 22-11-2014 07:31AM

To add a timely story - was out a couple of weeks ago with some colleagues - Japanese, American, Belgian, Romanian, Australian, and me the Irish guy.

That story about the school in Korea sending the email to the Irish teacher was news then, and I defended my compatriots bravely and condemned such stereotypes.

Ended up getting so drunk i have no memory of getting home.

Are the stereotypes of the Irish people actaully correct ?

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