Anti-Irish Sentiment

Riamfada · 10-12-2014 03:14PM #1

Just got a text from my brother. Hes over in Spain. Last night he was out having dinner and some Germans sitting at an adjacent table asked him, upon hearing his accent, was he Irish?

He said yes he was. They then made some smart remarks about he could pay for their dinner as they paid for his as well as paying for our country.

Is anti-Irish sentiment coming back? This was probably just a bunch of pricks but I was wondering had anyone else any experiences of it when abroad. I did get raised eyebrows from European travellers when I was in Asia over the Summer when they found out I was Irish. Some other Europeans I met were of the opinion that I shouldnt be able to afford to take a holiday in Asia. Like I owe them and should be at home working to pay them back.

SEPT 23 1989 · 10-12-2014 03:17PM

He should have remarked upon whether they had paid their gas bill

Frank O. Pinion · 10-12-2014 03:18PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

He should have remarked upon whether they had paid their gas bill

I did nazi that coming.

Sheep Lover · 10-12-2014 03:19PM

Should of told them he was Jewish and he wanted his 12 paintings, numerous antiques and his granny back.

Magico Gonzalez · 10-12-2014 03:19PM

In my experience we're pretty well received in South America, certainly in Argentina, Brasil and Chile.

I'd say that's not particularly Anti irish and imagine you'd get the same chirp from them about Greeks, Spanish etc.

RobYourBuilder · 10-12-2014 03:20PM

Germans have a very different sense of humour to us. They were probably trying to crack a joke to initiate conversation. Takes a bit of getting used to. He should have sarcastically told them "I will, yeah" to really add to the confusion.

jimgoose · 10-12-2014 03:21PM

Tell them by rights they should be staying at home, flagellating themselves with barbed wire from utter mortification, and studying for their exams for readmission to the human race. Oh and, if you actually look at the thing you'll find that we're paying for them.

DarkJager · 10-12-2014 03:23PM

Your friend must be a very patient man. I would have smacked the dinner out of their ****ing mouths with a fist.

GalwayGuitar · 10-12-2014 03:24PM

We're definitely not loved everywhere, especially in Spain with all the drunken Irish coming over for holidays. Our reputation there is little better than the Brits.

jimgoose · 10-12-2014 03:26PM

GalwayGuitar wrote: »

We're definitely not loved everywhere, especially in Spain with all the drunken Irish coming over for holidays. Our reputation there is little better than the Brits.

No-one gives a monkey's what the Spanish think, it's the Wales of Continental Europe - lovely place for a holiday, only spoiled by all the bloody natives! :pac:

conorh91 · 10-12-2014 03:26PM

Riamfada wrote: »

Just got a text from my brother. Hes over in Spain. Last night he was out having dinner and some Germans sitting at an adjacent table asked him, upon hearing his accent, was he Irish?

He said yes he was. They then made some smart remarks about he could pay for their dinner as they paid for his as well as paying for our country.

I'm really skeptical about these stories.

I'm not saying you or your brother are deliberately making it up, but maybe it wasn't intended the way you're taking it. Most Germans I know don't preoccupy themselves with this issue, in fact I would say it is a non-issue in how they go about their lives.

Whereas, Irish people tend to be very sensitive and preoccupied with it, probably understandably so.

I think the biggest casualty of the Irish recession has been national confidence, and with that perhaps, came a victim complex.

Even asking the question 'does everyone hate us?' betrays an almost neurotic and obsessive approach to our own self image.

biko · 10-12-2014 03:30PM

Riamfada wrote: »

I shouldnt be able to afford to take a holiday in Asia. Like I owe them and should be at home working to pay them back.

Like when an Irish person abroad on hols and meet another Irish that's on the dole but also on hols?

Just normal begrudgery, nothing particularly "anti Irish" about any of those case imo.
I'm sure Spanish, Portuguese and Greek get a fair share of it too.

mikom · 10-12-2014 03:30PM

Riamfada wrote: »

Just got a text from my brother. Hes over in Spain. Last night he was out having dinner and some Germans sitting at an adjacent table asked him, upon hearing his accent, was he Irish?

He said yes he was. They then made some smart remarks about he could pay for their dinner as they paid for his as well as paying for our country.

He should have said "Pay away........... So, that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads".

Ruu · 10-12-2014 03:32PM

Don't mention the war.

Missed opportunity!

10-12-2014 03:34PM

I've never came across any anti-irish sentiment in my time abroad in central europe, I've actually found it to be the opposite case where people love to hear that I'm Irish and can chat away to me and tell me about the time they visited, even though they dont really remember it

TheHappyChappy · 10-12-2014 03:34PM

conorh91 wrote: »

I'm really skeptical about these stories.

I'm not saying you or your brother are deliberately making it up, but maybe it wasn't intended the way you're taking it. Most Germans I know don't preoccupy themselves with this issue, in fact I would say it is a non-issue in how they go about their lives.

Whereas, Irish people tend to be very sensitive and preoccupied with it, probably understandably so.

I think the biggest casualty of the Irish recession has been national confidence, and with that perhaps, came a victim complex.

I travel with work quite a lot & have noticed 'The stupud Irish' remarks increase over the past couple of years from mainland Europeans. Germans do appear to believe thicko paddy will do what he is told unfortunately.

conorhal · 10-12-2014 03:35PM

Excuse me waiter! I don't remember ordering the sour kraut, would you mind removing him from the dining room please?

Richard Hillman · 10-12-2014 03:35PM

Ethnic Banter

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 10-12-2014 03:36PM

Judging by many threads in AH, there are many anti-irish living in Ireland too.

jimgoose · 10-12-2014 03:37PM

conorhal wrote: »

Excuse me waiter! I don't remember ordering the sour kraut, would you mind removing him from the dining room please?

:pac::pac::pac:

Duggy747 · 10-12-2014 03:37PM

Should've just done the mature thing and kept repeating "HITLER HITLER HITLER HITLER HIIIIIIIT-LAAAAAAAAH!!!!" as they spoke to him, louder and louder until they drowned them out.

Then fart on their food.

jimgoose · 10-12-2014 03:38PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

Should've just done the mature thing and kept repeating "HITLER HITLER HITLER HITLER HIIIIIIIT-LAAAAAAAAH!!!!" as they spoke to him, louder and louder until they drowned them out.

Then fart on their food.

Diplomacy as she is goodly spocken, chief. I salute. :cool:

ThisRegard · 10-12-2014 03:38PM

Riamfada wrote: »

He said yes he was. They then made some smart remarks about he could pay for their dinner as they paid for his as well as paying for our country.

I got that once from an English bloke. I thanked him and then told him I was off to the bar now to enjoy a few drinks, courtesy of the UK tax payers. It shut him quick enough.

hfallada · 10-12-2014 03:40PM

I spend the summer in Germany and I have a great sense of humour. But the Germans has to kept reminding that was a joke. Their sense of humour is unique in the sense, it's usually not funny. I have had German friends and they don'tfind what we find funny.

But anyone I spoke to over the summer in Germany loved Ireland. They talk about how they love u2 or the script and that temple bar is amazing. They have Irish bars all over the place. They love Ireland, as Irish people are hard working.

You can find anti sentiment towards any nationality. But you don't hear it about the Irish not being hard working. Most Americans think of irish workers being hard working and get on it. Unlike the French or the germans who question everything

Boskowski · 10-12-2014 03:40PM

RobYourBuilder wrote: »

Germans have a very different sense of humour to us. They were probably trying to crack a joke to initiate conversation. Takes a bit of getting used to. He should have sarcastically told them "I will, yeah" to really add to the confusion.

This.

They weren't getting on to him. I thought ye Irish were familiar with the concept of banter? :pac:

FTA69 · 10-12-2014 03:42PM

hfallada wrote: »

But anyone I spoke to over the summer in Germany loved Ireland. They talk about how they love u2 or the script and that temple bar is amazing.

The Germans obviously have no f*cking taste either.

ScumLord · 10-12-2014 03:44PM

I found my Irish accent to be almost as good as being famous whenever I go abroad. It's like people from around the world use Irish people as an excuse to go off the head, "we can drink all we like, he's Irish".

I met a German on a train in czech , he kept trying to talk to me (and everyone) in German and eventually asked where I was from in English, when I told him I was Irish I got his life story and stories about him and his Irish friend. He was an Nazi medic that ran off to India during the war.

jimgoose · 10-12-2014 03:44PM

Boskowski wrote: »

This.

They weren't getting on to him. I thought ye Irish were familiar with the concept of banter? :pac:

We're gas men, give us our Jew.

Shenshen · 10-12-2014 03:45PM

Wow!!!

Fisrt thing I would have done is congratulate them on their hearing - it's an incredibly hard thing to distinguish accents in a language that isn't your native tongue.
I've been living here for well over 10 years now, and I still wouldn't automatically hear a difference between an English person and an Irish person... well, I'm usually fine once the spell out a word containing an "r"

And then I would have congratulated them on their knowledge of current affairs.
Most Germans would barely remember the Ireland was bailed out, they were far too focused on Greece and Cyprus at the time. Ireland barely got a mention in the news there.

Shenshen · 10-12-2014 03:47PM

Sheep Lover wrote: »

Should of told them he was Jewish and he wanted his 12 paintings, numerous antiques and his granny back.

They would have told him to go talk to the Swiss...

Mountainlad · 10-12-2014 03:53PM

Shenshen wrote: »

Wow!!!

Fisrt thing I would have done is congratulate them on their hearing - it's an incredibly hard thing to distinguish accents in a language that isn't your native tongue.
I've been living here for well over 10 years now, and I still wouldn't automatically hear a difference between an English person and an Irish person... well, I'm usually fine once the spell out a word containing an "r"

And then I would have congratulated them on their knowledge of current affairs.
Most Germans would barely remember the Ireland was bailed out, they were far too focused on Greece and Cyprus at the time. Ireland barely got a mention in the news there.

"And then I would have paid for their dinner..."

Anti-Irish Sentiment

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