The Long Suffering Irish

Whatever. It doesn't erase your terrible genes. You age like milk.

I say this as one quarter Irish. Thank god for Mediterranean aging genes.

"5. Paul Mescal does not deserve the Oscar." way harsh, tai.

Corned beef and cabbage is Victorian New York slum food, it's cultural heritage in its own right.

What generation are you, OP?

Nobody cares. Corned beef and cabbage is either Jewish or German. Still delicious if properly prepared.

If you’re Irish-Mexican will you still age like milk? 🤔

I had to sit through The Wind that Shakes the Barley with my grandmother because it's a Very Important Film, but I had no idea what was going on because I'm American and we don't learn Irish history in school.

The veracity of OP's list is questionable. You can’t trust the Irish, they are all liars.

If you're an American born in America, you've no business telling anybody what Irish people and their culture are all about. You're an American who likes the idea of being Irish and you've learned a handful of things about them, full stop.

[quote] 3. We’re not all playful leprechauns.

Shut up and show me your pot o' gold, Lucky Charms.

MY question is how did the Irish have a famine during the potato blight when they have so much coastline in which to fish?

[quote] If you're an American born in America, you've no business telling anybody what Irish people and their culture are all about.

Many blacks are several generations removed from Africa, but they still get a voice, even calling themselves African-American.

R9 I'm sorry, full stop? I think you mean period.

As someone of Irish descent I just have one question…

There is no "Irish curse." I'm happy with my own endowment.

The cliché of Irish as drinkers, sadly, is true, at least from what I can tell. I rarely ever drink, but if I ever do I can out-drink everyone and still function normally. I have no explanation for it except that it just goes right through me.

I’m mainly Irish ancestry and the drunk thing is true. I have quite a few alcoholic in my family especially on the Catholic side. Maybe the culture they grow up in is toxic. I can also drink a ridiculous amount of liquor but I only drink every few months

We’re all good Cat’lics.

R11 Pity for them you weren't around to fix everything.

Despite being Irish, Jack Dixon is far from cursed. He’s rather blessed!

Oh r18, he was asking a perfectly reasonable question. Grow the fuck up.

Top of the morning to you!

OP, your grievances are duly noted; however, most of the world doesn't care about your tiny island in the middle of nowhere, and St. Patrick's Day at least serves to raise awareness of its existence, at least in N. America.

Perhaps you can blame Corned Beef and Cabbage on the Boston Irish, where it's also known as "New England Boiled Dinner"? I love it. Likewise, Chop Suey and Chow Mein aren't Chinese. But we can blame Your People for black pudding and Sinead O'Connor. You say that Irish people aren't drunks, but then go on to justify it by blaming oppression by the British. A big chunk of the planet has been oppressed by the British, but most (save for Australians) aren't drunks. This is a big win, I say. While I've never been (unwillingly) oppressed by the British, I sure love my booze. It's not like you have to send out thank you cards to all 60 million of them, so what's your damage, anyway?

No clue who Paul Mescal or Saint Patrick even are/were, but Mc Donald's is finally bringing back green dyed milkshakes for the season!

Finally, as far as White People go, the handful of people from Ireland I've met do tend to be a scream. Unpretentious, kind (at least to your face), and joking. The "Playful Leprechaun" thing is folklore made popular by Madison Avenue to market sugar-laden breakfast cereal to American kids in the 1960s.

The Irish gladly take American money, but roll their eyes and call them Peppermint Patties behind their backs after them eight zillionth story about their great great Granny from Killarney. They make plenty of assumptions and no curiosity about the history and development of modern Ireland, especially when it comes to younger people largely estranging from the church after scandal after scandal in their pseudo-social institutions like the Magdalen laundries. The patientlce wears thin when they bring right-wing politics and racism over, too, but people are genuinely very kind and know those arseholes will keep people employed and fly home.

They are a little island of 7 million or so people, but for many of them that's just fine and they're happy with a slowly progressing version of what they have. It's a society that gets that some things are more important than money or winning at everything. This is especially true after the lessons learned from the false growth of the 'Celtic Tiger' years, and even moreseo after watching the UK do what it's been doing.

[quote] Likewise, Chop Suey and Chow Mein aren't Chinese.

I know an entire song about that!

[quote] They make plenty of assumptions and no curiosity about the history and development of modern Ireland, especially when it comes to younger people largely estranging from the church after scandal after scandal in their pseudo-social institutions like the Magdalen laundries.

How dare they!

You're not Irish, you're American, and the Irish are not "oppressed" by the British. There are millions of Irish and Irish descended people living in Britain. FYI, the English pay the most in taxes and receives the least in public expenditure..

Fucking thick plastic paddy.

Apparently there are now anti-migrant protests happening regularly.

R12 congratulations, you win the prize for most moronic post of the day

R28 why not crack open a book, instead of imagining what you think happened? You’re welcome.

when you're face down drunk in the dirt, potatoes are easier to get.

It's no potato famine, but the Irish are getting a bit fucked over by Brexit, R26. The economies were closely tied, many businesses like Amazon considered the UK and Ireland a single market, and the Irish consumer is paying for the associated rise in costs. And that's before we even get into the NI mess.

They're the white negroes.

[Quote]4. Saint Patrick wasn’t Irish!

Did you learn this from "Time Cat," OP?

...not that I did 😳

OP is no more Irish than is my Scottish toe.

The actual Irish have more to be aggrieved about than non-native bad recipes, beer colors and sentimental fallacies.

You know, things like a history of British colonization and subjugation, economic and agricultural genocide, cultural eradication, bad education....

The Irish Potato Famine specifically affected the peasants, who had no money or resources. Middle class and wealthy people, unlikely to be native Catholics, were largely unaffected.

It's like if a corn blight hit America. Wealthier people could adapt, but dirt poor people wouldn't have anything to substitute because almost everything they eat contains corn in some way.

Since the British Parliament, after the blight had already hit, knowingly chose not to take action or to reduce Ireland's food exports, there have been accusations that the Famine was an ethnic cleansing carried out by the British government.

Biden called the Famine a genocide once he took office. He is, however, not actually ethnic and an honest to God "Plastic Paddy."

Here's an archive of R36 since they think they're the New York Times.

R35 OP is engaging in self-deprecating humor/ a tidbit of trolling.

Corned beef and cabbage is Irish American; if you're celebrating St. Patrick's day in the U.S., it's authentic. Irish and German and/or Jewish immigrants often lived side by side and their was some mixture of traditions, particularly in culinary traditions. Immigrants are notorious for adapting old recipes to the new ingredients available to them in their new countries. See "Italian-American cuisine."

Ireland was the first British colony. The British used Ireland as their experiment for how they would steal the land and enslave or murder the populace of every subsequent country they invaded and occupied. I couldn't give a fuck about corned beef and green beer but I wish more Irish (outside of Ireland) knew their history.

Watch the rampant BRF fans and Markle-obsessives of DL avoid this thread.

A good amount of Irish-Americans are Repugs or the nasty, racist Democrats. The further west you go, to places like St. Louis, the worse it is.

R15 Good thing you’ve not inherited the compulsion. It goes through some people — until it doesn’t — as they abuse it and lose their tolerance.

“Today, less than half the Irish drink” said the tour guide in Cork.

“The rest of ‘em drink tomorrow.”

But seriously, OP, tell us about your visits to Ireland. You had to learn more than that. Even if you haven’t, you must know some of your family history. Are you bog, lace curtain or two-toilet?

OP, I lost all respect for you when the rejection of Danny Boy wasn’t in your top five since the lyrics were written by an English fucking lawyer and should be dismissed by all Irish people as a song having nothing to do with them.

R3- Corned Beef 🥩 and cabbage 🥬 was also a Jewish food.

It’s a long way to Tipperary you ingrates.

The "tinkers" are not Irish, they're Roma.

Not true, but Irish people believe that.

Know why there was a Boxer Rebellion in China & the Republican movement in Ireland...

Both are cursed. Why would anyone opt for a small Irish or Chinese dick when you can get a nice big English one..So of course both Chinese men & Irish men wanted the English out. Oppression? of course, no one would fuck them if there was English dick around.

As my Irish friend Kevin used to say..Irish curse, and now you know why we hate the English

[quote] But seriously, OP, tell us about your visits to Ireland. You had to learn more than that. Even if you haven’t, you must know some of your family history. Are you bog, lace curtain or two-toilet?

I was disappointed when researching my family tree. My great-grandparents came from County Cavan. My great-grandmother’s father and brothers worked in bars in NYC’s Lower East Side. How cliche that they were serving the drinks. I was hoping one of them was big in Tammany Hall but no evidence of that. Just providers of the drink.

R26 "The English pay the most in taxes."

Lol, how exactly does that work when the four countries all have the same tax system? Did you even think through this idiotic fallacy?

Yes, out of the four countries that make up the U.K., England is the one getting the rough deal.

Just for the record, Scotland voted against Brexit. The Scots and the Irish have endured much English fuckery, but the English are the real victims in all of this. Uh-Huh.

R28 you're as thick as shite as we'd say in Ireland. The British were taking most of the viable food to England during the famine which left the native people with very little.

When crops failed the Irish couldn't pay their British landlords rent and were evicted. They also couldn't afford medical costs.

People couldn't just fish or shoot as they'd be charged with poaching.

I didn't know you were Irish, R51! Thank you for trying to clear up some misconceptions about the Famine - people can be alarmingly stupid.

What's more, R51, the British used the corn laws to disallow any foreign aid and would only feed avowed protestants. Ot was genocide.

"Irish-Americans" are about as Irish as Joan Crawford was sane.

Yep R52 originally! It's a beautiful island for the most part.

R53 thanks, I remembered that after I posted!

I know a drag queen named Patti O'Ferniture

Please present pot o' gold, otherwise shut up...

Also...

May the wind always be at your back and may you be on Grindr an hour before the Hell's Kitchen whores.

well if there's no hope for OP then waeth i fi roi’r ffidil yn y tô rŵan ddim

Irish in Ireland eating Irish-American food.

Irish (Canadian?) shows viewers how to prepare Corned Beef and Cabbage.

R28 must be trolling us, because that is some breathtaking ignorance if he's not.

"The Irish" were tenants on their own land. They had been driven pff by British landlords and forced in to farmer small plots that they paid rent for in the form of agricultural crops -- strictly potatoes, because they weren't allowed any other crops of their own.

There is no comparison to a subjugated population in the 19th century forced to practice subsistence farming with a crop that failed 5 years in a row, resulting in millions starving to death while ships packed with food left Ireland to feed English families, and a person in WWII England finding ways to circumvent war rationing. The comparison is ignorant in the extreme.

I'd bet my next paycheck that R28 is English.

r51 and r63, Not quite. Read the rest of why they didn't fish in this Galway Advertiser piece.

R64.

“The Great Irish Famine was one of the worst subsistence crises in history but it was foremost a social disaster induced by the lack of access to food and not the lack of food availability.”

Not all dicks are small.

Took a while, but the worm has definitely turned.

In 2021 Irish GDP/capita was $100,129 compared to $47,508 for the UK and there is no sign of that divergent trend ending any time soon.

Ireland's GDP growth rate was 13.5% in 2021 and is expected to be 7.9% in 2022 while the UK has entered a period of recession or GDP decline expected to last a least a year.

Both the mean and median incomes are now almost equal, differing by about $200 in both tables, and Ireland's are expected to be higher next year because of the UK's financial decline.

I may be only 25% Irish (great-grandparents from County Donegal), but my middle name is Erin, so there's that! I can take or leave St. Patrick's Day, with one exception:

I've been known to call places to tell them their newspaper ads should say "St. Paddy's" and not the feminine "St. Patty's!"

My pet peeve is four leaf clovers used as symbols for St. Patrick's day or Ireland. The symbol is the shamrock, which has 3 leaves - the legend goes that Saint Patrick used the leaves to explain the Christian Trinity to Irish pagans he converted. Four leaf clovers and their supposed "luck" have nothing to do with Saint Patrick, Ireland or the Irish people.

R70: but the song would suck if there were only three leaves

I wouldn't have minded living with the Irish for some years. Very pleasant and amusing people. The young men are cute, too.

[quote]The Irish gladly take American money, but roll their eyes and call them Peppermint Patties behind their backs

It's actually "Plastic Paddy" but thanks for playing.

They're short six, R72: there have been 22 presidents of the United States with some Irish ancestry. All but two of them Protestants, though.

If you're ever in Dublin wheeling a suitcase full of money behind you, stop in at Shanahan's on St Stephen's Green. The bar downstairs has a collection of US Irish-American presidential memorabilia so complete they lent JFK's rocking chair to the Kennedy Library. The food's incredible, as are the prices.

I can't believe how stupid the "why didn't they just fish??" thing is.

Why do people from Florida pay money for food at supermarkets? They're surrounded by water. Why don't they just fish?

What a fucking idiot.

On the contrary. I think the fishing question is interesting. I thought about it on the train home from work this evening. I mean, they were starving TO DEATH.

My guess is that

1) they all didn't have boats 2) the fishing was controlled by a few, just like the good harvests (of everything but potatoes) were controlled by a few.

It is often said that the Irish MIDDLE CLASS let the poor die. They wouldn't divert from their lucrative trades. Or perhaps COULDN'T.

I mean, if you are starving, and lived on the coast, one would presume you would head to the beach with a fishing line, if you could.

[quote]I am of Irish heritage

What percentage, OP? How far removed an American is from the homeland is in direct relation to their level of ignorance about Ireland itself.

R76, some Irish indeed fished during the Famine, and still do. My family came from a coastal town north of Dublin, and seafood was how many of them were able to stay in Ireland, while some of the rest of the family (my ancestors) migrated to the US as a hedge, and sent money back.

Yes, millions died because not one of them thought to fish. It was just that simple.

I have now searched for some answers:

Fishing and the Famine

The question is often asked, why didn’t the Irish eat more fish during the Famine? A lot of energy is required to work as a fisherman. Because people were starving they did not have the energy that would be required to go fishing, haul up nets and drag the boats ashore. In addition, some people may have sold their personal belongings in order to survive. This would have included their boats.

Why would you assume that people who live miles from the ocean would have the tools or the expertise to fish? Do you not think that shoreline real estate is owned by someone?

What a fucking idiot.

I assumed no such thing. Read my post at R77. And fuck off, too.

"Why didn't they just go to Tesco? They sell potatoes and fish there."

I liked the 80s work of the IRA. They nearly got her in Brighton.

I'm not Irish. If people who are not Irish eat corned beef and cabbage, eat Irish Stew, eat Irish Soda Bread, and drink Irish whiskey on St Patrick's Day, is that considered Cultural Appropriation ?

No.

Why not ? It fits the definition of cultural appropriation:

Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity.

Because Cultural Appropriation is a concept for a simpleton and should have died in the 1990s, Rose.

Hey, now just a minute. At least once every other week Sunny Hostin accuses someone of 'cultural appropriation' while discussing something on THE VIEW. Are you accusing her of being a SIMPLETON ?

Ireland is a very cosmopolitan place now. We have a half-Indian Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and the Brazilian community is huge.

Hey OP, how do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? You know,"Mexican independence day" 😉

I only went to Dublin once. Very underwhelming. In the cab from the airport to the hotel, the cab driver kept pointing out sites of British atrocities against the noble people of Ireland. He thought because I was an American I would be sympathetic but I lived in London during some of the IRA's worst bombing campaigns.

Dublin, by the way, is boring as shit. Their idea of a fascinating tourist attraction is visiting the Guinness factory.

Catch yerself on, OP!

R91 Is that cosmopolitan, or are you just a glorified suburb?

Fuck you R93

R91 He got voted out years ago, what are you talking about?

[quote] 3. We’re not all playful leprechauns.

It's true-- some of you are humorless, angry leprechauns.

R80 and R82, you can't be referring to my reply at R79. My point is valid - some Irish indeed fished and kept themselves from Famine better than others. Of course these are the coastal folks, and of course it's not to say that even most Irish had that luxury. This family of mine is still there in the same little houses they've had along the shore since 1790. I've actually stayed there and heard all the stories. My ancestors and some of the other family in that group migrated, as mentioned...that's because the fish wasn't really enough on its own to feed a family of 15, so 9 of them actually migrated!

[quote] What percentage, OP?

My great grandmother was from County Cavan and came to the US as a teenager. She died when my grandmother was 5, so my grandmother didn’t get much information about her mother’s life in the old country. Ancestry puts my Irish DNA at 20%.

Oh God, they reelected the stunt queen. He's so slimy.

Slimy? Oh R101, you don't know the half of it

R101, he wasn't exactly re-elected but, yes, he is Taoiseach again 🤢

I was brought up in a Boston Irish Catholic household. My grandfather taught me the game of baseball by having me watch The Red Sox before I could even read. There was much sorrowful grieving when JFK was assassinated. It was the Friday before Thanksgiving and due to him lying in state and then the funeral, we were given the week off school. Everyone was shocked shitless.

Why didn't the leprechauns just sell some of their gold to buy food?

I think visiting ireland one day might be fun but I have little interest in the cities. It's the countryside that I find intriguing.

[quote] Listen, O little pig! it was necessary to pray, for fear of the five sovereigns from Normandy; and the fifth going over the salt sea to conquer Iwerdon [Ireland] with its pleasant towns/He will cause war and confusion, and ruddy arms and groanings in it./And they, certainly, will come from it, and do honor on the grave of Dewi [St. David]./And I will predict that there will be confusion from the fighting of son and father, the country shall know it; and that there will be to the Lloegrians [Anglo-Saxons] the falling of cities...

R96 fuck you too. I saw the Book of Kells and the Guinness Factory and I walked down or rather slid down Grafton Street on a Saturday night as it was covered in vomit from drunks. Charming place.

20% of British people have Irish Ancestry, it's mainly concerntrated in the Northern parts of England, Wales and Scotland as you would expect. But even in Norfolk it's over 15%.

I think almost everyone in Manchester and Liverpool does, generally not many generations ago either.

R109 the Scousers in particular will eagerly tell you which of their relatives are Irish. You must never refer to one as English.

[quote] It's the countryside that I find intriguing.

It's wet and boggy.

David Lean tried to make movie there back in 1970 but it was so wet and inhospitable that he gave up.

Ryan's Daughter was completed, R111.

The DNA in most British is Celtic not Irish.

The original Britons were Celts before the Romans and other invaders came.

R113 true, only the 'original' tribes of Britain that we term by the umbrella moniker and misnomer 'Celts' (themselves immigrants, long ago) were mostly exterminated, enslaved, exiled or forcibly interbred.

There are pockets of more concentrated ancient DNA in the furthermost corners of the isles, where old lineages of the tribes lasted longer than elsewhere, but for the most part the Saxons (who later became the Anglo-Saxons) & Normans drove the 'Celts' to near extinction through war, starvation and invasion.

R113 Read the article at R109. Though I'm a bit skeptical of any DNA tests profess to distinguish Irish from British? People have moved between the two for millennia.

R112 The movie was completed after Lean did extra filming in the studio and South Africa.

The point remains that the island's green fields are caused by an excess of rain.

[quote] The average number of wet days (days with more than 1mm of rain) ranges from about 150 days a year along the east and south-east coasts, to about 225 days a year in parts of the west.

There was an old Beatles film on the other day, Hard Day's Night, and in it there was a character who was supposed to be Paul McCartney's grandad - he was Irish. This was an actor, but I wonder if Paul's actual grandad was Irish with the accent and all.

No-one was disputing that Ireland is wet, R116. "The point remains" because no-one in their right mind would question it.

Kubrick shot Barry Lyndon there, Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan, but it was too inhospitable for the man who made films in the Arabian desert and Siberian winter??

Hozier suffers from the Irish curse of being hot and funny.

[quote] Siberian winter??

Filmed in Spain.

R120 I didn't find that amusing.

Irish=Professional Victims. Well, they are.

Victims of the Irish Curse.

I’m amazed by how many English people are now named Sean, Kelly, Erin, Brendan.

100 years ago no Irish immigrants to England would give their children Irish names. They’d be ostracized by the English. Look at the Beatles - John, Paul, George. All have Irish surnames but English first names. My grandparents named their children Thomas, Daniel, James. But my grandparents youngest children named their children Kelly, Erin, Kevin, Sean, Brian.

The Irish immigrants tried to fit in to the mainstream, but their youngest children developed pride in their heritage.

My mother said almost everyone was who emigrated from Ireland to Liverpool became Protestant. One reason was because a lot of them were from Northern Ireland, where prejudice against Catholics kept you in the catholic ghetto where you had to attend Catholic school, you were watched by the priests and nuns and your choices for advancement were zero.

Catholics couldn’t get jobs on the docks in Belfast, but they could get jobs on the docks in Liverpool without anyone asking you, “What school did you go to?” In Belfast, everyone knew which schools were catholic and which were Protestant. As soon as you mentioned a catholic school you were told to GTFO.

In Liverpool, the priests didn’t know which Irish immigrants coming from Northern Ireland were catholic or Protestant. So they couldn’t spy on you and say in front of others, “Haven’t seen you at mass in a long time, have I, James Farrell?”

Irish male emigres married CoE women and were relieved not to have to go to church every fucking Sunday, every niggling holy day of obligation, confession every Friday or Saturday, fasting every Friday. Even if someone was being brought up catholic in Liverpool they tried to distance themselves from the church.

Since the psychotic hatred of Catholics that existed in Northern Ireland at the hands of Scots Presbyterians didn’t exist in Liverpool, why get involved in all that crap again? The Scots had the Belfast docks. The Irish and the Liverpool docks .

The IRA seemed pretty cool

[quote] The IRA seemed pretty cool

Do you need to kill to be cool, R125?

[quote]but the song would suck if there were only three leaves

Would it though??

Change the name of Lucky Charms too. Every time I eat it nothing good ever happens.

I’m first generation Northern Irish. My parents immigrated in the 1960s. We never had corned beef and cabbage on St Patrick’s day unless we went out but we all love it. I am visiting my elderly parents for St. Patrick’s Day and my mom already said she wants to go out “for a Reuben”.

I also had homemade soda bread all the time growing up. It was never served with a meal but as dessert or with tea or as breakfast.

Are the Irish and the Spanish basically the same people? A lot of Irish look Spanish, and a lot of Spanish look Irish. I think I read somewhere that was the case, but I’m not sure if that’s true.

R108, I guess it's not Minnesota, that's for sure!

Not ALL the spanish. The northern Basque have quite similar DNA as Irish Welsh and Scottish. (Not English). If I recall the info, the migration was quite before the last ice age.

Other parts of Spain have different DNA. And of course you had the Moors. I saw a documentary by a very grand (female) Spanish aristocrat telling about her genealogy and the family secret that they were moors and survived and thrived despite the purges after reconquest.

Aren't we related to Berbers somehow?

Most Berbers are Caucasian. Who do you mean, "we"?

R130 you probably read the myth of the Spanish armada and the black Irish, which claims dark haired people in Ireland are descended from Spaniards who docked their ships in Ireland before attempting to invade England. It's a myth. Dark haired people are common throughout Ireland and Great Britain.

For future reference I would refrain from asking if any two groups are "basically the same people," as it's a sign of your own ignorance and very likely to cause offense when applied to literally any group of people. Seek out better sources of information and learn to phrase questions in ways that show respect, not disdain.

R135, so to which group do you belong: Irish or Spanish?

I'm of 100% Celtic nation ancestry (Ireland, Scotland, Wales) and have dark brown hair but it's almost always mistaken for black hair.

I thought the Irish got their red hair from the Norwegian Vikings who did their rape & pillage gig while on their world tour.

Member'Erik the Red??

I’m a hair colorist, and when I worked in Boston, if the dark stain around the hairline didn’t come off those aging, rich brunette lassies, with a laugh, we always blamed our “cheap Irish skin”.

It’s also why we age like milk.

[quote] I’m amazed by how many English people are now named Sean, Kelly, Erin, Brendan. 100 years ago no Irish immigrants to England would give their children Irish names. They’d be ostracized by the English.

True also of the Welsh, though to a less extreme degree.

My late grandfather was Cymro by blood born out of wedlock to an immigrant Pembrokeshire scullery maid working for a pittance on an English estate farm belonging to then-wealthy English landowners. Somehow—and no one knows how, as country folk did not keep excellent records back then—my great-grandmother inveigled a way to get her son adopted into this English family, to take their surname and be christened with an Anglo first name as if he were a legitimate son. We presume that he was given such a name to avoid questions about his lineage, though his flaming curly hair and ruddy dusky skin and jovial temperament was rather a giveaway.

My grandfather then found a local English woman to marry, one who by chance inherited farmland too (he drank it away, regrettably—it’s not just the Irish who can be cursed). This marriage produced a passel of kids on English soil to an English mother. So it is that my father and all his many siblings too have very English names as well as some English blood, and that I in turn was given a very Jane Austen sort of name and look every bit the typical flaxen-haired Saes. My Tad rarely spoke a word about his real family or real name, where he came from, presumably because he either didn’t remember/know much more than we did, and he was made to feel shame about his bloodline as so many were back then—the Cymry weren’t even permitted to speak their own language until relatively recently. Perhaps he was just relieved to escape a fate as a miner or a fisherman. All he knew was his old family name and a handful of old songs & curses.

From a purely aesthetic and poetic standpoint, I must admit that I’m more pleased to have my English surname, as it sounds sort of posh and elegant and less common by comparison with the surname we would have had. It’s probably opened a few doors without my realising. That said, I can’t abide my very stuffy forenames, and want to change one to a Welsh name as a nod to our lost heritage. I don’t currently plan to have children, so at least any relatives or ancestors who may investigate our family tree after I’m gone might have a hint that there’s Welsh in our line even if nothing else points the way.

I must have misread the thread title. I thought it was about the Irish.

All this nonsense from the Irish telling Irish-Americans that we cannot tell what Irish culture is.

Yes, you're right. We have Irish-American culture. We have corned beef and cabbage, because it's an Irish-American tradition. The vast majority of our ancestors who came to the US were poor. Corned beef was within their reach. In Ireland, our ancestors were very lucky if they even had meat on a regular basis.

We're proud of our heritage. It's a tribute to all Irish. If you don't like the fact that we celebrate with corned beef and cabbage, blow it out your arse!

R141 It's about trolling and stoking up ethnic grievances.

I have to say, well played OP.

R143, thank you for responding but I was actually talking about the post before mine.

It’s just hate for whites from mostly old, white, gay “progressive” men.

R141 you aren’t British, so you don’t understand. It’s fine, you’re just American. Don’t worry about it.

R142 In Ireland and Northern England/Scotland, Bacon and Cabbage is still a regular meal (not US style bacon). Boiled beef and cabbage sounds pretty horrible to me, but I'm from Manchester.

R147 Corned beef was substituted for the bacon by Irish immigrants.

We used pork tenderloin instead of bacon. And we had carrots as well as cabbage and potatoes. . It’s a boiled dinner. I didnt tasted corned beef until I was about 30 years old at a party. I don’t like corned beef at all

Correct r148. Jewish immigrants turned their Irish immigrant neighbors onto the deliciousness of corned beef.

Years ago, an “authentic “ Irish pub opened near me. They only had food you would get at a pub in Ireland. Americans wanted their corned beef and the owners begrudgingly added it to the menu.

The Irish and British do eat braised and slow roasted beef, but it isn't salted like US corned beef.

Generally, It'd probably be served more like this.

Because it was salted, corned beef kept longer w/o spoiling. It was poor people’s food, even if it isn’t today.

In the second half of the 19th century, Irish servants in Boston placed limits on often they were served lobster. Again, lobster was then a food for the poor but not the rich.

“How” often

R146, you'll have to explain to me how your long, boring, self-absorbed crap at R140 would make sense to a Brit but not to an American. This thread is about Ireland and its diaspora, not about your uninteresting Welsh family.

Take your time, I know you've got a packed schedule of self-harm and giving yourself new psychological diagnoses.

Anyone have a good sous vide recipe for corned beef?

[quote] The Irish and British do eat braised and slow roasted beef.

To this day, the French colloquially and pejoratively/affectionately nickname the English 'Rosbif'. Well, I suppose it's better than 'Frogs'.

I don't think you need a recipe r155 if you buy a cut of corned beef that comes with the pickling spice pack. Just dump it all in the bag, add half a bottle of stout and let it all cook for however long you it takes. I do corned beef in the crockpot. I think I will make one this weekend since I will be away over St. Patrick's Day. Anyone else who is Irish or descended from more recent Irish immigrants have to go to church on St. Patrick's Day when you were a kid?

R142 is a tad...erm... defensive about their total estrangement from their mother culture. More sausages and craic for us, then!

My great grandparents on my moms side came from Ireland and on the other side they’ve been here since the potato famine. I’ve heard some superstitions and stories from my moms side but on my dads side they cling to their Irish ancestry more even though they’ve been here so long who knows how Irish they are now

R141/R154 Bab, peidiwch llyncu mul, it's not a good look is it. And you sound completely obsessed with me. Why else would you waste characters to cast aspersions and build an entire lore about what you (erroneously) think I do with my time. It's nice to be perceived, I won't lie to you. I'm flattered as well as put off.

Still, I shan't bore nor confuse you with much pesky detail about British real history o lygad y ffynnon. You clearly haven't any interest in hearing from people who were born and raised on the island you so slavishly want to discuss. In a nutshell; the Irish & the Welsh both have been subject to similar prejudices and pogroms from the English over the centuries, albeit the former in a more dramatic and extreme way that makes for better film & TV. Where do you think we get the damning idiom, "it's the Pits"? Welsh mines.

Ryan Reynolds aside, the Americans seem largely uninterested in the Welsh plight, however, as most Welsh immigrants fleeing persecution did not wend their way to American shores, nor were they religious immigrants for the most part (America does love missionary work and puritanism, as well we know). This I imagine explains your proud ignorance.

With that, I shall leave you and the Plastic Paddy brigade to your thread. Traaaaa butt :D

Bye now

Thank goodness, I thought she'd never leave.

My very first love was named Shannon, with dark brown hair, green eyes, fair skin and freckles. He did not suffer from the Irish curse…

[quote] He did not suffer from the Irish curse…

Probably having a girl’s name was humiliating enough.

Seeing "Long Day's Journey into Night" has satisfied my need to think about the American Irish for the next 50 years.

I was in residential rehab for alcoholism many moons ago. One of my fellow residents was Irish-American.

I'm Native American.

One day, we were comparing how much alcohol abuse is among the Irish and Native Americans.

I know alcoholism is no joke, whether in an individual, or among an ethnic group. And, with the following exception I would never joke about it, but, my Irish-American rehab buddy told me the following story and I thought I'd share it.

I'll offend some here and I apologize in advance.

An Irish sailor survives a shipwreck and is washed up on the shore of a deserted island with no food or fresh water. He spots a bottle bobbing on a wave and grabs it. As he pushes the sand away from the bottle, a Genie pops out.

"Oh, Thank you", the Genie says to the sailor. "I thought I'd never get out of that bottle. I'm so grateful to you that I'm going to grant you 2 wishes. What would you like?"

"A bottle of whiskey. One that will never go dry. Even after every drink I take from it, whiskey will keep overflowing from its spout."

Suddenly, the Irish sailor was holding in his drinking hand exactly what he described to the Genie.

"Thanks, Genie" the sailor says as he starts to stroll down the beach away from the Genie, elbow aloft, taking a big chug from the bottle.

"Hey wait!", the Genie says to him. "You've got another wish coming."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Hmmm...I'll take another one of these!"

They do seem a mess. But fun and personable.

R155 I just buy it at the deli and fry it in a pan. It's better sliced thin anyway.

Seems like a pain in the ass to make it at home.

There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “If three people tell you you’re drunk, give them your car keys.”

And if you want to know whether you suffer from the Irish Curse, well now there's an answer!

How many curses can one people have? There's also rosacea.

At least rosacea has a simple cute now

[quote] Probably having a girl’s name was humiliating enough.

Ha—not at all. He was well liked in high school and considered cool. He became a survival school instructor and then went to work for his family’s business. A great guy.

R171 it does?

My great great grandfather arrived in New York as an excommunicated Trinity graduate. Not all emigrant stories are the same.

Bridget the Irish mouse from ‘An American Tail’ seemed educated and put together.

My Irish great grandparents / grandparents immigrated as impoverished but educated middle class Irish folks and fell down in status for 1 generation before the family recouped social class with the first American born generation, partially, and the 2nd, fully.

[quote] Seeing "Long Day's Journey into Night" has satisfied my need to think about the American Irish for the next 50 years.

Watching that tedious play make me think I was watching it for 50 years.