NationStates Jolt Archive

For you Irish or English, Welsh and anyone else in the UK (Except for the Scots), are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?

Murdering Morlocks! Yay!

They're people too.

I believe the term is "Plastic Paddy".

For you Irish or English, Welsh and anyone else in the UK (Except for the Scots), are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?
Do many people in the UK run into 3rd Generation Irish Americans on a regular basis? I think not.
*vanishes*
So your question is really a moot point, isn't it?

This is semi-on-topic but mostly off, but what do I call myself? A lot of my family originally came from Ireland, but not all, a few from England, and have a grandfather that was Cherokee. I can't call myself "American" because it both sounds lame, and doesn't explain anything.

:confused:

Do many people in the UK run into 3rd Generation Irish Americans on a regular basis? I think not.
*vanishes*
So your question is really a moot point, isn't it?
You'd be surprised.

For you Irish or English, Welsh and anyone else in the UK (Except for the Scots), are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?Oh, the same undoubtedly counts for German.

I believe the term is "Plastic Paddy".

For anybody else here in my age range (30s) it was very "fashionable" in the early - mid 90s in the UK to claim to be Irish. This was when we had a spate of faux Irish pubs invading England and coincides when we failed to qualify for World Cup 94 and the Republic of Ireland did (coincidence? think not!!). This was when the term "plastic paddy" entered popular parlance in Britain where anbody who had an Irish great great great grandparent would claim to be as Irish as the Blarney Stone.

This is semi-on-topic but mostly off, but what do I call myself? A lot of my family originally came from Ireland, but not all, a few from England, and have a grandfather that was Cherokee. I can't call myself "American" because it both sounds lame, and doesn't explain anything.

:confused:

What do you identify as? Is there a community that recognizes you as one of their own?

there is nothing wrong with pretending to be Irish and dressing up for a St Paddies piss up after all were all Irish deep down or something like that….

Plus it means you can throw rocks at policemen/war veterans and call it a statement

I'm Irish.

What do you identify as? Is there a community that recognizes you as one of their own?

I identify as myself... not really. I guess I just qualify as "white" with a little Native American... I just don't know what to tell people without giving a life story. People have said I look Hispanic/White, Italian, and a couple times even Jewish. It's confusing. :p

Do many people in the UK run into 3rd Generation Irish Americans on a regular basis? I think not.
*vanishes*

Surprisingly often. They frequently come to Ireland looking for their ancestors. We gently break it to them that they're probably dead by now.

Oh, the same undoubtedly counts for German.

I get tired of hearing that. "well i'm german, or I'm french or i'm irish" No, you're not. You are american if you are from america, irish is from Ireland and so on...Stupid american wannabes.

I'm Irish.

Ewwww :p

I get tired of hearing that. "well i'm german, or I'm french or i'm irish" No, you're not. You are american if you are from america, irish is from Ireland and so on...Stupid american wannabes.



Ewwww :p

So I can just call my ethnicity American without seeming nationalistic and vague?

...are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?

I fail to grasp what the word 'Morlocks' was doing in that sentence. The underground chaps from The Time Machine? Were you aiming for the word 'malarky'? Is this some pop culture reference just flying way over my head?

I get tired of hearing that. "well i'm german, or I'm french or i'm irish" No, you're not. You are american if you are from america, irish is from Ireland and so on...Stupid american wannabes.I mean I have no problem with naturalized US citizens that used to be German to claim that they're German. I don't mind people doing "German" things because of their German heritage; it's fun getting drunk at an Oktoberfest. What pisses me off are the annoying gits that need to use Babelfish to bring accross the point that they're racists.

I identify as myself... not really. I guess I just qualify as "white" with a little Native American... I just don't know what to tell people without giving a life story. People have said I look Hispanic/White, Italian, and a couple times even Jewish. It's confusing. :p

I know all about it. 7th generation Scots descendant with a dash of the Miq'maq, here. Italian, yeah - Greek, Lebanese - anything Mediterranean, really. It's a pain in the ass sometimes. But on occasion, it comes in handy.

I'm Irish.

*smooches* :fluffle:

I get tired of hearing that. "well i'm german, or I'm french or i'm irish" No, you're not. You are american if you are from america


no, not at all. american is not an ethnicity.

I fail to grasp what the word 'Morlocks' was doing in that sentence. The underground chaps from The Time Machine? Were you aiming for the word 'malarky'? Is this some pop culture reference just flying way over my head?
Well, it is possible that he was intending to imply that Time Machine could be viewed as an analogy to the relationsip between the English and the Irish during the Industrial Revolution, with the upper-classes among the English/Morlocks being the locus of technology and preying upon their less technologically advanced brethren, in this case the lower-classes of the Irish/Eloi.
Or I could be making up random bullshit again, and NK is just huffing markers while he posts, as usual.

no, not at all. american is not an ethnicity.
And ethnicity matters because...

Fact of the matter is that nationality only matters insofar as it shaped your character and belief system. And it only does that through the environment as you grow up (and to a lesser extent later on as an adult).

You might have parents who moved to the US from Kazakhstan only two weeks before you were born...but if you grow up in the US, go to a school there, have American friends and so on - you're American.

It's confusing. :p
Identity can be! :)

Or I could be making up random bullshit again, and NK is just huffing markers while he posts, as usual.
I may huff markers, but I

I know all about it. 7th generation Scots descendant with a dash of the Miq'maq, here.

Cool ... my g-friend is Mi'kmaq.

i could probobly trace some roots back all over Europe, but generally Ireland, England, and Scotland (my surname starts with 'Mc', i gotta have ancestry there). i do not go around parading myself as Irish, i do not have much a like for the taste of beer, i am not Catholic in the least, and women tend to beat me far more often then the opposite.

i consider my self Irish, but the Irish of old, the pagan Irish. Not St. Patrick but Setenta or Finn MacCool.

I'm an American of Celtic descent (everything but Breton) and they annoy me.

i consider my self Irish, but the Irish of old, the pagan Irish. Not St. Patrick but Setenta or Finn MacCool.

You consider yourself to be part of a culture that died out nearly a millenium and a half ago? On what basis?

You consider yourself to be part of a culture that died out nearly a millenium and a half ago? On what basis?Because he speaks fluent English?

And ethnicity matters because...

Fact of the matter is that nationality only matters insofar as it shaped your character and belief system. And it only does that through the environment as you grow up (and to a lesser extent later on as an adult).

You might have parents who moved to the US from Kazakhstan only two weeks before you were born...but if you grow up in the US, go to a school there, have American friends and so on - you're American.

that's the stupidest thing i have ever read in my life.

ethnicity is vitally important; it's a vital part of your familial history, your bloodline, and your physical attributes.

your example is just as horrendous. if someone is born to parents of Kazakstanian heritage their ethnicity will undoubtedly play an enormous role in their life. chances are it will affect the food they grow up eating, the language they first learn, and the religion they adopt.

it would be awfully stifling to be forced into adopting an identity based solely on the customs of the country you were born in.

You consider yourself to be part of a culture that died out nearly a millenium and a half ago? On what basis?

As an Etruscan, I take that as offensive! :D





(Just kidding!)

ethnicity is vitally important; it's a vital part of your familial history, your bloodline, and your physical attributes.
Okay, that's not actually true. My family history has to do with the place my family lived, not what ethnicity they are or were. Bloodline doesn't matter in the slightest, and whether I'm Irish or German doesn't change my physical attributes.
And the physical attributes that really do matter to everyday life, like how fat you are, well...those have to do with your lifestyle.

it would be awfully stifling to be forced into adopting an identity based solely on the customs of the country you were born in.
It happens though. I've seen it.

I lived in Germany until I was 16 (I'm 20 now), then I moved here. On the whole, I'm probably more German than Australian still. But we know quite a few people here who moved here with young kids.

Those kids are Australians, there is no question about it.

Many Americans claim membership in European heritages from which they are several generations removed. What we should avoid doing is pretending to be 'pure' Irish, or Greek, or Italian, or whatever. If you claim Irish heritage, and you live in the US, call yourself an "Irish-American." This helps to identify the fact that the culture of Irish immigrants in America has evolved separately (and, in some instances, very differently) from the original Irish culture. At the same time, Europeans should understand that America isn't the cultural "melting pot" we sometimes claim to be. Different European cultures did not simply merge together seamlessly to create one homogenous American culture. In many instances, national groups remained isolated, at least to a small extant, in the ethnic neighborhoods of major cities, thus preserving some of their cultural identity from any "melting pot" that might exist in the US. As stated before, however, these cultural identities have evovled seperately and uniquely from their European parent cultures.

The "Plastic Paddies" or whatever else you want to call them are Ireland's own Quebecois (Canada) or many of the Puerto Ricans living in the US.

The only difference is that the Irish and the "X Generation removed" Irish nominally speak the same language: English.

(Sorry all, but I've yet to ever see or hear Irish greet each other in Gaelic.)

So, I think you should be flattered that these wannabes do associate themselves with you.

MURDER MORLOCKS! Arrrgggghhhh!

why except the scots?

i am half scottish, my mother is scottish and i am very proud of that side of my family (im proud of both sides of my family).

where we live there is a scottish society group and they have their nights where they all get together and pretend they are scottish where the fact is most of them are a) no where near being close to having a relative from scotland (such as the 3 or 4 black families that were there) or b) are so far removed from their "scottish" heritage and all they know is that somewhere down the line someone in their family visisted scotland once.

I'm 4th generation, 75% Irish, with a quarter French-Canadian from my mother's side. With those numbers I really don't "act" Irish, which is compunded by the fact that my grandmother, who is roughly 100% Irish, acts more Italian than anything.

So yeah, when I fill out ethnicity...I fill in "other". And while I don't put all to much stock in where someone came from (rather what they are doing), I does get kind of tiresome hearing 5th generation Irish talking about how "Irish" they are.

You consider yourself to be part of a culture that died out nearly a millenium and a half ago? On what basis?

because its cool.

;)

Frigging hell, even a 'first generation' 'Irish-American' calling themselves Irish is stretching it thin, let alone fifth generation.

i consider my self Irish, but the Irish of old, the pagan Irish. Not St. Patrick but Setenta or Finn MacCool.

The TV sports channel?

I'm 4th generation, 75% Irish, with a quarter French-Canadian from my mother's side.

I really don't get the American fascination with proportions of nationality.

Really.

Just....why?

If you claim Irish heritage, and you live in the US, call yourself an "Irish-American."

This just raises the question of what we should call Americans who move to Ireland: are they "American-Irish"?

This just raises the question of what we should call Americans who move to Ireland: are they "American-Irish"?

Golf tourists.

I really don't get the American fascination with proportions of nationality.

Good thing us folks in Northern Ireland don't have any such hobby-horses with regard to nationality.

Good thing us folks in Northern Ireland don't have any such hobby-horses with regard to nationality.

Well, at least we mostly don't deal in percentages less than 100 either way.


Oh yeah, something I've always wanted to ask.......considering your pretty fantastic understanding of NI politics and your rather good way of putting things, why aren't you a political analyst for a newspaper or some TV show?

Well, at least we mostly don't deal in percentages less than 100 either way.

Scots-Irish excepted, obviously.

What happens when a stereotypical Northern Prod moves to the Colonies? Do they become an 'American-Scots-Irish'?

The TV sports channel?

A mispelling/idiosyncratic transliteration of the given name of Cuchullain, I think.

Scots-Irish excepted, obviously.

What happens when a stereotypical Northern Prod moves to the Colonies? Do they become an 'American-Scots-Irish'?

Nah, they're a loud-mouthed, beetroot coloured (presuming exposure to the sun) drunkard. No matter where they go.

A mispelling/idiosyncratic transliteration of the given name of Cuchullain, I think.

Well, the name he was known as in childhood, anyway...obviously can't grasp the complexities of the 'é'.

Scots-Irish excepted, obviously.


Does anyone use the terms Scots-Irish? I always though they called themselves Ulster Scots.

Erm... so I have an Irish flag in my window and a couple of celtic knots tattooed on me, but I don't go around telling everyone I meet that I'm Irish. If somebody wants to know my ethnic backround I might list off the dozen or so components that make me a mutt, including but not limited to Irish.

Would that make me dispicable for simply admiring Irish things?

This is semi-on-topic but mostly off, but what do I call myself? A lot of my family originally came from Ireland, but not all, a few from England, and have a grandfather that was Cherokee. I can't call myself "American" because it both sounds lame, and doesn't explain anything.

:confused:

My ancestors are English, Irish, German, and Ojibwe. I don't particularly identify with any of these ethnicities and I think "American" is nonspecific as well, so I just call myself a Michigander.

For you Irish or English, Welsh and anyone else in the UK (Except for the Scots), are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?

The thing about Americans claiming to be other things is that almost everyone here is Something-American. So we tend not to bother mentioning the American bit. You have an American accent, we can tell you didn't just get off the plane.

Sadly, the verbal shorthand has given rise to an obnoxious mental shorthand. American's have a tendency to say things like "oh! you don't have an accent." I don't have an accent? Of course I have a fucking accent! Only Stephen Hawking could plausibly argue that he has no accent, and he apologizes to new aquaintances with "please excuse my American accent."

I once put my American girlfriend on the phone to my English cousin who asked to meet here. Her end of the conversation went like this.
"Hello?"
"I don't have an accent."
"I don't have an accent."
"No I don't."

Then I fell over laughing.

I'm an American, but I rather enjoy my Scots-Irish heritage. I love the sound of bagpipes and most Celtic music. I learned to do the Highland Fling (although to do it now invites excruciating pain in my knees). I study Scottish and Irish history and culture (though the food occasionally puts me off, I mean really, haggis?). I don't pretend to be anything but American, but why shouldn't I enjoy the culture of my roots?

For you Irish or English, Welsh and anyone else in the UK (Except for the Scots), are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?
I'm third generation and I don't act like it. If you came from Ireland you can claim the heritage thing. If your the offspring you can do the same. Did my relatives come from Ireland? Some.

I was born in Minnesota. That makes me a Minnesotan first and everything else second.

This is semi-on-topic but mostly off, but what do I call myself? A lot of my family originally came from Ireland, but not all, a few from England, and have a grandfather that was Cherokee. I can't call myself "American" because it both sounds lame, and doesn't explain anything.

:confused:
How about you're just human, and all that other stuff doesn't matter?

I get tired of hearing that. "well i'm german, or I'm french or i'm irish" No, you're not. You are american if you are from america, irish is from Ireland and so on...Stupid american wannabes.



Ewwww :p

I am the very model of a modern magor general.

Reunite southern ireland with the loyal north and fly the union jack at all points.

Rewarding terrorism is always bad policy, put Paddy O'Sama in gitmo.

I really don't get the American fascination with proportions of nationality.

Really.

Just....why?

I think it has to do with the fact that just about everyone in the country now has come from "somewhere"...I personally celebrate such diversity.

...But at the same time do not think that exagerating it is such a good idea. Hell, the only reason I really know my "nationality" is from all those damned genaology projects that I did.

I identify as myself... not really. I guess I just qualify as "white" with a little Native American... I just don't know what to tell people without giving a life story. People have said I look Hispanic/White, Italian, and a couple times even Jewish. It's confusing. :p

Three questions :
Where were you born?
What country did you spend the most part of your childhood in?
What does your passport say?

why can't scots have an opinion on this? 'scottish' americans are stupid too.

Well, I do have Irish blood in me from both sides of my family, but I also have blood from just about every other Western European country so I don't know it counts. The only Irish thing about me was that I fell in love with Guiness at the first draught.

I usually say I am so mixed up I can only be called an American.

Erm... so I have an Irish flag in my window and a couple of celtic knots tattooed on me, but I don't go around telling everyone I meet that I'm Irish. If somebody wants to know my ethnic backround I might list off the dozen or so components that make me a mutt, including but not limited to Irish.

Would that make me dispicable for simply admiring Irish things?

There's a huge difference between admiring Irish culture (or parts of it) and having celtic tatoos and all that, and coming over here telling everyone that you're Irish, too, and know exactly what is going on. It's the difference between having a friendly chat with a neighbour and sitting down uninvited at their dinner table ;)

This just raises the question of what we should call Americans who move to Ireland: are they "American-Irish"?
In Europe, ethnic background and nationality are often one and the same. Many Italian citizens, for example, are Italian by both birth and by various ethnic traditions. This is not true of an "Italian-American," however. Such a person would be American by nationality and "Italian-American" by ethic background.

As for the example of an American who moved to Ireland,

If directly asked about his nationality, he should refer to his country of citizenship. Supposing he has dual citizenship, he should refer to either, or both, whatever he feels the individual situation calls for.

If he is asked about his ethnic heritage, he should identify as "X-American," where the X is whereever his ancestors came from. If his ancestry is composed of more than one major component, he should probably identify as simply "American" by ethnic heritage to avoid a long and confusing identifier such as "Irish-German-English-Italian-American with a pinch of Thai and a Cherokee on top."

For you Irish or English, Welsh and anyone else in the UK (Except for the Scots), are you annoyed by 3rd or above Irish Americans who act completely Irish or pretend to and claim the heritage thing and murder Morlocks?

No... what I'm annoyed about is that anybody gives half a shit about this...