The top ten myths about the Irish

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The Irish are not always charming, be warned

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4. The Irish are stupid

Pull the other one. You’re in the native land of the scholar (the saints, like the snakes, were evicted long ago). Trust me, all those Paddy the Irishman jokes you heard growing up (about the guy who always gets it wrong) are an expression of anxiety, not contempt. People have been calling the Irish thick for centuries. They’re fools.

Take Edmund Spenser, the Elizabethan poet, for example. He tried to denigrate the Irish in his genocidal pamphlet “A View of the Present State of Ireland,” written in the early 1590’s. Spenser’s propaganda pamphlet argued that Ireland would never be totally pacified by the English until its language and customs had been completely destroyed, if necessary by violence. (Irish rebels, possibly acting on his own advice, later drove him from his County Cork home).

For many contemporary scholars Ireland’s James Joyce is the true heir to William Shakespeare simply in terms of his influence and cultural impact.

5. The Irish are charming

Anyone who has ever ordered a cheese sandwich from the joyless drudges who staff the Bus Aras canteen in County Monaghan knows this is not true. The Irish are not always charming. In fact some Irish people have perfected a stare of such hostility and perfect contempt that the memory of it will never leave you.

6. The Irish have red hair and freckles

Just as not all Irish women are tempestuous redheads crying out to be tamed by an avuncular John Wayne stand-in, not all redheaded Irish men are leading donkeys carrying turf bags to the fair.

There are quite a few blonds (bottle and natural) knocking about the old sod; black hair and brown or blue eyes are a common feature too (think of Cillian Murphy or Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Nowadays Ireland has become a much more intercultural place, so it may be time to update your image of it.

7. The Irish are happy to start a fight

Whilst it’s fair to say the Irish are a passionate lot, it’s wrong to assume they’re always spoiling for a knockdown fight. In fact when someone makes a fool of himself by acting belligerently in public most Irish people will cringe and designate him a fool – and when an Irish person comes to that conclusion about you, you’ll be considered a fool all your days.

8. The Irish are drunks

The Irish don’t drink more alcohol than any other western nation; they just have more conspicuous fun in the process.

9. The Irish are great storytellers

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