43 Comments

• mreinhar2001 | Jul 15, 2012, 11:50 PM EDT

  ciradexy babe: I asked youa quetsion in April and yuo ahve not replied. Is your homework too much for you? Well just stick with it and you will mature.

• fromGort | Jun 13, 2012, 09:58 PM EDT

  Soo, what does it make me if numbers 1, 3, 9, 10 & 13 apply to me (born in the USA, with Coen, Reilly, and O'Leary ancestors)

• YoungPike | Jun 13, 2012, 10:38 AM EDT

  Yet more evidence that, these days, the Irish are practically indistinguishable from the English!

• 89west | Apr 24, 2012, 08:14 AM EDT

  stevenstar......Sorry to have overlooked your pronouncement, I guess it had something to do with your shouting so loud. Now that you said it, do you plan to rewrite history or petition the gov't to shut down your borders to exclude all those who claim brotherhood and fraternity. Can you tell me; does being an amaideach occur naturally or do you have to work hard at it?. Considering the very dim forecast for Ireland's future, one would think other matters of importance would be more relevant for someone who purportedly claims Ireland as his own. Enjoy it while you can, because as it was said elsewhere you will soon be a minority in your own homeland. No shin off my ass, but you might consider a testosterone management program, it will do wonder for your mental health and stave off many physical ailments as well. Besides, if you have any family, I'm sure they would also see the benefit. Now you do have a good day and remember, like me you are only here for a visit.

• 89west | Apr 23, 2012, 11:46 PM EDT

  a chara, ciaradexy, you may be a paddy and may be proud of it, however, you ethnocentric view is flawed and has very little impact in a multi-cultural Ireland, where according to recent demographic studies you will be a minority in your own country within forty years. This time frame maybe somewhat accelerated because of the depopulation of the native Irish during this recent financial emergency. Speaking for myself, I am a hyphenated Irish who inherited my Irishness from my parents and extended family on both sides of the pond. It was hard won and came at great cost and your negative views, in no way will detract from my enjoyment of the relationship I enjoy with family in the old country. Yes, many of us abhor the wanna be Irish and their antics, as well as, some of the reactions coming from the native Irish about us. You should engage your brain when you run your mouth about Americans and their travel experiences. All you have to do is visit the national cemeteries for the American war dead from 1917 to 1918 and 1941 to 1945 found throughout Europe and you will readily see they certainly did a lot of one way travel. Oh I know ye Irish don't want to hear this but these same Americans kept the jack booted gestopo from overrunning your cabbage patch, not my words but hitlers. All the while your Senor DeValera was hiding under the bed and didn't stick his long nose out from under it until it was all clear and then he ran off with his Mass card in hand to pray for hitler's soul. Someday when I have time, I'll go on about the terms of endearment used to describe the Irish abroad, which apparently you have missed on your world travels to Costa del Sol and back.

• jamieLM | Apr 23, 2012, 08:14 PM EDT

  @ciaradexy, I don't mind being called a Yankee, but where I live in the Midwest, we don't use the term. We think of ourselves as Americans, Midwesterners, or a version of our state's name. I would never call an Irish man a "Mick" - I see it as insulting. I respectfully disagree with you about the number of Americans who have traveled abroad. You obviously haven't polled everyone in the U.S. about their traveling experiences out of the U.S. Actually, I'm amazed at the number of Americans I've run into of all ages, from all over the U.S., on my European travels, even in the remotest places. Americans love to drive and we love to travel, including out of the country. Then there are all of us who have traveled abroad on business.

• mreinhar2001 | Apr 23, 2012, 05:22 PM EDT

  Just curious

• mreinhar2001 | Apr 23, 2012, 05:22 PM EDT

  ciradexy: I have a question. I like the name "Paddy" and I am glad that you are proud of it. In ages past, in the U.S., the term "Mick" was used as an insult when referring to new Irish immigrants or second generation Irish-Americans. (I have never read that the name "Paddy" was used as an insult, though). Again, I do not mean to upset or anger you or to stir your ire, but I am wondering if the name "Mick" is insulting to you or as you wrote on Apr 23, is it "just a nickname?"

• mreinhar2001 | Apr 23, 2012, 05:12 PM EDT

  jamieLM: Good post! Perception is certainly the key to meaning.

• mreinhar2001 | Apr 23, 2012, 05:10 PM EDT

  Hi Scrivner and 89west, Thank you for the inetresting information about the word "Yankee." That is all very interesting new information for me. Interesting spelling of the word, too, ciradexy. It is always intriguing to see how a word, or at least the spelling of the word, changes across cultures.

• ciaradexy | Apr 23, 2012, 04:49 PM EDT

  Dear 89, Im a Paddy through and through. There SI no other nationality I could possibly be. I work in Dublin and Galway/Connemara and I have travelled the world so my world view is very wide and I know a hell of a lot more about the world in comparison to what most Americans know about it as most Americans have never even left the US! Jamie & Scrivner, I have heard that in some parts of the US calling someone a Yankie can be insulting. Yankie and Yank are very different here. Calling someone a yank is the equivalent of calling one of us a Paddy. Its not an insult, its just a nickname.

• 89west | Apr 23, 2012, 12:30 PM EDT

  Stevenstar.....I'm well aware that no benefit of the law accrues to the spouse if she doesn't have an Irish pedigree. However, one has to wonder what benefit the Irish Gov't comes away with, having so liberal a citizenship policy. As this citizenship law was formulated sometime after the creation of the State of Israel, it seems feasible, the Irish State saw it as a means of creating solidarity and support for the old country much as Israel did with her right of return for worldwide Jewry. Unfortunately, for the Irish, their diaspora offered very little in the way of economic and political support for the fledgling Republic.

• jamieLM | Apr 23, 2012, 11:58 AM EDT

  @Scrivner, good post. You're right. My Southern cousins call we who live in the Midwest their Yankee cousins. It is a matter of perception who is a Yankee in the U.S.

• Ballyphehane1 | Apr 23, 2012, 10:09 AM EDT

  Jeez - so many people with their knickers in a twist on this site. The banter used to be funny but it just seems ugly these days. And, for me personally, it's hard to beat a cheese and onion tayto sandwich with fresh bread & butter, washed down with a cup of Barry's - just milk, no sugar (gave that up for lent when I was about 8)... I suppose the tayto sandwich all comes down to where in Ireland you are from. I'm sure there are plenty of areas where it wouldn't be the norm, but where I'm from.... it's up there with a chip (fries) sandwich - best when the chips are from jackie Lennox's in Bandon road, Cork.

• STEVENSTAR | Apr 23, 2012, 08:49 AM EDT

  @@@@@89west | Apr 22, 2012, 09:34 PM EDT>>>>>>>>>>>> I THINK YOU MUST HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD IF YOUR BORN IN AMERICA YOUR AMERICAN MATE NOT IRISH ....

• Scrivner | Apr 22, 2012, 11:37 PM EDT

  I have noticed that in Asia or Europe, a Yankee is an American, in America a Yankee is a northerner (states from Minnesota to Michigan and beyond, to a northerner a Yankee is someone from New England (those states just above New York), when I lived in New Hampshire a Yankee was considered a Vermonter, but when I crossed the Merrimack, they claimed a Yankee was only someone who ate pie for breakfast. Apparently it's a matter of perspective.

• 89west | Apr 22, 2012, 09:34 PM EDT

  mreinhar2001....may I add my two cents! It has been well founded in American history and folklore that the term yank or yankee was thick with contempt. It was used by the British Army in Colonial America to describe American Soldiers. However, it origins may Dutch, as the Dutch name Janke was anglicized to yanke and was derisively used by the British to show their contempt for the Dutch settlers who were in New York when it was called New Amsterdam. The Irish like to use the term to describe native Irish who return to the old country and it is a euphemism for all manner of negative connotations. Later as you may know, the rebels in the south used the term to describe their northern enemies and the term was used well into the twentieth century by them to describe people from the north. For all I know, it may still be used in some of the unenlightened hillbilly regions south of the Mason Dixon line.

• mreinhar2001 | Apr 22, 2012, 07:10 PM EDT

  Stevenstar: I think you may have misuderstood the word "Yank." "Yank" is a slang term for an American, not one frm Ireland. Etymologists are uncertain of the origin of the word. I like author James Fenimore Cooper's claim that it derives from an Iroquois (American Indian) corruption of the word "English." Various supposed Indian words, such as "Yengees," are claimed to support this hypothesis. Washington Irving, another American author, in his "Knickerbocker's History of New York," facetiously claims it comes from a MaisTchuseg (Massachusett) word "Yanokies" meaning "silent men." Those are rather recent sources for the word, so I lean towards the idea that it is derived from the Dutch "Jan Kaas," literally "John Cheese," a nickname that parallels the British "John Bull." Do remember though, that only those in the Northeast part of the US really are part of that "Yankee" heritage. It is only outisde of the US and in wartime that all the other Americans are also referred to as "Yankee" or "Yank."

• 89west | Apr 22, 2012, 05:46 PM EDT

  ciaradexy....ah the oinseach is at it again. Ireland's unofficial ambassador of ill will. I left plenty for you to ponder on the other blog, "foreigners wanting in on Ireland's property bust" but the usual is for you not to respond and to go into a state of denial and ignore whatever is said as you are sure it will go away. Don't be confused by the facts, they should never get in your way when your small ethnocentric ghoulish mind has something to spew out. Your comment about the, "granny rule" must be a major effrontery to your backwater village mentality, to think people who have never set a foot in Ireland and whose ancestors may have left their home place here in Ireland 75 or 100 years ago are granted the same rights of citizenship as you, who claim to be born in Ireland. How can you go to sleep, knowing that the Georgia cracker you speak of could be voting in your next election. On the other blog you stated you get your world view not from TV but from travel, I'll bet you have never traveled beyond walking distance of Ballymun.

• TayandCake | Apr 22, 2012, 04:05 PM EDT

  Just ask for green tea

• TayandCake | Apr 22, 2012, 04:03 PM EDT

  crisp sandwiches? YUK, never liked that one

• ciaradexy | Apr 22, 2012, 03:44 PM EDT

  You know when George is in Ireland when Burger king runs out of whopper meals, you hear that air lingus had to bump someone off a flight cos someone needed 2 seats, you can smell his fat sweaty body from the other side of the city and see the sweat on the back of his beige chinos, the peak of his baseball cap blocks out the sun, his fanny pack and ridiculously massive camera around his neck nearly knocks you out as youre walking along minding your own business, you hear some Africans have been racially abused and told to 'go home' by a foreigner with an 'aawweessoommee' Georgia accent who keeps boring the locals by telling them hes 'EYE-RISH' but not from 'EYRE-LAAND.'

• GeorgeDillon | Apr 22, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT

  You know you’re Irish in America when ... you're ashamed to be from the same place as ciaradexy.

• JBRAFTREE | Apr 22, 2012, 01:45 PM EDT

  Lee, I bring paper-double shopping bags with me to re-use for dog poop in the back yard. Also, would never think to have plastic bags. Always bring fiber shopping bags for the smaller stuff. Don't know of potato crisp sandwiches. On my trips to Beautiful Ireland, never saw chip sandwiches.

• ciaradexy | Apr 22, 2012, 10:36 AM EDT

  lee, its about the Irish, not Irish Americans. Steven, you use a sunbed? maybe you should go on Tallaghtfornia. They seem to love meatheads.

• lee01702 | Apr 22, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

  Um - as an Irish American, I can already cross off two mistakes on this list: 1)A growing number of Americans now take their own shopping bags to the store, and 2)I have lived in the US all my life, and have never eaten, seen, or even heard of a potato crisp sandwich.....

• STEVENSTAR | Apr 22, 2012, 08:34 AM EDT

  I 'cringe' when i read the AMERICANS IDEAS OF WHAT IRISH PEOPLE ARE..(1) FIRSTLY I HATE TAYO SANDWICHES AND I DONT KNOW ANYONE IN MY FAMILY WHO EATS THEM.... 2ND I HAVE AN ALL YEAR ROPND TAN AS I USE A SUNBED MOST OF THE TIME... WE IRISH NEVER CALL EACH OTHER YANKS PERSONALLY ID FIND THAT OFFENSIVE IM IRISH THEN EUROPEAN.. IM THE FURTHEST THING YOU WILL FIND FROM A 'YANK' AS POSSIBLE..DIVORCE IN IRELAND ? MY AUNTS DIVORCED 8 YEARS NOW...WHEN MAKING TEA I ALWAYS JUST USE A TEA BAG...My god who ever writes these articles for this paper you really really need to travel more and perhaps get to know some real Irish people over here IN Ireland

• ciaradexy | Apr 22, 2012, 08:03 AM EDT

  George, if you had any cop on then youd see i already posted that Im a tea drinker! Scarlet for you!

• GeorgeDillon | Apr 21, 2012, 03:32 PM EDT

  "Coffee has become very popular in Ireland and more often than not you see people walking around with their take away coffees". That's right. The Irish are real sophisticated. Look at the poster Ciaradexy for example. Real sophisticated.

• carrickcourt | Apr 21, 2012, 02:22 PM EDT

  An American person of Irish ancestry who once tried to sound Irish in Ireland, big mistake. Tea is one of Ireland's national beverages of course - "Would like a cup a?".

• SCVMalcolm | Apr 21, 2012, 01:56 PM EDT

  When all of the gossip in the family comes out at the wake of someone elderly!

• SCVMalcolm | Apr 21, 2012, 01:55 PM EDT

  When one of your favorite sandwiches in lettuce and tomato on buttered white toast!

• SCVMalcolm | Apr 21, 2012, 01:54 PM EDT

  Right on about those damned mosquitos!!...One of the reasons I moved to the CA desert - none here!!

• SCVMalcolm | Apr 21, 2012, 01:52 PM EDT

  When you are born and raised in Brooklyn, NY as a 1st generation American and you have an Irish accent instead of a Brooklyn accent!

• KittyMurphy | Apr 21, 2012, 01:20 PM EDT

  God yis really are a miserable shower aren't yis. You couldn't just take it as light-hearted observations from someone recently moved here? Lighten up!

• ciaradexy | Apr 21, 2012, 12:50 PM EDT

  Bythebay, stop slagging tea! i hear people in work everyday saying 'the coffee is awful today' or 'its not too bad, better than yesterday' but you cant go wrong with a cup of Lyons.

• irishcoffeekid | Apr 21, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

  I completely disagree its a tired list! I'm Irish living in the USA for 7 years and taytos, lyons Tea bags and many more of these are just as relevant today as they were in the past. Don't be so quick to discount others and be so negative!!! Just because its not relevant to you doesnt mean its relevant to others - Cadburys chocolate in the USA SUCKS bigtime - its made my hersheys which most of my Irish friends dislike intensely. I work with all Americans and I'm begged everytime i go home to bring back Taytos and Cadburys (they call it the "real stuff" so those of you being negative arent right about it being old! You're entitled to your opinion by all means but don't rubbish everyone else's opinion so quick - you don't know it all!!

• padraiginrua | Apr 21, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

  Except for 4, 16 and 17, the list applies to most Irish-Americans also And if you cant' find Cadbury and Barrys, you're not looking. My local supermarket has it.

• bogsidebunny | Apr 21, 2012, 11:08 AM EDT

  You can shoot the breeze with anyone about anything, but weather is always going to be a topic. WRONG! The carping about "water charges" will be the redundant topic!

• LiamScanlan | Apr 21, 2012, 10:59 AM EDT

  Jeeze, this is a tired list. Must be a soft news day at the Irish Central office.

• christilcaugh | Apr 21, 2012, 10:48 AM EDT

  Arg!! "Mosquitoes love your blood, and leave you looking like a leper." Is that why I am LOVED by mosquitos?? I'm Irish? ;-)

• like2tweet | Apr 21, 2012, 10:00 AM EDT

  What about the cadburys chocolate if yu come back form ireland without it you're scorned

• ciaradexy | Apr 21, 2012, 08:44 AM EDT

  Infairness, this isnt specific to the US. Its the same when we are in any country!