Do you actually miss Irish People?

dvega

I'm leaving for austraila soon and decided to express and interest in this picticular thread.One thing that has caught my eye is that a lot of men in these threads have not missed irish women but a lot of women abroad have missed irish men!Why is this?Me personally i think irish women are the best laugh of the lot!

yeshi

I find Irish women a difficult bunch to please where as a women abroad simply love hearing the Irish accent so all I need to do is talk

The Sweeper

I think if I see 'Irish women' in another f**king boards.ie thread I'll miss Irish men even less.

Ajos

yeshi wrote:

I find Irish women a difficult bunch to please where as a women abroad simply love hearing the Irish accent so all I need to do is talk

Yup. Irish women are harsh.

Faith

Agreed, Majd. If I see any Irish-women (or men, for that matter) bashing going on in this thread, I will lock it and ban the offenders without warning. There's enough crap in AH about "How irish women are soooo ugly" and whatnot.

r3nu4l

Well funnily enough I am involved with a networking group for Irish Scientists living and working int he UK and about two weeks ago a group of us met up in Cambridge at one of the Irish bars...

...best night out I've had in a long, long time Great craic, everyone knew what you were talking about if you said something like 'sure yer man looks like Bosco with his big rosy cheeks and the head on him'

I had the best laugh I've had for a while and I have plenty of friends here in Cambridge from all over Europe. I go out and have a good time but I had forgotten what it's like to go out with people who completely understand your own cultural oddities

So yes, I miss Irish people, even more than I realised...that's why I post on boards

Ajos

Faith wrote:

Agreed, Majd. If I see any Irish-women (or men, for that matter) bashing going on in this thread, I will lock it and ban the offenders without warning. There's enough crap in AH about "How irish women are soooo ugly" and whatnot.

Fair enough. Seriously, I do miss my friends, but I don't miss Dublin on a Friday or Saturday night. I miss specific Irish people, but not the general mass of irish people, if that makes sense. I do have some Irish friends here so if I feel like indulging in a bit of old style Irish pub culture I can do it, but I find that happens less and less as I make more American friends.

I actually find when I'm at home that being surrounded by Irish accents can feel somehow... oppressive. I'm not sure why that is. It all feels very narrow somehow. I know that this is unjust, but that's the way it is.

This may, of course, change over time, as I get older, or if i start a family. Who knows?

Faith

I have many friends here in Edinburgh who're just lovely, but none of them are Irish. Going out with them is just not the same as going out with my friends from home. Maybe it's simply that I know my friends from home better, and can relax more with them and I'm more used to them, but maybe not. I think there's something very special about the Irish in general, and that's not something you find anywhere else, particularly not in England and America.

Another thing that irritates me is nobody else can drink like the Irish. I know that's not necessarily a bad thing, but on the rare nights that I feel like getting absolutely shít-faced, nobody else can or will keep up with me. They either drink much less or have a much lower tolerance. It can be frustrating! On the flip side, though, none of my friends in Edinburgh will ever come to the pub for just a pint. It's their mentality that there's no point having a drink if you're not going to get drunk. They're missing out on one of life's great pleasures, in my opinion!

is_that_so

I spent quite a bit of time abroad and I have to say that while I met some good Irish people I didn't miss them or seek them out. IMO part for the reason for living somewhere else is seeing that place and making new friends there. If that time is spent looking for Irish people have you really gone away at all?

r3nu4l

Well, I'm lucky in that I have friends from both camps in Cambridge. I totally agree with Faith, my continental European friends (French, Austrian, Greek, Swiss) are great fun but they simply lack that certain spark of potential madness and insanity that is so ever present in us Irish!

I have only met my Irish friends in the last 8 months and yet I found that we all clicked on the first night and there were great laughs had, a completely different experience to my other friends

dvega

Well i'm not gone yet will be soon i probably wont miss the people till im 3-4 months gone,i live in a small town bout 20mins drive from the city but as far as im concerned i've enough of this town and enough of that city so i wont find it hard to leave!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I miss Irish people. Everyday, common, howarya people. Having a laugh with the girl in the newsagents without someone thinking you're a weirdo, or a chat with the bloke at the bus stop. You don't get that abroad.

I do NOT miss pretentious Irish TWATS that populate the knocking clubs that passes for night life around here. The girls that take "good evening" to be a form of sexual assault or the blokes that feel taking their shrit off is a sure-fire way of pulling as much women as they can handle.

Gandhi

The people I hang around with are 50/50 Irish and locals so I get a pretty good dose of drinking with Irish lads. I would miss that if I did not have it.

BossArky

Faith wrote:

Another thing that irritates me is nobody else can drink like the Irish. I know that's not necessarily a bad thing, but on the rare nights that I feel like getting absolutely shít-faced, nobody else can or will keep up with me. They either drink much less or have a much lower tolerance. It can be frustrating! On the flip side, though, none of my friends in Edinburgh will ever come to the pub for just a pint. It's their mentality that there's no point having a drink if you're not going to get drunk. They're missing out on one of life's great pleasures, in my opinion!

I agree that it is hard to go drinking with non Irish and get locked... they defo cannot keep up. I'm speaking mostly from my experiences in France. However, one of my best French friends was a fish. In general the French were light weights.

Faith, I am one of those people who doesn't see the point in going for "a drink". I would tend towards "going drinking". What is the point in starting the engine if you are not going to drive anywhere? :cool:

dSTAR

Faith wrote:

There's enough crap in AH about "How irish women are soooo ugly" and whatnot.

I have tried to get my head around this corrupted mentality. How different is it to a group of louts trampling a bed of flowers? What is it they cannot see?

Yes I DO miss Irish people...but I have been lucky to meet up with a well-known Irish musician and old friend who has been living down in Melbourne for years like myself. That has filled some of the void for the longing of interaction with cultured Irish people.

r3nu4l

BossArky wrote:

Faith, I am one of those people who doesn't see the point in going for "a drink". I would tend towards "going drinking". What is the point in starting the engine if you are not going to drive anywhere? :cool:

Hee hee, mixing a message about getting plastered with a driving metaphor?

I find a similar situation although my French and Greek friends can drink plenty of wine, they won't do so in a pub, only in a restaurant or at home, where they can get a good bottle. Each to their own I suppose but while we have a great time and good laughs it's never the silly, stupid, taking-the-piss laughter and craic that the Irish have.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

r3nu4l wrote:

Hee hee, mixing a message about getting plastered with a driving metaphor?

I find a similar situation although my French and Greek friends can drink plenty of wine, they won't do so in a pub, only in a restaurant or at home, where they can get a good bottle. Each to their own I suppose but while we have a great time and good laughs it's never the silly, stupid, taking-the-piss laughter and craic that the Irish have.

That's because they tend to be more sophicticated.

r3nu4l

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

That's because they tend to be more sophicticated.

[Watch out, rant about]
That's a very popular mis-conception. How many sophisticated Parisiennes were there overturning cars and setting them alight in Paris during the riots? None. In Ireland we call them skangers, in Paris they are probably called "Les skangers" The notion that our continental European cousins are far more sophisticated than us is a heresy, a myth, a complete load of stinky-poo, Mr. Ikky Poo2!

There is nothing sophisticated about downing two bottles of red wine by yourself over the course of three or four hours, just because it happens to be a good bottle does not make it sophisticated.

Also, being afraid to show your silly side is not sophisticated, it's simply reserved and conservative and ever so middle class. Middle class does not mean sophisticated and shouldn't be seen as such. My point is that they can't let their hair down and just let it all go.

I am well versed in English literature, Greek and Roman civilisation, have a PhD in molecular Biology, attend wine tastings, move in circles that include the Ambassador for Ireland in Great Britain and Baroness Susan Greenfield of the Royal Institute, some people would call that sophisticated and cultured...maybe it is, maybe it's not. I can drink wine and champagne with the best of them (and do) but it does not make me sophisticated.

None of my European friends can boast of this level of education and culture (blah, blah), does that make them unsophisticated or does the fact that they speak the languages of the country they were brought up in make them sophisticated?

[Rant over, please proceed as normal]

I go out, have a few drinks (very, very rarely get drunk) and get silly, chatting and joking about everything and nothing so long as we're having a laugh. I like my friends but I certainly don't have as good a time with them as I do with Irish people.

BossArky

r3nu4l wrote:

I go out, have a few drinks (very, very rarely get drunk) and get silly, chatting and joking about everything and nothing so long as we're having a laugh

This reminds me of the weekend before last. I was in Madrid having a reunion with a bunch of people I used to work with in France. First off we went for a meal plus a few bottles of mine. We were merry enough.

Headed to a pub which was booked out for a birthday party. Drink was self service from bottles etc left on the bar. Myself and some friends spotted a big bowl of sangria. Over the next approx 3 hours we laid into this, must have had at least 20 to 25 cups of the stuff each. Our thinking was "it is free - so lets stock up on alcholic level before the club".

As tmie went on we were having a great laugh and generally feeling the way you do after a good few drinks on a night out. After many trips to the sangria bowl we started to get comments along the line of "you really like that sangria" / "it is great, yes?" from the Spaniards alongside us.

To cut a long story short - the sangria was non alcholic :eek:

We had been getting hammered on fruit juice and the associated lumps. This thought me a lesson - you don't actually need to have alcohol to have that good goofy fun ... but it does help.

It was great - the next morning I woke up with a totally clear head. Just shows how your mind can play tricks on you.

Faith

BossArky wrote:

Faith, I am one of those people who doesn't see the point in going for "a drink". I would tend towards "going drinking". What is the point in starting the engine if you are not going to drive anywhere? :cool:

Have you never just gone to the pub with a group of mates on a weeknight and just had a few pints? Maybe relaxed out in the beer garden and just had to good chat, without getting drunk? Just reaching the nice happy stage, before tipping into drunk? If you haven't, you're really missing out on something wonderful!

The mentality of "If I start, I'm going to get drunk!" worries me, to be honest. Alcohol is there to be enjoyed, not abused, imo. That's not to say I think getting drunk is a bad thing, I just think you should, on occasion, be mature enough to stop after 1 or 2.

Anyway, back on topic, sorry about that.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

r3nu4l wrote:

[Watch out, rant about]
That's a very popular mis-conception. How many sophisticated Parisiennes were there overturning cars and setting them alight in Paris during the riots? None. In Ireland we call them skangers, in Paris they are probably called "Les skangers" The notion that our continental European cousins are far more sophisticated than us is a heresy, a myth, a complete load of stinky-poo, Mr. Ikky Poo2!

There is nothing sophisticated about downing two bottles of red wine by yourself over the course of three or four hours, just because it happens to be a good bottle does not make it sophisticated.

Also, being afraid to show your silly side is not sophisticated, it's simply reserved and conservative and ever so middle class. Middle class does not mean sophisticated and shouldn't be seen as such. My point is that they can't let their hair down and just let it all go.

I am well versed in English literature, Greek and Roman civilisation, have a PhD in molecular Biology, attend wine tastings, move in circles that include the Ambassador for Ireland in Great Britain and Baroness Susan Greenfield of the Royal Institute, some people would call that sophisticated and cultured...maybe it is, maybe it's not. I can drink wine and champagne with the best of them (and do) but it does not make me sophisticated.

None of my European friends can boast of this level of education and culture (blah, blah), does that make them unsophisticated or does the fact that they speak the languages of the country they were brought up in make them sophisticated?

[Rant over, please proceed as normal]

I go out, have a few drinks (very, very rarely get drunk) and get silly, chatting and joking about everything and nothing so long as we're having a laugh. I like my friends but I certainly don't have as good a time with them as I do with Irish people.

Depends... we were we just hving fun on the day of the Orange riots...? The riots in Paris was a protest. They tend to be more passionate over there when they make a stand. We make a stand and people encourage the gardai to go nuts (off topic, I know, just replying).

There is nothing sophicticated in downing red wine (or anything else) BY YOURSELF but I assumed that in your post about drinking wine at a restaruant or at home, you meant in company. If not, my apologies, but people drink alone everywhere. Not much difference other than Geography. If so, how is drinking to excess in a pub to the point that you don't remember anything the next morning more sophicticated than a night in with company?

Being afraid to show you're silly side goes more for the older (30+) genration abroad. You should have seen the street party I would up at the night Germany beat Portugal in the world cup. I've lived in Denmark, France and Germany and have always found people to be far more intellgient there than here. Here, it's all soaps and bloody football (which is ok in moderation, don't get me wrong) but start a conversation about art and people think you're gay.

Nice social circles - proves my point. You can mix it. You're social content doesn't end in the pub. But as you say, class does not equal sophistication. Nor does education. I never went beyond secondary, but love art for example and spirituality. I'm into bodypainting, I'm a qualifed massage therapist. People on the continent express interest, people in Dublin laugh and tell me that I'm only in it for a quick grope (sorry if this goes against your experience, but these are things I am really passionate about and this base seriosuly pisses me off - to the point that I've walked out of social events as a result of it.)

I have a good time with Irish people too, but as a result of the above, I have to take a back seat to some degree. That or put myself up for ridicule.

r3nu4l

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Depends... we were we just hving fun on the day of the Orange riots...? The riots in Paris was a protest. They tend to be more passionate over there when they make a stand. We make a stand and people encourage the gardai to go nuts (off topic, I know, just replying).

There is nothing sophicticated in downing red wine (or anything else) BY YOURSELF but I assumed that in your post about drinking wine at a restaruant or at home, you meant in company. If not, my apologies, but people drink alone everywhere. Not much difference other than Geography. If so, how is drinking to excess in a pub to the point that you don't remember anything the next morning more sophicticated than a night in with company?

Being afraid to show you're silly side goes more for the older (30+) genration abroad. You should have seen the street party I would up at the night Germany beat Portugal in the world cup. I've lived in Denmark, France and Germany and have always found people to be far more intellgient there than here. Here, it's all soaps and bloody football (which is ok in moderation, don't get me wrong) but start a conversation about art and people think you're gay.

Nice social circles - proves my point. You can mix it. You're social content doesn't end in the pub. But as you say, class does not equal sophistication. Nor does education. I never went beyond secondary, but love art for example and spirituality. I'm into bodypainting, I'm a qualifed massage therapist. People on the continent express interest, people in Dublin laugh and tell me that I'm only in it for a quick grope (sorry if this goes against your experience, but these are things I am really passionate about and this base seriosuly pisses me off - to the point that I've walked out of social events as a result of it.)

I have a good time with Irish people too, but as a result of the above, I have to take a back seat to some degree. That or put myself up for ridicule.

Well I don't think that 'passion' is an excuse for violent disorder...'sorry yer' honour, I was just being passionate like, when I burned out dat car', doesn't cut it for me I'm afraid!

I do understand your concern regarding people finding your talk about art to be 'gay' and such. With some of my friends I can openly talk about 19th century literature and modern polotics but with others, they are only interested in 'Sky Sports, Man U and Budweiser' and as such roll their eyes if I so much as mention a book title I realise that there is a time and a place for such conversation but thankfully again I have a good mix of friends and so am not starved of stimulating conversation or gutter talk In this respect perhaps our European cousins are a good deal more tolerant and educated (I don't mean education in the formal sense of the word).

Erm, I'm 30+ (31:() and still let my silly side flow, my most reserved friend is a 25 year old Frenchman, his older gf is a good laugh though!


Yes, I can imagine some of my friends if they heard I did massage!
Massage therapy, eh? G'wan ya gud ting, wha'? I'm joking honestly, come back, not to feel me up mind, no I'm only joking come back...:D

On the other hand some would be very interested and want to know more, you never know until you open your mouth and say it I suppose. Perhaps, if anything some Irish people don't know when to give it a rest?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

r3nu4l wrote:

Well I don't think that 'passion' is an excuse for violent disorder...'sorry yer' honour, I was just being passionate like, when I burned out dat car', doesn't cut it for me I'm afraid!

I do understand your concern regarding people finding your talk about art to be 'gay' and such. With some of my friends I can openly talk about 19th century literature and modern polotics but with others, they are only interested in 'Sky Sports, Man U and Budweiser' and as such roll their eyes if I so much as mention a book title I realise that there is a time and a place for such conversation but thankfully again I have a good mix of friends and so am not starved of stimulating conversation or gutter talk In this respect perhaps our European cousins are a good deal more tolerant and educated (I don't mean education in the formal sense of the word).

Erm, I'm 30+ (31:() and still let my silly side flow, my most reserved friend is a 25 year old Frenchman, his older gf is a good laugh though!


Yes, I can imagine some of my friends if they heard I did massage!
Massage therapy, eh? G'wan ya gud ting, wha'? I'm joking honestly, come back, not to feel me up mind, no I'm only joking come back...:D

On the other hand some would be very interested and want to know more, you never know until you open your mouth and say it I suppose. Perhaps, if anything some Irish people don't know when to give it a rest?

Kind of... since I moved from Dublin to Mayo, there's far more interest, which surprised me. Especialy once they experience what I can do. Oddly enough, there are a lot of artists down here and a LOT of holistic therapists! Looking at your post, perhaps you're right - tolerant is a better word that unsophisticated..?

Oh, and I'm 35... and you should see me when I get silly. The girlfriends kids keep a LOT of distance...

pow wow

I miss them when I'm away and then get frustrated at them when I'm home.

Generally it's the familiarity aspect, they know what you're talking about (and can understand your accent!). Since I moved to America the one thing I miss most about Irish people is how natural and kind of upfront they are....here people are so fake it makes me ill. If I hear another "ohh you look so precious/cute/adorable today" statement when I look like the arse of a robbers dog I may harm someone.

Jimoslimos

Yes I do, I suppose the one thing I miss most is the 'general' lack of a class system among Irish people, which seems to be all-pervasive here.

r3nu4l

Jimoslimos wrote:

Yes I do, I suppose the one thing I miss most is the 'general' lack of a class system among Irish people, which seems to be all-pervasive here.

I agree with this completely. This has come home to me very much as myself and the gf share with a Cambridge grad who has lots of Cambridge grad friends, all of whom are very upper middle-class in attitude and demeanour. They really have no idea and remain willfully ignorant of working-class people, their difficulties and their lives.

I'm all for improving yourself in social-economic status if possible but not to the extent where you deliberately exclude a certain class of people from your social circle on the basis of their financial/networking worth!