Do Irish people appear thick and ignorant the more you travel?

orourkeda

Caesar Augustus wrote: »

Are people using the term ignorant to mean uninformed or terminally selfish and mentally lazy? When I say Irish people are ignorant, I mean the latter.

A mixture of both I suppose.

HavingCrack

mystique150 wrote: »

I spent a bit of time in rural US or the backcountry as they like to call it and I was asked a couple of times "How I was managing with the language?". It must have been the culchie accent!
Obviously they were the minority of people that I encountered but as many here have already said, you find all sorts everywhere...not just in Ireland!

Try rural France.

HavingCrack walks into local shop on baking hot day.

De l'eau si vous plait monsieur.

Que?

De l'eau.

Que?

DE L'EAUUU

Que?

HavingCrack starts getting annoyed, leans over counter and points at fridge containing bottles of water.

Non

What?..eh I mean que?

Non



In the end I just stormed out, he either deliberately didn't want to serve me or else he was an idiot.

J K

feelingstressed wrote: »

Someone from Cork stirring it, being controversial for the sake of it and just looking for attention?
I'm for one am shocked :eek:

Here. You sound like a bleedin culchie.
You must be from the country

stovelid

No.

It's just that your travels consisted of sleeping in a railway stations and hostels so you've only spoken to service staff or people hustling your money in other countries.

gcgirl

Irish people go on holiday then spend their 2 weeks in an Irish themed pub seriously like !

stovelid

gcgirl wrote: »

Irish people go on holiday then spend their 2 weeks in an Irish themed pub seriously like !

Not me.

When I was a student, I went to millions of places that nobody had heard of and they are so obscure they are unlikely to ever be discovered.

It was brilliant but you wouldn't expect the squares and philistines in Ireland to understand.

I'm just different really.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Do you know what people I love?

The people who when you tell that you were after visiting such and such a place say "Oh that used to be so cool a few years back before it became so popular and commercial and now it has really given into tourism and kind of lost it's soul"

Holybejaysus

OK, I'll try and answer this one rationally.......[Deep breath]

There are certain traits and characteristics about Ireland that you can't really see clearly until you have spent some time abroad and compared to other nations. When you are living here day in day out, you simply take these things as normal-You have become totally conditioned by your surroundings, and would probably violently disagree or dismiss any outsiders view of your 'grand' little country.

Having spent a number of years abroad amongst other cultures and then returning to Ireland, certain things stand out immediately. The following is an impartial list; it is not a point scoring exercise, or trying to take a sly dig at anyone.

It is important to note that you will find the following in every country, but they appear to be much more prevalent and noticeable in Ireland.

1. Binge Drinking-We have a serious, serious problem with binge drinking in this country. Getting absolutely hammered to the point of passing out is not considered even remotely unusual in Ireland.

2. Public urination-Whenever I am outside a nightclub or pub in the early hours and see this, it is not hard for me to realise that tourists are going to see this and think that there is a streak of a savage in the Irish population. This is really something that the Gardai should crack down on-we should be trying to eliminate this repugnant Neanderthal trait.

3.Bad language-Again, extremely common. This is something that really makes me cringe, especially when in Irish company abroad. There really is nothing more embarrassing than having your table asking to cut out the gutter mouth-the Irish are just so used to it now that they don't even realise how bad they are at it.

4. Troublemaking on public transport-For some reason, gurriers are tolerated on public transport in this country. Try getting on the Luas without witnessing some Anto or junkie hassling the average commuter. People seem to accept this as just an everyday occurance. It really shouldn't have to be like this.

I am now at the stage where I prefer to avoid a certain type of Irish citizen when travelling. I don't mind if they are a 'professional'-the kind who know when to draw the line at certain behaviour. Most people, to be fair, 'get it'. They just know how to behave themselves and how to represent the country.

But it has to be said that there is large vocal minority of Irish citizens who are an absolute embarrassment to the Irish-They seem to see things like vomiting, fighting and breaking things as a badge of honour-and they just have to let everyone know they are Irish, since 'the Irish are loved everywhere'. Result?-Bad reputation for all Irish.

The Mecca of this specimen is Bondi Junction, Sydney. This was the only place I can say I was genuinely ashamed to be Irish. They seemed to behave more like the British football hooligans than anything else. It's hard to explain unless you have been there and seen it for yourself, but once you have, you'll know exactly what I mean.

So in summary, those would be the type of people that appear thick and ignorant after travelling. Before, I wouldn't have had much of a beef with ignorant or unmannered people in this country. Now, I find myself extremely intolerant of them. And I don't think that's a bad thing, tbh.

EDIT: Don't re-quote this msge please, just say HB. It's too long to be re-quoting.

Son Of A Vidic

feelingstressed wrote: »

They know their own area, they know the city centre and call it "town" and that's pretty much it.

Well it's called 'town' because I suppose that's all it is - a large town.

feelingstressed wrote: »

Move to Dublin you learn the areas, move around a few times and learn every bus, best shops, safest and quickest walking routes, learn it all. Move house and then learn it all again

Dublin is relatively small after all, so it's doesn't require much skill finding your way about really.

Back on topic.

Actually OP the more people travel (people who have actually lived abroad, as opposed to going on holiday), then the less 'thick' they should be in theory. Of course there is no guarantee of this, but I have found that once I return to Ireland all the sleveens appear.

Marcus.Aurelius

Holybejaysus wrote: »

The Mecca of this specimen is Bondi Junction, Sydney. This was the only place I can say I was genuinely ashamed to be Irish. They seemed to behave more like the British football hooligans than anything else. It's hard to explain unless you have been there and seen it for yourself, but once you have, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Agree fully with you on this, Bondi Junction and Coogee seem to attract that variety of fuckwit. It can make things difficult for real Irish professionals to be taken seriously.

I'm not proud to be Irish, but I wish I had less reason to be ashamed of it.

Monty Burnz

Orizio wrote: »

Culchie - anyone born outside of Dublin.

If you happen across an ignorant and small-minded person in Dublin then I can assure you that you have happened upon a second or third generation culchie.

So people from - say - New York are culchies?

I have to say I'm always amused by Dubliners' feeling that they are big city sophisticates, coming as they do from the 454th biggest city in the world (and falling).

Tuppence ha'penny looking down on tuppence, IMO.

Rabble Rabble

Holybejaysus wrote: »

OK, I'll try and answer this one rationally.......[Deep breath]

There are certain traits and characteristics about Ireland that you can't really see clearly until you have spent some time abroad and compared to other nations. When you are living here day in day out, you simply take these things as normal-You have become totally conditioned by your surroundings, and would probably violently disagree or dismiss any outsiders view of your 'grand' little country.

Having spent a number of years abroad amongst other cultures and then returning to Ireland, certain things stand out immediately. The following is an impartial list; it is not a point scoring exercise, or trying to take a sly dig at anyone.

It is important to note that you will find the following in every country, but they appear to be much more prevalent and noticeable in Ireland.

1. Binge Drinking-We have a serious, serious problem with binge drinking in this country. Getting absolutely hammered to the point of passing out is not considered even remotely unusual in Ireland.

2. Public urination-Whenever I am outside a nightclub or pub in the early hours and see this, it is not hard for me to realise that tourists are going to see this and think that there is a streak of a savage in the Irish population. This is really something that the Gardai should crack down on-we should be trying to eliminate this repugnant Neanderthal trait.

3.Bad language-Again, extremely common. This is something that really makes me cringe, especially when in Irish company abroad. There really is nothing more embarrassing than having your table asking to cut out the gutter mouth-the Irish are just so used to it now that they don't even realise how bad they are at it.

4. Troublemaking on public transport-For some reason, gurriers are tolerated on public transport in this country. Try getting on the Luas without witnessing some Anto or junkie hassling the average commuter. People seem to accept this as just an everyday occurance. It really shouldn't have to be like this.

1) true
2) Yeah
3) Absolutely.
4) true

however 1,2 and 4 apply within Ireland.

The thing about 3) is that we - across all classes - have lost the ability to get that the F word and the C work can be useful sometime, as an emphasis. Using it all the time sounds like a chav.

superfish

this may help you all


http://www.hamovhotov.com/fun/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/i-see-dumb-people-everywhere.jpg

augmented reality

There's thick people everywhere, including a city in America where a girl asked me what country Irelands in:rolleyes:

charlemont

slum dog wrote: »

Do Irish people appear thick and ignorant the more you travel?

Lets just say most of the foreign friends I have are by and large more knowledgeable and educated than us, but I think a lot of that is because the Irish are isolated to an extent on this island whereas the other nations have to mix with each other and speak each others languages..

spinandscribble

superfish wrote: »

this may help you all


http://www.hamovhotov.com/fun/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/i-see-dumb-people-everywhere.jpg

basically= fact. Everyones a idiot in someone's eye.

spinandscribble

slum dog wrote: »

Do Irish people appear thick and ignorant the more you travel?

No, I just realised everyone is.

Holybejaysus

augmented reality wrote: »

There's thick people everywhere, including a city in America where a girl asked me what country Irelands in:rolleyes:

Everyone knows the answer to that-we're from Europe!

[Grabs hat and runs]

Funfair

feelingstressed wrote: »

What's with all the culchie comments?

+ 1 Sounds Pathetic..

Monty Burnz

Funfair wrote: »

+ 1 Sounds Pathetic..

It's a bit like thick English people making fun of the Irish. The illusion that we are better that a whole swathe of other folks by default is comforting to some.

rebel10

augmented reality wrote: »

There's thick people everywhere, including a city in America where a girl asked me what country Irelands in:rolleyes:

But you see I can kind of understand why she might not know, most people I spoke to in Asia and Northern Africa hadn't a clue where Ireland was, not to mention the number that hadn't even heard of the place. But then if you mention Robbie Keane they know him straight away!:rolleyes:
To be honest, i couldn't tell you alot about the Geographical locations of many Eastern block countries, would they be offended if I didn't know, yes.
However, once in the Greyhound bus station in L.A., a guy was trying to convince me that Ireland was "near Australia somewhere." At a job interview for a diner in San Francisco I was asked do we have eggs in Ireland.

ardmacha

Do Irish people appear thick and ignorant the more you travel?

Not really. They do appear this way the more I read the postings in After Hours though.

Birdie086

slum dog wrote: »

Do Irish people appear thick and ignorant the more you travel?

only the stupid ones

hinault

slum dog wrote: »

Do Irish people appear thick and ignorant the more you travel?

What I do notice is that people abroad do not drink themselves in to a stupor.

Unlike here.

Micky Dolenz

hinault wrote: »

What I do notice is that people abroad do not drink themselves in to a stupor.

Unlike here.

Where were you that you noticed that?

hinault

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Where were you that you noticed that?

France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UAE, USA, Canada...........need I list ever single country that I've visited?

tweedledee

@s of Europe" somebody once said.:eek:

Orizio

hinault wrote: »

France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UAE, USA, Canada...........need I list ever single country that I've visited?

Americans don't drink themselves into a stupor...?

hinault

Orizio wrote: »

Americans don't drink themselves into a stupor...?

Not in my experience, I have to say.

My experience is that people living in other countries do not abuse alcohol to the same extent as Irish people do.

Micky Dolenz

hinault wrote: »

France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UAE, USA, Canada...........need I list ever single country that I've visited?

I left Ireland for a long while, worked all over the world. I saw things that would make a saturday night out in small town Ireland seem tame. I miss those things. All I can say to you is, you may have trvelled, but you went to all the wrong places.

hinault

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

I left Ireland for a long while, worked all over the world. I saw things that would make a saturday night out in small town Ireland seem tame. I miss those things. All I can say to you is, you may have trvelled, but you went to all the wrong places.

The wrong places?
:D

Fair enough mate, you're entitled to your opinion.
My own view is that we Irish drink far too much compared to people in other nations which I have visited.

tweedledee

gota agree with the poster who mentioned drinking and swearing,I travel alot for work,all over the world and I've noticed that Irish people love to get totally wasted,at any time of the day,in any locality and shout n swear like its cool or something.I was in Abu Dhabi recently and witnessed several,pished GAA shirt wearing idiots beating the crap out of each other until the Muslim police arrived.In certain places there are things you just dont do.They get away with it in Ireland so they think its fine everywhere else.Whenever i return to Ireland to visit family,my friends make fun of the fact that I travel for a living,I dont get that at all..................

D1stant

Culchies should have to pay a special Airport 1k exit tax, 10 re-entry tax.

We should develop security X-Ray machines that use image recognition on GAA attire and immediately electrocute the F*ckers. Sell it to foreigners for billions

2 birds.....

Micky Dolenz

tweedledee wrote: »

gota agree with the poster who mentioned drinking and swearing,I travel alot for work,all over the world and I've noticed that Irish people love to get totally wasted,at any time of the day,in any locality and shout n swear like its cool or something.I was in Abu Dhabi recently and witnessed several,pished GAA shirt wearing idiots beating the crap out of each other until the Muslim police arrived.In certain places there are things you just dont do.They get away with it in Ireland so they think its fine everywhere else.Whenever i return to Ireland to visit family,my friends make fun of the fact that I travel for a living,I dont get that at all..................

You are a traveller.

tweedledee

I was in a very strict Asian country in November,work work work,and a "Gaillimh" GAA shirt wearing gob****e was having a pee just off a main street UNTIL the cops arrived and kicked his ass,bigtime.He was asking for trouble in a City where he should have shown more respect

TeddyTedson

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

You are a traveller.

Except travelers don't travel very much do they. The stay in the local pitch/car park for years.
Also what's up with them preferring copper than GOLD?

Orizio

D1stant wrote: »

Culchies should have to pay a special Airport 1k exit tax, 10 re-entry tax.

We should develop security X-Ray machines that use image recognition on GAA attire and immediately electrocute the F*ckers. Sell it to foreigners for billions

2 birds.....

I agree completely, but I fear you are not being ambitious enough. We need to set up discreet camps to keep culchies permanently interned in - the few that may be educated may be allowed live in Dublin as cheap labourers, the rest may be sold to third world countries as slaves.

D1stant

The camp thing wont work. They can burrow these bastards. They have special extendable digging claws - evolved during the famine I think.

LambsEye

Orizio wrote: »

Americans don't drink themselves into a stupor...?

hinault wrote: »

Not in my experience, I have to say.

My experience is that people living in other countries do not abuse alcohol to the same extent as Irish people do.

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

I left Ireland for a long while, worked all over the world. I saw things that would make a saturday night out in small town Ireland seem tame. I miss those things. All I can say to you is, you may have trvelled, but you went to all the wrong places.

I have to say, Americans don't drink as much as we do. In all my travels I can genuinely say no one drinks as much as we do. And we sport that as a badge of pride which is sometimes cool, and sometimes not.

As everyone else has mentioned bigotry, ignorance and stupidity are ubiquitous, but in my opinion the type varies depending on what country you're in.

For example: I live in America (New York,) so people are very open-minded but when I travel to Florida or the Mid-West, people are VERY intolerant and stupid when it comes to Immigration issues and geography outside of America in general. ("IRELAND? So you guys are near London right?")

However when I come home and I try tell my dad that MAYBE he shouldn't be pouring 7 tonnes of salt on his dinner as it's bad for his heart, I get cursed out of it for bringing my "Americanisms" into the house.

Two different forms of ignorance, from two completely different situations and places.

Point being: Ignorance is pervasive, people have just found ways to tailor it to suit themselves, their location and their society.

Orizio

D1stant wrote: »

The camp thing wont work. They can burrow these bastards. They have special extendable digging claws - evolved during the famine I think.

:eek: ...possibly we could just chop off all of their hands then, as a preventive measure...?

HavingCrack

hinault wrote: »

France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UAE, USA, Canada...........need I list ever single country that I've visited?

As you can see from my first post in this thread I agree with you but there are some countries there with alcohol problems as bad as Ireland, its not fair to say we're the only ones.

Spain has a massive alcohol problem. Drinking in the streets is legal there. Some of the stuff you'd see in Barcelona and Madrid would rival Dublin.

The US is a funny one because binge drinking there varies hugely by state. North Dakota, Minnesota, Rhode Island etc all have drinking problems as great as Ireland while states such as Tennesse and Mississippi have whole counties where alcohol can't even be bought.

And as for thick and ignorant-the UAE isn't exactly known for being enlightened.

pawrick

I've been living with foreign people for 10 years now and all of them say similar about their own countries. Might not be complains about drinking too much but other stuff. No big deal - asses everywhere and generally the least accepting ones are the ones who return home.

Amhran Nua

Caesar Augustus wrote: »

I'm not proud to be Irish

By all means disavow your nation and go to whatever country is desperate enough to have you. We have no need for you here.

Ed Staunton

Well I have not travelled that much but I think it's very clear Irish culture nowadays is about being thick ignorant and aggressive in order to get your way instead of getting an education or bothering to not be scummy about trying to con people. I used to be really proud to be Irish, but when you see the behaviour of Irish people when it comes to money, scumbag nation. They walk around heads in the air like they are the chosen people while shopping in ****ing Aldi like!!! All the great Irish people have emmigrated. Our once great culture has been ruined by greedy gob****es who walk around with stupid grins on their faces like they know something the rest of us don't. Bunch of arseholes

Neewbie_noob

Ed Staunton wrote: »

Well I have not travelled that much but I think it's very clear Irish culture nowadays is about being thick ignorant and aggressive in order to get your way instead of getting an education or bothering to not be scummy about trying to con people. I used to be really proud to be Irish, but when you see the behaviour of Irish people when it comes to money, scumbag nation. They walk around heads in the air like they are the chosen people while shopping in ****ing Aldi like!!! All the great Irish people have emmigrated. Our once great culture has been ruined by greedy gob****es who walk around with stupid grins on their faces like they know something the rest of us don't. Bunch of arseholes

Holy Zombie Jesus thread

billybudd

Ed Staunton wrote: »

Well I have not travelled that much but I think it's very clear Irish culture nowadays is about being thick ignorant and aggressive in order to get your way instead of getting an education or bothering to not be scummy about trying to con people. I used to be really proud to be Irish, but when you see the behaviour of Irish people when it comes to money, scumbag nation. They walk around heads in the air like they are the chosen people while shopping in ****ing Aldi like!!! All the great Irish people have emmigrated. Our once great culture has been ruined by greedy gob****es who walk around with stupid grins on their faces like they know something the rest of us don't. Bunch of arseholes

Whats wrong with aldi? fresh made pasta for 80cents, unreal value.

Ed Staunton

We have been shown up for what we really are by the boom and the E.U, we chose greed over culture and we will pay a heavy price for that, scumbags tend to have scumbag kids, we are well due a cull to get rid of these kinds of people.

damagegt

Holybejaysus wrote: »

OK, I'll try and answer this one rationally.......[Deep breath]

There are certain traits and characteristics about Ireland that you can't really see clearly until you have spent some time abroad and compared to other nations. When you are living here day in day out, you simply take these things as normal-You have become totally conditioned by your surroundings, and would probably violently disagree or dismiss any outsiders view of your 'grand' little country.

Having spent a number of years abroad amongst other cultures and then returning to Ireland, certain things stand out immediately. The following is an impartial list; it is not a point scoring exercise, or trying to take a sly dig at anyone.

It is important to note that you will find the following in every country, but they appear to be much more prevalent and noticeable in Ireland.

1. Binge Drinking-We have a serious, serious problem with binge drinking in this country. Getting absolutely hammered to the point of passing out is not considered even remotely unusual in Ireland.

2. Public urination-Whenever I am outside a nightclub or pub in the early hours and see this, it is not hard for me to realise that tourists are going to see this and think that there is a streak of a savage in the Irish population. This is really something that the Gardai should crack down on-we should be trying to eliminate this repugnant Neanderthal trait.

3.Bad language-Again, extremely common. This is something that really makes me cringe, especially when in Irish company abroad. There really is nothing more embarrassing than having your table asking to cut out the gutter mouth-the Irish are just so used to it now that they don't even realise how bad they are at it.

4. Troublemaking on public transport-For some reason, gurriers are tolerated on public transport in this country. Try getting on the Luas without witnessing some Anto or junkie hassling the average commuter. People seem to accept this as just an everyday occurance. It really shouldn't have to be like this.

I am now at the stage where I prefer to avoid a certain type of Irish citizen when travelling. I don't mind if they are a 'professional'-the kind who know when to draw the line at certain behaviour. Most people, to be fair, 'get it'. They just know how to behave themselves and how to represent the country.

But it has to be said that there is large vocal minority of Irish citizens who are an absolute embarrassment to the Irish-They seem to see things like vomiting, fighting and breaking things as a badge of honour-and they just have to let everyone know they are Irish, since 'the Irish are loved everywhere'. Result?-Bad reputation for all Irish.

The Mecca of this specimen is Bondi Junction, Sydney. This was the only place I can say I was genuinely ashamed to be Irish. They seemed to behave more like the British football hooligans than anything else. It's hard to explain unless you have been there and seen it for yourself, but once you have, you'll know exactly what I mean.

So in summary, those would be the type of people that appear thick and ignorant after travelling. Before, I wouldn't have had much of a beef with ignorant or unmannered people in this country. Now, I find myself extremely intolerant of them. And I don't think that's a bad thing, tbh.

EDIT: Don't re-quote this msge please, just say HB. It's too long to be re-quoting.

ok

billybudd

Ed Staunton wrote: »

We have been shown up for what we really are by the boom and the E.U, we chose greed over culture and we will pay a heavy price for that, scumbags tend to have scumbag kids, we are well due a cull to get rid of these kinds of people.

Not me, im not greedy, i love culture and also give to culture in what i do and also i have a child and he will be taught whats important in life, respect, manners etc etc and whats more i know alot of people like me, out of a population of four million the minority are scummy and the minority are greedy and the minority do not dictate.

Ed Staunton

billybudd wrote: »

Whats wrong with aldi? fresh made pasta for 80cents, unreal value.

Aldi is cheap cos most of it is ****e, and if you don't know that then there is little point telling you any different. It's the attitude of Irish people nowadays I have a problem with not Aldi, i suppose there's no point arguing with you when you can't read properly.