" Dubliners have more in common with the British than with fellow Irish "

freddiek

from interesting opinion piece in today's Indo.


DARRAGH MCMANUS – 07 FEBRUARY 2014

Garth Brooks fever has surely now been officially upgraded from "interesting moment" to "bizarre phenomenon". Over 400,000 tickets and five sold-out concerts make it this year's main 'cultural' event. So why are the critics so pompous about it?

Sherlock snip - http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/culchies-love-garth-but-urban-snobs-have-friends-in-low-places-of-their-own-29987658.html

Mr Simpson

Please don't quote whole articles.

spank_inferno

Hard to say..... Maybe.

As an east coast dweller I consume far more UK TV & radio than I do Irish.

I read the Guardian & the UK independent, never the Irish times/indo.

I support an EPL team, very rarely watch GAA & am fond of cricket.

I can empathise with the article (but not its trolling tone).
I just don't feel much affinity with a culchie.

Though the snobbery cuts both ways.
How often is "west Brit" thrown around like it's supposed to be an insult.

This whole Garth Brooks thing is just so Irish Water can get culchies out of the house to install water meters.

hfallada

An opinion piece is an opinion piece. Its often nothing but the journalists views. But a lot of Irish people seem to take them as fact. I from Dublin and I work part time in a shop. And I find people from Dublin are totally different to serve than people from the countryside. Dublin people tend to be more to the point and its not like they lack manners but are less polite than people from the countryside.

I believe dublin people have a large city mind set. They Dont really care about manners or what other people think as they will never see them again. Not all British are the same and it's a massive country. So I can't understand the need to call dubliners more similar to British other than some cheap publicity

Wasn't one of the areas with the highest demand for garreth brook tickets Limerick?

reprazant

Its like Dublin is the only urban place in the country.

He is basically saying that all other cities in Ireland are provincial backwaters.

I have a feeling that he didn't think this article through.

FloatingVoter

Dublin is a sizable city. We probably do have more in common with people from Liverpool or London (ie. gripes about public transport, queues in shops, overpriced drink, burglaries and muggings etc.)
I'd imagine people from rural Kerry or Mayo would also find a lot in common with someone from the Yorkshire dales or somewhere like that. Its just they wouldn't cross paths as often.
As for Garth Brooks - that's a bit like moving statues and compulsory Irish - in years to come people will wonder what was that all about.

harry Bailey esq

Dublin has lots of British shops,that's where the similarity ends.There is a certain sense of humour,the lingo,the constant cursing that make dubs very different than both culchies and brits.

face1990

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

the constant cursing that make dubs very different than both culchies and brits.

Constant cursing is not unique to Dublin :eek:

harry Bailey esq

face1990 wrote: »

Constant cursing is not unique to Dublin :eek:

im a dub,but have many friends in waterford,and a massive family in cork.when im talking to other dubs they can't believe the amount of casual profanity,its not a class thing either d4 types are just as likely to use it than someone from a less affluent area.

Dandelion6

San Francisco has English pubs and Irish pubs - I mean ones that are genuinely patronised by English and Irish people, not just "theme pubs" with the stock internal decor.

When I lived there in the late 1990s you were far more likely to find Dubliners in the English pubs than the Irish pubs.

I know this doesn't really prove anything but I did find it interesting.

NoCrackHaving

I always find it a bit off the whole Dublin-West Brit thing due to the fact that Britain is a country with over 50 million people.

While Dublin may be similar to say Leeds or Bristol or Manchester due to similar big city issues, to say that your average Dub from Drumcondra has more in common with someone from the Norfolk fens or Cornwall or the Welsh valleys or the Scottish Borders than with someone from say Cork city or Galway is ridiculous.

In fact your average farmer from Offaly would probably have a lot more in common with your average farmer from Yorkshire in terms of socialising, culture, past times etc. than either would with an inner city Dub for example.

NoCrackHaving

Dandelion6 wrote: »

San Francisco has English pubs and Irish pubs - I mean ones that are genuinely patronised by English and Irish people, not just "theme pubs" with the stock internal decor.

When I lived there in the late 1990s you were far more likely to find Dubliners in the English pubs than the Irish pubs.

I know this doesn't really prove anything but I did find it interesting.

I would say that I can understand a little bit why you wouldn't want to go to a lot of the Irish pubs in San Francisco. When I lived there a few years back (quite briefly I'll admit) a lot of the Irish pubs were so overtly republican in terms of the drinkers and the decoration (NORAID supporting etc,) and anti-English and anti-protestant it was very unsettling and unwelcoming even to someone who was Irish.

The only other place I've seen Irish pubs that radical was in parts of Belfast.

FloatingVoter

I was about to write a long and interesting reposte as to why I belong in a city and not the small-minded rural kip I suffered as a teenager (waves to Newcastle West). Then I realised - 400,000 people can't be wrong. You like Garth Brooks - fair enough..although he's from Tulsa which has 345,000 people living in it. I'd imagine the first time he saw a cow it was between two slabs of bread.
Most people in rural Ireland don't smell bad...most people in Dublin aren't on heroin.
Would I want a UK passport in the morning ? - I'd need to look at the tax issues and my own interests further.
That is the same answer that Michael Lowry would give behind the anonymity of a net nickname.
If anybody from a true metropolis like NYC, London, Shanghai was reading this they would really wonder what it was all about.

feelgoodinc27

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

Dublin has lots of British shops,that's where the similarity ends.

As does every other city in the country unfortunately.

Balmed Out

Garth Brooks isn't a Dublin vs Rest of Ireland thing its an Urban areas vs Rest of Ireland thing.

bigar

I am probably going to rub a few people the wrong way but I lived in England, Scotland and now Ireland and all three are very similar in culture, food and customs. The differences limit themselves to regional variations of English and that's about it.

In all I lived both in a large city and a smaller town so have a good point of reference, I believe.

Come to think of it: there is one major difference. Irish drivers are many times worse then the ones in the UK.

NoCrackHaving

bigar wrote: »

I am probably going to rub a few people the wrong way but I lived in England, Scotland and now Ireland and all three are very similar in culture, food and customs. The differences limit themselves to regional variations of English and that's about it.

In all I lived both in a large city and a smaller town so have a good point of reference, I believe.

Come to think of it: there is one major difference. Irish drivers are many times worse then the ones in the UK.

Have to say I thought Irish drivers weren't great but my experience in Scotland has been far worse.

Tombo2001

I spent a year backpacking in Asia/ South America.

The Dubs that I met along the way were far, far friendlier than Irish people from the country......

No big chips on their shoulders, no acting the big man all the time.

tapfit2004

NoCrackHaving wrote: »

I would say that I can understand a little bit why you wouldn't want to go to a lot of the Irish pubs in San Francisco. When I lived there a few years back (quite briefly I'll admit) a lot of the Irish pubs were so overtly republican in terms of the drinkers and the decoration (NORAID supporting etc,) and anti-English and anti-protestant it was very unsettling and unwelcoming even to someone who was Irish.

The only other place I've seen Irish pubs that radical was in parts of Belfast.

I'm from Dublin and I watched the 1997 Mayo Kerry all ireland final live, wearing a Dublin jersey, in Irelands 32 bar in San Francisco at 7:30am.

Not bad for a 'west brit':D

Piliger

Balmed Out wrote: »

Garth Brooks isn't a Dublin vs Rest of Ireland thing its an Urban areas vs Rest of Ireland thing.

The booking agents said on radio yesterday and more than half the bookings came from outside Dublin ....... So much for the nationalist's argument.

sawdoubters

they still have irish names,but few irish go into them,irish pubs want americans because they spend more money,most of the irish have moved from san Francisco to Oakland,as for English pubs,a lot of irish bought them they are now sports bars

Dandelion6 wrote: »

San Francisco has English pubs and Irish pubs - I mean ones that are genuinely patronised by English and Irish people, not just "theme pubs" with the stock internal decor.

When I lived there in the late 1990s you were far more likely to find Dubliners in the English pubs than the Irish pubs.

I know this doesn't really prove anything but I did find it interesting.

SimonLynch

I've lived half my life in Dublin/Wicklow and the other half in NW England/Wales, very similar kind of people.

vitani

I haven't read the article but I'd be inclined to agree with the statement in the title. I'm a Dub, but my mother would be from a small town in the country. I find the culture there absolutely fascinating because it's so different to how I grew up.Whereas I lived in a city in Scotland for a while, and there were no significant differences to what I was used to.

Stojkovic

If I had to choose between your average Brit or your average Culchie there would be no contest.

freddiek

when the Free State came into being, was there not a mass exodus from these shores by the Dubs...?

condemned to living outside their beloved United Kingdom with a load of culchies they ve nothing in common with!

Tombo2001

I think a far more valid argument is that an Irish middle class person has more in common with English middle class person than with an Irish working class person.

Piliger

It may be an argument but imho it is a complete myth propagated by the 'resentful' class.

Slattsy

freddiek wrote: »

when the Free State came into being, was there not a mass exodus from these shores by the Dubs...?

condemned to living outside their beloved United Kingdom with a load of culchies they ve nothing in common with!

You wouldnt be anti-Dub in any way at all Freddie??

:rolleyes:

John_Rambo

Slattsy wrote: »

You wouldnt be anti-Dub in any way at all Freddie?

Check out his post history. Some sort of anti-Dub agenda going on because of his GAA experiences.

How city folks disinterest in mediocre American country music makes them English is beyond me. Surely the journalist could have delved in to the historical links between the music, it's influences and rural Ireland instead of having childish swipes at fellow countrymen.

Slattsy

Oh i know, seen it in the GAA forum, think he's banned from the Dublin thread now.

I think a Dub must have stole his bird lol