Do you consider yourself european?

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

That cow we had as a "health" minister once remarked how culturally we are closer to Boston than Berlin and she wasn't wrong.

Economically we are fully European but we are very much in the Anglosphere both culturally and socially.

karma_

DLMA23 wrote: »

No

No what?

You don't consider yourself to be something that you indisputably are?

This place is becoming like a UKIP convention center.

karma_

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

That cow we had as a "health" minister once remarked how culturally we are closer to Boston than Berlin and she wasn't wrong.

Economically we are fully European but we are very much in the Anglosphere both culturally and socially.

As someone who lived in Boston, let me tell you this is pure horseshít.

cloud493

Sure few people, even on the continent, would describe themselves as European before their actual nationality.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

karma_ wrote: »

As someone who lived in Boston, let me tell you this is pure horseshít.

We are far more influenced and drawn culturally to the Anglosphere than to continental Europe and that is a fact. It is the reason why we have hundreds of thousands of Irish born people each in the UK, US and Australia with plenty in Canada too. Every other continental European nation has vastly smaller numbers of Irish people.

The only dominant foreign influence that Irish people enjoy from Europe is economic. Our food is Irish/UK/world, our tv is Irish/UK/US/Aus, our music is Irish/UK/US, our films are US, our sports are Irish/UK, our first language is English and then Irish with very few fluent speakers of European languages, we dress like the UK ect ect ect.

Boston might be quite different to Cork but that's not the point of my statement.

c_man

karma_ wrote: »

No what?

You don't consider yourself to be something that you indisputably are?

This place is becoming like a UKIP convention center.

Jeez, overreact much? Lots of people don't automatically associate themselves with the same brand as you ergo they're lunatics like UKIP?


Anyways, for me I'll always put boards.ie ahead of boards.eu

AudreyHepburn

No, I'm Irish first, then a Dubliner.

I don't ever think of myself as European because I see Europe as the continent that includes France, Spain, Italy etc, although I know technically we are part of it.

jimgoose

karma_ wrote: »

No what?

You don't consider yourself to be something that you indisputably are?

This place is becoming like a UKIP convention center.

The only thing I indisputably am is Irish. Whether or not I am "European" is debatable to say the very least. I certainly don't consider myself Continental European from a cultural point-of-view.

the_monkey

Culturally we are more American then European - so no I don't consider myself European , I'm an Irishman ...

DeadHand

karma_ wrote: »

As someone who lived in Boston, let me tell you this is pure horseshít.

But you did live there. As (I assume) an Irish person you're more likely to have lived in Boston for an extended period of time than most continental European cities. Which was partly the point the poster you retorted was trying to make.

dickface

y

DLMA23

karma_ wrote: »

No what?

You don't consider yourself to be something that you indisputably are?

This place is becoming like a UKIP convention center.

The OP was..."Do you consider yourself european?"

What part of my answer did you not comprehend?

You may consider yourself European, I however do not.

I am Irish & indisputably have no allegiance to Europe as far as I'm concerned, no matter how much it písses you off.

topper75

RobertKK wrote: »

Genetically most Irish can be traced to where we came from...northern Spain.

Grew up out of the ground there did we?

Keep on keeping south!

If I feel a cultural bond or particular empathy with anywhere outside Ireland it would actually be the U.K. or the U.S.A.

I've travelled all over and very much enjoyed Europe. Doesn't make me feel one bit similar to them though as an Irish person.

4zn76tysfajdxp

RobertKK wrote: »

Genetically most Irish can be traced to where we came from...northern Spain.

topper75 wrote: »

Grew up out of the ground there did we?

Keep on keeping south!

Southern Spain...?

Badly Drunk Boy

karma_ wrote: »

No what?

You don't consider yourself to be something that you indisputably are?

This place is becoming like a UKIP convention center.

That's not a very European way to spell 'centre'! :pac:

A Bostonian might spell it like that, though.

karma_

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

We are far more influenced and drawn culturally to the Anglosphere than to continental Europe and that is a fact. It is the reason why we have hundreds of thousands of Irish born people each in the UK, US and Australia with plenty in Canada too. Every other continental European nation has vastly smaller numbers of Irish people.

The only dominant foreign influence that Irish people enjoy from Europe is economic. Our food is Irish/UK/world, our tv is Irish/UK/US/Aus, our music is Irish/UK/US, our films are US, our sports are Irish/UK, our first language is English and then Irish with very few fluent speakers of European languages, we dress like the UK ect ect ect.

Boston might be quite different to Cork but that's not the point of my statement.

This may surprise you, but culturally we are vastly different from Americans, I mean, it's not even close, there's a massive gaping chasm between us and the yanks.

Cool Mo D

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

We are far more influenced and drawn culturally to the Anglosphere than to continental Europe and that is a fact. It is the reason why we have hundreds of thousands of Irish born people each in the UK, US and Australia with plenty in Canada too. Every other continental European nation has vastly smaller numbers of Irish people.

The only dominant foreign influence that Irish people enjoy from Europe is economic. Our food is Irish/UK/world, our tv is Irish/UK/US/Aus, our music is Irish/UK/US, our films are US, our sports are Irish/UK, our first language is English and then Irish with very few fluent speakers of European languages, we dress like the UK ect ect ect.

Boston might be quite different to Cork but that's not the point of my statement.

We have a very close relationship with the UK, but the culture here is nothing like the USA. The shared language gives us a false sense of how different we are to the rest of Europe and how similar we are to the USA. Every country in Europe listens to American music and watches American films and TV - we are no different there.

Culturally, we are a lot closer to the rest of Europe than the USA, especially attitudes to things like work, religion, politics and alcohol.

karma_

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

That's not a very European way to spell 'centre'! :pac:

A Bostonian might spell it like that, though.

Aye, unfortunately a byproduct of my time there, that and my pronunciation of the word 'schedule'.

A man can't have everything though.

karma_

DLMA23 wrote: »

The OP was..."Do you consider yourself european?"

What part of my answer did you not comprehend?

You may consider yourself European, I however do not.

I am Irish & indisputably have no allegiance to Europe as far as I'm concerned, no matter how much it písses you off.

See the thing is there is nothing to 'consider' we just are European. End of story.

Iwasfrozen

Shenshen wrote: »

Yes, entirely.

I've seen enough of the world to recognise that Europe is indeed a cultural union, and a very close one at that.
You only ever really get to see your own culture once you look at it through another culture's eyes.

I would say we have more in common with Canada, the US and Australia than Italy, France or Germany.

Iwasfrozen

karma_ wrote: »

See the thing is there is nothing to 'consider' we just are European. End of story.

Geographically yes but culturally we have more in common with the US than European states.

karma_

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Geographically yes but culturally we have more in common with the US than European states.

Lived there have you?

LuckyLloyd

Nope.

The Corinthian

DeadHand wrote: »

The Dub and the Leitrimite would very likely speak the same language, play the same sports, eat the same foods, listen to the same music, read the same books, watch the same television, experienced the same rituals growing up, would know someone roughly from the other's locality unless either were recent arrivals.

Not a very good argument really.

Sports, no; the emphasis on sports is quite different between Dublin and non-Dublin - a Dublin lad is far more likely to be playing Rugby that the lad from Leitrim.

And food, please - I suppose Supermacs is big in Dublin?

As to rituals growing up, I can attest to them not being the same having gone to school down the country and coming from Dublin. How many Dubs will have experienced harvest festivals, 'hops' or hare coursing?

Television? Sure, we're all watching the UK channels. Indeed, ignoring for a moment that regional accents and vocabulary can vary greatly even within a country as small as Ireland (sure, you'd have to be a queer fella not to know that) your point about language might lead one to conclude that we might as well be British.

This is not to say that your Dub and Culchie have no commonality, but your'e also underestimating regional differences and overlooking that much of that commonality has nothing to do with being from the same country.

Put your hypothetical Damo in a room with a lad from Carrick on Shannon and a lad from Palermo and see who he clicks with first. It won't be Ciro from Sicily.

Not as simple as that - unless both parties are illiterate, I suppose. One of the things that the Internet has allowed us to experience is that we tend to have more in common with those with similar educational backgrounds than any kind of national affiliation. As long as there is a common language, then your hypothetical Damo in a room with a lad from Carrick on Shannon probably won't have much in common with each other, especially if the latter has a degree and Damo left school at 16. And if Ciro from Sicily has a similar level of education to our lad from Carrick on Shannon, they're far more likely to hit it off.

Try living abroad for a few years and you'll quickly realize that the same passport does not mean you have much in common with someone else.

But most of all is the stupid notion that there's some sort of homogeneous pan-European culture to measure against. That a German is the same as a Greek or a Slovakian or an Italian. Or even that we have to be exactly the same.

Truth is, take away the common language and you'll probably find that American culture is quite a bit further away from ours than French culture would be.

Shenshen

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

I would say we have more in common with Canada, the US and Australia than Italy, France or Germany.

I have lived in Canada, been to the US, Italy and France and was born in Germany.

The only thing you have in common with the US, Canada and Australia is the language - in some cases.

Culturally, politically and socially, Ireland has by far more in common with Europe than with any other place.

jimgoose

The Corinthian wrote: »

...Truth is, take away the common language and you'll probably find that American culture is quite a bit further away from ours than French culture would be.

Which one? Appalachian mountain-man? Noo Yawk/Bawstan Big Irish Bastid? Texas Awl Barin? New England WASP? Minnesota Bork-Bork? California alien??

_Kaiser_

Thread is in bad need of a poll really

jimgoose

Shenshen wrote: »

I have lived in Canada, been to the US, Italy and France and was born in Germany.

The only thing you have in common with the US, Canada and Australia is the language - in some cases.

Culturally, politically and socially, Ireland has by far more in common with Europe than with any other place.

My house is like a small protectorate of Louisiana. I am thinking of officially changing my race to "Coonass", as I refer to it as the Swamp, drink Bourbon, play banjo, occasionally wear dungarees and a straw hat, and gibber unintelligibly simply because it's fun. C'est bon!! :pac:

Saruman

Both. If someone asks me where I'm from, I say Ireland.
I consider myself European.
I consider myself Irish.

Barely There

Sometimes when I'm eating croissants having a little tete-a-tete with my wife (who's a real femme fatale) beside me wearing her lingerie, I'll get swepped up in the zeitgeist and feel a real espirit de corps with my fellow Europeans and actually feel like a real bona fide European myself.

preston johnny

Barely There wrote: »

Sometimes when I'm eating croissants having a little tete-a-tete with my wife (who's a real femme fatale) beside me wearing her lingerie, I'll get swepped up in the zeitgeist and feel a real espirit de corps with my fellow Europeans and actually feel like a real bona fide European myself.

I bet you do

Iwasfrozen

karma_ wrote: »

Lived there have you?

Briefly.

topper75

Barely There wrote: »

Sometimes when I'm eating croissants having a little tete-a-tete with my wife (who's a real femme fatale) beside me wearing her lingerie, I'll get swepped up in the zeitgeist and feel a real espirit de corps with my fellow Europeans and actually feel like a real bona fide European myself.

Jaysus. Geallaimse leat a chara - ní bhfaighfeá a leithéad de cac as aon fíor-Gael.

Iwasfrozen

Shenshen wrote: »

I have lived in Canada, been to the US, Italy and France and was born in Germany.

The only thing you have in common with the US, Canada and Australia is the language - in some cases.

Culturally, politically and socially, Ireland has by far more in common with Europe than with any other place.

I disagree culturally, politically, socially and psychologically we have far more in common with the US and Canada than France and Germany. Especially Canada.

The Corinthian

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

I disagree culturally, politically, socially and psychologically we have far more in common with the US and Canada than France and Germany. Especially Canada.

Is that a fuzzy feeling or would you like to back it up with something more?

Westernyelp

European 1st, Mayo 2nd and Irish 3rd

recylingbin

I'm more ballyjamesduff than ballyjamesdusseldorf tbphwy.

c_man

I thought the OP was pretty clear, that we are given geographic reasons but that was expanded on (by and by where are Europe's eastern borders???).

Interesting how the no/meh answers are really irking some people.

BoJack Horseman

I'm happy to see myself as European & Irish.
I identity with it.

More locally than that?
Can't be bothered.

karma_

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

I disagree culturally, politically, socially and psychologically we have far more in common with the US and Canada than France and Germany. Especially Canada.

Bollocks of the highest order.

karma_

c_man wrote: »

I thought the OP was pretty clear, that we are given geographic reasons but that was expanded on (by and by where are Europe's eastern borders???).

Interesting how the no/meh answers are really irking some people.

The Urals.

DLMA23

karma_ wrote: »

Bollocks of the highest order.

You are, but we forgive you

Iwasfrozen

karma_ wrote: »

Bollocks of the highest order.

Christ. You're very touchy on the subject. We have more in common with the countries we formally colonized. Sorry if that offends you...

karma_

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Christ. You're very touchy on the subject. We have more in common with the countries we formally colonized. Sorry if that offends you...

It doesn't offend me. You have proffered an opinion on the matter but have not provided ONE single example to back it up.

I've lived in the states for a number of years and know with absolute certainty that we have almost nothing in common with the average American, culturally, socially, politically (LOL) or psychologically (??). Indeed the only thing I found that we had in common was language, and even that had its differences.

And 'we'??? LOL

Iwasfrozen

Well I've lived in the US briefly and I disagree. It's perfectly fine for two people to disagree on something.

karma_

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Well I've lived in the US briefly and I disagree. It's perfectly fine for two people to disagree on something.

A two week holiday doesn't count.

jimgoose

karma_ wrote: »

It doesn't offend me. You have proffered an opinion on the matter but have not provided ONE single example to back it up.

I've lived in the states for a number of years and know with absolute certainty that we have almost nothing in common with the average American, culturally, socially, politically (LOL) or psychologically (??). Indeed the only thing I found that we had in common was language, and even that had its differences.

And 'we'??? LOL

I've worked with Yanks (and old Confederacah sharpshooters! ) all my adult life, and I've spent more time over there than most, and I disagree. This is my opinion, which is my own.

Iwasfrozen

karma_ wrote: »

A two week holiday doesn't count.

I agree. What's your point?

Saruman

I'm married to an American for 10 years and it has probably taken her 5 to 7 years to become used to life in Europe, not Ireland, Europe. She lived in Prague for a year before here. Our lifestyles are so different, so laid back compared to the US.
Even the Irish Americans (she was an O'Brien) have little in common with Ireland in life attitude.

We are closest to the UK because they have had the largest influence on our culture in the past but we are quite similar in many ways to other European countries.
I find we get on very well with people from Finland for instance.

karma_

jimgoose wrote: »

I've worked with Yanks (and old Confederacah sharpshooters! ) all my adult life, and I've spent more time over there than most, and I disagree. This is my opinion, which is my own.

And you call then Yanks? I'm sure they love that.

Go on then, enlighten us all to the similarities?