Were you ever discriminated against for being Irish?

FTA69

Grandeeod wrote: »

My first experience was in Liverpool outside a Boots Chemist as my Mother and her friend tried to buy Condoms. Seriously. I was 11 and it was 1982. Some kid heard our accents and spitted out some anti Irish bile. Probably IRA related. We were only there on an overnight B+I shopping trip.

My second experience was on the Isle of Mann in '83 as a young kid playing outside a Guesthouse. Accent heard and then got the usual guff about being a thick Paddy along with a box in the face.

Fast forward to adult years in the UK circa early 90s and it was all built around their own ignorance and stupidity but upsetting to a degree. By **** it changed by the mid 90s and these days its not an issue. My last experience with the English was among ex pats in Spain and I reckon thats where they sent some of their more ignorant types from up North. Cavemen/women/people.

These days its all changed on that front. But from my travels outside Europe, I've never experience any anti Irish sentiment.

Mort that at age 11 your mam took you with her to buy a load of johnnies. I wouldn't know where to look.

archer22

the_syco wrote: »

Although the size is not far off, Ireland does have 11 times the population. Also, it's part of Russia.

Disputed territory, once half Japanese, completely taken by Russia at end of WW2 along with the Kuril islands.
Still claimed by Japan.

FreshTendrils

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

Slightly off topic but I went to Glasgow for the Scotland v Ireland euro 2016 qualifier thinking we would be arm in arm with our Celtic cousins .......fook me they were scum , never seen the likes anywhere in the world !!

A lot of Irish fans reported the same.

Westernyelp

theteal wrote:

I've received a bit of anti-Dublin guff from some bog hoppers over here. The natives have been more than sound though.

I think the clue is in your answer.

deisemum

I regularly got the nasty anti-Irish comments when I lived in London during the 80's and 90's, however most people were ok but I soon cottoned on to keep quiet whenever there was a bombing.

Suckit

Did this thread already exist ages ago with the first two posts almost identical, or am I a dumb Paddy that must be psychic?

metaoblivia

Never discriminated against for having Irish heritage, but I have felt personally attacked when my fellow Americans can't pronounce my surname or tell me I can't possibly have Irish heritage because my hair's too dark.

My great-great grandparents probably have better stories, but they're dead.

Gimme A Pound

metaoblivia wrote: »

Never discriminated against for having Irish heritage, but I have felt personally attacked when my fellow Americans can't pronounce my surname or tell me I can't possibly have Irish heritage because my hair's too dark.

My great-great grandparents probably have better stories, but they're dead.

Strange take by them. Black hair isn't unusual for Irish people.

sydthebeat

When I was about 19, I spent a summer in Holland.... Circa 1995... There were many signs up in the flower bulb farms "no English"....but s they wouldn't hire Irish cos they couldn't tell the difference... That was the closest I've come to Irish discrimination.

metaoblivia

Isla Plump Nitroglycerin wrote: »

Strange take by them. Black hair isn't unusual for Irish people.

About 75% of Americans who've asked about my heritage are surprised to hear Irish because my hair is black and my eyes are brown. They expect all Irish people/people of Irish heritage to have red hair and light eyes.

The other 25% think I look very "Irish" but qualify it by saying that I look "black Irish," and then I just bite my tongue and smile.

Suckit

metaoblivia wrote: »

The other 25% think I look very "Irish" but qualify it by saying that I look "black Irish," and then I just bite my tongue and smile.

Is Blackirish slightly blacker than the person next to you? (Or would that be "Blackerish")?

Also, as an Irish person I can't bite my tongue and smile at the same time... So I question your authenticity.

Bradlin

I lived in Moscow in the late 1990's and I came very close to a hiding from a group of scumbags in a Fast Food Takeaway who thought I was a Brit. Only the cod got battered, thankfully.

JohnFalstaff

When I was walking down a street in London in the early 90's, a passing cyclist launched a potato at my skull. Luckily his aim was off and he narrowly missed.

As he sped away he let out a falsetto call of 'POTATO' at me. I can only assume he somehow knew I was Irish and was mocking me.

The J Stands for Jay

irishman86 wrote: »

I currently live in Argentina and ive yet to meet anyone who didnt know about Ireland. The same with the rest of Latin America
Maybe its not known in Asia but i presume U2 have made there way there

Argentina had a load of immigration from Ireland. Have you noticed many redhaired people with Irish surnames? Despite their Irish heritage, we won't give them Irish passports.

Sadb

In London, when I was 12, I was punched by a girl because I was Irish.

Not discrimination but in the last year I was in a shop in Birmingham. When buying something the cashier asked for my post code, I had to explain for about 5 mins that I was Irish so that’s why my post code wouldn’t work. I then handed her a £50 for which she had no change, she had to call a manager to get change for her. While the manager was getting the change I apologised for only having a £50, I said that I only got 50s when I was changing my money to come to England, she asked what did I mean- she had no idea that we used euro in Ireland, she thought we used British pounds like them! Her work colleagues were equally as baffled that Ireland was an entirely different country and not part of the uk.

EdgeCase

Yeah there's a large cohort that is often blissfully ignorant of geography and history. It’s why Brexit is having a painful reality collision.

They assume nobody in the EU has ever read their jingoistic euro neighbour bashing tabloids and forgot many of the Eastern European countries that they vilified are full EU members with voting rights and vetos and stuff, not to mention the decades of French bashing the chaos they've created for Ireland and so on.

That being said there's also a very open-minded, friendly and well informed side of English / British politics and media too. It's a very, very divided country / set of countries that has a lot of deep internal identity conflicts and class conflicts than bubble up now and then.

In many ways they're culturally very close to us, but it's the things that aren't very close that suddenly stand out and can really be quite an eye opener. There's also a lot more familiarity with British quirks of culture, media, politics and idiosyncrasies from an Irish perspective than there is the other way around. It's much like the way the Canadians know everything about the USA, while many Americans think Canadians just eat maple syrup and get chased around in the snow by bears while saying "aboooot" instead of "about."

Big countries are usually unaware of their nearest neighbours and Irish British / British Irish relations are complicated by a horrible history.

Jimbob1977

I was on holiday in West Africa and paddling down a river in a pirogue. It's like a rowing boat or canoe.

Dozens of local kids started running down the banks and shouting 'Yovo Yovo' and laughing their heads off at me.

I asked the guide what it meant. She said they were calling me 'Ghost, Ghost'. I didn't mind. It kept them amused and there was no malice.

That was back in 2004.

If it happened today, I would have been triggered and sought a full and unreserved apology from the local chief.

In addition, the children would have been forced to attend a White Appreciation workshop.

EdgeCase

My dad was in rural Japan in the mid 1980s. He's about 6'5 and at that time sported a red beard. A bus load of elderly Japanese women pulled up and wanted to take photos with him!!

It's hard to say no to a bus load of Japanese grannies all fussing over you lol
Utterly harmless and they even gave him lunch!

We was saying it was like suddenly understanding what it must be like to be Daniel O'Donnell.

timthumbni

It seems this thread proves that you are more likely to be discrimated against if you are British than Irish.
I think no matter where you are the individual is as important as the nationality.

Re being pulled over when travelling to mainland uk during the troubles I was too and I am a NI unionist. I found it very understandable considering it was Irish provo terrorists who were blowing up innocent kids amongst others in England at the time. It’s a lot worse trying to get into American nowadays ffs.

ablelocks

met some British Army cadets in a bar in Germany and went back to their campsite after closing with a bunch of cans, as you do. We were having the craic in the back of one of their trucks and were there maybe 30 mins before we heard this roar - "what the **** are a bunch of paddies doing in the back of my ****ing truck - get ****ing rid now!"

the British Army owes me 3 cans.

An Claidheamh

timthumbni wrote: »

It seems this thread proves that you are more likely to be discrimated against if you are British than Irish.
I think no matter where you are the individual is as important as the nationality.

Re being pulled over when travelling to mainland uk during the troubles I was too and I am a NI unionist.

That's actually hilarious Timmy.


They don't even know anything about your kkkulture, yet you're "loyal" to your ignorant British masters.


Unionists being told by Brits they're Irish is as fun as England being knocked out of football tournaments.

timthumbni

An Claidheamh wrote: »

timthumbni wrote: »

It seems this thread proves that you are more likely to be discrimated against if you are British than Irish.
I think no matter where you are the individual is as important as the nationality.

Re being pulled over when travelling to mainland uk during the troubles I was too and I am a NI unionist.

That's actually hilarious Timmy.


They don't even know anything about your kkkulture, yet you're "loyal" to your ignorant British masters.


Unionists being told by Brits they're Irish is as fun as England being knocked out of football tournaments.

They checked at random anyone flying from Belfast and rightly so imo. Re England getting knocked out of football I’m very happy for you. Does that mean you hate England more than you support your own country. Ya wouldn’t be a Celtic supporter by any chance??. Lol.

An Claidheamh

ablelocks wrote: »

"what the **** are a bunch of paddies doing in the back of my ****ing truck - get ****ing rid now!"

the British Army owes me 3 cans.

They always seem to be taking things that aren't theirs

On another note, in Britain "military families" are often known daily mail lager lout type from council estates.

Never understand why Irish people would expect that they like us at all.

OldRio

Living in England in the 1960s was fun.
No blacks
No dogs
No Irish

Grim.

ChikiChiki

'You guys like a drink eh eh' seems to be common one. I dont drink and neither does my also Irish housemate. Plenty of my fellow countrymen play up to that stereotype not helping ourselves. One of my workmates from Cork recently complained that there is nothing to do here in Sydney but drink at the weekends. FFS there is millions of things to do. Weather is good and outdoor activities are endless.

We do not help ourselves sometimes.

An Claidheamh

timthumbni wrote: »

They checked at random anyone flying from Belfast and rightly so imo. Re England getting knocked out of football I’m very happy for you. Does that mean you hate England more than you support your own country. Ya wouldn’t be a Celtic supporter by any chance??. Lol.

Actual British subjects weren't treated like though, nor would have been allowed to.

py2006

I remember in the 80s, we went on a family holiday. I can't remember where, most likely Spain or Portugal. We went to a restaurant one night and the service was slow and a bit rude. My father coped it straight away, and joking asked the waiter "Where do you think we are from?". Of course, straight out the waiter said "England".

He went on to Dutch, German and eventually he arrived at "Ahhhhhhhh you're Irish". We got the best service then and they even changed the music to U2 and in the background.

timthumbni

An Claidheamh wrote: »

timthumbni wrote: »

They checked at random anyone flying from Belfast and rightly so imo. Re England getting knocked out of football I’m very happy for you. Does that mean you hate England more than you support your own country. Ya wouldn’t be a Celtic supporter by any chance??. Lol.

Actual British subjects weren't treated like though, nor would have been allowed to.

”

“Treated like that” ?

What, like asked a few questions coming into a port or airport? Hardly water boarding now chum. Anyway they let me on my way no worries when it became clear I wasn’t some bloodthirsty provo...

No harm done. Maybe you had a different experience if you were old enough. I can imagine your attitude could have caused a few delays....

road_high

In England got the odd "tirty tree" and potato from time to time but was all harmless slagging. No point taking it to heart and give as good as you get.

road_high

FreshTendrils wrote: »

By a country mile the most anti Irish country on the planet, and it still exists with the same potency you thought died out circa 1900.

This "celt cousins" bollocks sickens me, but Irish people would rather believe the world loves them.
Some of those Scots are mindless ****ers. How did you know he was a Scottish Canadian?

I'm slightly taken aback re the Scottish angle? It's not particularly replicated here in the mainstream- I always loved Scotland and the scots generally. Never experienced it over there either.
I do know the English can have an awful time in Scotland far more vicious than anything here. A lot of English people live in Ireland actually.

EdgeCase

road_high wrote: »

In England got the odd "tirty tree" and potato from time to time but was all harmless slagging. No point taking it to heart and give as good as you get.

I got that from a Londoner and my American colleague asked him to Say:

Uncle Arthur is having a bath:

"Uncle Aurfur is 'aving a barf"

One, two, free.

Yet he found my *correct* pronunciation of th funny.

The same types can be utterly obnoxious to people from other parts of Britain with “regional” accents. My colleague from Hull used to get “ay up chuck!” every morning and “trouble at mill by gum!”

She was laughing and joking about it for a few weeks but eventually made a complaint to HR which was upheld as she was just getting totally sick of it.

There’s also a tendency to resort to racial / regional abuse in anger. Suddenly you become that paddy *** or that Frog *** or that Taffy b**** and so on.

One Welsh woman I know who actually has an amazing accent
It’s one of the most melodic, upbeat, friendly accents I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to - she got absolutely dog’s abuse at times. People claiming they couldn’t understand her, yet it was crystal clear and really pleasant sounding!

The abuse isn’t exclusively targeted at Irish people or accents. Sadly, they’ve just got a large cohort of football hooligan type utter ****s who do a terrible disservice to the nicer aspects of England, of which it has many.

indioblack

OldRio wrote: »

Living in England in the 1960s was fun.
No blacks
No dogs
No Irish

Grim.

My mother came from Ireland in the 1940's. I always thought her mistake was to move from an insular, parochial town in Ireland to an even more insular, parochial town in the south west of England - where the last exciting event to occur had been the Norman conquest in 1066.
As a child I witnessed an argument between my mother and a woman from the north of England - ending with the woman telling my mother to "go back where you came from". Even as a child this seemed odd to me, as the woman came from further away than my mother did and this part of England had more of an historical connection to Ireland than the north of England.
When I started work, my foreman called me Mick - I soon put a stop to that. I'm half Irish, [OK by me], but I was born in this town and I never backed down to that kind of stupidity.
In my twenties I worked with an old geezer who solemnly told me that people on my side of the river were different, [inferior], to people on his side of the river. Not because of race or origin - just because of which side of the river you happened to live on. I laughed at him.
My mother was not immune to this behaviour. Travelling on the train to Fishguard to catch the ferry, my mother, [who was an Irish citizen], told a West Indian, [who, at that time, was a British subject], to "go back where he came from".
All in the past. Hopefully it stays there.

FreshTendrils

road_high wrote: »

I'm slightly taken aback re the Scottish angle? It's not particularly replicated here in the mainstream- I always loved Scotland and the scots generally. Never experienced it over there either.
I do know the English can have an awful time in Scotland far more vicious than anything here. A lot of English people live in Ireland actually.

The English are much more passive and are mostly just being a bunch of sneering twats.They can be like that with many nationalities.

The anti Irish in Scotland are mindless weirdos. They are truly exhausting.
They say it's a lot better than it used to be, which is hard to imagine.

It wasnt me123

I've had work colleagues in Australia calling me Paddy and saying potato in an "Oirish" accent - they thought it was hilarious. When I said it was racist, they laughed all the more. It was a large commercial solicitors. I didn't like it one bit. I felt they were laughing at me, not with me.

archer22

You gotta laugh, while the Irish are busy spewing venom at the English the Scots are behind them spewing venom at them ha ha ha

Franz Von Peppercorn

archer22 wrote: »

I am sure when most people would look at Japan they would not take any notice of Sakhalin island just to the north of it.
People tend to see what is important not the insignificant bits around it even if they are fairly large and 'obvious'.

most people think that Sakhalin is part of Japan.

Ireland is a fairly visible island in the (north) centre of most maps and is clearly fairly sizeable compared to Britain. If you are teaching Europe to people islands are the easy part. Same with anywhere. Ask people to name the 50 states of the US and most wont get all, but everybody gets Hawaii. Peninsulas are easy to learn off too. Florida is easy.

Of course some might just say there are the British isles but my experience is that countries who have been colonised by Britain know Ireland. In Iran when I said Ireland they all knew bobby sands for some reason.

riffmongous

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

most people think that Sakhalin is part of Japan.

Ireland is a fairly visible island in the (north) centre of most maps and is clearly fairly sizeable compared to Britain. If you are teaching Europe to people islands are the easy part. Same with anywhere. Ask people to name the 50 states of the US and most wont get all, but everybody gets Hawaii. Peninsulas are easy to learn off too. Florida is easy.

Of course some might just say there are the British isles but my experience is that countries who have been colonised by Britain know Ireland. In Iran when I said Ireland they all knew bobby sands for some reason.

You don't know the Bobby Sands/Iran connection? Funny little story

Franz Von Peppercorn

riffmongous wrote: »

You don't know the Bobby Sands/Iran connection? Funny little story

I know there was a street, they told me that. I think it was just an anti british thing. And maybe because they saw him as a martyr. They didn’t no much about him.

Just.

Where you from.
Ireland.
Ah. BOBBY SANDS!

these were street vendors.

Moghead

EdgeCase wrote: »

One of my Dublin relatives used to say that!! I pulled her up on it EVERY time! Unbelievable bit of self-abuse.

I work with an Irish person who uses this phrase too. Really annoying.

Church on Tuesday

irishman86 wrote: »

I currently live in Argentina and ive yet to meet anyone who didnt know about Ireland. The same with the rest of Latin America
Maybe its not known in Asia but i presume U2 have made there way there

That's probably down in part to the fact that one of Argentina's national heroes is William Brown born in Foxford Mayo and would go on to become Argentina's first admiral of maritime forces there, he's commonly know as the father of the Argentine Navy.

Sadb

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

That's probably down in part to the fact that one of Argentina's national heroes is William Brown born in Foxford Mayo and would go on to become Argentina's first admiral of maritime forces there, he's commonly know as the father of the Argentine Navy.

Or Che Guevara

Gimme A Pound

timthumbni wrote: »

It seems this thread proves that you are more likely to be discrimated against if you are British than Irish.

It does?

archer22 wrote: »

You gotta laugh, while the Irish are busy spewing venom at the English the Scots are behind them spewing venom at them ha ha ha

Laugh at what?

There is a cohort of Scottish people that are very anti Irish but they do not represent Scottish people in general at all. I have only been treated wonderfully by Scottish people - and in Edinburgh, which is the more protestant by far of the two main cities.

An Claidheamh

archer22 wrote: »

You gotta laugh, while the Irish are busy spewing venom at the English

???

We're spewing Venom at the English?

You either haven't been reading the thread or are actually one of those British people who don't like "banter" when it's directed at them.

Sunny Disposition

Not really discriminated against but came across stereotypes related to drink alright. Probably on firm ground to be fair, many Irish emigrants drink very heavily.
In Australia would have met people from different backgrounds who looked at us as being kind of heroes for fighting the Brits, they loved the idea of it. Actually would have seen anti British discrimination much more often than anti Irish.

theteal

Westernyelp wrote: »

I think the clue is in your answer.

That was just an AH response for grins, sure I'm half bog-hopper myshelf

mikeymouse

working for a company in London in the 70's ,I called a guy out in a meeting;his maths were wrong.
The meeting moved on only for the guy to later blurt out "There is only one thing worse than a smart Paddy,and that's a Paddy who thinks he's smart"
Everyone stopped until I started laughing , then they all joined in.
I wasn't laughing at his 'joke',just his timing.
I like to think that was what they were laughing at it as well.
very racist company, all Cockney geezers

Graces7

Yes... and I am not even Irish.. then when the offenders find that out? I get discriminated against for not being Irish... with strong Irish ancestry I can however play it both ways