US billionaire calls out Ireland as "no one wants to live here"

Elite Genetics

Elite Genetics wrote: »

It's not. The only place with worse weather than Ireland is Iceland..

Scotland

jackboy

Hamachi wrote: »

Good point and age is definitely a factor. We’re all in our 30s. However, having a partner and children isn’t unique to Ireland. People in other countries also get busy and become time poor as they get a little older.

What is pretty noticeable here is that Irish people do shut down when their lives become busier. As you say, they have no need for or interest in developing friendships after a certain age. From my experience abroad, I didn’t notice this same degree of ‘shut down’ at 25 or 30. My own circle of friends abroad spanned 20-somethings to lads in their 50s. This isn’t something you see very much in Ireland.

I would say almost all of the friendships Irish people have in their early 20’s are fake relationships. They only use these ‘friends’ as people to do things with but deep down don’t care for them at all. This is why they can be dropped like a stone without a second thought when circumstances change. This can be incredibly jarring for the last in the group to partner up.

Hamachi

jackboy wrote: »

I would say almost all of the friendships Irish people have in their early 20’s are fake relationships. They only use these ‘friends’ as people to do things with but deep down don’t care for them at all. This is why they can be dropped like a stone without a second thought when circumstances change. This can be incredibly jarring for the last in the group to partner up.

So Matthew Prince is right? Irish people are generally mercurial and closed off to outsiders?

jackboy

Hamachi wrote: »

So Matthew Prince is right? Irish people are generally mercurial and closed off to outsiders?

Deep down mostly closed off to insiders also. In modern Ireland true friendships are a rare thing. It might be the same in lots of other countries also but I don’t know much about them.

BloodyBill

jackboy wrote: »

Deep down mostly closed off to insiders also. In modern Ireland true friendships are a rare thing. It might be the same in lots of other countries also but I don’t know much about them.

Have to agree. My wife isn't Irish and found Dubliners extremely unfriendly but some of the older generation bucked the trend. We live in the UK now where bus drivers have a smile and shop assistants say 'thank you and have a good morning'. The friendly shop assistants in Ireland are Eastern European.
Ireland is a great country..safe and good standard of living but by God we can be smug. Tucked into the UKs defensive realm but still in Europe we feel as safe as houses. So yeah the billionaire is mostly right we love the sound of our own voices ... lots of egos in Ireland

Thelonious Monk

Deleted User wrote: »

Scotland

Debateable, Edinburgh got nicer weather last summer, it often avoids the constant cloud coming from the Atlantic during the summer, and when London is baking in a heatwave it often gets some of that sun that we don't get.
I spent a year there and the winter was actually quite pleasant.
Either way just because Scotland might have worse weather than ours doesn't mean ours isn't awful!

BloodyBill

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Debateable, Edinburgh got nicer weather last summer, it often avoids the constant cloud coming from the Atlantic during the summer, and when London is baking in a heatwave it often gets some of that sun that we don't get.
I spent a year there and the winter was actually quite pleasant.
Either way just because Scotland might have worse weather than ours doesn't mean ours isn't awful!

Im in Devon. The weather is the same as the Midwest in Ireland..rains a good bit but rarely snows..its a little less windy. To be honest the weather isn't a factor. Iv been to Dubai and its a hellhole with its 45 degree summers..

Hamachi

jackboy wrote: »

Deep down mostly closed off to insiders also. In modern Ireland true friendships are a rare thing. It might be the same in lots of other countries also but I don’t know much about them.

Fair enough. That wasn’t my experience abroad. People were more difficult to get to know, but were true friends once you moved past the hard outer shell.

If you’re right, that’s a pretty pessimistic view of the Irish character and wider society.

Thelonious Monk

BloodyBill wrote: »

Im in Devon. The weather is the same as the Midwest in Ireland..rains a good bit but rarely snows..its a little less windy. To be honest the weather isn't a factor. Iv been to Dubai and its a hellhole with its 45 degree summers..

I spent 2 weeks in Devon once and it was beautifully sunny and warm the whole time. Good old Brixham.
That part of England gets far nicer summers than anywhere in Ireland though, when I lived in London even in bad summers you'd still get loads of weekends that are warm and sunny.

rossie1977

Elite Genetics wrote: »

I'd rather be in Alaska/Minnesota/Russia/Canada over the winter because it is so easy to protect yourself from the cold, you wear a base layer and a jacket, and that's it. The cold is completely different from Ireland, as it is so damp and wet, you progressively get colder over time, imagine jumping into a river then walking around in -5 temperature while in Canada, you would get this amazing dry, fresh cold that doesn't make you feel miserable over time. -5 in Ireland for me is way colder than -20 anywhere else. It's also very windy and rainy which adds to the difficulty.

I was in Chicago when it was - 20c and windchill made it much colder and never experienced anything like that level of coldness in Ireland. So cold it effected breathing.

Seamai

BloodyBill wrote: »

The friendly shop assistants in Ireland are Eastern European.

My experience over the last 20 years has been quite the opposite, I've walked out of several shops and reported staff because of obnoxious attitudes most of whom were eastern European.
I've heard many Americans complaining about unfriendly staff in the hospitality sector here without realising that many of the people they were dealing with were not Irish but then by American standards anyone who isn't fawning over them is probably viewed as unfriendly.
I don't think Dublin is the friendliest city though you're right, older people are more likely to strike up a conversation than a 20 or 30 year old.

Elite Genetics

Elite Genetics wrote: »

In regards to summer, why Wicklow or Arizona are the only choices? My personal choice is Arizona of course, you'll always find a a way to cool yourself, while getting warm is much more difficult and energy consuming. But I'd take Paris, London, NYC... over Dublin anytime in summer. Dublin also has the best weather in Ireland with least amount of rain, anywhere west of Dublin is a different story, rain for majority of the days of the year.

Do you live in Arizona?, because if not you don't know if it is your actual personal choice yet. As for London and Paris, you dont even need a visa.

Hamachi

Seamai wrote: »

My experience over the last 20 years has been quite the opposite, I've walked out of several shops and reported staff because of obnoxious attitudes most of whom were eastern European.

This echoes my experience. The worst I’ve encountered from Irish retail workers is indifference.

I don’t know who decided it was a good idea to place Eastern Europeans in customer-facing roles. I’ve never bothered complaining, but the sheer hostility and obnoxiousness exhibited by a not insignificant number of EE retail staff, is breathtaking.

BloodyBill

BloodyBill wrote: »

Have to agree. My wife isn't Irish and found Dubliners extremely unfriendly but some of the older generation bucked the trend. We live in the UK now where bus drivers have a smile and shop assistants say 'thank you and have a good morning'. The friendly shop assistants in Ireland are Eastern European.

See, it clearly depends. You didn't say where you are in England but I bet it is not London. Dublin isnt the size of London but it has that modern ultra capitalist vibe, overcrowding, heavy traffic, low level criminality that you have to be aware of. People are closed off and stressed.

Edit:

Ah you actually said later you were in Devon. Its not that fair to compare Devon to Dublin, you should compare the rural Ireland to Devon. That said the south west of England is very very friendly. I was surprised to find that a female official there considered me her lover. I never met the woman.

Hamachi

Hamachi wrote: »

This echoes my experience. The worst I’ve encountered from Irish retail workers is indifference.

I don’t know who decided it was a good idea to place Eastern Europeans in customer-facing roles. I’ve never bothered complaining, but the sheer hostility and obnoxiousness exhibited by a not insignificant number of EE retail staff, is breathtaking.

Yeh, some are fine of course. But shopping in Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary, is not a joyous thing to do. I feel like I am putting them out by entering the shop. That attitude transfers to here.

whisky_galore

Hamachi wrote: »

This echoes my experience. The worst I’ve encountered from Irish retail workers is indifference.

I don’t know who decided it was a good idea to place Eastern Europeans in customer-facing roles. I’ve never bothered complaining, but the sheer hostility and obnoxiousness exhibited by a not insignificant number of EE retail staff, is breathtaking.

I don't know what shops you're going into but I've found the (presumably) Polish checkout assistants here to be great, likewise Polish in their home country.
Hungary and parts of Czech Rep are almost uniformly awful for customer service. It's like you're ruining their day by coming into their shop or cafe.

Hamachi

Hamachi wrote: »

So Matthew Prince is right? Irish people are generally mercurial and closed off to outsiders?

Irish people are cliquey as hell and always have been.

I wonder how much experience of Ireland this billionaire guy had?

If he lived here for a few years in different parts of the country, then I would take what he said more seriously. In my lifetime I have lived in the NW of Ireland which I found to be very friendly. I lived for a few years in Cork and I found the people to be friendly in a quieter sort of a way. I lived in Dublin at the start of the boom and it was the best few years Ive had in this country. I lived for a year in Derry and made a lot of good friends, the people up there I found to be very decent. The one place I found it hard to really get to know people was Waterford.

All that said, comparing today to 20 - 25 years ago, the biggest difference I can see is the way young people communicate, or are less able to communicate than young people 25 years ago. I blame the smartphones.

BloodyBill

[Deleted User] wrote: »

See, it clearly depends. You didn't say where you are in England but I bet it is not London. Dublin isnt the size of London but it has that modern ultra capitalist vibe, overcrowding, heavy traffic, low level criminality that you have to be aware of. People are closed off and stressed.

Edit:

Ah you actually said later you were in Devon. Its not that fair to compare Devon to Dublin, you should compare the rural Ireland to Devon. That said the south west of England is very very friendly. I was surprised to find that a female official there considered me her lover. I never met the woman.

I lived in London for three years. Loved the place,best city in the world in my opinion. Londoners are friendly, maybe not as open as Northerners or the West Country but extremely polite. Id say londoners are much more friendly than Dubliners and for some reason they don't have the condescending attitude that some Dubliners have. The best Dubliners iv met were in London where they have had their egos deflated and are actually in a world city. They are much more humble there ..no Culchie stuff ect... and in all honesty I'm focusing on Dubs but in general Irish people are better outside of Ireland . We are more chilled out and stuff.
Yep I'm in Devon. iv experienced the 'my lover' thing in shops. I nearly keeled over..She handed me my change and said there you go 'me lover'... its the home of the pirates..all those 17th and 18th century buccaneers are from down here. Theres Captain Jack Sparrows all over the place.

AutoTuning

One thing to bear in mind is when you move abroad you tend to move with a different mindset and circulate in different circles to home.

At home be it Ireland or anywhere else, the people in your circle are often just there because you know them for years from school or whatever, or neighbours. When you move, you have to make effort and when you’re in an international city, everyone does.

I lived in Brussels and while you’d get to know a lot of international types, making real friends are was hard. Everyone is transient and the local Brusseleers / Brusselois often don’t want to know you as they assume you’re “international” and will be gone in 2 years.

I found Boston both warm and cold. For example, my colleagues never once thought of being friendly outside organised events by the company. I had one friendly neighbour and generally spent a year there often ending up having dinner or lunch on my own. Didn’t find it a particularly friendly city and could often be quite gruff and abrasive.

I’d an absolutely brilliant time in London, but I was working in very vibrant companies and I wasn’t circulating with Londoners really at all. Most of my friends were and are either from other parts of the U.K. or were international.

Spent time in rural France and it makes the most remote far flung irish village seem like the most friendly place ever. You can’t get to know anyone, even if you speak fluent French, and they can be supremely cliquey.

Paris was also cold as ice most of the time. You can’t get to know people at all unless you somehow break into a circle and that’s not easy as it’s often around college time those circles form. There isn’t any context like a pub where you can just go and strike up random conversation. You’d just be the weirdo who’s attempting to talk to people and be totally ignored.

The only way you’ll meet people as a adult in Ireland or anywhere in my experience is to join things that create contexts. You’re not going to just encounter people on the street or in bars and suddenly become the best of friends, unless you’ve a context.

Even in university, most of my proper friendships happened in club/society contexts not just chatting to some random person in a big lecture.

Ireland’s absolutely brimming with Meetup groups, language groups, walking groups, local theatre, arts groups, live music, sports, clubs, local organisations, community projects, voluntary stuff of every type you can think of. If you get involved you meet tons of people very quickly.

Obviously most of this is paused during the pandemic, which is really not very pleasant, but hopefully life starts happening again in the next few months.

Otherwise, you’ll circulate in your secondary school groups for life.

Wibbs

AutoTuning wrote: »

There isn’t any context like a pub where you can just go and strike up random conversation. You’d just be the weirdo who’s attempting to talk to people and be totally ignored.

In France, Spain and Italy I found the locals were flabbergasted that I'd just strike up a conversation with strangers in a bar, or anywhere really. They immediately assumed I must somehow know them and when I told them I didn't it really didn't compute for them(particularly the French). This was the case even when the strangers were other Irish people. Funny enough I never encountered any resistance from local stangers when I did strike up a convo. Some initial surprise at times, but otherwise grand and in two cases we kept in contact. Now granted I'll talk to the wall, but still, that did surprise me.

AutoTuning

It depends where. You can be lucky in France or you can get “non! Merci.”

It’s not that France is unfriendly, but if you don’t have context to be sociable, you’re not able to be.

Belgium isn’t as bad as there’s a bar culture and they can be chattier.

I think though there’s a bit of an issue with people assuming you can just wander up and strike up a conversation without any reason to do so. You can to a very narrow degree do that in Ireland, but it’s limited to certain contexts, like pubs. Other than that you need to be somewhere for a purpose and everyone has to be in the making friends mode.

Also you have friends and acquaintances, and much more of the later than the former.

It shows that there’s a demand for online connectivity ton when you see sites like Meetup are very busy, people date on Tinder and other sites because most of us aren’t that good and just rocking up and introducing ourselves to random strangers and I think the very technology that Mr Cloudflare is playing a role in supporting, is playing a huge part in changing how humans interact (or don’t).

I mean if you take something like Tinder. In my 20s it would have been very unusual to have met someone online and would have been seen as a bit “weird” or dangerous. Now I’m hearing a lot of people explain how that they exclusively meet people through dating apps.

That’s a whole art of flirting and need for venues to flirt in fading away.

Wibbs

Oh it certainly depends on the individual alright. In my own family I noticed that difference even when I was a kid. My dad could put the talk on anyone and it would be reciprocated, my mother would have required a gun to her head to talk to random strangers and when she did it would be awkward for all concerned. While IMHO the introvert/extrovert model is often too simplistic and self reinforcing I grew up around near picture perfect examples of both.

AutoTuning

Different people and different cultures often have quite different ways of socialising though and they’re not all seamlessly compatible or comparable.

I think though to say that Ireland is unwelcoming to outsiders is nonsense and would suggest that the guy has never actually lived or socialised here, or is basing his view on one bad experience, or the sentiments of someone who has a massive bag of chips on their shoulder.

Ireland isn’t California, but then again California isn’t Texas and Texas isn’t Tokyo.

I find a certain element just can’t adapt to cultural differences and it’s not just Americans. I’ve seen French people get annoyed over Irish or American lack of a culture of strict, table-based dining for example and I’ve seen Irish people be utterly flabbergasted at the formality around meals in France.

The ones who get on best abroad are flexible and find these differences interesting, not challenging.

The world doesn’t adapt to fit what you grew up with. Nor is what you grew up with the only way that things are done or is it even necessarily the best way of doing things. It’s just different.

Hamachi

BloodyBill wrote: »

... and in all honesty I'm focusing on Dubs but in general Irish people are better outside of Ireland . We are more chilled out and stuff.

Have to say that this doesn’t ring true for me at all. I met a number of ‘interesting’ Irish people during my years on the continent. I found a few to be exceptionally wary of fellow Irish people.

For instance, a simple question about what part of the country they come from, elicited a pretty defensive response. Another guy had set himself up as a stage Irishman and became borderline hostile when he was no longer the only ‘paddy in the village’.

The city I lived in had less than a hundred Irish people resident there. I knew a few of the others pretty well and they had similar experiences, particularly with the latter guy who all of us had encountered during our time there. If anything, we concluded that some of the Irish weren’t being themselves and were pretty unrepresentative of people at home.

Randy Archer

AutoTuning wrote: »

No, but to be fair we do get a rather raw deal with hibernophobia and nasty stereotyping from time to time and, despite the friendliness, you can get the odd whack of it from the USA too - I’ve had to put up with a bit of it myself when living over there. Most of its harmless but it really can get a bit annoying. Like people asking me where my lucky charms are...It’s hilarious and nobody has ever thought of that joke before, but you do feel at times that all they see is a cartoon leprechaun because you don’t have an American accent.

I had some weird stuff in the USA like strange jokes about potatoes and an assumption that I’m a right wing Catholic.

American perceptions of Ireland vary but they can be very steeped in stereotypes, particularly for those that have never really spent any time here or encountered Irish people who aren’t irish Americans at a Patrick’s day event.

There’s a constant assumption that Irish (and British) food is awful. Seemingly we eat nothing but potatoes, corned beef and cabbage, while the English exist on a diet of nothing but boiled food, Toad in the ‘ole and various weird Victorian desserts that sound like unfortunate illnesses.

The result of that is its much harder to market Irish foods in the USA than it is in Europe, where there are few preconceptions about Ireland other than “very green place” or sometimes in France the perception can be extremely artsy due to their connection with Irish literature and music that crossed over the language barrier etc and the Breton connections.

The Irish Americans are worse for it . Go onto websites like Irish Central, a group previously owned by Niall O’Dowd. The articles are laughable and big up all the stereotypes with glee , always waffling about JFK too (what an overrated man) . The usual commentators, none of whom are actually Irish, are total HEAD BANGERS who still think Ireland is back in the 1950s . They are also rather self obsessed- especially during the Obama and Trump administrations ie commenting about US politics when the article is about Ireland and only Ireland . To them, you can’t be Irish unless you are a pious Catholic and boy, they are serious

Then you got (slightly) unfunny clowns like Conan O’Brien on the telly. It’s cringe when an actual Irish guest goes on his shows. Contrast that to the excellent Craig Ferguson ,who , while Scottish, was a lot more funnier and at least knows Ireland better than Conan

AutoTuning

@ Hamachi

I have seen exactly the same with French people abroad.

You’ll get people who avoid expat French types like the plague and others who are drawn to every French thing they see.

Plenty of people will absolutely play up their Frenchness too and someone else arriving isn’t always a the warmest of welcomes.

I’ve seen that same scenario play out with English people in France too.

I also know a few Americans in Ireland who tend to respond to other Americans as “agghhh! Americans run!!!”

Humans will be humans!

vriesmays

Ireland's a nation of poets because it's got very few philosophers.

storker

"Cold and unwelcoming". Well he should know, as that pretty much describes CloudFlare's customer service.

AutoTuning

Randy Archer wrote: »

The Irish Americans are worse for it . Go onto websites like Irish Central, a group previously owned by Niall O’Dowd. The articles are laughable and big up all the stereotypes with glee , always waffling about JFK too (what an overrated man) . The usual commentators, none of whom are actually Irish, are total HEAD BANGERS who still think Ireland is back in the 1950s . They are also rather self obsessed- especially during the Obama and Trump administrations ie commenting about US politics when the article is about Ireland and only Ireland . To them, you can’t be Irish unless you are a pious Catholic and boy, they are serious

Then you got (slightly) unfunny clowns like Conan O’Brien on the telly. It’s cringe when an actual Irish guest goes on his shows. Contrast that to the excellent Craig Ferguson ,who , while Scottish, was a lot more funnier and at least knows Ireland better than Conan

Yeah I find Conan quite unfunny at times, but then I’m not entirely plugged into American late night show humour. The unfunny monologues and set pieces on all those shows are often not funny at all and then you get the “zany” wisecracking that seems to be upstaging the guests.

I find though that on a few occasions I was basically expected to “do your Irish thing” and act the clown which I found really annoying after while and they’ll throw ludicrous stereotypes - particularly some guy taunted me in a bar and kept saying stuff about the “fighting Irish.”

I’ve also had people tell me “ah you’re not Irish” because I don’t meet the stereotype they expect me to.

The worst I’ve ever encountered was a tourist on the Cork to Dublin train. I was in a very quiet, off peak city gold coach, about 5 seats away from him and trying to get a ton of work done ahead of a meeting and I was on the phone a few times.

He wandered over and asked me where I was from. I said Dublin. He responded “You really need to work on your Irish accent buddy! - You sound like a Brit!”

I didn’t really know how to respond, but he kept trying to talk to me so, in the end I was pretty blunt and told him I booked the seat to be able to work en route, and would he mind leaving me alone!

No doubt he’s probably gone home going on about how unfriendly the Irish (or the Brits as he seems to think) are and we are sooo unwelcoming because I wasn’t flattered by being spoken to by some obnoxious asshat.

10000maniacs

Elite Genetics wrote: »

Quoting crap weather and unfriendliness.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/youre-not-welcoming-and-no-one-wants-to-live-there-us-billionaire-blasts-ireland-39820146.html

I think he has some valid points. It is dull and depressing, not sure I agree on friendliness though.

I think what he means by no one wants to live here is that the Irish themselves run away to Australia and Canada.

He should look more closely to home for things to complain about.
The great USA. LOL.
Institutional racism at the very top all the way down.
Don't get sick or have a serious accident if you have no money.
Don't come up against the legal system if you are black.
There is a black guy in prison who has already served 25 years of a 60 years to life sentence .....for selling hash.

Elite Genetics

10000maniacs wrote: »

He should look more closely to home for things to complain about.
The great USA. LOL.
Institutional racism at the very top all the way down.
Don't get sick or have a serious accident if you have no money.
Don't come up against the legal system if you are black.
There is a black guy in prison who has already served 25 years of a 60 years to life sentence .....for selling hash.

I remember seeing a video where a motorcyclist gets hit by a car then when paramedics try to put him in an ambulance, he's resisting and screaming saying that he can't afford it lol and would rather be left on the road to suffer.

ILoveYourVibes

Elite Genetics wrote: »

Quoting crap weather and unfriendliness.

I wonder why the people of Cork didn't like the uppity billionaire.

His Twitter is full of comments made in questionable taste.

Do I think we are overly friendly ? No. We are genuine.

We keep to ourselves.

Is the food great ...no.

He comes off as bitter. Which is a pathetic thing for a billionaire to be.

The idea of him feeling rejected by Ireland in his position is sad.

I am Irish ..I would never really strike up a conversation with a stranger. I find for the most part other Irish people don't either. Its not a great habit to have in the 21st century. Unless you live in a small town. But generally its not safe. And it does mark you out as a tourist. Which again marks you out as ...vulnerable. I wouldn't advise it.

ILoveYourVibes

AutoTuning wrote: »

Yeah I find Conan quite unfunny at times, but then I’m not entirely plugged into American late night show humour. The unfunny monologues and set pieces on all those shows are often not funny at all and then you get the “zany” wisecracking that seems to be upstaging the guests.

I find though that on a few occasions I was basically expected to “do your Irish thing” and act the clown which I found really annoying after while and they’ll throw ludicrous stereotypes - particularly some guy taunted me in a bar and kept saying stuff about the “fighting Irish.”

I’ve also had people tell me “ah you’re not Irish” because I don’t meet the stereotype they expect me to.

The worst I’ve ever encountered was a tourist on the Cork to Dublin train. I was in a very quiet, off peak city gold coach, about 5 seats away from him and trying to get a ton of work done ahead of a meeting and I was on the phone a few times.

He wandered over and asked me where I was from. I said Dublin. He responded “You really need to work on your Irish accent buddy! - You sound like a Brit!”

I didn’t really know how to respond, but he kept trying to talk to me so, in the end I was pretty blunt and told him I booked the seat to be able to work en route, and would he mind leaving me alone!

No doubt he’s probably gone home going on about how unfriendly the Irish (or the Brits as he seems to think) are and we are sooo unwelcoming because I wasn’t flattered by being spoken to by some obnoxious asshat.

I used to have to take a lot of intercountry bus routes /train routes ...i had many similar experiences.

The weird thing is ...several tour operators must put groups on the same train /bus route. Most of the people i met were coming Down From belfast after doing a tour there.

Every second American tourist wanted to talk to me about the IRA at 7 in the morning.:rolleyes:

Mad_maxx

Mr.S wrote: »

His comments are pretty OTT but I think this point, has some truth:

“You are not a very welcoming community to outsiders.". My company would hire in a tone of international people (rest of Europe mostly), and most of them always say the same thing, that the Irish people are very nice, but not welcoming unless you are part of their clique and it's hard to properly integrate at first. But once they get over that, they all love it. Apart from housing costs.

Interestingly, it's always the Americans who have the hardest / worst time integrating.

The other points on food and weather are just stupid.

we are not welcoming to people from a different part of the country , never mind a different country

we are extremely clannish and parochial as a people , its especially pronounced in the west of ireland

ILoveYourVibes

Mad_maxx wrote: »

we are not welcoming to people from a different part of the country , never mind a different country

we are extremely clannish as a people , its especially pronounced in the west of ireland

TBH most people from other parts of the country think this is the right and proper way to be.

You kind of have to marry into the place ..like marry a son of a big wheel in cork or something.

ILoveYourVibes

AutoTuning wrote: »

I also know a few Americans in Ireland who tend to respond to other Americans as “agghhh! Americans run!!!”

They tend to be the ones living here though.

ILoveYourVibes

BloodyBill wrote: »

Have to agree. My wife isn't Irish and found Dubliners extremely unfriendly but some of the older generation bucked the trend.

My dad and grandparents could be voted least likely to crack a smile.

I have to say ...i admire the honesty of this thread.

I must prefer this stereotype.

Really Ireland is STILL like the field.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Crap weather? How fukcing dare he!

Kewreeuss

Weather is great. its the lack of light that's the killer, that cloud blanket brushing the tree tops for days.

ILoveYourVibes

Kewreeuss wrote: »

Weather is great. its the lack of light that's the killer, that cloud blanket brushing the tree tops for days.

ugh it has me so depressed right now

Wibbs

The weather here is OK, not much in the way of extremes, but that makes it pretty meh. I'd much prefer actual seasons and less damp, oh god, less damp. The damp here is crazy.

On the Beach

Wibbs wrote:

The weather here is OK, not much in the way of extremes, but that makes it pretty meh. I'd much prefer actual seasons and less damp, oh god, less damp. The damp here is crazy.

One might say moist sir.

Mr.S

Mr.S wrote: »

His comments are pretty OTT but I think this point, has some truth:

“You are not a very welcoming community to outsiders.". My company would hire in a tone of international people (rest of Europe mostly), and most of them always say the same thing, that the Irish people are very nice, but not welcoming unless you are part of their clique and it's hard to properly integrate at first. But once they get over that, they all love it. Apart from housing costs.

Interestingly, it's always the Americans who have the hardest / worst time integrating.

The other points on food and weather are just stupid.

Because people have established friends. When I lived in Germany for a while I had few German friends, just friendly enough work colleagues, but got friendly with other migrants. English mostly. This is common with the exception of true world cities, places where everybody is transient.

ILoveYourVibes

On the Beach wrote: »

One might say moist sir.

How about this moldy!?

DilD

He's not far off the mark at all. Take our egos out of it and he's not wrong.

Mad_maxx

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

TBH most people from other parts of the country think this is the right and proper way to be.

You kind of have to marry into the place ..like marry a son of a big wheel in cork or something.

Yes, unless people know you're seed ,breed and generation, you're untrustworthy and quite possibly a wrong un

riclad

It depends on where you live, I dont think anyone in dublin cares where you come from as long as you are polite well mannered and law abiding
I like Irish weather because it changes every day
I would be boring to live in a country where its just
sunny everyday or maybe rains once a month
I have always found dublin people very friendly.
It might be different if you have a foreign accent or are a member of
a minority group eg Polish etc

ILoveYourVibes

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Yes, unless people know you're seed ,breed and generation, you're untrustworthy and quite possibly a wrong un

am deffo untrustworthy!:D

ILoveYourVibes

DilD wrote: »

He's not far off the mark at all. Take our egos out of it and he's not wrong.

Of course.

But tis hardly the tongue of grace itself that calls the other graceless.

Grace calls the two left feet graceful.