What do the Irish think of Americans of Irish heritage? ?

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Priscilla Duck

It depends on the Irish American. Some are just plain annoying - they think they know more about Ireland than the Irish themselves - although granted, the likes of Des Bishop probably does, there's nothing like an objective eye to notice the flaws.

Of the Irish Americans I've met however, most are grand. I have friends from Cleveland whose family originally came from Mayo and they are as Irish as anyone born and raised in Ireland. They speak Irish better than I do, even though their grandmother left Ireland when she was 17. They eat Irish food, speak English with an Irish lilt, visit Ireland as often as they can and are very tuned in to Irish politics and current affairs (and they're not nationalists). There is no way they could be termed plastic paddies. They are culturally Irish, even though they are also proud of the American side of their heritage.

That doesn't make them a notch higher than any other American, though. One culture isn't necessarily better than any other.

Rory M

You're just americans to me.

when the sun goes down

unless like your parents are from ireland and you're just born in america then you're just an average american.

for instance, if my great grandmother was american but i've been born and raised in ireland, would you see me as american? or just an ordinary irish person

Shiori_hime

This question actually came up quite a bit while I was over there conducting my research. The general consensus from both native Irish people and the Irish-Americans I spoke to was that on the one hand, we're not Irish and people kind of chuckle at us behind our backs sometimes (especially when we insist that we ARE Irish darn it, look at all the green we wear and all the corned beef and cabbage we eat!), but at the same time we're in a different category of foreigners than, say, a French-American or a Chinese-American. We're not really part of the tribe, but we're not totally out of it either. For some Irish people, putting in an effort to spend a lot of time in Ireland or learn Irish is helpful and puts you closer to being part of the tribe than others who don't do those things (by the way, every single on of my informants used the word "tribe" when explaining this). Even just having an Irish family name can help. I've literally had groups of Irish people have friendly arguments about where my ancestors could be from. It happens every single time they find out my last name and the other Irish names floating around in my family tree. Obviously not every Irish person thinks this way -- for example, my own host-sister doesn't seem to care how much time I've spent in Ireland or how much Irish I speak or what my surname is and it annoys her a LOT when Irish-Americans claim to be just Irish -- but enough do that plenty felt the need to mention it to me and every Irish-American living in Ireland I spoke to also mentioned it.

slipstreamer

Just Americans. Because, well, we ARE American. I'm not Irish, but my take on it as an Irish American:

Some are okay with it - Family connections in Ireland insist that we are Irish - yet American. We look like the majority population in Ireland - although we are a bit paler than most Americans here at home.

The thing I always find peculiar is the inability on the part of (some ) Irish to comprehend the multicultural aspect; a hyphenated identity. Maybe it is because Ireland was always losing population rather than gaining it until recently. Irish Americans are proud of the history of the Irish in America. Not Irish culture overall. The rise of the Irish in America is actually something to be proud of, and we are. Many Irish nationals point to the contributions of the Irish to America, which are many. We Irish Americans recognize those same contributions as being made by our own; Irish Americans. No one is claiming that they aren't really American, we are just proud of our family's/group's progress. Just as people in Ireland are aware of their own origins and relations. When some one American says they are "Irish" they mean Irish American. It's fairly simple. Irish in America is a form of ethnic identification, not nationality. It also happens in other new world countries whose populations were built by multiethnic immigration. Canadians and Australians also identify themselves as Irish - but Americans get the majority of the derision for doing the same thing for some reason.

Mocking it (Plastic Paddy etc...) does show a basic inflexibility of thought, an inability to see a way of things other than what is familiar, by some.

It's very true that many Irish Americans don't know as much about Irish history as they think they do - but some Irish know far less than they think they do about America, Americans and our history. It cuts both ways. I have heard many Irish pontificate on what goes on in America, or repeating negative stereotypes of Americans - and they often are just repeating something they read or saw on TV that has no basis in fact.

Kaetlyn

It depends on the person I think.

I was born in Ireland, moved to America when I was 4, and spent every summer after that in Ireland with family there until I was 14 (otherwise known as old enough to get a job in the US and spend my summers working here).

In America, I am the Irish girl. In Ireland, I am the American. I don't think that either-or makes a difference-you are who you are despite your heritage, and I don't see it as scoring extra points when going abroad.

I know many many families here (Cleveland, OH) of Irish descent-most of which either have parents or grandparents from Ireland. These people are sincere with their heritage-it's how they were raised, much different than (as someone else had mentioned) people who's heritage is that of another country (say China, India, Italy, etc). They don't live up to the stereotypes, just live up to the things they were raised around and what they were taught. The "Irish Community" here is incredibly large and tightly-knit, and surprising enough how many families here are from the same areas in Ireland and in fact knew each other prior to moving here. The people born here, to these families, are raised in these communities surrounded by the culture. That said, I don't see anything wrong with this sort of person claiming to be "Irish-American" or "of Irish heritage".

On the other hand, you've got a great many people here who are the stereotypical "irish american"-you know, the person who's great great grandmother's cousin's grandfather's uncle was from Cork. The person who claims that because they can drink anyone and their mother under the table, have a terrible temper, have red hair, favor the colour green, believe corned beef is the best meat in the market, and has a sudden onset of an accent when drunk, that they are "Irish". They support the "IRA" and believe truly that St.Patrick's Day is merely to celebrate drinking. Clearly not correct in the least bit! It is these people who will straight up claim "I'm Irish-kiss me!" and get the dirty looks.

As I said before, no, I don't think it scores you extra points. It wouldn't score an Irish person coming over here extra points to say "I am American" would it? But depending on how you go about it, it might lose you a few points.

deburca98

Look given our history in ireland we have to look on irish americans as kin.
The fact is that for a majority of us who live in ireland the dice fell in the right way for our ancestors that is the odds of staying or emigrating to the US were very slim.
We were the lucky ones , ie our ancestors did not have to emigrate, many of the emigrants had to endure hardship and anti irish sentiment in america (we do know things about american history).
Whilst the pain of emigration has passed the fact that it happened does not change.

carrieluvsredsox

My family did come here from Ireland, but i was born the the USA and that makes me an American. Not an Irish-American. I do not go around and announce my heritage. people do ask because of my last name. I am proud of my Irish roots and am planning on going to Ireland next june.

Greenie

I was born in new jersey, my dad was born and raised, my mother a good old american who is part this and part that. when i moved back during my teen years i was not consider irish. my uncle by marriage is 3rd generation american, all irish blood, but is still american. unless you where born and raised there with an authentic irish ascent you are not irish, you are an irish america. its not like you can go im irish because they are too. but its ok when you travel around you meet allot of people who lived in the us for a little while and i talk about the states with them

AR_xx

Depends how you act about it. Many think they're high and mighty becuase their family was irish like 3 generationas ago. We generally find those people stupid and not very kin-ish.

Tommy2cans

Ye are not really liked because of a negative stereotype of Irish Americans

The view from majority of Irish is the Irish Americans are loud mouthed Idiots! For example i went to the states every time i talked everyone knew i was irish and then i had people tell me how they were Irish their great grandparents came from the South of Ireland near Dublin somewhere(Dublin being in the East)
If a person wants to be Irish American it would be nice from them to know their roots and something about Ireland other than the fact we love drinking and potatoes!
I have relatives in America and everytime they come over it really annoys me as they try to act irish and end up looking like Idiots
This is the stereotypical Irish American we get to see over here so there is a negative view but obviously most of the Irish love it as they will buy anything we put an Irish Label on e.g A guy was selling a jar of Irish Air on the Internet for $20 and Americans were buying it in their thousands. Do they not realise this was just a recycled jar with a label

I in no way mean to offend as i said this the stereotype and sure there is lots of Irish Americans who are not like this and love their heritage and been linked with Ireland but We see ye as Americans not Irish American

dubzson

We don't think about them. We don't care. If it's not about us we don't care.

CÃaran

I have cousins in Boston and to be honest the only thing that really seems to seperate us is accent and a bit of politics so I think of you's as normal Irish people really, think Des Bishop, he grew up in the US but he's more in touch with Irishness than alot of people here

nokagirl

my great grandma came from ireland.
i think they like the irish-americans, because they are still irish a little

merrylea23

I think they smell like cabbage :)

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