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Perception of the Irish in Britain.

Hi there,
I'm moving to England in September to take up a PhD position. I was just wondering what the general attitude towards the Irish is like.

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Not much really. You might get a few jokes about potatoes and gypsies, but that's about it.
Reply 2
Avatar for zKlown
zKlown
19
That they're human just like the rest of us?

Lol, but yeah, might get a bit of banter, but nothing bad if that's what you're worried about.

I've heard the ladies like an Irishman too
Which Ireland?? :smile:

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Cool accents :cool:
Original post by karmacrunch
Which Ireland?? :smile:

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Well I assume he isn't from New Ireland in the south Pacific, given that he calls himself Irish and he did say Ireland and not New Ireland (which isn't a country)...so I'll hazard a guess that he means the Ireland in the north Atlantic.
Lived in both Scotland and England...Scottish don't care, they pretty much treat the Irish just as they treat themselves.

In England they'll talk about your accent much more and as said, it works well with the ladies (unless you go to a city where there are heaps of Irish, so the accent is more common, eg Liverpool, though still an advantage there).

Maybe a few terrorist jokes, potato jokes etc but I didn't get as much as expected. The novelty wears off for them after a while I guess.

Original post by karmacrunch
Which Ireland?? :smile:


Won't matter...

Trust me the northerners get treated exactly the same as the southerners, maybe worse as they are more prone to the terrorist jokes. In fact a lot of my unionist/loyalist friends get annoyed when they go to GB because nobody ever calls them British or Northern Irish...the get called Irish just like anyone else from the island and they can't stand being tarred with the same brush as us Fenians haha
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 7
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doom_rever
OP
6
Original post by karmacrunch
Which Ireland?? :smile:


The Republic :smile: Jaysus yeah gonna have to get used to making the distinction. To us Northern Ireland is just the North and the Nordies just call the Republic the South.
Original post by doom_rever
The Republic :smile: Jaysus yeah gonna have to get used to making the distinction. To us Northern Ireland is just the North and the Nordies just call the Republic the South.


Unless we go to Donegal...then we say Donegal, nevers seems to make sense to call it 'down south' ha. Which county are you from?
Original post by bestofyou
Well I assume he isn't from New Ireland in the south Pacific, given that he calls himself Irish and he did say Ireland and not New Ireland (which isn't a country)...so I'll hazard a guess that he means the Ireland in the north Atlantic.


There's a New Ireland? I meant which Ireland out of Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. :tongue:

Honestly though, for either of them, I don't really know much about them. Except for the shamrock, accents, in history there were/(are still?)conflicts and then there are stereotypes (e.g. leprechauns etc.) but... :dontknow:

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Reply 10
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doom_rever
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Original post by Et Tu, Brute?
Unless we go to Donegal...then we say Donegal, nevers seems to make sense to call it 'down south' ha. Which county are you from?


I'm from Meath myself mate. What about you?
Original post by doom_rever
I'm from Meath myself mate. What about you?


south Derry. Where in England you heading?
Reply 12
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doom_rever
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Oxford so yeah the accent will definitly stick out like a sore thumb!!
I'm from Roscommon and it was fine coming to Scotland. (I wasn't trying to make a link between being from Roscommon and why it wouldn't be ok!). I lived in student halls in Edinburgh. As everyone has said, you will of course get some accent teasing but friendly teasing! The only word I said that my flatmate (English) didn't get was 'press' for cupboard lol I got a blank look a few times when I mentioned "It's in the press" :P
There are loads of Irish over here and the Irish community eg the Irish pubs/bars are popular with British so they generally have a good rep.

It's not always been this way though. In the 60s/70s the Irish were perceived in a similar way to the Eastern Europeans now, people didn't like the idea of them coming over here competing for our jobs or services, they were associated with being gipsys involved in petty crime and con tricks, so people felt uncomfortable with them moving in to the area. Also the fact there was a war between the IRA and UK didn't help either as they were associated with terrorism.

But times have changed and we have realised the Irish are fine.
as the previous posters mentioned there are still quite a few negative stereotypes of Irish people. the recent terrible cases of human slavery in the Irish traveller community have harmed the traditional image of the crafty Tinker who would perhaps steal a few chickens.
the worst of the terrorism seems to be over, with the focus now on Muslim bombers.
Gypsy jokes, jokes that you're an idiot and terrorist jokes. Most people are fine though.

I did have one guy who hated me purely because I'm Irish but he'd been affected by an IRA attack (he lived where it happened). No one else has really been that much of an *******
Depends where you're moving to in England and on you to be honest. If you're one of those types that is going to keep going 'Bloody English' or advocating IRA bombings then you're gonna have a bad time.
Original post by Hal.E.Lujah
Depends where you're moving to in England and on you to be honest. If you're one of those types that is going to keep going 'Bloody English' or advocating IRA bombings then you're gonna have a bad time.

Does anyone advocate bombings? I sympathise with the IRA yet completely dusagree with bombings, as do most other Irish people

As for our annoyance at "bloody English" that's generally kept between Irish people. I don't know anyone that runs around with a Sinn Fein flag declaring it for example :tongue:
Original post by Tyrion_Lannister
Does anyone advocate bombings? I sympathise with the IRA yet completely dusagree with bombings, as do most other Irish people

As for our annoyance at "bloody English" that's generally kept between Irish people. I don't know anyone that runs around with a Sinn Fein flag declaring it for example :tongue:



Yeah have met a fair few people who do, one went off near me as a baby and hurt my Nan (Nail bomb) so when they do I just sorta know that I can't get on with them, both too biased against eachother. :lol:


And definitely get loads of the 'bloody english' directed at english people, all I ever say to it is that I quite frankly don't care what some people I've never met who died before I was born did and it's kinda racist. That usually elicits either an incredibly angry rant at which point I just ignore them, or an easing up and realising it's kinda daft to bring it up :giggle:

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