Irish people why do you flip flop about Irish Americans when it serves your pride or self-interest?
I mean if I go to Ireland right now I’ll and tell people I’m Irish, I’ll get the typical witty response,"me **** you are, and I’m the Emperor of Offaly". Even though I have citizenship through my grandparents. Yet if someone prosperous or well known such as Barack Obama and JFK with great-great grandparents and the like, say they’re Irish nothing is said about it wtf? Barack Obama is not even 1/32 Irish, and I’m not Irish?
To be honest, I don’t think you can claim be Irish when you haven’t lived there. You are of Irish ancestry, maybe and that’s only through grandparents. And was that one set or two, even? Had you been born in Ireland and moved to America as a baby, then I’d say you had a point. Had you been born to American parents in Ireland and raised there, again I’d say you’d have a case – you’d be American/Irish. Had you moved to Ireland as a child and lived there all your life, I may not disagree if you considered yourself Irish, having absorbed its culture and were patriotic enough to call yourself Irish. But in your case, if everyone in America claimed to be of the nationality of their grandparents, that would make everyone in America, non-American. And that’s another can of worms!…….
To be honest, I don’t think you can claim be Irish when you haven’t lived there. You are of Irish ancestry, maybe and that’s only through grandparents. And was that one set or two, even? Had you been born in Ireland and moved to America as a baby, then I’d say you had a point. Had you been born to American parents in Ireland and raised there, again I’d say you’d have a case – you’d be American/Irish. Had you moved to Ireland as a child and lived there all your life, I may not disagree if you considered yourself Irish, having absorbed its culture and were patriotic enough to call yourself Irish. But in your case, if everyone in America claimed to be of the nationality of their grandparents, that would make everyone in America, non-American. And that’s another can of worms!…….
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Just my own opinion!
The emperor of offaly?? Never heard that one.
We just like to rub it in that we are 100% Irish
But being honest, we have two favorite past-times in Ireland. Drinking, and taking the piss. So when an American says "i’m half irish, or i’m 1/4 irish, its like christmas for us, opportune moment to give em a slagging and wind them up.
Why do you want to be Irish so bad anyway?
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To be honest I have never said that about anyone & I think it is great when people embrace their Irish heritage & they have a right to do that…. so don’t think you should be saying "all Irish People" as how could you possibly know all Irish people & how they think …
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You’re not Irish and neither is Obama. You are both of Irish descent. Very different things and we will embrace either of you if you accept that fact.
I have NEVER seen anyone claiming him to be Irish except "Irish Americans". So where are you getting your source material because who ever is telling you this is talking shite.
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I think a person is Irish if they grew up here.
I would consider you Irish American though.
The best of Luck.
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I never cared about or acknowledged obama’s ‘irish ancestry’ (although it was apparently supported with facts) and here’s what I reply to you.” you,irish? me arse,i’m the emperer of dublin”
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Do you really get citizenship just because your parents were Irish? I didn’t know that.
I don’t think Obama even knew, he didn’t say he was Irish, other people did. And he had a laugh about it. I never heard him call himself Irish so that’s unfair to say.
I mean, why do Americans keep asking this question? I agree with a few opinions on this matter.
Firstly, we do take the piss a lot. I hope I don’t get thumbs down for this, cause we do. It IS like christmas for us when we get given a reason, if it wasn’t that it would be something else.
Second, because we are so proud, it’s hard for us to understand why you want to call yourselves Irish so much. None of you seem to care about the fact that you’re American, which to us seems horrible. I know my grandparents were all Irish, as were my parents, but before that I haven’t got a clue. I could find out, but I probably won’t bother because I don’t care. I’m Irish because I was born here and have lived here all my life. If my grandparents were French I wouldn’t go around calling myself Irish-French. We just don’t do that here.
And that’s my other point. I don’t mean to be offensive to Americans, but you never seem to appreciate that in different countries there are different traditions. We just don’t do that here. And ye get all annoyed then because we don’t embrace it. I don’t know any Irish people who call them selves Irish-something else. There’s Nigerian kids who have been born here and are black that go around with Irish accents and call themselves Irish because they were born here. And of course they are Irish, cause they were born here. We just have a different way of doing things!
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Ok! Firstly i don’t think people can call themselves Irish if they weren’t born here or live here. You are of Irish descent, you are part Irish. Obama’s heritage was traced back to Ireland, but i definitely wouldn’t call him irish, same thing goes for JFK.
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If you have an Irish passport or were naturalised or were born in Ireland then you’re Irish, of course folks can also have more than one nationality, many people have dual citizenship. So, you could be American and Irish or Russian and Irish or Chinese and Irish or whatever. In the States there are many Irish-Americans, nationality wise they are American, culturally they may be Irish or might self identify with being Irish. But unless you hold an Irish passport (as you do) or were naturalised or born in Ireland someone can’t claim to be Irish.
In fact I’m not too sure whether simply being born in Ireland is enough to say someone is Irish anymore, it used to be like that as far as I know but the rules have changed I think – now I think one of the childs parents has to hold Irish citizenship for the child to be considered Irish but I might be wrong about that.
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Sorry but being truly Irish is not just about having a nice little passport with a harp on it, it is about your personality, your passion and your attitude. It is about embracing your heritage and culture because it genuinely means something to you not just because you think it makes you seem more interesting to your friends. You might legally be considered part Irish (at a stretch) but you are far too tightly wound to have an Irish heart or spirit.
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