St Patrick's Day is fast approaching, and Americans everywhere are gearing up to inform me that they're Irish.
Having lived with someone who's Irish - a real Irishwoman from Ireland, not an American who's Grandfather once drank a pint of Guinness - I'm well aware of all things Irish.
Heck, my own family are from Liverpool, in England, which is widely regarded as the "second capital of Ireland" due to its massive Irish population. One half of my family are from red-headed Catholic stock, so the chances are, I'm more Irish than most of these people who insist on letting me know (in a broad American accent) that they're "Oirish".
I'm also aware, as are most Britons and Irish people, that the people of our two nations do not hate each other, as most Americans seem to think.
When we first moved to the US, we soon got sick and tired of people acting all shocked, when they found out that we (an Englishman and an Irishwoman) successfully co-existed in the same house. It was never something we encountered in the UK, nor in Ireland. Only in America.
Why is this? Why are people so misinformed? Is it NorAid, spreading lies in order to drum up money for the IRA? Or is it, (just possibly) because so many of these people have never actually left the US, let alone visited either Britain or Ireland?
And so now, it's the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, and people all over the US are wearing green, eating low-grade cakes and cookies that have been dyed green, and drinking green beer. All of them quite convinced that this is what happens on St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. It doesn't. I should know, I've actually been in Ireland on the day concerned.
The Irish also don't eat "Corned Beef and Cabbage". Shocking isn't it? What they actually eat - the nearest equivalent to it - is boiled bacon and cabbage (which I should add is delicious when done properly (with parsley sauce)).
The whole "corned beef" thing is probably an adaptation by the early Irish immigrants to the US, because corned beef was much cheaper than ham. So, it doesn't make it any less valid a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal, but you should know that people in Ireland won't be eating it.
So, what am I saying here?
I'm saying, go out, hit the pubs, have fun, but don't tell me you're Irish unless you can show me an Irish passport, don't assume that the British and the Irish don't get along (we do, and the Brits like a drink as much as the Irish), and don't... under any circumstances... ever... try to dye my Guinness green.
Posted by Max at March 15, 2003 04:39 PM | TrackbackI'm just a bit bemused by this whole thing of Americans wanting to lay a claim to some nationality other than their own. Sometimes I get the feeling that the US is populated mostly by Dutch, Germans, Swiss, Poles, Italians, Puerto Ricans, a few French down in Louisiana, and of course, Irish, and that there are no actual Americans there. It's only after a little digging that that one discovers that these folks are at least five generations on from their brave immigrant forebears, and that their surname is the only remaining manifestation of the cultural heritage they are so ready to claim.
There is one interesting exception to this though. No-one claims to be English (unless they still have a United Kingdom passport that is). Not even the people who live in New England. I'm sure I read in a history book one time that at least a few English people went to America, and did strange things like changing the name of New Amsterdam to New York. Where are their descendants now? Are they living in secret somewhere, or did they all die out? It's time we were told.
Posted by: John in Brizzle on March 16, 2003 06:12 AMI am a first generation whatever-the-hell-I-am. My mother was born in Cuba, and my grandparents are from Poland and Russia. I was born in this country but have never felt like an "American". I identify with very little that people call "American".
I wrote a little something about St. Patrick's Day, too, Max. I didn't touch on nationality, really, but you'll find that it is in keeping with the Jodi philosophy you've come to know and love. (Ha!)
Posted by: Jodi on March 16, 2003 09:18 AMThats a good point, you never hear about that at all. I know living in the Uk itself I obviously won't hear it first hand. But you always learn of the Americans celebrating St. Patricks day or some other nationals holiday, but what about St. Georges Day - if your family have British ancestors, please tell us.
Posted by: Andy from England on March 16, 2003 11:04 AMJust to clarify, in case it wasn't obvious (although I know John and Jodi well enough to know that they'd have gotten the points I was trying to make):
1. I was not saying people should forget their heritage or ancestry. What I was saying was that IF you're going to bang on (and on and on) about how damn proud you are to be an American, you should quite claiming to be Irish, Italian, Polish or whatever. Your ancestors may have been, you are not. You are American, get the fuck over it.
2. That said, if you're first-generation (Jodi), it's a bit more understandable that you might say you're Cuban (or whatever). It's people who's family haven't lived in country X for four or more generations, claiming to be from there, that bugs me. Are these people ashamed of being American? They shouldn't be. This is a great country.
3. Could someone PLEASE educate the American people, that because I wasn't born until the late 1960's, I'm not personally responsible, nor am I proud, of what the British authorities did HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE I WAS ALIVE!
If you want to bitch about world-dominating empires, let's talk about McDonalds, KFC, Microsoft and the Disney Corporation, ramming it's shite down the world's throat, before we start criticising other nations.
4. The Irish and the British have gotten over what happened, you should too, especially as it has little or nothing to do with you.
5. Go party hard on St Patricks day. Have a ball. Drink like you mean it (like we in Britain and Ireland do every weekend), but keep the "bejesus factor" to a minimum. It annoys real Irish people even more than it annoys me.
Posted by: Max on March 16, 2003 03:32 PMLong time since I sent over any irony rations, so here you go.
The King William pub in Bath (let me repeat that, the KING WILLIAM pub in Bath) is proudly flying the Irish tricolour today.
Posted by: Tim Magee on March 17, 2003 02:26 AMThe Irish also don't eat "Corned Beef and Cabbage". Nope. But there is someone, in some Irish tourist authority who apparently decided that the "typical Irish breakfast" served in every single B&B in Ireland must involved small greasy saussages. Every f...g morning !
Seriously, in a such a beatifull country, with such nice and friendly people, why do they stick with those saussages ? Some kind of secret immigration control ?
Ah Philippe! As awful as they might be to some people, I kinda miss those sausages.
Americans seem to have this insane notion that sausages should contain a lot of actual meat! The very idea! ;-)
What you didn't mention, was that the full Irish breakfast also includes Black Pudding and White Pudding.
Black Pudding I can handle, in moderation, but White Pudding is basically heartburn in solid form. It's evil!
And yes! Despite their claims of being so pro-Euope, the Irish like to weed out the weaker foreigners by serving them those sausages!
Posted by: Max on March 17, 2003 11:06 AM