Granddad telling kids Irish jokes

[SulisMum]

DS (aged 9) told me an Irish joke last night which he had got from his granddad. I gave him a little talk about how it wasn't nice to make jokes about different nationalities and suggested he didn't repeat it - but only after I'd laughed about it with him. (I actually laughed involuntarily as it was a reasonably funny joke).

DS's response was that his granddad had also told him a joke in which the Englishman was made to look silly.

Questions for the MN jury?

How would you deal with your DC telling jokes based on national stereotypes?
Should I tell my dad not to furnish DS with more similar Englishman/Scotsman/Irishman jokes?
Should I be flamed for laughing?

Is you father black Greensleeves? I'm struggling with the whole concept of a marginalised or minority group being 'allowed' to say something which may b e seen as offensive, and which another group is 'not allowed' to, simply because they've claimed it as part of their culture. If that makes any sense at all?!

no, he's Irish

Now that's just asking for trouble!!

...but he spent most of his working life in the Middle East and sees himself as some sort of Realpolitik crusader eg he also used to loudly point out that Paki was perfectly acceptable to Pakistanis in the "real world" - "stan meaning country" and the prefix denoting the ethnicity, like Afghani from Afghanistan

again, I told him if he ever uttered it in front of my children he would be out of my house before he could say "obnoxious dinosaur" and he hasn't said it for a long time

I really think his views have evolved and his opinions have changed, and I kind of admire that.

I am still hoping that the OP will post the joke in question, I need a laugh today

Unwind - for your benefit.

(You're probably going to find it lame after the build up).

An Englishman, Welshman, Scotman and Irishman were discussing their sons' names.

The Englishman said: My son was born on St George's Day, so he's called George

The Welshman said: My son was born on St David's Day, so he's called David

The Scotsman said: My son was born on St Andrew's Day, so he's called Andrew

And the Irishman said:

My son was born on pancake day......

I've been in the situation where Irish 'Jokes' were used to undermine and belittle me in a work situation. It was constant.
Every little mistake - Ah she's irish.
Every slip, bump, trip.. look thats her Irishness showing. The Paddy man Jokes. If I said anything I was humourless.
It took a very long time for anyone to listen that this was bullying, I actully recorded a break time conversation and asked my boss to substitute Irish with Back or Jew and see how it altered her perception of events.
Maybe I am humourless re Irish jokes but even now 11 years on they could still make me cry..

(Pages one and two asked about Throwing a Paddy)

Just read the joke, so it is alluding to the "thickness" of the Irish man?

wonka Someone actually wrote 'taig' on the back on one of my Irish colleagues chair. I knew what it meant as DH is Irish and I was raging. Went to see HR and they wouldn't do anything! Asked them had it been Paki or the N word would they have acted and they said yes!

'Taig' is a horrible horrible word, it can never be excused and is only ever used as a nasty, sectarian insult. Use of word "taig" is classified as a hate crime term.

Most English people have never heard it so I had to print it off the net. Still no action.

What a nasty vile op. What a horrible experience for you wonka.

i've reported the 'joke" Why dont you remove it mumsnet?

Don't be ridiculous curryfreak. If the joke were removed, people would then see "Message deleted" and imagine something far worse than the one that was there.

Oh for heavens sake - really, if you think that's worthy of being deleted then you do lead a very sheltered life. It's a pretty lame joke, that's all - keep it in perspective.

It's designed to encourage people to laugh at and belittle irish people. If it were about other races and religions it would have never been posted in the first place,- quite rightly so.
i notice that you have ignored, as has the last poster the horrible and appalling treatment wonka suffered.
This is precisely why 'jokes' like these designed to belittle and de humanise other
s should never ever be toletated.
Shame on you mumsnet.

It's called comedy Curry, and comedy by it's very (subjective) nature tends to poke fun. The joke deserves nothing more than a . I come from Kent, born to Glaswegian parents and have now lived up in Scotland for many years - I can assure you my Scottish 'bits' has been ridiculed in England, and vice versa, but it's important to keep it in perspective and not get too overwrought by it all - they certainly weren't racist attack compared to what some people go through, it's just tedious behaviour from dinosaurs.
BTW - what comedy programmes do you watch?

wonka, that's an awful story. I'm sorry to hear you had such a horrible experience and even worse that your workplace did nothing. Presumably you had to leave to get out of that situation which is constructive dismissal. Personally I would have just walked out and then lived up to an Irish stereotype by pelting a few Molotov cocktails through the window as a parting gift making sure I put on my culturally-appropriate balaclava first to protect my identity .

I had a situation once (about 6 years ago) where the CEO of our company sent around some 'joke' pictures, one of which included a picture of an ambulance and a paramedic giving mouth-to-mouth to a crash-test dummy with the caption 'Irish ambulance service' or something. Most people in the office found it uncomfortable but recognised that the CEO was some old guy from the 70s and shrugged it off. I pointed out that it could be a sackable offence if that joke related to Black or Asian people. It's difficult though when someone is in charge of a company and sets such a bad example as you can't complain to HR.

It says more about the people making the joke than anything else really. At that company, everyone raved on and on about how smart the CEO was. I thought he was a complete numpty who got his job from connections, not talent, and the jokes just proved that for me... I do think there is a certain contingent of people out there with this 'anti-PC / 'the world's gorn PC-mad, innit' who use Irish jokes as a way to be racist since they know they can no longer legally tell jokes about 'Pakis' and 'n*ers' etc. It's a way to keep the 'good old days' alive in their tiny minds, I think.

PS SulisMum, joke is lame and I've heard it before but not that offensive, just stupid (must be an Irish person who thought it up then, har har - /sound of joke going down like a lead balloon/)

Masie, whose comedy though? Wonka wasn't laughing was she, but you've conveniently ignored that havent you?

When you have a DH who has grown up in a house having his windows put in/ burnt out of their home because of his family religion, given beatings by the army, spat at, called a fenian, taig, semtex etc then you will forgive people for not thinking Irish jokes are harmless and leading sheltered lives.

That is completely different Pauline - what you are describing is racism, and should be investigated and treated as such. Otoh, demanding that a lame joke be deleted is just completely over the top and unnecessary.

I did not, and do not, ignore racism Curry, but I do differentiate between it and comedy. Just because you don't find something funny doesn't mean it isn't. Again, it's all subjective.

Btw - you still haven't told us what comedy programmes or which comedians you do find funny.