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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be offended at people using "stupid" and "Irish" interchangeably?

244 replies

Yogahoneybunny · 13/08/2014 20:29

Just that really - I am Irish and have been living in Scotland for a few years, and it has happened repeatedly. I am never quite sure what to say as it is always a flippant casual remark (e.g. In work someone often says a certain system is a bit Irish) but I find it weird given I am obviously Irish. I have sometimes said back that maybe they should think about what they are saying, given that I am Irish myself, but I seem to be viewed as hyper-sensitive.
Any ideas of a good come-back as I am useless at these things?!

OP posts:
FergusSingsTheBlues · 13/08/2014 21:32

My mum tells the best Irish jokes and she's a proud culchie....she says she's reclaiming the insults....

DeWee · 13/08/2014 21:34

It may be regional. It was standard useage in North of England when I was growing up. It didn't really mean stupid, more slightly strange/not quite right-like say finding that when you turned a printed sheet over finding it was printed upside down on the back. It was still usable, but not quite right.

I don't think I've ever heard it used since moving south.

SolitudeSometimesIs · 13/08/2014 21:37

But English people say "Throwing a Paddy",I see it here quite a lot. What do you think that means? I think it's an offensive phrase too.

PleaseJustShootMeNow · 13/08/2014 21:37

My Irish dad always said that the reason Irish people are stupid is so the rest of the world can understand them.

Bunbaker · 13/08/2014 21:37

"It was standard useage in North of England when I was growing up"

It wasn't just in the north. I grew up in South London and Irish jokes were popular in the 1970s, but not any more, thank goodness.

I haven't heard an Irish "joke" for many, many years.

I wonder why the Scots still think it is OK to make racist jokes about the Irish?

SallyMcgally · 13/08/2014 21:39

'Throwing a paddy' has nothing at all to do with the Irish. It refers to be carted away in a padded carriage either to jail or to an asylum, and throwing yourself around in a fury.
Yes the Irish do still make jokes about Kerry men. I lived there until very recently and they were still going strong. Lived near Kerry border in a different county, so heard it a LOT.

scottishmummy · 13/08/2014 21:39

No its not a scottish thing.its a cheeky git thing

LizLimone · 13/08/2014 21:39

Used to hear this occasionally when I lived in Scotland but far more frequently had people tell me about their Irish granny or great experiences traveling in Ireland / visiting Irish relatives. It happened more in Glasgow / West of Scotland than in the East, probably because of the endemic issues they have there with sectarianism and general ignorance bigotry.

I heard it from English people too a few times e.g. a guy saying to me that a badly designed website must be some 'Irish' programming. I developed a very scary cold icy stare for those occasions accompanied by the question 'what is that supposed to mean?' in glacial tones. I started to get a reputation as one of the most humorless Irish people they had ever met ('I thought you Irish had a sense of humor? Hur hur' etc). Didn't really give a fuck what they thought as I am not in the business of pandering to bigoted morons. I would also challenge a South African colleague who made stupid comments about 'the blekks' and 'coloreds' in her charming turn of phrase so never had an issue making my views clear.

It's just ignorance really, symptom of a small-minded, backward place. What helped me keep it in perspective was when my Scottish DH would go to Ireland with me and people would say he was English or ask him about stuff in England or make jokes about tight, stingy Scots. There was a mean streak to the bigotry in the West of Scotland though that really made my blood run cold at times, reminded me of the kind of hatred and violence you'd see in Northern Ireland in the bad old days... glad I don't live there anymore either way!

firstchoice · 13/08/2014 21:40

I live in Scotland.

I have certainly heard people describe things which are a bit
stupid / illogical /weird as: 'a bit Irish'

I think it is 'unthinking' (although still wrong!)
and I think the Irish are generally accepted in Scotland (Sectarianism apart).

As an English person I hear a lot more of 'Stupid Bastard English Cunts, the Bastarding Cunting Bastard English'...especially right now Sad

scottishmummy · 13/08/2014 21:41

Secterianism is unfortunately prevalent in west coast scotland,casual and overt

500smiles · 13/08/2014 21:44

I'm Irish and I haven't heard anything like that for years...I can still remember "Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman" jokes from the 90s though

Letthemtalk · 13/08/2014 21:44

" the Irish are generally accepted in Scotland ", well that's big of them!

I know you didn't mean that in an offensive way, but it's a bit like 'tolerating' differences.

I would definitely agree that there is more explicit racism against the English at the moment.

UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 13/08/2014 21:46

I haven't heard that expression for years, and if anyone said it round here then (Cambridgeshire) I think words would be said. It would be deemed quite offensive.

Mind you, until fairly recently I did hear people round here use "nfN" which I was always Shock at, but they just didn't seem to see it as offensive in the same way. Hmm Still, I think even that expression is on its way out, thank goodness.

SallyMcgally · 13/08/2014 21:46

Feel for you firstchoice. We experienced a lot of anti-English feeling in Ireland too.

firstchoice · 13/08/2014 21:49

letthem - oh, yes, I agree, about it being 'big' of the Scots to 'accept' the Irish - we should all 'accept' each other - we all have rights to live where we choose without fear or favour.

I think there are some real Sectarian problems still (Faculty of Advocates, anyone?)
but what I meant was that, imo, the Irish in Scotland are accepted in a way that the English certainly aren't, and never will be, and it is especially bad atm.

Letthemtalk · 13/08/2014 21:53

nfN?

firstchoice · 13/08/2014 21:56

SallyMcgally -

I think the English seem to be hated most everywhere?
I once was on holiday in Malta (one of the few places we are actually liked) and met a young man from India. He was in a fix and I offered him a shower and rest in my room (not how it sounds!). He thanked me but said he could not as I was English and started to speak of colonial rule and Gandhi and the English oppressors, and the rest that he had learned at his Grandfathers knee. We talked it through and agreed it was silly to hate someone for what their ancestors did and went for a beer. But I was a bit taken aback when I asked if he would have felt like that if I was Scottish and he said: 'oh, no' (because Scotland was not involved in the Empire?).

It is all the more so when you look at two smaller nations that have, historically, been overshadowed at best and oppressed at worst by the larger country. But some of the stuff being whipped up by some of the nationalists atm is just vile.

Sorry, OP, don't mean to de-rail.

I have heard the expression 'bog trotters' a few times up here too which I assume is a derogatory way of describing Irish people? Sad

MumBoots · 13/08/2014 21:56

I thought this had died out. I remember it from school in the 1980s. 'Oh my God...stop being SO Irish' meaning thick as two planks. Being 'Jewish' meant being a tightwad.

Its fucking disgusting. I would challenge it. Its just not on.

Andrewofgg · 13/08/2014 22:00

Scotland not involved in the Empire?

Ha bloody ha. In it as deep as the English.

And so were the Irish.

SallyMcgally · 13/08/2014 22:00

firstchoice I think you're right sadly. I used to want to point out slightly pathetically that I'm half Scottish, but don't think it would have made much difference. It was a big part of why we came home.

UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 13/08/2014 22:02

It stands for "normal for Norfolk". I first heard it years ago when I was a bit slow to cotton onto something, and got told " You're being normal for Norfolk today" Hmm . It's also occasionally used when things are being arranged in a stupid or illogical way. But dying out now. I've heard it used in the Fens more recently, but not in Cambridge itself for ages.

firstchoice · 13/08/2014 22:04

Sally - it's part of why we are leaving too ( a big part).
Even if the vote is no, there will be a backlash.

My Scottish born but English accented kid just got told at his Scottish school that 'he cant spell because he doesn't speak properly. He's got a right English accent'. By a Support for Learning Teacher. Backed up by the Head. Backed up by Head of Schools for the LEA. Sigh.

(sorry, OP, will step away now...)

backwardpossom · 13/08/2014 22:07

I wonder why the Scots still think it is OK to make racist jokes about the Irish?

Um, we don't. Racist arseholes probably do, but "Scots" don't. How insulting. Angry

hearthwitch · 13/08/2014 22:08

I got this a lot when we moved to Edinburgh. Even at 9 I nipped in the bud quickly. Nothing like a rightious pre teen. I hear it less now but always make my displeasure felt. And remember the Irish come from a land of saints and scholars.

SallyMcgally · 13/08/2014 22:08

firstchoice god that's dreadful!! That's worse, and more overt than anything we had. My kids had 'We don't play with your sort', and we heard that workmen were discouraged from doing jobs at our house because we were English, but most of the teachers were lovely people and certainly the head teacher wouldn't have allowed what you had. Poor you. Glad you're coming back.