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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think friends are being over-senstive?

999 replies

pomadas87 · 20/02/2017 18:51

A friend (who lives abroad) messaged me and a couple of our good mutual friends - he shared happy news of his new baby and some pics. Everyone v excited and wished him congratulations!

He then said "so who's next to have a baby - she needs a playmate!" ... me and DH are newly married and are getting the question quite a lot...! Other friend said "I'm looking at you guys" (meaning me and DH)...

I then said "not for a while I'm afraid Grin why don't you have another one straightaway and you'll have Irish Twins - instant playmate!"

Meant it in a joking way and then they all called me a racist, xenophobe etc.... I didn't realise it was offensive and now I'm feeling shitty! Did they overreact to my (stupid) joke or am I just an idiot?! Confused

OP posts:
OMGyoumustbekidding · 22/02/2017 22:14

They are not irish twins though. They did not share a womb at the same time.

mikado1 · 22/02/2017 22:14

Cute does not equal taking the piss surely? Maybe now I'm being oversensitive (have been known!)

bridetobe17 · 22/02/2017 22:15

My mother is English, I'm Irish, my dads family all Irish, I don't find the Irish twins thing offensive at all, and in fairness one of my English cousins once said that she thinks Irish babies are exceptionally cute. I just think it's an odd thing to saySmile

OneWithTheForce · 22/02/2017 22:15

I almost picture them in my head as cuter than other babies

So babies who aren't Irish are less cute. That's Racism! Wink

bridetobe17 · 22/02/2017 22:17

OnewiththeforceGrin* that made me laugh.* In fairness my Irish baby is cuter than any baby from any country that Ive ever seenGrinGrin

mikado1 · 22/02/2017 22:18

Oh for feck sake with the literal meaning of twins!! Shock We know that, it's an expression, just like if you say something rings a bell, do you tel the person there isn't actually a bell ringing etc? No. It. Is. An. Expression.

mikado1 · 22/02/2017 22:19

Ha ha One! Positive racism , go on the Irish!

It's like in Friends when Chandler changed 'doing a Monica' from messing up to doing something really well.

OMGyoumustbekidding · 22/02/2017 22:20

Can you be racist in a positive way?

If you can then I am positively racist towards the irish for imagining them all to be lovely because the irish people I have met and have known have all been nice so far?

Oh my God how horrible of me hahaha!

I'll try not to like Irish people as much.

OMGyoumustbekidding · 22/02/2017 22:25

On that note I am going to hide this thread and not come back.

Trying to conjure up images of horrible irish people to balance my view!!!

Cheers to all of you fabulous irish people ooops best go before I get really positively racist!!! Wouldn't want irish people to think I like them... that would be really effing rude!!!

bridetobe17 · 22/02/2017 22:31

Haha omg we are all lovely, and cute!!!

Catlady1976 · 22/02/2017 22:33

But is it in an English cute way or Irish cute way?

bridetobe17 · 22/02/2017 22:36

Irish cute of course!!! Oops am I being racist nowGrin

OneWithTheForce · 22/02/2017 22:37

It's clearly the Irish charm, the cheeky grin, the gift of the gab and the twinkle in the eye that cause this well known trait of cuteness in Irish babies, to be sure, to be sure. Wink

bridetobe17 · 22/02/2017 22:43

To be sure😉

mikado1 · 22/02/2017 22:56

Right, I think we're done! Oíche Mhaith oraibh go léir!

KERALA1 · 23/02/2017 07:01

Totally with you One.

Essentially due to historical weight some people find this phase offensive. Some are unaware of the background, some aren't offended, whatever. But helpful for people in those groups to know they might be inadvertently offending someone. Easy phase to avoid anyway.

llangennith · 23/02/2017 07:07

It's a saying I haven't heard in a long time. Not sure if I'd take offence at it but it's probably on a par with being asked when you're going to have a baby.

ShatnersWig · 23/02/2017 08:31

I'm half Irish. I've never heard the expression until this thread. I just asked three people I work with if they've heard of it. One of them is half Irish and from a huge Catholic family. None of them had heard the expression either.

KERALA1 · 23/02/2017 11:53

Sadly I don't think whether Irish people have heard of the term or not is particularly relevant. Its not a term used BY them, but ABOUT them. By English people. In a scathing way, as has been pointed out by PP. Yes historically and many people aren't aware but still - it was.

I am not Irish, and would be too polite to comment if someone used it. But if they did I would internally wince and hope no one else around was offended by it. I would think either the speaker was abit racist or abit ill informed.

OMGyoumustbekidding · 23/02/2017 12:11

Basically kerala I don't think it is a widely used term. I hadn't heard this before and neither have a lot of people on this forum so probably not much need to worry, but yes I would wince too if someone non irish said it. A lot of irish people have said it is a phrase they use.
I lived in England and hadn't heard it , some irish people say they have used it and some say they have never heard it. To decide it is a term "used by the english" to take the piss is simply an assumption and probably a misguided one. I reckon if it was ever used anywhere it is a "dying phrase" and thank god (if it was intended in a scathing way)

OMGyoumustbekidding · 23/02/2017 12:24

If any irish people have any phrases they don't (even gaelic ones) like that people use in ireland, perhaps you should gather them all up and say they are used by the english to take the piss. It's ok if they have never heard the expression it is their fault anyway. Grin
My friend kept commeting on "diddy" things in baby shops in ireland (meaning cute and tiny in s e of england). She was then told by her cousin that it meant tits.
Perhaps you could start calling your tits irish cuties and if the phrase is adopted anywhere else by accident it can be "the english taking the piss in a scathing way".

OMGyoumustbekidding · 23/02/2017 12:25

And maybe because you've called them cuties we can say the irish are taking the piss out of us lol...

mikado1 · 23/02/2017 12:28

OMG I have actually just gagged on my soda bread!!! Grin

OMGyoumustbekidding · 23/02/2017 12:37

I don't like "Essex girls dancing round their handbags". Did the irish make it up to take the piss out of us in a "scathing way"

I don't like glesga kiss the irish must have made it up to take the piss out of us in a "scathing way"

DianaMemorialJam · 23/02/2017 12:52

I always get 'you sound just like Danny dyer' oorite me old son all that shite. Fucking grates.

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