To think that “Irish twins” is an offensive term?

[CroissantwithCheese]

I read a thread on an American pregnancy forum about the term “Irish twins”. The OP posted some gushing statement hoping she was pregnant and that it would mean she had Irish twins. A commenter said it was offensive and I deeply agree. It was an idiom apparently created in the US in the 1800s, referring to the large families of Irish immigrants. It was derogatory, stereotyping the Irish for not having any sort of family planning and not using contraception. But this was hardly their fault as the church had banned contraception. The term has now become some sort of cutesy way of referring to two children born within a year of each other, and seems to be completely accepted. How can that be accepted and not considered offensive?!

The Irish themselves use the term and don't find it offensive. There is no need to be offended on their behalf.

iolaus

What a horrible stereotype.

Never heard of it until here on mn and I live on the Ireland

Well this turned into a right clusterfuck didn’t it?

For clarification, I’m the OP and I’m Irish. As far as I’m concerned, this is negative stereotyping created by other religions (ahem, CoE), as a slur against Irish people. If you think about the reason it was used (fucking like rabbits, too thick for family planning) I don’t understand why its even in use in 2019.

For all those Irish who said you’re not offended, good for you. For those who thought I was being offended “on your behalf” you can piss right off back to pixieland.

I never in my life heard it being used in Ireland. Some of you said you have, so ok. We all have different circles. But if I heard an Irish person saying it I would certainly try to find out if they understood it’s meaning.

That’s what I was doing on that forum yesterday, trying to educate some people who use the term without thinking where it came from, or even why there needed to be a nationality attached at all. For those of you who said there are more important hongs to worry about, you can say that about 90% of AIBU threads.

What is interesting to see is the mix of opinions about this. This certainly shows that The term should probably not be used.

Not rtft
I'm an Irish twin and not in the slightest bit offended

And I'm Irish... just for clarity

I'm Irish, not offended. Use the term.

What is interesting to see is the mix of opinions about this. This certainly shows that The term should probably not be used

Eh? Why? Most of the Irish people on here have said they're not offended by it.

I think some Irish people are just too used to casual racism/xenophobia.

I think some Irish people are just too used to casual racism/xenophobia

How patronising.

I think some Irish people are just too used to casual racism/xenophobia

How patronising.

Not patronising - true in a lot of cases sadly.

The bare minimum of Irish History is taught in both Primary & Secondary schools and so unless people are interested and read of their own volition they may be unaware of the racist/xenophobic undertones of these "expressions".

The above was in relation to ROI - I learnt far more in my history lessons in 1970s in the UK than many of the people that I know did here 😖

How patronising

I’m Irish and I don’t find it patronising. Don’t speak for me when you feel patronised!

🤣 sorry, couldn’t resist.

Yes, it's offensive...next

BTW I'm not being antagonistic - it's a reflection on the education system not anything else.

Somecakefather unfortunately it's all too true.

Some people sound insistant on trying to get people who aren't offended to feel offended. Why does everyone HAVE to feel offended. Life would be better if we weren't so precious. Some people are just sht stirrers.

Some people sound insistant on trying to get people who aren't offended to feel offended. Why does everyone HAVE to feel offended

Yes and then to imply that perhaps we don't know our own history .

I think the consensus is that Irish people are not offended.

Then we have other posters telling us why we should be offended since we're not.

Irish posters reiterate that they're not offended.

Other posters tell us we're too thick to understand the offence intended.

I'm not sure whether to be offended about not being offended or more offended about the fact that everyone thinks I should be offended!

To sum up: Irish people are not offended.
Northern Irish are still arguing about whether they are or not.
Other nations are telling us we should be offended.
Irish don't give a fuck.

AndTheEnd

🤣 That just about sums it up.

Oh, yes....we're all too fucking stupid and uneducated to know when we're being insulted.

It seems to offend twin mums on groups i am on

No matter how close in age your children are, they are not twins and twins are probably harder

I think the consensus is that Irish people are not offended.

No the consensus is that some Irish people are offended a d some Irish people aren’t offended.

To sum up: Irish people are not offended.

Some Irish people are not offended. Some are

Northern Irish are still arguing about whether they are or not.

Irish people.

Other nations are telling us we should be offended.

Which nations?

Irish don't give a fuck.

Some Irish don’t give a fuck. Some Irish do.