To say I'm half Irish

[Winederlust]

Just wanted to settle a petty argument between DH and I.
I was born in England. As was my mum. My dad also. However both his parents were born in ROI. They moved to the UK as young adults and met, married and settled with a family in England.
I think that, although my dad was born in England, he is full blooded Irish. Which in turn makes me half Irish. My DH reckons I'm quarter at best.
Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but just interested in the general MN population's thoughts?

Where is the quarter coming from??

I think you get to define yourself however you choose, if you had no Irish or very distant Irish roots you might sound a bit ridiculous saying you’re Irish but yours seems close enough. I hope my if my kids have children they feel a bit Irish, wherever they happen to be born. My own kids describe themselves as English now though

@ChurchOfWokeApostate

I’ve never really given much thought about where people are from in terms of percentages, but I would say I think it’s probably because of culture.
Someone 100% Irish would have been brought up in Ireland.
Being brought up in the Uk, with fully Irish parents, there will be obvious similarities in culture with other Irish people, because of Irish family, but then obvious differences as well, such as: being educated in a British school, receiving healthcare under a British healthcare system, British laws, British media, etc etc. Which will differ vastly from someone brought up in Ireland.
Whereas saying 50% English 50% Dutch may make more sense in that there will be a mixture of British and Dutch culture.

I can see the logic in that reasoning. However my DH has lived all his life in England and was only exposed to Dutch culture when he was taken to visit Dutch grandparents (who spoke English to him as my FIL never taught the kids any Dutch). So he had nothing like a balanced mix of the two cultures, but nobody has ever said “you can’t say you’re half Dutch”.

@Euclid
How utterly rude and patronising you are.
Not a good example of manners never mind grammar.

Graham Norton - where is he from?
Terry Wogan - where is he from?
Shane McGowan - where is he from?
Pierce Brosnan - where is he from?

I believe all four claim to be Irish, though only one or two of them were actually born in Ireland.

I'm similar - DF Irish born with an Irish mother and immigrant English father. Mother English all the way back on both sides, as far as we know. So I see myself as 25% and I'd see OP as 50% Irish by descent, UK British by birth. Never forget that Ireland, geographically, is one of the British Isles, so her people are all British in that sense, even if politically they're Irish!

I and my adult children are all entitled to apply for Irish citizenship on the back of father/grandfather being born there, even though it was before independence! He was quite literally born into the Easter Rising in 1916, with skirmishes and gunfire going on around the house and village where he was born. I've seen the bulletholes.

OP's DH needs to understand that he is not the arbiter of her identity and must respect what she says, based on the facts, and not argue with her. Getting an Irish passport might well end the argument and, once lockdown is over, enable the holder to skip into the shoter/quicker EU queue at ports and airports. Just bear in mind you can only travel on one passport at a time, so whichever passport you go out on is the one you must return on!

I grew up abroad but my husband sometimes describes me as coming from the small town my mother now lives in (not where I was born and I lived there for two years my whole life). Drives me insane

Graham Norton - Bandon in Cork
Terry Wogan - Limerick
Pierce Brosnan - Navan

Never forget that Ireland, geographically, is one of the British Isles, so her people are all British in that sense, even if politically they're Irish!

Please never say this to an actual Irish person.

And Pierece Brosnan lived in Ireland till he was 11, Graham Norton and Terry Wogan till adulthood. Shane McGowan was born in England to Irish parents but according to Wikipedia they moved back to Ireland for his early childhood.

Please never say this to an actual Irish person.

I was about to say the same lol.

Yet the Brits claim all 4 of them as theirs. Kay Burley is the worst offender in this respect.

Chinchinatti, exactly.

Coming out with a clanger like that makes it patently obvious that regardless of your parents background, or the fact that your grandad once had an Irish Coffee or whatever, they aren’t Irish in any significant way.

You can’t claim an identity without having a grasp of very prominent and obvious cultural sensitivities like that.

I grew up abroad but my husband sometimes describes me as coming from the small town my mother now lives in (not where I was born and I lived there for two years my whole life). Drives me insane

Conversely I remember having a furious argument with a boyfriend on holiday because a fellow tourist asked where he was from and he said “Manchester” and I said it was odd to say that because he was from London and was only living temporarily in Manchester for work.

My own perspective was different because I alway say I live in London but I am from Scotland (because I was brought up there till age 19).

And actually, picking up on a previous conversation, I am white and I DO always get asked where I am from originally.

Dermot O'Leary is an Englishman FFS.

Here in Ireland we barely register him at all, and when we do it's as that English guy.

That may be problematic for him, who knows? But it's not our fault that he has no cultural identity in a country he wants to feel a cultural connection to and has never lived in.

Yesterday I was served in a shop by a young lad who is clearly from a Nigerian or Ghanaian family, quite possibly not born in Ireland at all. But he sounded just like me. He's Irish. You are not.

@Chinchinatti 3 where born in Ireland.Shane was born in England.

Op I would say you're British.You and your parents where brought up in Britain.
You have Irish connections,that's about it.

And I'm Irish living in Ireland.

@Chinchinatti you can be a National Treasure to the British without being British! Look at Sandi Toksvig.

I don’t think many British people would say Graham and Terry were not Irish, their whole appeal is built around their Irishness. I was surprised to read that Shane McGowan was not born and bred in Ireland as I assumed he was. Pierce Brosnan I did think was English, I grant you, but then actors do all different accents on screen and I am sure a lot of Americans think Hugh Laurie is American. .

I too get asked where I'm from (white) - particularly on continental Europe.

I get asked where I'm from recently in London too as people can't quite discern my accent.
I'm always very proud to say that I'm Irish!

I think this is one of those things where it’s much better to respect the feelings of the individual than to argue some pedantic point about citizenship laws. Especially as people call themselves “English” or “Irish” or whatever in terms of culture, nationality and/or genetics - not everyone means the same thing by it.

I have two separate friends whose mums are both of Indian heritage but were born in England, and whose fathers are white English. Both my friends were born and raised in England and have brown skin and black hair. I would have assumed they would both have referred to themselves as half Indian, half English/British but whilst that is definitely true of one of them (her family is quite religious and they still practice quite a few Indian cultural traditions), I overheard the other friend in a conversation with someone else saying she considers herself 100% British. I’m not sure if this is because culturally her mum is very British and doesn’t appear to practice any Indian cultural traditions or religion? Either way, I would never contradict her or question her on it - why would I want to? Equally your DH shouldn’t question you.

You are clearly feel a strong cultural link to Ireland and have the heritage to back that up, so feel free to say you’re half Irish if that’s how you feel!

You are English. You were born in England, your parents were born in England.

But you do have some Irish heritage.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark
The British have this habit of claiming people when they are winning.
Andy Murray is a good point,he's British when he wins.And Scottish when he loses.

Never forget that Ireland, geographically, is one of the British Isles, so her people are all British in that sense, even if politically they're Irish! Jesus wept! Never say that in Ireland!

my dad was Scottish born and my mom English so I have always said im half Scottish , my ex husbands mom was welsh so my children are 1/4 Scottish 1/4 welsh and half English

Speak for yourself @rayoflightboy. And I think you meant to say “the English” there. To Scots, Andy Murray is always Scottish!

It’s interesting, my children identify as English. Yet on this rule they are 100% from Eastern Europe. Maybe it’s different because they don’t speak another language fluently and there’s such a culture gap they can’t identify with our home country (we were here long before we had kids)