English accents in Ireland

[Bid876]

Hi, I’ve read on a couple of posts recently about an anti English sentiment in some areas of the ROI. Before moving here I was secretly worried about this. I come from a big Irish family in the UK, my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents all Irish, so I was brought up to believe I was Irish. But I knew that not everyone in Ireland would feel that way. My DF was from a very anti English town, after an incident in the 70s when he had taken my Nan home to bury her sister his life was threatened by some very dangerous men, for no other reason that when they over heard him talking they didn’t hear the Irish accent he’d received abuse for in England, his accent was too English for their liking. Some of his cousins stuck him out of Ireland that night and got my Nan out the next day. That was the last time he or any of his family went home until he was terminally ill a few years ago.

When my DH was offered a job here I was worried about this, my parents grew up being bullied and abused for having an Irish accent in England, even as adults and I didn’t want the same happening to my children having an English accent in Ireland. Since moving here though I’ve been very relieved as I’ve not come across anything like this at all. My children absolutely love school and have been very welcomed, the same with any clubs I’ve signed them up for, which is all I cared about.

However, we may need to move out of the area we have settled in as it’s really hard to find houses in our price bracket. I wasnt worried about moving until I read other peoples posts on their experiences of being English in Ireland. Now I’m worried that we could move to an area that’s not as welcoming.

So the purpose of my post is to ask of those who do live in areas that you have have had problems, would you be willing to share those areas?

I think the smaller towns are worse in Ireland for this.
You can be anonymous in a city.

I am proud to be half English, half Irish now

The only thing I have to do is explain where I'm from to every Tesco delivery man / shop assistant / plumber etc. Then they will tell me about their great aunt Bridget who lived in a totally different part of England and they used to visit.

@Mufasa1118 we live in a small (tiny) rural village and my dh is from the U.K. everyone is so lovely here and very good to him!!

@childbenefitq it is going to be different for everyone isn't it?

English people are not one person.

I experienced abuse for being English.
Your husband didn't.

Both experiences are valid.

Some people on here have written that they have experienced a lot of abuse for being English, some people have said they have not experienced any abuse.

No one is ever going to have the same experience.

I personally think in the smaller towns, if you are English, it matters how connected you are.

So for example your English husband has an Irish wife (in presuming you are Irish). You are accepted, so he is accepted.

However if he was a single English man by himself, he might experience more abuse when out in a pub in Ireland

The worst comment I got in Ireland was this.
I was teaching in Ireland.

A man came over to me and my friend in the pub.

My friend (with a few drinks on her) and was chatting about anything, said I was a teacher and that I was from England.

The man turned to me, glared at me with utter hatred and said,

"Who the fuck let you over here teaching our kids. You shouldn't be anywhere near them. Scum like you"

I think it makes a difference what your "English" accent is, to be honest. I am Tyneside Irish -- my paternal grandparents were Irish, my father was first generation on Tyneside but we were heavily involved with the Tyneside Irish centre, always brought up to think of ourselves as Irish etc. My mother is Scottish. I speak with a Geordie accent.

When in Ireland (County Kerry) I have never ever had a negative reaction to my accent, but DH has a Home Counties accent and it has responded in sudden coldness from waitresses etc and some comments behind his back in shops.

I agree that it depends what type of English person you are perceived to be.

I was on holiday with an ex & his friends, they are all public school types & uber posh. We were lost, so one of them went into a petrol station to get directions to the racecourse in Kerry, when she came out ,she said that the people in the petrol station didn't know where it was...we were really close. I went in afterwards, had a bit of chat first then asked the same question & they quite happily told me where it was. I'm not posh. So I agree with the poster that it depends on how you are perceived.

I've holidayed with my English husband in Kerry & been treated really well, he was even asked if he's play rugby with the local team. He's from the south west England & has an accent to match.

I also think that if you are 2nd generation Irish (as I am), there are lots of nuances to Irish culture that you don't necessarily understand.

I said upthread I've never had a problem having an English accent in Ireland. I'm sure it helps that my DH is Irish and that I generally manage to slip that into conversation with people. Also, I have a northern English accent so have similar vowel sounds to Irish people, I'm told I'm well-spoken but don't sound 'posh'. My children sound Irish having grown up here. Where we live I've been totally accepted into the community as everyone knows my in-laws.

I have a posh, private school english accent and have lived here nearly 20 years and have never had a problem. It'll be different everywhere and for everyone and how you react etc. If you're looking for it then you'll see it, apart from the blatantly obvious stuff of course

Maybe that's true. I have a northern English accent.

Some English manners do not translate especially well to Ireland, and I think it may well have been that you chatted first before asking directions rather than your perceived social class, @12548ehe9fnfobms, that made those people respond better to you than your friends.

I noticed it in myself when I moved back to a job in Ireland after living and working in England, and realised that my English-learned idea of ‘civil and professional’ on the phone to admin staff was perceived as brusque and chilly, and I had to consciously retune my approach.

I do also think that Irish people are more than usually resistant to the Old Etonian bluff ‘charm’ (choose your own public school, obviously). It certainly irritates the fuck out of me, even though I went to university with packs of the. Or maybe because of that.

@Annaghgloor I think you are naive if you don't think that there was anti English sentiment involved in the directions story

I was in a pub in midlands Ireland very recently and I heard a man say that "he hated all the English", and "that all English people were fuckers".

@Mufasa1118 you’ll hear that in any pub in Scotland too though

The posher and more RP the English accent the more likely there will be somebody who'll be icy.

The people who integrate the MOST completely in to Irish society are definitely the English though.

Any norther accent, rebecca rabbit accent, cockney, you're probably not going to have much ''hate''.

Saying that there will be the odd asshole. My English friend has told me that somebody who was the weirdest and frostiest to her turned out to have an English mother! So she was like............ whaaaaat?!

@Snow1n

I have a posh, private school english accent and have lived here nearly 20 years and have never had a problem. It'll be different everywhere and for everyone and how you react etc. If you're looking for it then you'll see it, apart from the blatantly obvious stuff of course

I'm really glad to hear it. I lived in London for 14 years and I only ever had two hostile comments about my accent, in FOURTEEN YEARS !! Bit of teasing but that's not the same.

Back home now. My accent is a strange hybrid now

@Bid876

These are all reassuring, thank you.

The area’s we have in mind are Wexford and Waterford.

Wexford is better if you need to get to Dublin I like Gorey, nice town

[quote Mufasa1118]@Annaghgloor I think you are naive if you don't think that there was anti English sentiment involved in the directions story[/quote]
Well, neither of us were present, were we? And @12548ehe9fnfobms is also English, as I understand her post.

And I can assure you that having spent almost three decades dealing with intermittent but occasionally deeply unpleasant anti-Irish prejudice while living in England — by which I mean, I encountered it in the workplace where it was actively harmful to my career, not just random strangers on the street who think you’re in the IRA or feckless, superstitious and alcoholic — I’m in no way naive about prejudice.

Co.Waterford is beautiful. We lived there for a few years. Have lived all over Ireland. Back in England now. I would say there is an under current re the English accent. I have family in Limerick and they would say there is some prejudice.

@frogswimming

The only thing I have to do is explain where I'm from to every Tesco delivery man / shop assistant / plumber etc. Then they will tell me about their great aunt Bridget who lived in a totally different part of England and they used to visit.

My favourite tesco delivery driver is English and I'm so tempted to ask him what took him here, I'm sure it was a woman, he's very personable !

I spend a lot of time in different parts of Ireland.

RP accent. Never noticed anything at all.

I think it can be slightly different for blokes, but I’ve never met anyone who’s had major grief.

My sister (from GB) lives in Co Wexford (Hook peninsular) & I can't believe how many British folk live in & around her village!! It's not that 'ex pats' stick together, but genuinely there is a large % in that area - plus it's super friendly plus fabulous beaches!! You're in a v lucky position OP - I wouldn't hesitate!!

@girljulian

I think it makes a difference what your "English" accent is, to be honest. I am Tyneside Irish -- my paternal grandparents were Irish, my father was first generation on Tyneside but we were heavily involved with the Tyneside Irish centre, always brought up to think of ourselves as Irish etc. My mother is Scottish. I speak with a Geordie accent.

When in Ireland (County Kerry) I have never ever had a negative reaction to my accent, but DH has a Home Counties accent and it has responded in sudden coldness from waitresses etc and some comments behind his back in shops.

Yeah I think Geordies and Scousers are regarded as Irish really. Accents are on a spectrum though . Mine is a sort of Woganesque car crash and ppl here think I'm posh. But when I rang my Corkonian uncle in London he says ' Jesus you sound like a pure Culchie !' Too bad he can't tell my neighbours...they think of me as a West Brit