How would you define Irishness and what it means to be Irish (32 c, obviously) ?

[seafoid]

As a people we have a small country mentality. Which is only natural as we are a small country. Because of this we will never be really anything other than a small part of any Jigsaw.

Small country positives

openness
friendliness
time for people
Less anal than other countries
flexible

[seafoid]

Partitionist, evidently.

Put it to a vote

[seafoid]

Modern Irish seems to be

Atheist
Devoid of morality
Drunkeness
Foul mouthed
Greedy

None of which I can identify with

Point 2 tony, defending child abuse

[seafoid]

Difficulties with large volumes of money (see AIB)
Ambivalence
Very hard to get a straight answer
Don't tend to answer with 'yes' or 'no'
Sensitive to injustice
Liberal attitude to rules
Must have a house
Fake tan
Parochial (GAA did a fabulous job harnessing this )
Worship the US
Notions frowned on , except in celebrity magazines and on TV3
Sport has to come with analysis featuring a clown, a serious person and someone in the middle
Centrality of religion in schools, angelus, etc
Not militaristic
Generous with charities

[Orior]

Argumentative.
Good at funerals.
Not very fashionable.

That's very close to mine:

Always having a laugh.
Good at funerals.
Not very fashionable.

[seafoid]

Clientelist
You are supposed to learn stuff by watching, never from first principles eg sports

[T Fearon]

Seafoid I never ever defended child abuse and never will,I have lamented past Church and parental failings in this area.

[seafoid]

Not English
Influence of Gaeilge in accent
Poor planning capacity
Drink in rounds
Focus on education

[Applesisapples]

Insecurity about one's identity must rank pretty highly.

I think Behan said it best - 'other people have a nationality. The Jews and the Irish have a psychosis'.

Fcuk did Behan know Tony that well?

[Applesisapples]

To paraphrase a famous Clareman, In Ireland we love our traditional music but we love our hurling too. Real Irishmen put hurling or (Horlin as it is known in some parts of Armagh not to be confused with whoring which is a much more international sport) above all else even their love of Celtic, Man U and Liverpool.

[Keyboard Warrior]

To paraphrase a famous Clareman, In Ireland we love our traditional music but we love our hurling too. Real Irishmen put hurling or (Horlin as it is known in some parts of Armagh not to be confused with whoring which is a much more international sport) above all else even their love of Celtic, Man U and Liverpool.

And East East East Ty-rone

[johnneycool]

Argumentative.
Good at funerals.
Not very fashionable.

That's very close to mine:

Always having a laugh.
Good at funerals.
Not very fashionable.

Bending the rules and wee white lies are all ok.
Community orientated.

[Itchy]

Back in the 80s and 90s I had a good idea of being Irish meant to me. Now I look around and quite a lot of what I see is greedy, self centered, what's in it for me type attitude. The old Ireland is getting harder to find. So right now I don't think in the majority of cases there is much difference between Ireland and anywhere else in the western world.

[Applesisapples]

Back in the 80s and 90s I had a good idea of being Irish meant to me. Now I look around and quite a lot of what I see is greedy, self centered, what's in it for me type attitude. The old Ireland is getting harder to find. So right now I don't think in the majority of cases there is much difference between Ireland and anywhere else in the western world.

It's the all pervasive American culture.

[The Iceman]

Extremely loyal - as friends and family
Hospitable - we know how to open our homes and make people feel welcome
Travel well - we are well received wherever we go and make an effort to share the Irish culture all over the world
Indulging of stereotypes - we like to play up the drinking a bit too much
Naturally cynical - can be a great strength and driving force for success but also a horrible weakness
Fighters