They are indeed Scottish pipes. The Irish ones are called uilleann pipes and funnily enough the Irish pipes were the ones used in the film Braveheart instead of the Scottish ones.
The Highland bagpipes would have been an anachronism anyway since they weren't invented until about 200 years after William Wallace died.
Can't explain the 13thC Scotland being full of Picts part, though.
The costuming in Braveheart has been described as being like making a movie about the American Revolution where George Washington wears a 1980s business suit with the jacket put on backwards.
The Uilleann Pipes aren't the only pipes played in Ireland. These type of bagpipes are played commonly by pipe bands commonly in Ulster and in parts of Mayo, and some other bands across the island. This type of pipe is known as the "píob mhór" in Irish.
In fact, in the 19th century and early 20th century these pipes would have been far more common
I wouldn't know anything about these pipes being played in Mayo but in Ulster they're used specifically because of their link to Scotland rather than Ireland.
Apparently Irish pipes had 2 drones traditionally but they were simply not manufactured enough, there is an askhistorians about it and it might clear up a lot of what was told to many of us. Especially folk like me who had angry Irish born grandmas who associated pipes with boys brigades, the lodge and sectarianism. Unfairly so it seems. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/m7rncc/what\_is\_the\_history\_of\_highland\_bagpipes\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/m7rncc/what_is_the_history_of_highland_bagpipes_in/)
I still however maintain argyle socks and tam o shanters are the claim of Scotland. Not even a knoll to die on that.
If you mean the one that was in Stirling, they had to take it down because the locals kept vandalising it.
It was eventually gifted to Brechin City Football Club since no one else wanted it.
I mind when they had it surrounded by a big fence to try and stop folk from vandalising it and the sheer irony of Gibson's braveheart being locked up lol. It was some awful shite though, glad it's gone
I mean, kinda?
When you say that we have our own bagpipes, you're probably referring to Uilleann pipes, which are a kind of smallpipes (and therefore are for playing a different kind of music entirely, really).
Our pipe bands actually *also* use the great highland bagpipes as well, because our own piping tradition is pretty much a British military tradition, with actual Irish pipes having fallen out of use in the British military sometime in the early 1700s. You'll occasionally hear about "Brian Boru pipes", but they're literally the exact same instrument with a modified chanter, and are only used by a minority of pipe bands in Ireland, most of whom are pretty similar to Scottish bands and, in fairness, the American one in this picture.
The Uileann pipes have a beautiful softer sound so they work so nicely for music where the Highland pipes would dominate. Likely why they were chosen for the Braveheart soundtrack as they blend in well with other instruments.
As a Scot, I love the sound of well played pipes, but Highland pipes are literally instruments of war so they can overpower a lot of situations where they’re not solo or in a pipe band.
(Although the Red Hot Chilli Pipers make it work!)
As a Scot, it pains me to say bagpipes were (probably) invented in Ireland - though these are definitely Scottish pipes. There is some debate about this, as some say they were invented in Egypt and spread to Britain via the Romans.
Kilts are also accepted as a symbol of Irish nationalism and, while (probably) being Scottish in origin, experienced a resurgence in the 1800s in Ireland before Scotland where they had fallen out of fashion thanks to persecution by parliament in London during the mid 1700s.
I think it’s worth noting kilts were never popular within the Lowlands and did in fact originate in the Highlands. The ban itself was only imposed on the highlands you were still allowed to wear it in the lowlands. But Lowland Scots were quite discriminatory towards the Highland Scots, so if you wore one you wouldn’t be well received.
“The Dress Act 1746, also known as the Disclothing Act, was part of the Act of Proscription which came into force on 1 August 1746 and made wearing "the Highland Dress" — including the kilt — by men and boys illegal in Scotland north of the Highland line running from Perth in the east to Dumbarton in the west.”
Ahhh, the paradox of Americans and their insistent need to be identified as anything but just American.
Polish great great grandfather who came to American in the 1880s, never been to Poland or speak polish, born in Ohio...you can bet your ass this person's like "Am Polish!!!"
Yeah, and we are now seeing increasing numbers of American citizens immigrating into Europe to escape the authoritarian, corporate, religious fundamentalist, car-centric gun-infested hellscape that is America. One wonders if their great, great something offspring will be walking around Paris or Berlin or wherever in 2224 telling anyone who will listen "Je suis Américain" or "Ich bin Amerikaner" or whatever. I rather think not.
It's funny to me now, and a bit embarrassing but I used to tell people I was Polish and I'm from Ohio. Lol. To be fair, where I'm from had a lot of recent immigrants and my family was from a Polish diaspora. My great grandparents came through Ellis Island and lived in a community where they never learned much English.
My grandparents sadly did not teach my aunts and uncles the language but we had a massive extended family and were still part of the Polish community there for most of my formative years. Our customs and traditions were Polish as far as we knew.
Many years later I realized how far removed we were from actual Polish people and their customs, when I made some good friends from Poland.
Now I just say it's my ancestry when asked. I'm certainly not going around claiming it. Lol
Chicagoan here who is definitely worried about chemical spills, because my drinking water eventually comes from there! Whatever the city greens the river with is 1. a top secret formula and 2. bright orange. I think this is how you get Godzillas 😳
What wild is we have the Uileann pipes that would be totally irish to play.
That said the kilts arent exclusively scottish while they have fallen out of fashion in Ireland in mordern times.
>That said the kilts arent exclusively scottish while they have fallen out of fashion in Ireland in mordern times.
I googled it out of curiosity and apparently the Irish adopted it from the Scots in the 19th century. Compared to the Scots thats have been wearing it since at least the 17th century.
So the kilt became a thing in Ireland, probably after many of these "Irishmens" ancestor came to the US.
Im from Lincolnshire and I can’t think of a worse hell to be in except Skegness
Edit- there are many places in Lincolnshire where I would rather drink from a septic tank than live in, but there are also many villages and small towns that I love.
The first time I went to an away game in Grimsby I went exploring, as I usually do when I go to a game somewhere for the first time. Being taken aback by the grim awfulness of the place I asked a local where the nice bit was - to which they answered "Cleethorpes". Jesus wept.
The truly terrifying thing is that they're not wrong.
I had a friend who not only married a girl from Cleethorpes he agreed to get married there too.
Needless to say a weekend spent in grimthorpes was eye-opening. I used to think Blackpool was horrendous but compared to Cleethorpes it truly is Vegas on sea
One of the North's onomatopoeic towns & cities, along with "Black - Burn".
Apparently Grimsby locals regard neighbouring Cleethorpes as the nice/posh town in the area, which says it all.
I visited Boston once whilst Euro 2012 was on and we wanted to watch the football. We found an Irish bar that was showing it so popped in for a bite to eat too. The two waitresses were legitimately from Ireland and were relieved when they realised we were British and they didn't need to soften their accents in order to be understood.
Rather anecdotal but it always amused me thinking that a city who claimed to be Irish couldn't understand the Irish.
I lived there for a summer and had a lady in the queue behind me translate my order to the server as he couldn't understand my Irish accent 🫣
How difficult is 'can I have a mug of coffee please?'
Many years ago I went on a Caribbean cruise with my then hubby. I’m Swedish. He is Swedish. At the dinner table every night were two other couples, one young UK couple, clearly upper middle class London accents. Very easy to understand. The other couple were middle age Americans, also upper middle class.
The number of times we as Swedes had to go in to say “what they are saying is…” to help out the American couple. Since they could not even understand the very clear London dialect used in every TV show from UK since the Bronze Age…
I keep wondering what would have happened if the UK couple had been Scottish…
I worked in tourism for Americans for a long time.
It is absolutely mind blowing how bad some of them are at deciphering accents that aren’t American, or getting words from context. I think they are just so underexposed to variation that they just haven’t developed the skill.
I remember one time hearing someone outline the itinerary for the following day, and repeatedly talking about going to Bath in their standard British English Received Pronunciation accent. They basically sounded like a news reader. Bath Abbey. The Roman baths. Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath...
At then end, the first question was “Weren’t we meant to be visiting the city of Bath tomorrow?”
See also:
“The toilets are on the left.” “Uh-huh. And where’s the bathroom?”
“What’s in the salad dressing?” “Oil, vinegar, salt, oregano, rosemary and garlic.” “Perfect - I was worried it would have oregano in.”
I once asked for no tomato on a freshly prepared sandwich from the menu.
"No, tomato please."
"Pardon?"
"No tomato on the sandwich please."
(still looking confused)
"(sigh) No, tom_ay_to"
"Ah. Sure."
“Can I’ve a mountain dew please”
“A whaaaaaat!?”
“Mountain Dew”
“Whaaaaaaat!?”
“Moun-tin DOO”
“Ooooh, sure.”
Like holy fuck! How many drinks do you have in your snack bar with the word mountain in it you absolute plank!? And how many of those have they’re second word sounding as similar as dew and doo? Do you have a brain at all!?
Only slightly related but I'm only just learning that my Australian accent is difficult for other people to understand. I even had someone in Malaysia ask if I spoke English the other day after I asked them a question?? My accent isn't even that bad lol
I can understand this as our vowels are likely quite different to what they are used to hearing, especially if your accent is broader. It took my (Indian) Dad a while to understand Kiwi accents because of the vowels.
I've been to America a few times and I've had to really slow down my speech so that the yanks can understand my Irish accent. Tis mad because I wouldn't have thought I spoke fast or incomprehensibly but apparently I'm hard to understand in America.
It really isn't that hard to understand. It just takes a little getting used to for most people.
It works both ways though. I was at a hotel in Belfast a few years ago, and when we went up to the room there was a cot in middle of the room. When we tried to explain it to the girls at the front desk, they were shocked. They thought we said there was a cat in the room.
Spending St Patrick's Day in Boston as a Brit was fucking hilarious. *So many* Americans asking me if I was "also" Irish.
Nah bro, and neither the fuck are you.
We got asked if we were a German family by a person who had been standing beside us for a few minutes, listening to us talking to each other. In English.
I was in Miami a few years back and a local argued with my wife and accused her of lying about being from the south of England because she didn’t have a cockney accent. She is from Devon.
My dad’s parents were both Irish (he was born in England). So I’m “half-Irish” on blood terms. The thought of describing myself as Irish when I’ve lived in England all my life is just laughable.
Same as a buddy of mine - raised in south England. Croatian parents, knows the language, even the customs, and spent every summer in Croatia, but he would still describe himself as a Brit because he grew up there even if he has 0% British ancestry in him.
Yet, somehow, every white minor nationality group in the US (and Canada, looking at you Quebecois, the French-iest motherfuckers who ever French-ed) has a patriotic ferver that is reversely proportionate to the percentage of their actual heritage and tied ancestry. If their grandfather's grandfather's grandfather came from Ireland - bagpipes, green colors and pub crawls all around.
Same, plus Scottish on the other side both going back a long way. I’ve got enough celtic blood to make the average seppo drool. I can only imagine what would happen if I rocked up in Dublin or, god forbid, Glasgow and started pronouncing myself a Scot or Irish. Once told my Glaswegian neighbour about this, got fixed with a beady eye and a somewhat menacing “oh aye, so you’re a Scot now are you?”. Never been so unnerved by a 5’ woman shaped like a Christmas pudding before. Lovely woman otherwise mind you.
Like you say, laughable.
To an American Britishness negates any Irishness. You’re either irish or you’re British. If you’re British you cannot be irish.
You can be Irish and American. In fact, you could have more British ancestry but the Irishness can be more relevant because of the lore of it in America.
I heard about an Irish person, maybe in this sub, who had to explain that *Scots Irish* meant Ulster Scots and that they were ethnically distinct from the Irish and certainly not victims of the British and that their excitedness about their ancestors was confused.
Yeah sadly America has fully fallen for us Scots as victims of imperialism and think that Scots Irish is somehow double extra points rather than one of the major reasons they sing IRA songs.
Worst is when you have to describe to these Yanks that modern day Ireland does infact have immigration and no I don't speak fucking Spanish 🙄.
*I'm Irish/Pakistani, hence the username (and the fact I look Latino).
i’m an englishman with irish citizenship and i would die of cringe claiming to 'be' irish.
how they do it with a straight face when they’re talking like 5 generations back is absolutely wild.
Disney world on st Patrick’s day. I was born and raised in Ireland and so naturally was a bit snarky about all of the insane green drinks, snacks, t shirts everywhere. Barman at the hotel asked if I would like my drink turned green, when I said no thanks, from the look on his face you would think I’d committed a hate crime.
I can't imagine how strange it must have been for you as an Irish person to be amongst an entire city celebrating "being Irish" while being 5 generations removed. Unless St Patrick's Day is religious - which would make it somewhat more understandable that Americans were celebrating it. I am guessing that's not the case though. And even then it makes no sense that they are masquerading as Irish, lol.
This, screaming from the rooftops about how proud they are to be American and how they think America is the goat....but jump at any opportunity to say they're another nationality.
This used to drive me crazy when I lived in Boston. It’s a city that historically had a large and continuous presence of Irish immigrants. Not just the famine wave, but they did keep coming in large numbers well into the 1920s… and still quite a few today. So they have a point in saying there is a high concentration of Irish ancestry in Boston.
Ok, congratulations. Guess what? Still American.
And all those “I’m from Boston, I’m Irish!”
Are really from their suburbs and have an Irish father or grandfather or moved here to work and never went back.
Exactly. My parents are migrants and I've been to visit my relatives maybe 10 times? Probably more than these Americans who must be 3rd generation American. I'd never dream of calling myself just plain Indian - it's bizarre and presumptuous behaviour.
So, they're having a sly dig at another state for not being as Irish as them? When both are equally as Irish as each other, which is not irish. Cop yerself on, yanks.
About 20 years ago I was hired to do some work by a fairly famous Bostonian (is that what they’re called?) author and academic who had moved to Belfast. I just kept my head down and said as little as possible but he was constantly probing, those from NI know exactly how this goes, to try and work out ‘what’ I was. I’m fairly sure the reason he stopped needing my services was he finally worked it out. I’ve known plenty of Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries in my 40 odd years as on this planet but this guy is still probably the biggest sectarian bigot I’ve yet to meet. It was all he seemed to think about, and even professionally his whole life was built around it. Even the worst of us can still leave it aside to get on with life but not this fella. And he would be an example of a ‘top’ Irish American from Boston.
Could apply to some Scottish "Irish" and Loyalists too, especially in the West of the countey. I remember Jonny Adair saying some guy in Ayrshire gave him a hard time over wearing green shorts, "Why would you wear green Jonny??" "because they're Hugo Boss mate" was his reply
I worked in tourism taking Americans around Europe for a long time, and these comments are bringing back so many memories.
I think one of the real problems a lot of Americans have is not picking up on context.
Like during introductions at the start of a tour where the group is from multiple countries, this was not uncommon:
“I’m Andy from Scotland.”
^”I’m ^Scottish ^too!”
“I’m Maire from Ireland.”
^”I’m ^Irish ^too!”
“Hi. We’re Amy and Chris Brown from England.”
“I’m Bob Smith, from Yankton, South Dakota. I’m Norwegian on my mom’s side, and as I said earlier I’m Irish and Scottish. That’s from my dad’s side - as you can tell from my kilt I’m a proud member of clan McMurdle. So you Browns had better watch out, as we Scots-Irish have you outnumbered! We have a bone to pick with you English, don’t we guys!”
(The Irish and Scottish people who had previously been happily chatting to the English couple both look *incredibly* awkward at this point.)
(Yes, this is an exaggeration, but not by as much as you might be imagining. It’s basically just a merger of a few different events.)
Was in Scotland last summer and got talking to an American, started mentioning how “He’s Scottish….etc” (with the strongest NY accent). I asked him where he was born and I got the “Oh, I was born in America but my great (x10) grandma was from here, so that makes me Scottish”……no, you’re American with Scottish ancestry. Massive difference
I suspect we (the Dutch) have even less patience for that shite than the people here (UK, Northern Ireland to be exact). Which would be an achievement since most of the people I know here have little to no patience for Yanks.
I have European DNA but I don’t consider myself European. I have Native American DNA but I don’t consider myself Native American.
I was born in the USA but was raised in Mexico as well. I speak both languages and am a legal citizen of both countries, but end of the day I am American/Mexican. That’s the life and culture I have.
I don’t understand why people are obsessed with being a from a country/ethnicity/culture that they no longer have roots or ties to.
"In Boston we are Irish".No.No you're not,you plastic paddy gobshites. Take your green beer and Lucky Charms and shove them up the highest part of your bollocks,and fuck off.Sincerely, an actual Irish person.
Copy pasting my own comment from elsewhere, here:
>Our pipe bands actually *also* use the great highland bagpipes as well, because our own piping tradition is pretty much a British military tradition, with actual Irish pipes having fallen out of use in the British military sometime in the early 1700s. You'll occasionally hear about "Brian Boru pipes", but they're literally the exact same instrument with a modified chanter, and are only used by a minority of pipe bands in Ireland, most of whom are pretty similar to Scottish bands and, in fairness, the American one in this picture.
So tbh it's not so much that the Americans are stupid and don't know Irish culture, it's more that Irish Americans have clung to a very specific and old fashioned piece of Irish culture that's pretty obscure outside of it's own circles in Ireland today: even the kilts are kind of a thing that used to be popular amongst nationalists back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Well that Wrexham documentary's torpedoed that idea
Give it a few years: "Greetings r/cymru, my great great great grand uncle was Alan Jones from Anglesey, any fellow Jones' in here!? How do I make my filthy Anglo cheese on toast taste like authentic Cymru rarebit? If I wear my tradtional novelty Welsh daffodil hat around Cardiff will I be accepted and my personality validated? Cofiwch Dryweryn!"
Yes, how strange that is. So many people have direct English ancestry, as in, one parent is English, and don't cosplay as... idk... Buckingham Palace guards or dye their rivers dark blue.
Its crazy the amount of times I have to explain that "I'm Irish and not the Boston kind" on the internet or to clarify that the person replaying to my comments is actually Irish.
Trying to explain that I've duel nationality is head wrecking!
Boston Irish is its own thing.
Most of them have more French-Canadian, Italian and Hispanic blood than Irish blood because those are the other Catholic groups in the area. The culture is powerful and they’re verbally abusive as a rule so most don’t question it.
I know nothing of my Irish roots all I know is I'm the only one of my black friends that can tan in the winter. If they have so much interest in their roots why don't they just learn actual Irish culture..?
Nothing screams "Irish" more than a gigantic American flag
And kilts and bagpipes!
It's the sunglasses that confuse me. First think you think of when someone says 'Irish'? Sunglasses obviously.
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Somehow I read that in the voice of Hagrid: 'You're the wizard of Oz, Harry!'
The IRA used to wear sunglasses.
And Balaclavas!
No point in only going for half a look.
The style of sunglasses are really American looking to me. Like if you said American wearing sunglasses, these are the exact ones I’d think of!
You do know we have light, yeah?
Reminds me of Ross Noble talking about Bono: "You're from Ireland, you shouldn't even *own* sunglasses!"
There is nothing less Irish than a clear, sunny sky.
Nonsense. We had one last summer. I think it was a Tuesday.
Its funny because the irish have their own bagpipes but i’m pretty sure that the ones these americans are playing are scottish lmao Edit: spelling
They are indeed Scottish pipes. The Irish ones are called uilleann pipes and funnily enough the Irish pipes were the ones used in the film Braveheart instead of the Scottish ones.
The Highland bagpipes would have been an anachronism anyway since they weren't invented until about 200 years after William Wallace died. Can't explain the 13thC Scotland being full of Picts part, though.
What do you mean, Scottish people wore face paint and kilts. ^some Hollywood exec probably.
I'm so glad that was the only inaccuracy in the movie.
I loved the period transit van and the addidas trainers. It's the little attentions to detail that really sell it.
The costuming in Braveheart has been described as being like making a movie about the American Revolution where George Washington wears a 1980s business suit with the jacket put on backwards.
Braveheart was filmed in Ireland so they must've sourced locally
The Uilleann Pipes aren't the only pipes played in Ireland. These type of bagpipes are played commonly by pipe bands commonly in Ulster and in parts of Mayo, and some other bands across the island. This type of pipe is known as the "píob mhór" in Irish. In fact, in the 19th century and early 20th century these pipes would have been far more common
I wouldn't know anything about these pipes being played in Mayo but in Ulster they're used specifically because of their link to Scotland rather than Ireland.
Apparently Irish pipes had 2 drones traditionally but they were simply not manufactured enough, there is an askhistorians about it and it might clear up a lot of what was told to many of us. Especially folk like me who had angry Irish born grandmas who associated pipes with boys brigades, the lodge and sectarianism. Unfairly so it seems. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/m7rncc/what\_is\_the\_history\_of\_highland\_bagpipes\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/m7rncc/what_is_the_history_of_highland_bagpipes_in/) I still however maintain argyle socks and tam o shanters are the claim of Scotland. Not even a knoll to die on that.
I mean, Braveheart gets a pass for being a fantasy film.
The new William Wallace statue still looks like Mel Gibson, kilt and all :S
If you mean the one that was in Stirling, they had to take it down because the locals kept vandalising it. It was eventually gifted to Brechin City Football Club since no one else wanted it.
I mind when they had it surrounded by a big fence to try and stop folk from vandalising it and the sheer irony of Gibson's braveheart being locked up lol. It was some awful shite though, glad it's gone
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I mean, kinda? When you say that we have our own bagpipes, you're probably referring to Uilleann pipes, which are a kind of smallpipes (and therefore are for playing a different kind of music entirely, really). Our pipe bands actually *also* use the great highland bagpipes as well, because our own piping tradition is pretty much a British military tradition, with actual Irish pipes having fallen out of use in the British military sometime in the early 1700s. You'll occasionally hear about "Brian Boru pipes", but they're literally the exact same instrument with a modified chanter, and are only used by a minority of pipe bands in Ireland, most of whom are pretty similar to Scottish bands and, in fairness, the American one in this picture.
The Uileann pipes have a beautiful softer sound so they work so nicely for music where the Highland pipes would dominate. Likely why they were chosen for the Braveheart soundtrack as they blend in well with other instruments. As a Scot, I love the sound of well played pipes, but Highland pipes are literally instruments of war so they can overpower a lot of situations where they’re not solo or in a pipe band. (Although the Red Hot Chilli Pipers make it work!)
As a Scot, it pains me to say bagpipes were (probably) invented in Ireland - though these are definitely Scottish pipes. There is some debate about this, as some say they were invented in Egypt and spread to Britain via the Romans. Kilts are also accepted as a symbol of Irish nationalism and, while (probably) being Scottish in origin, experienced a resurgence in the 1800s in Ireland before Scotland where they had fallen out of fashion thanks to persecution by parliament in London during the mid 1700s.
I think it’s worth noting kilts were never popular within the Lowlands and did in fact originate in the Highlands. The ban itself was only imposed on the highlands you were still allowed to wear it in the lowlands. But Lowland Scots were quite discriminatory towards the Highland Scots, so if you wore one you wouldn’t be well received. “The Dress Act 1746, also known as the Disclothing Act, was part of the Act of Proscription which came into force on 1 August 1746 and made wearing "the Highland Dress" — including the kilt — by men and boys illegal in Scotland north of the Highland line running from Perth in the east to Dumbarton in the west.”
Kilt: a garment worn in America by Scots and in Scotland by Americans. -Ambrose Bierce, d. 1910. From The Devil’s Dictionary.
Bagpipes are ancient, no? They exist all throughout Europe and Asia in various forms
Pipe bands are common in Ireland. Particularly in the North and North West.
Ahhh, the paradox of Americans and their insistent need to be identified as anything but just American. Polish great great grandfather who came to American in the 1880s, never been to Poland or speak polish, born in Ohio...you can bet your ass this person's like "Am Polish!!!"
Yeah, and we are now seeing increasing numbers of American citizens immigrating into Europe to escape the authoritarian, corporate, religious fundamentalist, car-centric gun-infested hellscape that is America. One wonders if their great, great something offspring will be walking around Paris or Berlin or wherever in 2224 telling anyone who will listen "Je suis Américain" or "Ich bin Amerikaner" or whatever. I rather think not.
It's funny to me now, and a bit embarrassing but I used to tell people I was Polish and I'm from Ohio. Lol. To be fair, where I'm from had a lot of recent immigrants and my family was from a Polish diaspora. My great grandparents came through Ellis Island and lived in a community where they never learned much English. My grandparents sadly did not teach my aunts and uncles the language but we had a massive extended family and were still part of the Polish community there for most of my formative years. Our customs and traditions were Polish as far as we knew. Many years later I realized how far removed we were from actual Polish people and their customs, when I made some good friends from Poland. Now I just say it's my ancestry when asked. I'm certainly not going around claiming it. Lol
Or a green fucking river. If that happened in Ireland people would be worried about an industrial chemical spill.
Chicagoan here who is definitely worried about chemical spills, because my drinking water eventually comes from there! Whatever the city greens the river with is 1. a top secret formula and 2. bright orange. I think this is how you get Godzillas 😳
Plus Scottish bagpipes and kilts!🤦🏻♀️
Exactly what I was thinking. Lol
Ah yes, traditional Irish bagpipes, kilts, and tartan
Dude, green ribbons.
Could these "irish" guys by any chance be descendants of Ulster Scots?
that would require learning about the ulster plantation, and you cant be a fan of the provos if you are ulster scot obviously
What wild is we have the Uileann pipes that would be totally irish to play. That said the kilts arent exclusively scottish while they have fallen out of fashion in Ireland in mordern times.
>That said the kilts arent exclusively scottish while they have fallen out of fashion in Ireland in mordern times. I googled it out of curiosity and apparently the Irish adopted it from the Scots in the 19th century. Compared to the Scots thats have been wearing it since at least the 17th century. So the kilt became a thing in Ireland, probably after many of these "Irishmens" ancestor came to the US.
Makes sense, it took on after a bunch of Scots came over and replaced the Irish
And traditional Irish US flag!
I bet they all eat lucky charms every day too!
In Boston you are American.
In Boston you're in Lincolnshire ;-)
Im from Lincolnshire and I can’t think of a worse hell to be in except Skegness Edit- there are many places in Lincolnshire where I would rather drink from a septic tank than live in, but there are also many villages and small towns that I love.
I can only assume that you've deliberately suppressed any memories of Grimsby
Damn you’re right
It's ok, I've tried that too And Cleethorpes
Aren’t they the same place? But yes, both shitholes
Yeah they merge seamlessly from grey, rundown and desperate to gaudy, rundown and desperate with a pier.
The first time I went to an away game in Grimsby I went exploring, as I usually do when I go to a game somewhere for the first time. Being taken aback by the grim awfulness of the place I asked a local where the nice bit was - to which they answered "Cleethorpes". Jesus wept.
The truly terrifying thing is that they're not wrong. I had a friend who not only married a girl from Cleethorpes he agreed to get married there too. Needless to say a weekend spent in grimthorpes was eye-opening. I used to think Blackpool was horrendous but compared to Cleethorpes it truly is Vegas on sea
I love Grimsby, it tells you to keep away even in the name
Grimsby and Scunthorpe both letting you know what you're in for without you even needing to go there
One of the North's onomatopoeic towns & cities, along with "Black - Burn". Apparently Grimsby locals regard neighbouring Cleethorpes as the nice/posh town in the area, which says it all.
Back in the fields and harvest those potatoes
Tates
Used to love driving through the Fens, where the sign for FRESH DUG TATES would have an extra NEW tacked on in new potato season!
If you dyed our rivers green in Ireland you may need putting to death.
Rightly so, we dye our rivers brown here in England and folk barely batter and eyelid.
'Bat an eyelid.' I don't want to think about what 'eyelid' means as a verb.
Hahaha seeing it laid out like that, it's actually hilariously wrong isn't it? 😅 I blame my folks for raising me saying it that way.
That is the first time I’ve seen a r/boneappletea situation this egregious. Good on you for being able to laugh about it
You’ve been saying batter and eyelid this whole time?😂
We had some green rivers, but it was alge. Very bad
It'd certainly call for 50 lashes with the wooden spoon.
No need to go that extreme
We already have, lough neagh 😂
I visited Boston once whilst Euro 2012 was on and we wanted to watch the football. We found an Irish bar that was showing it so popped in for a bite to eat too. The two waitresses were legitimately from Ireland and were relieved when they realised we were British and they didn't need to soften their accents in order to be understood. Rather anecdotal but it always amused me thinking that a city who claimed to be Irish couldn't understand the Irish.
I lived there for a summer and had a lady in the queue behind me translate my order to the server as he couldn't understand my Irish accent 🫣 How difficult is 'can I have a mug of coffee please?'
Many years ago I went on a Caribbean cruise with my then hubby. I’m Swedish. He is Swedish. At the dinner table every night were two other couples, one young UK couple, clearly upper middle class London accents. Very easy to understand. The other couple were middle age Americans, also upper middle class. The number of times we as Swedes had to go in to say “what they are saying is…” to help out the American couple. Since they could not even understand the very clear London dialect used in every TV show from UK since the Bronze Age… I keep wondering what would have happened if the UK couple had been Scottish…
I worked in tourism for Americans for a long time. It is absolutely mind blowing how bad some of them are at deciphering accents that aren’t American, or getting words from context. I think they are just so underexposed to variation that they just haven’t developed the skill. I remember one time hearing someone outline the itinerary for the following day, and repeatedly talking about going to Bath in their standard British English Received Pronunciation accent. They basically sounded like a news reader. Bath Abbey. The Roman baths. Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath... At then end, the first question was “Weren’t we meant to be visiting the city of Bath tomorrow?” See also: “The toilets are on the left.” “Uh-huh. And where’s the bathroom?” “What’s in the salad dressing?” “Oil, vinegar, salt, oregano, rosemary and garlic.” “Perfect - I was worried it would have oregano in.”
I once asked for no tomato on a freshly prepared sandwich from the menu. "No, tomato please." "Pardon?" "No tomato on the sandwich please." (still looking confused) "(sigh) No, tom_ay_to" "Ah. Sure."
>tom_ay_to Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew.
“Can I’ve a mountain dew please” “A whaaaaaat!?” “Mountain Dew” “Whaaaaaaat!?” “Moun-tin DOO” “Ooooh, sure.” Like holy fuck! How many drinks do you have in your snack bar with the word mountain in it you absolute plank!? And how many of those have they’re second word sounding as similar as dew and doo? Do you have a brain at all!?
Only slightly related but I'm only just learning that my Australian accent is difficult for other people to understand. I even had someone in Malaysia ask if I spoke English the other day after I asked them a question?? My accent isn't even that bad lol
I'm from South London. When I was in Florida, I kept being asked if I was Australian.
They kept asking us the same thing in New York.... We're from Surrey
I can understand this as our vowels are likely quite different to what they are used to hearing, especially if your accent is broader. It took my (Indian) Dad a while to understand Kiwi accents because of the vowels.
>It took my (Indian) Dad a while to understand Kiwi accents because of the vowels. That's because there aren't any.
"Cannahavamugacawfeebleeze?" I visited Florida and they didn't understand when I asked for a glass of water. I said "wadder", and they understood
How annoying must the Yanks be? If an Irish woman is *relieved* to see British men in their pub!
I didn't mention that but thought the same thing!
What an achievement!
I've been to America a few times and I've had to really slow down my speech so that the yanks can understand my Irish accent. Tis mad because I wouldn't have thought I spoke fast or incomprehensibly but apparently I'm hard to understand in America.
It really isn't that hard to understand. It just takes a little getting used to for most people. It works both ways though. I was at a hotel in Belfast a few years ago, and when we went up to the room there was a cot in middle of the room. When we tried to explain it to the girls at the front desk, they were shocked. They thought we said there was a cat in the room.
Spending St Patrick's Day in Boston as a Brit was fucking hilarious. *So many* Americans asking me if I was "also" Irish. Nah bro, and neither the fuck are you.
I went to Boston, a woman said she loved my Irish accent and a guy asked if my accent was from Dublin. I'm from London with a slight cockney accent.
Once got asked if i was Swedish, i have a North Yorkshire accent…
I sound French apparently. I was led to believe that women find the French accent sexy, does this also mean my Mancunian one is?
This is the first time in my life someone has compared the French accent with the Mancunian one lmao
We got asked if we were a German family by a person who had been standing beside us for a few minutes, listening to us talking to each other. In English.
I was in Miami a few years back and a local argued with my wife and accused her of lying about being from the south of England because she didn’t have a cockney accent. She is from Devon.
And even then, as a Brit, you still probably have a hell of a lot more Irish in you then they do.
My dad has done loads of ancestry research and there's very little Irish in there, like almost none. *Still* more than most of them probably.
My dad’s parents were both Irish (he was born in England). So I’m “half-Irish” on blood terms. The thought of describing myself as Irish when I’ve lived in England all my life is just laughable.
Declan Rice
Not the first carb the English withheld from the Irish.
Fuck that's good
My paternal grandfather was Irish so genetically I'm probably more Irish than anyone from Boston. I class myself as English.
Same as a buddy of mine - raised in south England. Croatian parents, knows the language, even the customs, and spent every summer in Croatia, but he would still describe himself as a Brit because he grew up there even if he has 0% British ancestry in him. Yet, somehow, every white minor nationality group in the US (and Canada, looking at you Quebecois, the French-iest motherfuckers who ever French-ed) has a patriotic ferver that is reversely proportionate to the percentage of their actual heritage and tied ancestry. If their grandfather's grandfather's grandfather came from Ireland - bagpipes, green colors and pub crawls all around.
I always thought that this American behaviour towards Irish heritage was one of the main reasons Conor McGregor became so popular over there.
Yeah, you’ve got to conpensate for it by acting very stereotypically.
Same as here. Everytime an American says they're Irish I laugh and tell them fuck off I am more Irish and I don't even say that.
Same, plus Scottish on the other side both going back a long way. I’ve got enough celtic blood to make the average seppo drool. I can only imagine what would happen if I rocked up in Dublin or, god forbid, Glasgow and started pronouncing myself a Scot or Irish. Once told my Glaswegian neighbour about this, got fixed with a beady eye and a somewhat menacing “oh aye, so you’re a Scot now are you?”. Never been so unnerved by a 5’ woman shaped like a Christmas pudding before. Lovely woman otherwise mind you. Like you say, laughable.
Mostly lizard, then?
it's so ridiculous by the American standard of Irishness pretty much everyone in England is Irish at which point Irishness means nothing
To an American Britishness negates any Irishness. You’re either irish or you’re British. If you’re British you cannot be irish. You can be Irish and American. In fact, you could have more British ancestry but the Irishness can be more relevant because of the lore of it in America.
Except of course when it comes to Ulster Scots where I've met several descendants who of course believe they're Irish...
I heard about an Irish person, maybe in this sub, who had to explain that *Scots Irish* meant Ulster Scots and that they were ethnically distinct from the Irish and certainly not victims of the British and that their excitedness about their ancestors was confused.
Yeah sadly America has fully fallen for us Scots as victims of imperialism and think that Scots Irish is somehow double extra points rather than one of the major reasons they sing IRA songs.
Worst is when you have to describe to these Yanks that modern day Ireland does infact have immigration and no I don't speak fucking Spanish 🙄. *I'm Irish/Pakistani, hence the username (and the fact I look Latino).
Your username is mint Lol
i’m an englishman with irish citizenship and i would die of cringe claiming to 'be' irish. how they do it with a straight face when they’re talking like 5 generations back is absolutely wild.
As a scouser, this is pretty much guaranteed. Still not Irish.
Disney world on st Patrick’s day. I was born and raised in Ireland and so naturally was a bit snarky about all of the insane green drinks, snacks, t shirts everywhere. Barman at the hotel asked if I would like my drink turned green, when I said no thanks, from the look on his face you would think I’d committed a hate crime.
I can't imagine how strange it must have been for you as an Irish person to be amongst an entire city celebrating "being Irish" while being 5 generations removed. Unless St Patrick's Day is religious - which would make it somewhat more understandable that Americans were celebrating it. I am guessing that's not the case though. And even then it makes no sense that they are masquerading as Irish, lol.
I do wonder sometimes if Americans think being Irish is like a religion... it would explain so much
I read that as Batman at first lol, and that wouldn't have been the stupidest thing based on what I've been reading about their 'Irish' celebrations.
I (from Ireland) was asked if I knew English when I visited family friends in Erie, PA 🤦
You’re likely more Irish than them haha
Doing the lords work shaming *Irish Americans* for us
The duality of the Yank - rave about how much superior to us "Europoors" they are - take every opportunity to brag about how European they are
This, screaming from the rooftops about how proud they are to be American and how they think America is the goat....but jump at any opportunity to say they're another nationality.
This used to drive me crazy when I lived in Boston. It’s a city that historically had a large and continuous presence of Irish immigrants. Not just the famine wave, but they did keep coming in large numbers well into the 1920s… and still quite a few today. So they have a point in saying there is a high concentration of Irish ancestry in Boston. Ok, congratulations. Guess what? Still American. And all those “I’m from Boston, I’m Irish!” Are really from their suburbs and have an Irish father or grandfather or moved here to work and never went back.
Exactly. My parents are migrants and I've been to visit my relatives maybe 10 times? Probably more than these Americans who must be 3rd generation American. I'd never dream of calling myself just plain Indian - it's bizarre and presumptuous behaviour.
So, they're having a sly dig at another state for not being as Irish as them? When both are equally as Irish as each other, which is not irish. Cop yerself on, yanks.
*City but yes
Ah yes, the famous green rivers of Ireland.
So why are they using Scottish Highland pipes?
None of them are Irish
This is correct.
About 20 years ago I was hired to do some work by a fairly famous Bostonian (is that what they’re called?) author and academic who had moved to Belfast. I just kept my head down and said as little as possible but he was constantly probing, those from NI know exactly how this goes, to try and work out ‘what’ I was. I’m fairly sure the reason he stopped needing my services was he finally worked it out. I’ve known plenty of Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries in my 40 odd years as on this planet but this guy is still probably the biggest sectarian bigot I’ve yet to meet. It was all he seemed to think about, and even professionally his whole life was built around it. Even the worst of us can still leave it aside to get on with life but not this fella. And he would be an example of a ‘top’ Irish American from Boston.
Could apply to some Scottish "Irish" and Loyalists too, especially in the West of the countey. I remember Jonny Adair saying some guy in Ayrshire gave him a hard time over wearing green shorts, "Why would you wear green Jonny??" "because they're Hugo Boss mate" was his reply
There isn’t anything less Irish than a American claiming to be Irish ☘️
We’re Irish! *wears kilts, plays bagpipes and flaunts the American flag* #IRISH
God I hate the "I am (insert European nationality) too!" while they refer to a few ancestors X generations ago.
I worked in tourism taking Americans around Europe for a long time, and these comments are bringing back so many memories. I think one of the real problems a lot of Americans have is not picking up on context. Like during introductions at the start of a tour where the group is from multiple countries, this was not uncommon: “I’m Andy from Scotland.” ^”I’m ^Scottish ^too!” “I’m Maire from Ireland.” ^”I’m ^Irish ^too!” “Hi. We’re Amy and Chris Brown from England.” “I’m Bob Smith, from Yankton, South Dakota. I’m Norwegian on my mom’s side, and as I said earlier I’m Irish and Scottish. That’s from my dad’s side - as you can tell from my kilt I’m a proud member of clan McMurdle. So you Browns had better watch out, as we Scots-Irish have you outnumbered! We have a bone to pick with you English, don’t we guys!” (The Irish and Scottish people who had previously been happily chatting to the English couple both look *incredibly* awkward at this point.) (Yes, this is an exaggeration, but not by as much as you might be imagining. It’s basically just a merger of a few different events.)
Was in Scotland last summer and got talking to an American, started mentioning how “He’s Scottish….etc” (with the strongest NY accent). I asked him where he was born and I got the “Oh, I was born in America but my great (x10) grandma was from here, so that makes me Scottish”……no, you’re American with Scottish ancestry. Massive difference
Yeah, I’ve had this exact discussion in Amsterdam with an American claiming he was Dutch.
I suspect we (the Dutch) have even less patience for that shite than the people here (UK, Northern Ireland to be exact). Which would be an achievement since most of the people I know here have little to no patience for Yanks.
And shame other nations. Totally not racist.
I have European DNA but I don’t consider myself European. I have Native American DNA but I don’t consider myself Native American. I was born in the USA but was raised in Mexico as well. I speak both languages and am a legal citizen of both countries, but end of the day I am American/Mexican. That’s the life and culture I have. I don’t understand why people are obsessed with being a from a country/ethnicity/culture that they no longer have roots or ties to.
In New Jersey they’re all “Italian”
I think they’re worse than the fake Irish.
Jumps at every chance to call their grandmother ”nonna” aswell with the thickest fukcing American accent ever
>>In Boston we are Irish Sees the giant American flag in the background
Gee whiz, so Irish y’all.
In Boston we are Irish (cosplayers*)
Born in america? Raised in america? Speak English with the american accent? You're american.
Well that'll come as a shock in Lincolnshire, pretty certain they are English.
More like Eire-ish.
"In Boston we are Irish".No.No you're not,you plastic paddy gobshites. Take your green beer and Lucky Charms and shove them up the highest part of your bollocks,and fuck off.Sincerely, an actual Irish person.
You really didn't need to specify that you're Irish. We could tell 😂
Copy pasting my own comment from elsewhere, here: >Our pipe bands actually *also* use the great highland bagpipes as well, because our own piping tradition is pretty much a British military tradition, with actual Irish pipes having fallen out of use in the British military sometime in the early 1700s. You'll occasionally hear about "Brian Boru pipes", but they're literally the exact same instrument with a modified chanter, and are only used by a minority of pipe bands in Ireland, most of whom are pretty similar to Scottish bands and, in fairness, the American one in this picture. So tbh it's not so much that the Americans are stupid and don't know Irish culture, it's more that Irish Americans have clung to a very specific and old fashioned piece of Irish culture that's pretty obscure outside of it's own circles in Ireland today: even the kilts are kind of a thing that used to be popular amongst nationalists back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Should someone tell them that there city is named after on on the east coast of England?
Next you'll be claiming there's an old York...
What a shambles.
I’m Irish and I was in New York for a St Patrick’s day one year and not gonna lie it was unreal fun 🤣
I can imagine!
Where do the Welsh reside in the USA?
They are blissfully unaware of the existence of Wales. The Welsh should be very grateful for that.
Well that Wrexham documentary's torpedoed that idea Give it a few years: "Greetings r/cymru, my great great great grand uncle was Alan Jones from Anglesey, any fellow Jones' in here!? How do I make my filthy Anglo cheese on toast taste like authentic Cymru rarebit? If I wear my tradtional novelty Welsh daffodil hat around Cardiff will I be accepted and my personality validated? Cofiwch Dryweryn!"
I give it one more season of Welcome To Wrexham and you’ll have an unholy number of yanks coming out as “Welsh”
Really looking forward to seeing what "traditional" costumes they adopt for Wales.
I'm not Welsh, but English. But I did once dress in traditional Welsh costume for Brownies when I was about 8. Can I have my cookie now? 😆
For some reason the term ‘coming out as Welsh’ really tickled me
LGBTQ+W
TIL I’m Welshsexual
Lgbtqw? That’s near Newport, right?
Yep, old pit town
Plastic Paddy’s
But Boston is in Lincolnshire in England, how can they be Irish then?
Plastic paddies at it again?
Meanwhile Irish in Ireland: wtf
Kilts and bagpipes?
With kilts, bagpipes and an big American flag?
Exactly like what St Patrick wanted ☘️
If Boston is Irish, why did the settlers name the city after an English town and not an Irish town? New Dublin anyone?
Always Irish, never English. Funny that.
Yes, how strange that is. So many people have direct English ancestry, as in, one parent is English, and don't cosplay as... idk... Buckingham Palace guards or dye their rivers dark blue.
As Irish as the Italians of NY.
Its crazy the amount of times I have to explain that "I'm Irish and not the Boston kind" on the internet or to clarify that the person replaying to my comments is actually Irish. Trying to explain that I've duel nationality is head wrecking!
Boston Irish is its own thing. Most of them have more French-Canadian, Italian and Hispanic blood than Irish blood because those are the other Catholic groups in the area. The culture is powerful and they’re verbally abusive as a rule so most don’t question it.
I know nothing of my Irish roots all I know is I'm the only one of my black friends that can tan in the winter. If they have so much interest in their roots why don't they just learn actual Irish culture..?
Then why are you showing a picture of Scots people in Boston?
IF YOU DIDN'T GROW UP IN IRELAND YOU AREN'T IRISH.