Why do you call the Irish stupid?

Question

As an Englishman I sometimes cringe when I hear my countrymen say "there was this stupid Irish fella ......etc"

When if you compare Ireland and Britain

Ireland has a higher rate of literacy
Ireland has more people per head of population completing 2nd and 3rd level education
Ireland attracts a higher proportion of high skills education based industrial investment

So knowing this, on what do you base your crass remarks
Hmmmm ?

MIKAEL
I think you'll find that the Czechs are top of that list

DAVID M
Oh dear oh dear oh dear !
Trying to pick holes in me or my question is not an answer.
You are very much mistaken my friend if you think the Irish people you knew enjoyed being publicly ridiculed. What you may have experienced is the politeness of the irish people to smile and say haha very funny so as not to cause a scebe. Put yourself in their position with a French man publicly ridiculing you as English. Would you say haha that was hilarious. I think not
As for chips. No. The only advantage I have over you is that I live in Ireland and it embarrasses the hell out of me to be known as English when I hear this rubbish coming out of my countrymen even when they are over here
Go back to your bubble my friend,

DEE
Thanks for the satire

LITTLE ONE
That disguise wont fool me

ANGEL
Only that I love you dearly (and you know all my secrets) I'd go for your jugular, but I forgive you as you were but a child

FALLEN FROM GRACE
You forgot the line about hung around all day with 12 fellas

Answer 1

The fact lies in the Irish beng so smart as to make the outside world, and especially the English to believe that they are simple folk with no understanding ofcomplex matters. This allows the Irish to prosper and not be plagued with stupid questions and leave more time to enjoy themselves, which they could if the government knew that the stupidity was only supposed to be an act.

Answer 2

It is a historical fact that any Urban centre has ridiculed its urban neighbours. most of the 'Irish' jokes date back to ancient Greece, when the citizens used to joke about the farmers or the Polis, the area ruled by one city state.

As for the next door neighbours, they were lower still down on the list. The bicycle and Steam engine did so much to spread the gene pool in England, as in the rest of Europe, it became a bit 'un-pc' - before the word Political correctness was invented - to ridicule ones relatives, so the jokes were aimed at the next rung down the ladder.

The Irish interniarnt workers were the lowest rung in 1830, and the joke stuck, which is ironic, as the Irish tell the same jokes about the Kerry-men. I heard the Serbians telling the same jokes about the Croatians, who told them about the Bosnians.

I heard the same jokes told by the Spanish about the Portuguese, and the French tell similar jokes about the Belgium's...

Answer 3

I've never heard the Irish referred to as stupid...then again, I'm an American, so I guess it's understandable. I've heard the Irish referred to as a bunch of rowdy drunks, but I believe that's a common stereotype. I don't think ill of the Irish because I'm part Irish on my grandmother's side of the family. (They emigrated to the US in the late 1840's due to the potato famine.) In fact, nearly everyone I know has some Irish descent. I've always believed that to think ill of a person's ancestors is to think ill of that person. Besides, I probably have distant relatives in Ireland that I don't know about. Even if I've never met them and never will, they're still family!

Answer 4

Perhaps it has got something to do with them having been killing each other for years in the name of religion!

With groups that have deliberately terrorised children on their way to school!

I have never heard the expression -"stupid Irish fella".

The Irish jokes never used the word "stupid". Indeed many Irish jokes were actually quite intelligent in their play on words etc.

Consider one of Jim Davidsons Jokes:

Paddy: How much are your hot dogs?

Hot dog man: Two for a pound.

Paddy: How much for one?

Hot dog man: seventy five pence.

Paddy: I'll have the other one!

I have worked with and been friends with many Irish people and cannot think of one that did not themselves enjoy Irish jokes.

I suppose in the end it comes down to how you personally perceive what is said and how you form your opinions.

I do not know what crass remarks you are referring to but I suspect that you have an Irish connection somewhere and by the sound of it a rather large chip on your shoulder!!!

Answer 5

I don't. They gave me Baileys and The Corrs!! I love Ireland and no, I've not kissed the Blarney stone but one day I will...I also once rode a Connemara pony. :0)

Answer 6

when i was at uni me (i'm indian) and the irish guy used to make jokes about our people all the time with our flats mates. after a while he became a bit concern that everyone really thought the irish really were stupid....!

the irish aren't stupid, everyone knows it's the pakistani's :-)

Answer 7

I love the Irish and they are very intelligent people.

Answer 8

It's alright man, us irish don't give a cr*p what the English say about us. It suits us that they think we're stupid. It means they leave us alone and we don't have to deal with them and their arrogance.

Answer 9

I always remeber the Englishman Scottishman and Irishman jokes and the poor Irishman is always stupid.

This is why i have come to use the phrase "are you Irish!"

Answer 10

You're absolutely right....and not a lot of people know this... but even Jesus was Irish. And we know that because he when he was 33, he still lived at home, thought his mother was a virgin and he thought he was the son of god!