Meaning of Lace Curtain Irish?

Answer 1

That is one of a number of terms describing the irish:
"Shanty Irish" were the poorest of the poor. (Immigrants who lived in shanty town.)

"Black Irish"refers to Irish people with dark hair and pale complexions. They are descendants of shipwrecked jewish or spanish or moorish sailors, or so the legend goes. (It's common in Irish to give people nicknames based on their hair and this is just a carry-over into English.)

Oh, and you had asked about "Lace Curtain Irish." These were also poor Irish, but for the sake of appearances, they would put up lace curtains, to look more respectable. This could be either a derogatory or complementary term, depending on context.

(It implies certain trait of ambition or of drive about people who want to be better off than they are; an upper class who wants to keep lace curtain irish in their place is going to dislike them; and their peers--shanty irish who do not bother with appearances--also resent them for trying to seem better than they are.) But in the US, immigrant Lace Curtain Irish became successful because of the opportunity, and they have the drive to achieve.

Answer 2

Lace Curtain Irish

Answer 3

RE:
Meaning of Lace Curtain Irish?

Answer 4

The Irish Lace is very famous of course. It was knit, or tatted, by women who were in very poor conditions. They would do this all day in workhouses, and then go home.

They lived in brick tenements with a few Isinglass windows, and little heat. Their husbands were hod carriers, colliers, and ditch diggers, who would eat their dinners and then head to the pub.

The women had nothing other to do than keep making lace for their own amusement. Then they would decorate their houses with the lace they made in their free time. It cost them next to nothing, especially if they stole some thread from time to time.

The familiar phrase about this is: "Well, we weren't the Lace Curtain Irish, but we did alright." That is typical Irish sarcasm, it means the opposite of how it seems — it is actually a boast from someone from a higher class or income. Never underestimate the ability of the Irish to talk backwards.

Answer 5

The Lace Curtain was an occasional literary magazine founded and edited by Michael Smith and Trevor Joyce under their New Writers Press imprint. Both press and journal were dedicated to expanding the horizons of Irish poetry by rediscovering a native modernist tradition, publishing younger Irish poets who were working in modes that sat outside the mainstream and introducing innovative non-Irish writing to an Irish audience.

The journal ran to six issues spanning the period 1969 - 1978. Contributors included Anthony Cronin, Eilean Ní Chuilleanáin, Michael Hartnett, Augustus Young, John Montague, Antonio Machado, Paul Durcan, Desmond O'Grady, Brian Coffey Denis Devlin, Georg Trakl, Samuel Beckett, Thomas MacGreevy, Thomas Kinsella, Derek Mahon, Austin Clarke and Pablo Neruda.

Answer 6

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This was used to describe Irish immigrants. . They were called that because they would put up lace curtains for appearances sake, even in a shanty town. Thus the term is far from being a complement.

Answer 7

Shanty Irish

Answer 8

I've also heard this term used to describe a person, family or situation where things look like they are in good shape from afar, but disorder or other problems liek beneath the surface. The saying itself refers to the fact that a house with lace curtains looks very nice from the outside, but it may not be so nice on the inside.