# 10th generation Americans claiming they're Irish **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 5, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736 "2003-09-05T15:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/81 "2003-09-07T18:24:14Z")
Presenting my credential I am an American of Irish descent. My fraternal grandparents and my maternal great-great parents were Irish immigrants. I am stereotypical Irish looking (broad face, red hair, pasty white skin.) I get a very big kick out of a gorgeous African-American friend of mine, who has one Irish great-great-great grandfather, when she calls herself Irish too. The kicker is that my friend has already taken two trips to Ireland where she was warmly received as a long lost cousin and I haven’t made the trip yet. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/82 "2003-09-07T18:29:03Z")
[another hijack] Hey **mogiaw**! Haven’t seen you here for a while. Hope you’re well. Wondered if you wanted to meet up with a few of us for a pint or three this week (O’Donoghue’s, College Green, Thursday evening)? [More here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=205391). Also, come and join us at the new [NADS](http://pub75.ezboard.com/bnads) message board. [/another hijack. Sorry.] ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Canning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@Joe\_Canning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Canning)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/83 "2014-01-18T11:55:11Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > The Irish Potato Famine was from 1845-1850. That’s 150 years ago. That’s not anywhere close to 10 generations. Also, these people aren’t claiming to be Irish. As you say, they’re claiming to be Irish-_American_. > > You’re just jealous your forefathers weren’t smart enough to flee from the desolate rock you’re living on. 😉 Munch, there was no famine in Ireland. Certainly the potato crop failed but he nation did not live on potato alone. If you were to ignore what your teachers brainwashed you with you would discover that millions of tons of food was exported by the British under armed guard while people died in there thousands in dysentery,diarrhoea and cholera. No famine Munch…try Genocide,it’s closer to the mark. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/84 "2014-01-18T14:53:39Z")
> [@Joe\_Canning](#): > > Munch, there was no famine in Ireland. Certainly the potato crop failed but he nation did not live on potato alone. If you were to ignore what your teachers brainwashed you with you would discover that millions of tons of food was exported by the British under armed guard while people died in there thousands in dysentery,diarrhoea and cholera. No famine Munch…try Genocide,it’s closer to the mark. Some people will dig up a 12 year old thread just to hold a grudge. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/85 "2014-01-18T15:12:43Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I’m only about 1/1024th part Dutch, but that’s the part I got my difficult and mangled family name from. Seeing as I have to live with this name, I consider myself Dutch. 🙂 Same with me. My dad was so proud of being Swiss. But one day I thought “Wait, that was 5 generations back. Unless that Great-grampa Fridolin married a Swiss girl, and their sons married Swiss girls, then we’re pretty much Everything But Swiss by now.” So I figured it out: I’m 1/64th Swiss, with more English and Dutch. I was disappointed after all the _“We’re Swiss! Chocolate and Multi-bladed Knives and Helvetica Bold Forever!”_ propoganda I’d grown up with. And the barely-spellable name I’d suffered with. But, hey, mutts have good dispositions, right? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/86 "2014-01-18T16:17:30Z")
This thread is Zombie-American. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/87 "2014-01-18T16:28:28Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Some people will dig up a 12 year old thread just to hold a grudge. [naked stereotype]For an Irishman, twelve years is a very short time to hold a grudge, especially against the English[/ns] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/88 "2014-01-18T16:32:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > This thread is Zombie-American. And, with an appropriate OP username, to boot! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/89 "2014-01-18T18:25:45Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > [naked stereotype]For an Irishman, twelve years is a very short time to hold a grudge, especially against the English[/ns] Yeah, but its the wrong time of year. Usually, people who think they are Irish will wait for Samhain. Then, when the bars are fully of happy dancing young people, the Truly Psychotic will jump in spraying an automatic weapon and yelling “Happy Halloween”. ☹ “You just THINK you’re Irish. Actually, yer F-cking Insane.” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/90 "2014-01-18T19:00:46Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > [naked stereotype]For an Irishman, twelve years is a very short time to hold a grudge, especially against the English[/ns] Shit, my straight off the boat Irish Grandmother didn’t speak to one of her children for 10 years. I think he forgot to bring home milk or something. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/91 "2014-01-18T19:59:02Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Some people will dig up a 12 year old thread just to hold a grudge. Aye, t’would be different were thar bein’ pataters ta’ dig up, y_a_’n? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/92 "2014-01-18T21:45:14Z")
I’m not usually a fan of vanity user names, but I’d kinda like to change my name to **Phytophthora infestans** , just to fuck with our new necromancer pal. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/93 "2014-01-19T00:01:15Z")
> [@Eternal](#): > > Everyone seems to be at least a 16th Native American, too. Strictly speaking, it’s not at all _unlikely_, but the very fact that they **care** so very much make me suspicious. _Like the Seminole, Navajo, Kickapoo Like those Indians [I’m an Indian too](http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/09/cherokee-genealogist-to-elizabeth-warren-your-native-american-issue-has-not-been-put-to-rest/)_ ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/94 "2014-01-19T02:09:29Z")
How about 60th generation Irish? (Came over with St Brendan) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/95 "2014-01-19T03:33:01Z")
zombie or no they saved civilization, they have a right to be proud. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/96 "2014-01-19T04:12:05Z")
Oops, Zombie thread. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/97 "2014-01-19T05:38:12Z")
Yeah, I know it’s a zombie thread, but I am intrigued to see not one but two - count 'em, _two_ - other posters of joint Scottish/Czech genealogy. My immediate family and I are the only folks of that breed that I knew. > [@jjimm](#): > > I don’t wish to denigrate the feelings you may have for that part of the world, but I’ll bet you a dime or two that you do no think Scottish. You may think differently from other people around you, but that would be Scottish-American, perhaps. Do your Scottish relatives think of you as Scottish?Not at all. It’s great. But I still don’t think thought-wise that you’d be particularly comparable with Scots-born-and-raised, any more than an American raised in Scotland would “think American”. This makes me think about John Barrowman. Does he “think American?” Scottish-born (Glasgow, in fact), but family was relocated to Illinois when he was eight, and he didn’t return to the UK until he was an adult. Is known (in part, and in the UK) for his American accent, although he does have a Scottish voice as well. Dual citizen of the United Kingdom _and_ the United States. He lives in Britain, but comes to the U.S. fairly often. So is he a Briton who can “think American”? Or an immigrant American who moved back to the “old country”? I wonder what he thinks about it, or if he thinks about it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/98 "2014-01-19T14:43:30Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > …Don’t ask people from the South what nationality they are, they’ll just look at you funny. “American.” :dubious: Totally different there. > > I’m also descended from the French who settled Nova Scotia, but somewhere around 1850 I guess this became old news, no one mentions it. They’re too busy being Irish. Joining the zombie thread to point out that in \*this \*part of the South you would say you’re descended from the settlers of Acadia–before it was Nova Scotia. And you would never shut up about being Cajun… ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/99 "2014-02-19T11:27:28Z")
> [@hardygrrl](#): > > _Thank you._ > > I am a quarter Cherokee. My paternal grandmother was full blooded and her family is listed on the Dawes Rolls. When asked my heritage, I will say French/Cherokee/German. It amuses me when people feel compelled to say that they are _tribal name_ when they have the teeniest drop of _tribal_ blood. When I ask if their family is listed on the Dawes or Guion Miller Rolls and get a blank face in response, I know I have a poser. > > I’m still an American though. Much of the posing has to do with what the PC ‘experts’ who have been around since at least the 1970s. They are the kind of people who say that “Native Americans don’t look at race as the Europeans do. NA’s will say that even a drop of blood is the same as full blood, to them.” Giving some sort of moral superiority to the legendary Native American. Such is nonsense, of course, but, with the PC tool cackling, usually a school teacher who has ‘authority’ behind them, one can see how the poser can believe it. handsomeharry Irish/Creek (Dawes roll family membership;)) ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/100 "2014-02-19T14:46:38Z")
I married a man of Western Abenaki heritage, the son of a 15-year-old runaway and some young tribal idiot, who was promptly dumped into foster care and raised by other people. That was in the 1970s. I had no idea what the Dawes Rolls were and neither did he, so we’d be looking kind of blank, too. Nonetheless, he’s half Native American and looks it, and was born and raised in this part of the US awash in aboriginal names and places, so naturally some people have asked if he’s Mexican. Bless their souls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736.md?page=6)