# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/161 "2014-05-14T04:34:09Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > AFAIK you’re right. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t take that ball and run with it. Dublin shuts down for the day and hits the streets. Most of the parks in the city have events and a lot of streets are closed for events and fairground rides etc. > > It’s huge nowadays and not just a parade. Hm. And here sure and I thought that only ever happened in Dublin on days connected with James Joyce’ _Ulysses!_ (A far better saint than Patrick, but, ochone, that’s another discussion.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/162 "2014-05-15T07:08:07Z")
You guys just don’t go out and get completely shitfaced to celebrate, though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/163 "2014-05-15T11:07:48Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You guys just don’t go out and get completely shitfaced to celebrate, though. 😉 Ha! Yeah, [right](http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/almost-40-of-irish-adults-engage-in-binge-drinking-1.1795805). You’re funny. From today’s _Irish Times_: “Overall, almost 40 per cent of all adults here engaged in binge drinking, putting Ireland second out of 194 countries studied, with only Austria recording a higher incidence. In Britain, the rate of binge drinking was 28 per cent.” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/164 "2014-05-15T11:56:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Oh, we’ll drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink > Then we’ll fight and fight and fight and fight and fight and fight and fight!](https://screen.yahoo.com/irish-songs-000000345.html) > > Faith and Gomorrah, call 1-800-FLOTHERED! [Not really a parody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5KqEQvgYyk) :). ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/165 "2014-05-15T13:45:04Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > This board is full of pendantic anal assholes. I love how everyone who says this thinks they’re talking about _other_ people. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/166 "2014-05-15T13:48:01Z")
How could an asshole be anything but anal? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/167 "2014-05-15T14:22:52Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I realise fine, my point of issue was that it wasn’t a big deal in Ireland, it is, HUGE. Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/168 "2014-05-15T21:05:38Z")
> [@Fuji](#): > > Ha! Yeah, [right](http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/almost-40-of-irish-adults-engage-in-binge-drinking-1.1795805). You’re funny. > > From today’s _Irish Times_: > > “Overall, almost 40 per cent of all adults here engaged in binge drinking, putting Ireland second out of 194 countries studied, with only Austria recording a higher incidence. In Britain, the rate of binge drinking was 28 per cent.” Yeah, but they do that everyday, so it doesn’t really count. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/169 "2014-05-16T03:49:35Z")
Okay, I admit it. I go with being Irish though I’m only 1/4 of Irish heritage. Y’see, half of my ancestors were German, and in the first half of the 20th century Germany managed to make admitting you’re Irish less embarrassing. Way to go, Willi and Adolph! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/170 "2014-05-16T05:11:03Z")
I’m Irish-German on my dad’s side, and Polish-Slovak-Hungarian on my mom’s. Technically I could also say I’m Irish-German-Austrian on my dad’s, but that’d probably be a wee nitpicky. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/171 "2014-05-16T14:07:26Z")
I’m comfortable claiming 1/2 German, 1/4 Polish and 1/4 Russian. My parents lineage. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/172 "2014-05-17T16:33:39Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Are you descended from Robert The Bruce of the Clan The Bruce? Amusingly, my family was forced to leave Ireland for a while because they decided to follow Edward the Bruce and take on all the English. It didn’t work so well, but that’s how we wound up with both Scottish and Irish clans. (We went back. And… forth. And back… and forth… repeatedly over the last two thousand years or so.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/173 "2014-05-17T16:59:40Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > …they decided to follow Edward the Bruce and take on all the English. It didn’t work so well… It seemed like a good idea at the time. The time being closing time at the pub. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/174 "2014-05-17T22:18:04Z")
I have learned, in my study of family history, that the character of my line changes little, being chiefly involved in drinking, fighting, lighting things on fire, and then moving somewhere else, either in victory or defeat. Also in making amazingly horrible decisions that have tendencies to leave small intents on history. You enslave _one_ guy named Patrick, man, the world never lets you forget it. (Claim of direct descent from Niall possibly accurate but unprovable.) ---
**Author:** ![BattaSukoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BattaSukoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BattaSukoshi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/175 "2017-10-15T22:49:26Z")
So hello from an American with a slew of ancestors from all over and an interest in DNA based geneolgy. You may not get this, but here in America we are really mixed culturally, and unless you are living as a Native on a Rez, your families traditions didn’t originate in America. … And those traditions are often \*very different between families depending on where their ancestors were before coming to America. So when an American explains their ancestry, they are identifying where they believe their family traditions come from, as sometimes well as physical traits. (Now I am a total mutt, I identify as an “American Mutt”. I \*do have a ton of Irish ancestry from over the past 300 or so years they we’re coming to America. Never have I called myself an, “Irish-American”, we tend to say, “I’ve got some Irish, and some German, and some…”)… But at the end of the day people with ancestors from all over the world still identify with where their ancestors came from. (A small town near where I grew up named, “Holland”, where the locals dress up and Dutch dance and eat traditional foods. If you ask anyone of them they are very proud to “be Dutch”, and also very quick to notice that you were not like them.) ---
**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:** [October 15, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/176 "2017-10-15T22:59:20Z")
How refreshing to get the American point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/177 "2017-10-15T23:16:21Z")
My great-great-great grandfather moved to Canada in 1837 from Ireland. At some point in the 1890s his son (my great-great grandfather) moved to America. So I suppose I’m an Irish-Canadian American? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/178 "2017-10-16T02:56:41Z")
> [@BattaSukoshi](#): > > You may not get this, but here in America we are really mixed culturally Is part of the mix zombie? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/179 "2017-10-16T03:05:58Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > Tell me about it. But if I have one more white man around here tell me that he’s got ‘Indian Blood’ in him, I’m going to kill someone. > > -stonebow, descendent of Indians (dots not feathers) My mother had her DNA done at Ancestry and it came back 100% European, despite all of the family stories of Native American ancestors. I just had mine done at 23andme, and I’m also 100% European. Go figure. (Though there’s 0.3% Ashkenazi Jewish in there somewhere unreported). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736/180 "2017-10-16T03:07:43Z")
> [@Fang](#): > > Well, one might say you’re **no true Scotsman**. > > What?!? Stop throwing things! > > Incidentally, my father (who’s Jewish, like our whole family) was born in Algeria. So my father is from Africa and I’m from America. I guess that means I’m an African-American. The admissions officers around here don’t seem to find it too funny. So is Charlize Theron. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-generation-americans-claiming-theyre-irish/199736.md?page=10)