# The origin of Black Irish

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-black-irish/72566>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 15, 2001, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-black-irish/72566 "2001-07-15T09:38:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-black-irish/72566/21 "2001-07-28T02:00:29Z")

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it all seems a case of using observational data to promote  
political ends.

my irish forebears always maintained that the red-headed irish were caused by “that bastard Cromwell” sending in  
Scots to take over the tenant farms.

this comment from a grandfather whose direct line left  
ireland for australia in 1792!

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-black-irish/72566/22 "2001-07-28T19:53:59Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> I hate to post like this, but I seem to recall reading a passage by a Greek commentator (from the 3rd or 4th century BCE)making the point, basically, that there’s no accounting for taste by pointing out that the Keltoi thought red hair was attractive. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

**saoirse,** this is definitely ringing a bell - problem is, it’s far off and faint.

How about Aristotle’s \*Poetics,\*which discusses issues of taste, dramatic theory, and so on?

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