# "There are more Irish/Polish/Japanese/French in X city than in Dublin/Warsaw etc."? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151 "2011-12-05T18:22:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/21 "2011-12-06T04:46:01Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Sorry, I didn’t make that clear, I understand that, but even so, if you count those who identify as Polish in Chicago now, there’s no way it’s true. I always heard the saying as “Chicago is the second biggest Polish city in the world, after Warsaw”. If you count “Chicago Metro Area” as “Chicago”, it is correct, since AFAIR there are approximately 1.5M people who claim being “Polish Americans” in Chicago Metropolitan Area. Only Warsaw (at 1.7M population) is bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/22 "2011-12-06T12:40:05Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > More Jews in America than Israel? [Not any more.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/23 "2011-12-06T12:55:29Z")
Melbourne has the world’s third largest Greek-speaking population after Athens and Thessaloniki. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/24 "2011-12-06T15:04:35Z")
Well, let’s look at one common claim. “New York City has more Jews than Jerusalem.” Is this true? Well, the city of Jerusalem has a population of just under 800,000 and the metropolitan area has just over 1 million people. Bear in mind, a large chunk of those people are Arabs, not Jews. New York City alone has almost 2 million Jews. So, in this case, the statement is literally true. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/25 "2011-12-06T16:34:01Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, let’s look at one common claim. “New York City has more Jews than Jerusalem.” > > Is this true? Well, the city of Jerusalem has a population of just under 800,000 and the metropolitan area has just over 1 million people. Bear in mind, **a large chunk of those people are Arabs, not Jews**. > > . I think you mean "Muslim/Christian not Jews, as there are [Arab Jews](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Jews) ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/26 "2011-12-06T16:48:25Z")
One thing is for sure. NYC has more Lesbians than the Island of Lesbos does. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/27 "2011-12-06T16:59:26Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > One thing is for sure. NYC has more Lesbians than the Island of Lesbos does. It also has more men than the Isle of Man. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/28 "2011-12-06T17:33:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Cleveland has the most people of Hungarian decent outside Budapest, etc. (From what I can tell, the latter isn’t true Cleveland is my birthplace, and I never heard that one. But I’ve always heard that Cleveland has more Slovenians than anyplace outside of Ljubljana, which I find more credible. No idea how to verify the figures, though. (You’d have to start by subtracting the populations of Austrians, Croats, Italians, etc. from the total for Ljubljana.) (Edit–But I am pleased to know that the one time Béla Bartók visited Cleveland, a guest of the Hungarian community there, he insisted on going to an African-American jazz club where he sat by the pianist and took notes. Literally _note_ notes.) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/29 "2011-12-06T17:47:29Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > One I’ve heard is there are more Samoans in Los Angeles than in American Samoa. [This article](http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/14/local/me-19599) says that the there are over 50,000 Samoans in Los Angeles. Wikipedia puts the population of American Samoa at a bit over 55,000 as of last year’s census, so the numbers are comparable. There might have been more Samoans in LA in the past, as I’d imagine that at least some Samoans have moved out of LA into other cities. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/30 "2011-12-06T18:30:44Z")
It’s true about many languages. There are more English speakers in the United States than there are in England. More Spanish speakers in Mexico than there are in Spain. More Portuguese speakers in Brazil than there are in Portugal. More Arabic speakers in Egypt than there are in Arabia. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/31 "2011-12-07T01:49:35Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > [This article](http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/14/local/me-19599) says that the there are over 50,000 Samoans in Los Angeles. Wikipedia puts the population of American Samoa at a bit over 55,000 as of last year’s census, so the numbers are comparable. There might have been more Samoans in LA in the past, as I’d imagine that at least some Samoans have moved out of LA into other cities. It has been a while since I heard that. Back in my Hawaii days. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/32 "2011-12-07T04:23:56Z")
Back when he was the mayor, Ed Koch (in a Playboy interview) said that New York had “more Irish than Dublin, more Jews than Tel Aviv and more Blacks than Nairobi.” A scaled-back claim, but there you are. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/33 "2011-12-07T04:30:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [Not any more.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population) Is this counting the ones that most Americans consider Jewish but you don’t? 😉 Your wiki gives some conflicting numbers. [So does this entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews#State_of_Israel). > [@](#): > > Currently, the largest Jewish community in the world is located in the United States, with 5.3 million to 6.4 million Jews by various estimates. Feel free to keep the settlers on your side! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/34 "2011-12-07T04:38:07Z")
There are lots of cites for St. Louis having the largest Bosnian population outside of Bosnia. Here’s one: [http://www.fontbonne.edu/academics/undergraduate/departments/englishcommunication/bosnia\_memory\_project/st\_louiss\_bosnian\_community/](http://www.fontbonne.edu/academics/undergraduate/departments/englishcommunication/bosnia_memory_project/st_louiss_bosnian_community/) ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/35 "2011-12-07T05:17:15Z")
With a population of 12 million in Tokyo (and much higher in great Tokyo), you’ll never find a city or even county with more Japanese than this. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/36 "2011-12-07T12:51:43Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > A similar claim was that at the end of the 19th century you could hear more Gaelic in Butte, MT than in Dublin. Which I find believable, since the bulk of the Butte Irish came from the west of Ireland, where Gaelic was more likely to be spoken. > > (A similar story had to do with a Persian rug dealer who wanted to fit in, so he had his name changed. To Mohammed Murphy.) I’ve also heard that more recently, there is more Scottish Gaelic spoken in Nova Scotia and PEI than in Scotland itself. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/37 "2011-12-07T20:03:54Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I’ve also heard that more recently, there is more Scottish Gaelic spoken in Nova Scotia and PEI than in Scotland itself. Without looking it up I’m going to say that this is incorrect. Scots Gaelic has largely died out in its former strongholds in NS and there are still 50,000 speakers of Scots Gaelic in the Highlands and islands. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/38 "2011-12-08T17:34:45Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Without looking it up I’m going to say that this is incorrect. Scots Gaelic has largely died out in its former strongholds in NS and there are still 50,000 speakers of Scots Gaelic in the Highlands and islands. That’s how it usually works with immigrant languages. A language that only people in your neighborhood can understand just isn’t very useful, and within one or two generations it’s largely been forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/39 "2011-12-08T17:43:21Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Without looking it up I’m going to say that this is incorrect. Scots Gaelic has largely died out in its former strongholds in NS and there are still 50,000 speakers of Scots Gaelic in the Highlands and islands. Not to mention having its own [BBC television channel](http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/) in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151/40 "2011-12-08T21:06:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Not to mention having its own [BBC television channel](http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/) in Scotland. I’d love to be able to get this channel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-more-irish-polish-japanese-french-in-x-city-than-in-dublin-warsaw-etc/605151.md?page=3)