I just read a small article in Entertainment Weekly that sez that no one, ever- EVER says “Top of the mornin’ to you” in Ireland.
Now, I am willing to agree that it’s not anything like in American media- but never?
I mean, I hear a occasional “Howdy” here in the USA.
So Irish SDMBers or those who have spent long vacations there- what say ye?
I asked this question of my best friend, who lived in Ireland (Dublin area) for the first 27 years of her life ('65-'92), and returns there regularly to visit family.
She says that she has never used the phrase herself, except to mock actors who are speaking in bad Irish accents. And, she can’t remember ever hearing the phrase used, in a non-ironic manner, in Ireland.
So, if it was an authentic Irish greeting at some point, it sounds like it’s become archaic, not to mention stereotypical.
I say “howdy” frequently.
Some time ago, my Dad showed me a letter from the Old Country sent to relatives in Baltimore that had been buried in someone’s Bible since late 19th century. It was full of “blatherskite this” and “wanting to murder some religious group or another” and “be sure to keep sending the money.” Doesn’t sound like people who would wish anyone TotM,tY. I think it says volumes that my original kin became bar owners the minute they stepped off the boat in Balto.
Well, another myth shattered.
I suppose France isnt full of people singing Bonjour, either? 
My Dad did (he was a frontiersman) so I do too, once in a while.
Seems to be authentic, but archaic, appearing in George Walker’s Theodore Cyphon, or The Benevolent Jew (1796)
I’ve heard people in Paris saying “Ooh-la-la”, and I’ve heard people in London saying “Cheerio.”
Seems like “Top o’ the morning to you” is too many syllables to be in common usage. If in fact it ever was a real thing, it would have been abbreviated. (Possibly beyond recognition?)
Thus, for example, “God be with you” became “Goodbye” and “How do you do” became “Howdy”. In French, “Comment ça va?” becomes just “Ça va?” I think.
In Hebrew, “Ma Ha-eenyaneem?” becomes just “Manyaneem?” (“What’s the trouble?”)
So is there some abbreviated Irish phrase that derives from “Top o’ the morning to you”?
When I’m around people who speak French, I will often greet them with, “Comment allez-vous?”.
They then respond, “unintelligible gibberish that sounds like a foreign language but makes no sense to me because I only know one French phrase”.
Come to Montreal to hear “bonjour”, often “bonjour, hi” from store clerks, although the government has proposed making it illegal.
Illegal? Really?
No, not really. “Bonjour/Hi” is a somewhat controversial greeting, because it’s seen by some as a symbol of the anglicization of Montreal, as well as the fact that in many parts of Montreal (and not even the traditionally English-speaking parts) it’s becoming hard to get service in French from businesses. It’s not really the same as the “Hello/Bonjour” greeting that some people elsewhere in Canada use, because in this case it’s obvious that English is still the main language, and in fact, I tend to assume that someone greeting me with “Hello/Bonjour” knows no other French word.
Essentially, it’s a reflection of the fact that despite the government of Canada’s assumptions, the two official languages of Canada aren’t equal and don’t have the same power of attraction, so societal bilingualism doesn’t have the same meaning in different places. Being greeted with “Hello/Bonjour” at Toronto Airport is recognition that I exist, but that I’m still in a place where I’m expected to speak English, while being greeted with “Bonjour/Hi” in a Montreal shop might be a prelude to being greeted with only “Hi” five years from now and having to speak my second language, English, despite being ostensibly at “home” in a national sense.
But this said, there’s no way to ban a bilingual greeting, as was obvious to anybody who thought about it. It could possibly be made compulsory for salespeople to greet customers with “Bonjour”, and maybe even put it at the start, but you can’t stop them from tacking something else at the end. Which is why the government isn’t planning to ban it.
Interestingly, I’ve heard essayist and political activist Akos Verboczy claim that he invented “Bonjour/Hi” when he was working in customer service. In this case, his company used only “Hi” as the greeting and he thought that shouldn’t be acceptable when doing business in Quebec, so he at least bilingualised it. If he’s right, that is in fact an interesting twist on the story.
I don’t know about “Top o’ the morning”, but I can attest that someone said “G’day” to me in Australia once. And as a tourist it totally made my day.
Nobody in Ireland says “top o’ the morning to you” as a straightforward greeting, it is only ever used in a context typically mocking American perceptions of Ireland. I had my suspicions that nobody ever did but IIRC, someone on here showed me evidence that it is a construction that was used here but has long since fallen by the wayside.