# Tougher ethnicity: Russians or Irish? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569 "2018-02-10T03:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569/21 "2018-02-13T14:11:17Z")
Glad I made the choice apparent! ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569/22 "2018-02-13T14:51:48Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Have you seen all those dashcam vids from Russian traffic? I gotta go with the Russians on this one. When I was in basic training in the Army we had a Russian guy in there. He had the highest pt score in the whole company and would do push-ups while having guys kick him in his side, I was impressed by his toughness, but also his optimistic attitude about life. He specifically said he was a Tatar Russian. Since this thread was specificially about Russian ethnicity: Tatars are an entirely different ethnic group than Russians. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569/23 "2018-02-13T14:53:03Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Russians have been histories bitches and have made almost nothing out of a massively wealthy land; the Irish survived Vikings and famine and have made a nice little democracy. They have also survived the Irish Curse. The Irish by a bulbous red nose. > > FTR…not Irish. Russians have made almost nothing? What about an extraordinarily rich tradition of literature, art, music? What about scientific and technological advances? I’m not sure that has anything to do with “toughness,” but neither does the development of democracy (which is at least in part due to historical accident/geographical luck). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569/24 "2018-02-13T16:16:15Z")
Neither. The toughness of the indiviuals relate to their environment, so unless you’re claiming one can’t be either ethnically Russian or Irish if your family didn’t bring you up as a bar brawler, the question is invalid. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569/25 "2018-02-13T20:02:05Z")
I think Russians are a little tougher, when it comes to cold & deprivation; but they’ll exaggerate how much tougher they are because they never smile. Whereas the Irish will go through their own insane crap—including island-country issues of sea & storm—with a smile, which actually makes them seem even more resilient. (Inuit are probably far tougher than either, btw.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tougher-ethnicity-russians-or-irish/808569.md?page=1)