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What Americans might look like to Irish People

Caroline Egan
4 min readNov 22, 2021

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(and maybe vice versa)

Photo by Amy Reed on Unsplash

To clarify, before we begin, I am Irish and live in Ireland. None of that my grandparent's parents came over on the boat several generations removed Irish. I'm actually Irish, not Irish-American.

Well, Ireland and the States clearly have a relationship that involves both of us sucking up to each other. Your presidents generally want to secure the Irish American vote, and our Taoiseach wants your money in the country, from either tourism or setting up European global headquarters here.

When you think about it, it's that simple.

Don't get me wrong, Ireland is a pretty decent country, and you will never find as friendly and sarcastic people in your life, but if you really think Irish people are totally into leprechauns, you're sadly wrong. And no, we don't all drink Guinness. It makes your poo a scary dark colour. We do drink shitloads, though — that stereotype is correct.

If you've ever been a tourist here, and arguably you could say this about any country that tries to attract holidaymakers, you have more than likely have only seen the version of Ireland you thought you would see. We wanted that for you. But it's completely a contrived version of Irish culture, made palatable and packaged for people who would like to claim some kind of Irish…

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Caroline Egan
Caroline Egan

Written by Caroline Egan

Nerdy, freelance writer, feminist, horror/sci-fi enthusiast, mother, big child. Support me and become a member here: https://eganc3.medium.com/membership

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