[tonyennis]

Irish also, but different perspective. (Have lived away for past 5 years & reflected from afar on our relationship to alcohol)

- Strongly dislike the cultural glorification of getting excessively drunk, but can't deny it's there - the stereotype is not based on fiction. - Also strongly like the international reputation we have as being hospitable, fun, and friendly (as evidenced by the comment above), which is essentially a positive stereotype. - In my experience when meeting new people, acknowledgement-that-the-Irish-are-drinkers (in a non-antagonistic way) is not in itself harmful, and can often be a good ice breaker and rapport builder. As in, the stereotype itself is not the harmful part. Most people I've encountered tend not to make negative assumptions, are smart enough to reason about group vs individual behaviour, and give the benefit-of-the-doubt, and those who don't have a being-an-asshole problem, not a infected-by-a-stereotype problem. - My reading of the comment above was that the spirit was non-asshole-y.

Just my two cents

[tdubhro1]

Maybe, but maybe rapport based on “I don’t know you but I’ve heard your kind are a harmless lot who are always up for a drinking party after work”, is useful in a very limited set of circumstances, such as meeting a new team of peers, maybe. I’d still argue not, since the point of rapport building is to get to know the person in front of you, not how well they fit your preconception / stereotype.

In a large majority of situations in my experience, like being a senior manager of a new team, the CEO of a company meeting clients or negotiating with vendors and partners, it’s utterly irrelevant at best.

Also, the fact that Ireland has a major, major alcohol problem is no justification for the stereotype; so do many northern hemisphere countries. London had its Gin Crisis of the 18th century, with huge death toll and virtual breakdown of society, and the UK still has astronomical alcohol consumption, but they don’t get labelled the same way as the Irish

[smcl]

> the UK still has astronomical alcohol consumption, but they don’t get labelled the same way as the Irish

It shows how sticky stereotypes are and how they allow people to point at others without really thinking about themselves. I've got an example too. Within the UK Scotland gets a bad rap for being a nation of overweight people who eat deep fried food every other meal, when in reality the rate of obesity within the country are within a couple of percentage points (something like 27.5% in Scotland, 25% in England). I have literally had overweight English people trying to crack wise with me (Scottish, 83kg/190cm - basically in shape) about Scottish people being fat which is kinda funny. I thought it would be a bit rude to turn it round on them - there's a line between banter and direct insults after all :D

Ireland gets it a bit worse though. So many people love to try to mirror the accent or joke about the potato famine or the troubles (not excluding Scotland from this, this stuff occurs across the English speaking world) wee bit edgy for my liking.

[tdubhro1]

Yes, people “doing” the stage-Irish accent in response to an Irish person speaking in a relatively neutral accent is incredibly common, I just don’t get how people don’t realise what they’re doing- and I know for fact that many times it’s meant in a friendly, almost affectionate way, which boggles my mind even more, and then of course there are times when it’s intended to irk and offend but the person doing it hides behind the “banter” and thinks they won’t get called out for it.

[BoxOfRain]

>the UK still has astronomical alcohol consumption, but they don’t get labelled the same way as the Irish

To be fair we certainly do have a reputation for drunkenness and general loutishness in parts of the Continent, apparently in anywhere with cheap holiday resorts the UK has a bad name.

[illwrks]

Irish also, twelve years to the day I've been living abroad. I'm not really interested in "drinking", I've more a European approach to it, enjoying a relaxed pint or a glass of wine etc.

I 100% agree with you though, part of the Irish culture people look to experience is the good times around a few pints and some traditional music, with the reward of a hangover in the morning to mark it as a successful night.

The few negative things I've ever experienced were off hand comments about the famine, and some nonsense about the North of Ireland.