Funny story, my lineage is Irish and Lithuanian. So take that, I guess.

I bet they also question "why would anyone want to be a woman?"

They want to be European, but don't want the stink of colonialism, whilst also feeling like rebels, so Ireland it is!

Irish and Italians are interesting because they were historically considered 'colored' or at least on the same societal rung as colored people.

What a fucking weird and racist post. "not even the Irish want to be Irish"

There are some great YouTube videos of Irish people having to deal with American tourists who think they’re Irish.

It’s fun to make fun of Americans who are proud of their Irish ancestry. I dunno why. But it is.

Source: american cheese American with Irish composing a decent chunk

Idk lol some of our ancestors are just from a place and sometimes that place is Ireland. Want my white-ass to lie to you instead?

I'm Hatian now.

I’ve got Irish heritage. My dentist asked me about it because I have a red beard (brown hair). She explained that people with red hair are less responsive to Novocain. I always knew I wasn’t bullshitting that the dentist hurt me as a teen. Finally, proof!

Eh it depends on who you are and where you're from. Chicago and Boston have a lot of Irish heritage. Everywhere else it's mostly just St. Patrick's Day, aka amateur night. So it's mostly just an excuse for the lightweights to go get drunk on shitty beer.

Seriously, who gets drunk on Miller or Budweiser? It's like trying to run a car engine on Kool-aid.

like.. were a nation of immigrants. it's part of your identity in the US.

I think some people just like to be in touch with their ancestry which isn't suddenly cringe when you're white. But I think for some other people it's genuinely part of their victim complex. Irish people were among the most oppressed white minorities back in the day.

It's the same nonsense as invoking "the luck of the Irish". Said by people who have absolutely no idea about Irish history.

I have a friend who came over from Moscow and is an immigrant to the U.S. herself. A few years ago she started telling me she has Irish heritage and she knows it because she felt it in her bones and can see it in her dreams. Now she goes twice a year to 'reconnect with her roots.' She was so confident that she did a 23andme and it showed that she was 99% of her heritage with a 1% broadly european. That 1% is what she is now claiming is her Irish portion.

I don't know. I really don't even know.

Guatemala is awesome. The countryside is beautiful and the people are descended from one of humanity's major civilizations, the Mayans.

I realize OP is only half-serious, but they still come off as really ignorant.

My wee Irish grandmother would take issue with this. Her pride was more about being Catholic, but she was definitely Irish. Soda bread. Weird Easter pastries. Ya, cabbage and alcohol too. Just little bits and bobs of Irish culture.

... Um ... I personally claim that I'm a European mutt. Drunkards all.

We err they obsessed because red heada are hot and irish beer os better the American beer

Citizenship question: my grandfather's parents were born in Ireland. My grandfather, who didn't know he had been adopted until much later in life (by a Jewish woman), became an Irish citizen in his 50s and had dual citizenship until his death.

As a desperate American.... can I get Irish citizenship through my grandfather, a naturalized Irish citizen who was not born in Ireland?? I can (understandably) not find an answer to this on the Irish citizenship website.

Sincerely, an American who spent 12 hours protesting at a No Kings rally yesterday

We as Americans lack a certain amount of culture, we look to our pasts and see what it is our families have come from. So many Irish came here, for so many reasons, the cultural heritage barely came with it, leaving a big gaping hole in what we tend to identify ourselves with.

I like to use the analogy of the Native American Indian who was displaced and massacred, captured and forced to go to Indoctrination camps as children. Where they applied the “kill the indian, save the child” methodology, abhorrent to think of, its not far off from cultural genocide.

So, we look back and find our parents and grandparents nationalities, where they have come from, we adopt what little we know of what it means to be Irish. All thats left here is Irish bars and St Patricks Day, Boston and Chicago. Americans will happily tell you about their heritage but its not a long story to tell. We are the children of immigrants striving to find a way to make a home and anyone else to connect with for community.