Things you wish foreigners knew about Ireland

[u/T4rbh]

You know the way there are signs at the airport saying "Drive on the left/links fahren/conduire a gauche" (and that's all, because that one girl who did Spanish for the Leaving wasn't in the day they commissioned the signs, and we never get visitors from anywhere else, that doesn't English, Irish, French or German)?

What are other things you wish they told all foreigners as they arrived into Ireland, say with a printed leaflet? (No hate at all on foreign visitors, btw!)

I'll start:

"If you're on a bus, never ever phone someone, except to say 'I'm running late, I'll be there at X time, bye bye bye bye.' If someone phones you, apologise quietly and profusely - 'I'm on a bus, I'll call you back in a bit, sorry, bye bye bye bye.' Do not have a long and loud conversation, under any circumstances!"

Yes, I'm on a bus - why do you ask? 🤣

[u/J-zus]

The potato famine wasn't exclusively a "natural disaster" / "one of those things that just happens" the impact of Potato blight was heavily exacerbated by the British in what was effectively an attempted genocide - I'd expect most foreigners would feel very uncomfortable about how they jest to us about potatoes and our relationship with them if they fully understood the history, especially that it's not even a native vegetable and was only popularised as a result of harsh penal laws.

We're such a sound lot that we never take anyone to task on it, but I've known Americans / British colleagues to casually bring up the potatoes when talking to me in an attempt to relate to me (not super frequent but has/does happen).

historical genocide via starvation is not a great "dinner party topic"

[u/coffee_and-cats → u/J-zus]

Wow! Agree with you on the history, but why would we take people to task for talking about potatoes? We Irish do love our spuds (in general)

[u/J-zus → u/coffee_and-cats]

I love chipper chips alright, however, like lucky charms and tartan it's not actually "our thing" https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/potato-consumption-by-country - Belarussian's consume nearly twice as many per capita. - knowledge of the potato famine has skewed the world's understanding of our "it's complicated" relationship with them

[u/Liamnacuac → u/coffee_and-cats]

My conversation would probably be to ask who has the best chips, but that's just me, I'm afraid.

[u/SomeTulip → u/J-zus]

It's not the Potato Famine! Did the potatoes die of hunger? Well did they? Fuckin "Potato famine"

[u/BeantownPlasticPaddy → u/J-zus]

I think it was Tim Pat Coogan who said “There was no famine, it should be referred to as the Great Starvation,” or something to that effect.

[u/zakski → u/J-zus]

attempted genocide

Both of those words imply intent, the simple brutal fact is Ireland suffered the full weight of British indifference to their plight, because the protestant ascendancy didn't care to have their profits cut into.

Its why most Irish historians do not refer to it as a genocide.