I love Americans but I dont care what part of Ireland your grandmother came from!! Stop bothering the village priests to find out info in your Irish anscestors!
Mar 25th, 2002, 01:54 PM
#42
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It wasn't till we got an Irish person in the family that I realized that all the Irish jokes were in fact anecdotes and were TRUE. <BR>If the Irish were to pull themselves out of the bogs then they may finally use some of the technology they have obtained, albeit de-facto via the USA, and put all the records on that technology so that they could at least say they were up to world standard
Mar 25th, 2002, 02:01 PM
#43
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How many times have I while traveling gotten into a conversation with a local person who tells me about some relative in Los Angeles area and do I know him? <BR>I answer politely and don't make a big deal out of it. They have made a try at starting a connection with me and in turn starting a conversation. If they want me to sing a few bars of Yankee Doodle Dandy, we would all have a good laugh. Lighten up, James.
Mar 26th, 2002, 12:57 PM
#45
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Nice one, antiIrish. Too bad you didn't consider the Celtic Tiger. Guess we Irish had nothing to do with the fastest growing economy in Europe. I must have been getting drunk with my father as we opened all of our care packages from the U.S., crying tears of joy over the used shoes and underpants our much richer and smarter relatives had sent us.<BR><BR><BR><BR>
Mar 26th, 2002, 01:02 PM
#46
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Laura, the thing is, you don't hear this stuff every single day of your life. During my first few years in the U.S., every time anyone heard my accent, they'd say "I'm Irish, too!" Excited that I'd met someone from home, I'd ask where they were from, and expecting to hear Omagh or Limerick or Donegal or Dublin. Instead, I heard Chicago, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida.<BR><BR>Of course I'm polite and answer everyone's questions nicely, but it really does get on a person's nerve after a while.<BR><BR>I like to equate it with this: my wife is 6'2". Every time someone meets her, they ask "Do you play basketball?" Seems harmless enough, but when you hear it everyday, several times a day, for years, it really wears on your nerves. Of course, she gets it even worse when we're in Ireland, because she stands out even more over there. She's really sick of the "nice, big American" comments. Sure, they're not being nasty, but they are being thoughtless.
Mar 26th, 2002, 02:10 PM
#49
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Anti - Gee! - you "got an Irish person in the family?" Mail order I suppose? AJFYI: Ireland is in the 21st century - the economy is thriving. One of the country's major charms & saving grace is that they have not succumbed to the gadget/technology madness of other countries. You can actually still see countrtyside instead of a strip mall & everyone is not obsessed with their stupid cell phone/palm pilot/etc.
Mar 26th, 2002, 10:09 PM
#51
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St.Cirq, you are wrong - it is not only Ireland that allows this.<BR><BR>I have both a European passport and British citizenship, though Sydney-born. This is due to my father being English - the law used to apply to grandparents as well, but I understand this has changed recently.<BR><BR>Where I work there is also a gentleman born here with a European passport courtesy of his Croatian heritage, and another with the same due to his Italian parentage (only problem for the latter is he may have to do national service in Italy!).
Apr 2nd, 2002, 12:53 AM
#54
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Having just one British parent entitles you not to a British passport but to what the UK calls the Right to Abode. Means you can live and work in the UK without further hassles, etc. But you have to have a passport from a Commonwealth country (Canada, for example)--the Right to Abode is stamped in your passport. You can leverage that into the right to live anywhere in the EU by setting up a Ltd. and "employing" yourself in a EU country for the Ltd. However, it doesn't give you the right to go find a job in the EU with any company--it works mainly for self-employed professionals (Canadian IT contractors do this a lot).
Apr 2nd, 2002, 07:10 AM
#55
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Just remember that when we Americans are bothering your parish priest for church records, that we're also spending money by renting cars, going to restaurants, buying souvenirs, etc. <BR><BR>Actually, it's the ironic lament of tourist areas everywhere - some locals wish the tourists would leave them alone - but if they did, they'd be economically sorry!<BR>
Apr 2nd, 2002, 08:13 AM
#56
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It's not "Oh Danny Boy"! It's simply "Danny Boy". And it's not "St. Patty's Day" but "St. Paddy's Day".<BR><BR>The Celtic Tiger continues to roar, although not as loudly as it did a year ago. Unemployment in Ireland remains lower than many parts of the U.S. For example, my wife grew up in western Pennsylvania. I was just reading about their unemployment rates today: more than double that of the Republic of Ireland.<BR><BR>Mike's obviously a Brit.
Apr 2nd, 2002, 07:11 PM
#59
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aa-<BR><BR>No, having one British parent entitles one to British citizenship, if it is the correct parent. If one were born before 1983, one would need to be the child of a British father, born in a 'legitimate' marriage, or the child of a British mother EITHER (1) born illegitimately OR (2) born legitimately, and registered with the local British embassy/high consulate in the country of birth prior to one's 18th birthday. <BR><BR>If one were born after 1983, one would be entitled to British citizenship if one had a (one) British parent - (exception is those whose one British parent was born abroad - either the child OR the parent must be born in the UK in this case).<BR><BR>For those who don't qualify for citizenship, a British-born grandparent only qualifies one for Right of Abode if one is a citizen of a Commonwealth country. Right of Abode is of limited use as it only allows one to live/work in the UK, not throughout the EU. However, it does allow one to live in the UK for long enough to apply for citizenship if desired.
