The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe > Suggestions Archive

Dara O'Briain

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Calinthalus:

--- Quote from: DJBexbot on Oct 15, 2009, 01:33:00 PM ---Yeah I  don't think you can homogenise Irish (ie my) culture with Scotland. On the face of it we can seem quite similar but you have to remember that the English wiped out a lot of the native Scots during one of the many many rebellions.
Also you really really don't want to get an Irish person started on the Plantations (its a long long rant).
I do know my fathers 'ancestral home' has a cut stone fireplace dating from Cromwellian times that would have been built by Scottish masons and then my ancestors would have built a rubble stone built deweling around it.

Basically no Irish or Scottish person would use the term 'Scots-Irish', you are one or the other!

--- End quote ---
I wasn't making an attempt to homogenize the two cultures.  I was using an Americanism that strictly refers to protestant Irish immigrants from Ulster...mostly made up of Scottish people who had been transplanted to that area originally.  That's why I differentiated between the Scots-Irish (or Ulster Scots if you prefer) and the later wave of Irish immigrants that came this area later.  It is also distinct from those of pure Scottish ancestry.

DJBexbot:
Well I was kinda responding to:
--- Quote from: Anders on Oct 15, 2009, 01:00:57 PM ---
--- Quote from: Calinthalus on Oct 07, 2009, 08:46:18 AM ---This area of the country was originally settled by Scots-Irish.  They moved this way to avoid taxes on their production of whiskey...and to escape the puritans further east.  Later during prohibition, more Irish moved out this way from the NE.
--- End quote ---

The Scots are Irish. They raided and invaded Scotland during the 5th century and onwards.

--- End quote ---
but also taking account of your comment, sorry if that got lost in it.
I just found that term really odd as I have never heard it!

Calinthalus:

--- Quote from: DJBexbot on Oct 16, 2009, 04:02:30 AM ---Well I was kinda responding to:
--- Quote from: Anders on Oct 15, 2009, 01:00:57 PM ---
--- Quote from: Calinthalus on Oct 07, 2009, 08:46:18 AM ---This area of the country was originally settled by Scots-Irish.  They moved this way to avoid taxes on their production of whiskey...and to escape the puritans further east.  Later during prohibition, more Irish moved out this way from the NE.
--- End quote ---

The Scots are Irish. They raided and invaded Scotland during the 5th century and onwards.

--- End quote ---
but also taking account of your comment, sorry if that got lost in it.
I just found that term really odd as I have never heard it!

--- End quote ---
I should have qualified that.  This is the first board I've frequented that had a large non-U.S. population.  I should watch myself when I use U.S. specific terms.

I grew up hearing that term.  Back in the day, people would occassionally talk about their heritage.  Where do their people come from...that sort of thing.  Scots-Irish is a common response in this area.  Sometimes it's Scots-Irish/Lakota (or some other tribe).  There's also a decent Swiss/German descendant community...and some mennonites with a Dutch background.  Of course, all of these people have been American for 5+ generations...so it's silly to claim these backgrounds.  However, as large as the U.S. is, and as diversified as its populations/cultures...it does serve as an identifier of some sorts.

DJBexbot:
well speaking very generally from my own experiences working in heritage there seems to be a huge emphasis on finding some Irish ancestry. Which to be honest I don't really understand!
Certain element of 'my great grandfather once meet an Irish dog so I'm part Irish' (gross exageration).
I suppose my ancestry is so very sedentary (unfortunate enough to be an O'Neill-something like the 5th most common name in Ireland). Once you get past a certain point in genalogy it just becomes interpretation and conjeture. There were no 'real' census' conducted in Ireland prior to the 1770s. My family were there then, and haven't move too far since then.
Maybe if it was exciting with a few different ethnic backgrounds thrown in there I would get excited about it too, but as it stands I'm Irish with Irish roots with a lil Irish on the side.

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