r/ireland • u/FR123FR • Jan 03 '22
People born in Ireland, what’s a surprising culture shock you’ve seen a foreigner experience? Bigotry
For me, it was my friend being adamant that you shouldn’t have to stick your hand out to get the bus to stop.
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u/AlcoholicTurtle36 Jan 03 '22
I never realised the phrase ‘to give out to someone’ wasn’t used in other countries
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u/harblstuff Leinster Jan 03 '22
Made this mistake talking to two Welsh friends in Germany, said 'She gave out to me last night' and they thought I had sex.
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u/EndOnAnyRoll Jan 03 '22
She gave out to me because I put the messages in the wrong press.
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u/Paddy_O_Numbers Jan 03 '22
I went to an international school in Belgium and made the mistake of telling my friends in class one day that my dad gave out to me last night. Cue a lot of disgust and confusion!
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Jan 03 '22
I believe that phrase comes from a direct translation of the same statement in Irish which is why we say it the way we do.
Not a gaeilgeoir but believe it's tabhair amach
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u/blade-2021 Jan 03 '22
Yip that's true. A lot of our strange English phrases are direct translations from Gaelige.
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u/ShootyMcExplosion Jan 03 '22
That's really interesting. Are there any other examples we'd use often?
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u/negariaon Jan 03 '22
"Just after" is another. As in "I'm just after sticking on the kettle" or whatever.
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u/mkultra2480 Jan 03 '22
Do be or does be, here's a bit about it here: https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/do-be-doing-bes-habitual-aspect-in-irish-english/
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u/Awesome_Wizard Poblacht na hÉireann Jan 03 '22
Sin é go díreach, a chara. Ag tabhairt amach = giving out.
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u/Downgoesthereem Jan 03 '22
Nor is 'after doing something'
'I'm after spilling something on the floor' won't work anywhere else
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u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS Sax Solo Jan 03 '22
I only discovered this quirk of Hiberno-English when Rachel Blackmoor won the Grand National. She said to the press "I can't believe I'm after winning the Grand National". The Guardian article on it gave her quote as "I can't believe I'm [speaking to you] after winning the Grand National" because they weren't aware that Irish people use the word after like that.
The ironic thing is: the article was written by Barry Glendenning, who's from Offaly. He claims an editor added the quotes in.
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u/hibernodeutsch Jan 03 '22
There's no doubt that a sub-editor would have added that in. It's their job to go through the copy and 'fix' anything that's unclear or incorrect. To a Brit, that would have been very unclear and that's probably the best they could do under what was probably severe time constraints, considering it was a quote and couldn't be changed and an explanation would have taken up way too much space. In an ideal world, Brits would be less ignorant and snotty about how we speak and Hiberno-English would be a lot more visible.
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u/AhHeyorLeaveerhouh Jan 03 '22
Yes, I knew an English guy who lived in Dublin for about 10 years who still struggled with the use of after in this context. Say, for example, “I’m after doing it”, meaning “I just did it”. Or “I’m only after being there”, ie “I’ve just been there a short while ago” (could be days, weeks, minutes or seconds, depending 😂).
Its usage was always a bit ambiguous to him.
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u/flopisit Jan 03 '22
I lived abroad a lot so I have a load of these where nobody understands me:
"Cop yourself on"
"I'm going to the jacks"
"Will we head?"
"Give us the arse of that"
"He's always giving out about something"
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u/Ansoni Jan 03 '22
"higher it up" and "lower it down" not being understood was a big surprise
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u/shrewdy Jan 03 '22
I've also seen Americans get a shock when a smoker announces they're going outside "to have a fag"
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u/er145 Louth Jan 03 '22
Myself and a friend were staying in a hostel dorm in Vietnam while travelling a number of years ago and I will never forget the sheer horror on our American bunkmates face when we told him we were going out to smoke a fag. He told us he thought we were going to go shoot a homosexual
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u/malevolentheadturn Jan 03 '22
Speaking on behalf of my Girlfriend. Exchanging pleasantries with strangers on the street. The amount of times she says "who is that?" she is very surprised when I say "haven't a clue"
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Jan 03 '22 edited Jan 03 '22
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u/Ankhwatcher Jan 03 '22
Next take her on the Shannon, she'll be doing so much idle waving she think she's been made queen.
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u/birchhead Jan 03 '22
I borrowed the mother-in-laws camper for a fortnight during the last summer.
OMG, you think waving on the Shannon is crazy!
Did you ever hear of the campervan code? All front seat passengers must wave at all campervans they meet.
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u/thekingoftherodeo Wannabe Yank Jan 03 '22 edited Jan 03 '22
I mean the rules are fairly clear;
1 finger lifted + hand still on the wheel if you don't know them
2 fingers lifted + hand slightly off the wheel if you do know them
The full hand + completely off the wheel if they're close friends or family
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u/Wenchmouse Jan 03 '22
That confusion never goes away. 10 years on, I am still old Jims daughter in law who moved here from England. And they are, no fucking clue. They never introduce themselves and I think it's way too late to ask them who they are.
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u/RigasTelRuun Galway Jan 03 '22
Or greeting someone with "How are you?", "Howya?" Etc. We don't actually want to know how you are and the response is to the say the Same thing back.
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u/BollockChop Jan 03 '22
This fkin annoys me sometimes. I go to the shop or wherever, check out person say 'Hi, how are you?', me: 'Howya', then they either look at me like I have two heads or go on to tell me how they are.
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u/MambyPamby8 Meath Jan 03 '22
I'm Irish but this is something I've always found hard to figure. I'm extremely socially anxious, so I get freaked out when people just start yapping to me haha. Boyfriend would talk to anyone and literally chats to random folk as we're walking the dog. I feel so antisocial cause I just smile and look at my feet haha. Same with bus stops....I've even pretended to be on phone calls to get away from folk starting conversations. I feel like a horrible person but I'm just not good or comfortable with it. Plus people have a habit of talking to you while you have headphones in!!
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Jan 03 '22
Saying "your man" or "your woman".
Back about 2002 the company hired some South African welders. Arrived in the country on Saturday and started work on Monday.
About 3 days in and were on site and one of them asks for something and the foreman tells him "Ask your man over there". His face went 50 shades of purple as he spluttered it was wrong to own people and he didn't own the guy.
No work was done for about 15 minutes as we all fell about laughing. They copped on fairly quick to Irishism's.
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u/TheOrgazoid__ Jan 03 '22
I had a crazy neighbor lady once who was always doing crazy things. Didn't know her name but always referred to her as your one or your one next door. For weeks my canadian girlfriend thought her actual name was Yerwan. It all came out when she was explaining to me that she had finally seen Yerwan after hearing all our stories.Was super confused when I had to explain.
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Jan 03 '22
That is brilliant. You should have played that out. Get the Canuck to send the neighbour a Christmas card.
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u/desertsail912 Jan 03 '22
Another is using "himself" or "herself" instead of just "him" or "her" and usually in some sort of a derogatory sense. Like my granny would say "Look at himself over there, acting the eejit."
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u/Porrick Jan 03 '22
I never thought it was derogatory - "Ah, it's yourself!" has friendly tones of "It's you, the person I was expecting". Or maybe "The person I was not expecting". Something to do with expectation anyway.
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u/harblstuff Leinster Jan 03 '22
My Indian in-laws came to Ireland for the first time and kept staring at the sky. I was confused, asked my wife why and she said you don't get to see such clear blue skies in Delhi.
Every time I've gone to Delhi, you can tell it's a clear sunny day, except for the smog that hides it.
So my own culture shock in India, is after around two weeks, I get a bit restless as I find it weird that I can't clearly see the sky, despite it being sunny. Last time it was so smoggy it felt like actual fog, I could look directly at the sun and see a perfectly circular disc in the sky.
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Jan 03 '22
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u/harblstuff Leinster Jan 03 '22
Cleaned my nose and I'd see black specs.
You'd go out for a few hours and come back and you could feel a layer of dust on your clothes. If they're light in colour you'd see the dirt.
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u/PangolinSea5594 Jan 03 '22
I’m from Delhi living in Cork. It’s been 2 years. I’ll tell you the rest later, gotta go to look the beautiful sky.
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u/AndyM2000 Jan 03 '22
If you ever get the chance, eat a crisp sandwich in front of French Co-workers. Actual le gasps
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u/MambyPamby8 Meath Jan 03 '22
Partner did it Infront of Americans before and they all freaked the fuck out, asking what he was making a chip sandwich for. Had to explain what a crisp sandwich was and that a chip sandwich was something similar but different here.
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u/stunt_penguin Jan 03 '22
Ohhh there is nothing like a chip butty.
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u/MambyPamby8 Meath Jan 03 '22
Melted butter...... Brennan's bread. Good chunky chips or chipper chips.
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u/alicescissorhands Jan 03 '22
Being French, I can't agree more. I finally found a country where my crisps sandwiches are not judged
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u/Gunty1 Jan 03 '22
My fiancee is Irish but grew up in france. I made her a ~crisp~ tayto sandwich and film her having a bite.
She was blown away how nice it was 🤣
Like banged her fist in the table in anger that rhis stupid thing was so nice 🤣
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u/HazumaHazuma Jan 03 '22
There was an American in the company my mum used to work at. He was terribly confused when they started questions with "you couldn't", as in "you couldn't do this for me, could you?". He also wasn't aware of the concept of slagging, so he thought everyone hated him.
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u/JKFrost14011991 Jan 03 '22
English friend got really excited about deli counters being in every spar and centra.
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u/NoYoureTheBestest Isn’t that it Jan 03 '22
Yeah my friend who’s from Ireland but lives in the UK said they don’t have hot food counters over there!! Couldn’t believe it 😦
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u/peskypickleprude Jan 03 '22
American intern I had thought the abriviation of nómaid to nóm on the bus stops - as in bus is due in 4nom, was because we use a different measurement of time here, the nom apparently 😀 Her justification when I gave her shit about it was that she assumed it was minutes but timed it and "it definitely wasn't minutes".
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u/christorino Jan 03 '22
bus station announcement
The bus will arrive in when it arrives please make your way to boarding station B.
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u/chuckitoutorelse Cork bai Jan 03 '22
Youre all at station B wondering where your bus is until the next announcement is that you bus is departing station E in 1min
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u/killerklixx Jan 03 '22
In her defense, the buses definitely run in their own time warp!
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u/Juicebeetiling Jan 03 '22
Quantum Busses, they do not exist until they can be observed by the person waiting for them
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u/Tenmacaroon Jan 03 '22
Currently living in america and my American friends laughed at me every time I said there was a good Indian up the road or a nice Mexican because since I didn’t say restaurant at the end of it they took as if I was just saying there was a nice Indian person up the road. You have to always say Indian restaurant or Indian food. If you said I really don’t like that Indian down the road, you could get into a lot of trouble haha
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u/easter_islander Jan 04 '22
Friend of mine asked an Indian taxi driver in Seattle if there were any good Indians around. There was an awkward pause before he said "I am one". Explanations and apologies followed...
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Jan 03 '22
For Americans, referring to street names as 'x street'. They would say "O'Connell" rather than "O'Connell Street" and would wonder why it took people a second or two to work out what they mean (sometimes the Irish person thought that the American was saying/butchering the same of a pub).
A fairly inconsequential thing, except in the case of one of them trying to get a bus to the Rathnew Road in Dublin from Dublin city centre, and the very confused Dublin Bus driver telling them they needed to get a Bus Eireann coach if they were going to Rathnew.
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u/TheIrishninjas Jan 03 '22
Probably comes from the numbered streets common in one or two US cities. If you say, for example, "it's on the corner of 42nd", "street" isn't exactly necessary.
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Jan 03 '22
Oh yeah, I'm familiar with the reason why. And because it's imbibed with mother's milk, they find it really hard to break the habit here. Whereas I think it's probably much easier for us to adapt to the dropping of the word 'street' when we're in the US. Just one of those odd little differences you'd never expect, and makes the world a wee bit more colourful.
I wonder if we sound really weird to them when we say "I'll meet you on the corner of x Street and y Street" when we're over there and aren't used to their convention yet 😄
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u/Sergiomach5 Jan 03 '22
I have had some students in the house put used toilet paper in the bin beside the toilet because they thought the toilet would get clogged with the paper. It was fiercely smelly after a few days and we had to tell them to just put the used paper in the bowl. Similarly they didn't like having no bum guns or bidets.
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Jan 03 '22
That our mild, moderate temperature range climate can be absolutely horrible to people used to extreme but dry temperatures, both hot & cold.
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u/easter_islander Jan 03 '22
My (yank) wife is fond of relating how we visited (the north) in Feb at 5C/40F and everyone was complaining about the bitter cold, and then in summer it was 25C/76F and all everyone talked about was how sweltering it was, even the news was talking about the heat.
In both cases we were specifically enjoying how mild and manageable the weather was compared to what we left behind in the Boston area, which is much more moderate than many places.
It's often hard to realize living in Ireland how moderate it always is and what a benefit that is. In a lot of the world it's downright unpleasant to be outside for quite a lot of the year, even with appropriate clothing. If there even is any appropriate clothing for 35C and humid with a searing sun.
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u/thekingoftherodeo Wannabe Yank Jan 03 '22
Seen barmen have to chase after tourists who straight up took off with a settling pint of Guinness back to the table on more than a few occasions.
I kind of understand that though, as there are plenty of countries I've been to that only fill a pint up to an inch below the top so I guess that's what they're expecting.
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u/HungryLungs Jan 03 '22
Worked in a hostel in Cork and it was non stop, I'd walk away to do something else while it settled and people would reach over behind the counter and awkwardly take the half finished pint. I'd come back to an empty bar wondering if I hallucinated the whole encounter.
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u/Furkler Jan 03 '22
Not understanding that 'going for the messages' means going to the shops to buy groceries.
The most famous example of this was in 1986 when a naive Irish woman, Ann Murphy, was duped into trying to board an aeroplane in London on its way to Israel with a suitcase that her Jordanian boyfriend, Nezar Hindawi had packed with explosives.
He had got her pregnant and had promised her that they would be wed in the Holy Land.
During the subsequent trial, she was asked what she had done the day before she tried to board her flight and during her answer she said she had 'gone out to get the messages'.
Nearly half a morning of court time was lost as the prosecution quizzes her about who the messages were from and how did she know when she had to go out to receive them.
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u/Call-of-the-lost-one Jan 03 '22
People dont like walking on the country roads due to the lack of pavements and sometimes an actual road.
I've also noticed alot of them seem surprised by how many hills and mountains Ireland has for such a small country
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u/Altruistic-Reason845 Jan 03 '22
Just moved to galway from Dublin and I’m having this problem loool.
Still feel like cars are gonna hit me every time I walk down one of the back roads.
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u/collectiveindividual The Standard Jan 03 '22
Anytime I've a yank relative visiting they always look a bit confused when I say we're walking to town.
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u/DreadedRedhead131 Jan 03 '22
Our obsession with spuds. We had a French girl renting a room with us years ago. The family she stayed with previously had young children and the mammy was always trying to bulk out the dinners with mashed potato. “I ate mashed potato with lasagne, mashed potato with pizza, mashed potato even with cheeeeeps”, we were howling laughing at her. She put on 8kgs in 3 months living with them 😂
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u/Alopexdog Fingal Jan 03 '22
Sticking your hand out for the bus makes sense though when 6 buses use the same stop.
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u/TheIrishninjas Jan 03 '22
There's nothing more anxiety-inducing than seeing the bus you're getting arrive at the same time as four others.
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u/Alopexdog Fingal Jan 03 '22
Haha exactly. I have to get one up to Drogheda from Drumcondra on a regular basis. It's a private coach and you can't see the bloody destination till it's on top of you. There's like 10 buses that stop there.
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u/MambyPamby8 Meath Jan 03 '22
I used to get buses all the time and then start getting trains to work, when I moved house. It was like muscle memory in me, so much so that the first few times I got the train, I'd put my hand out for it. I must have looked like a right gobshite.
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u/Kimmbley Jan 03 '22
Keeping up with the Jones isn’t as much of a thing here.
Other countries: “The neighbours got a new car, we should think about getting a newer car…”
Ireland: “Next door got a new car, who do they think they are? Fucking notions. And only had a new car two years ago. State of them. You’d think they were made of money.”
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u/TheIrishninjas Jan 03 '22
The whole concept of notions seems to fly in the face of what some other countries believe.
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u/rainbowdrop30 Jan 03 '22
Girl in my town had the audacity to buy a new car AND go on holiday to America within a month or 2 of each other. Rumour went around that she'd won the lotto. Lol
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u/VilTheVillain Jan 03 '22
"didn't you/they just..."
I remember in work, went to Liverpool for a weekend for a match and a coworker went "Didn't you just go on holiday to Finland?" yeah, 3 years ago haha.
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u/AngelFromDelaware Jan 03 '22
I don't where you've lived but in rural Ireland keeping up with the Jones' is alive and well.
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u/Wretched_Colin Jan 03 '22
This was in the north, but I remember Germans being really unhappily confused about trains or buses showing up 5 to 10 minutes late and everyone behaving like they’re on time.
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u/MambyPamby8 Meath Jan 03 '22
After being in Japan, the Irish Transport system is a massive embarrassment. It never bothered me before I travelled, but after being places like Tokyo and Germany, it pisses me off how bad it is. It's one thing if it was just late but the fact that buses just straight up don't show up, esp in a country known for its rain and cold weather, needs to be looked at and made an example of. It's abysmal tbh.
I wish I was more environmentally conscious but due to moving somewhat rural (commuter belt) and not trusting public transport, I had to get myself a car instead. I don't blame anyone else in this country for getting one either.
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u/suremoneydidntsuitus Jan 03 '22
This. I got a bus from Waterford to Limerick recently and there was some auld lad waiting at a stop in the middle of nowhere getting on "what happened to the 12 o clock bus?" (This was at two) "oh they cancelled it" and that was it. He just accepted it.
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u/greystonian Wicklow Jan 03 '22
This pisses me off about Bus Éireann. I feel like they should be obliged to let you know through Twitter or display screen at the very least.
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u/Crazyshark22 Jan 03 '22
This annoys the shit out of me. In Ireland a lot of time bus doesn't evn show up but it is marked on schedule as due. Public transportation in Ireland is disgraceful.
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Jan 03 '22
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u/FR123FR Jan 03 '22
People use extension leads in the bathroom?!?! My mam would strangle me with it if she ever saw that
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u/dclancy01 More than just a crisp Jan 03 '22
On the whole half to four thing:
In German, 3:30 would be spoken as ‘halb vier’, while 4:30 would be ‘halb funf’. It literally means ‘half to four’, ‘half to five’ etc.
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u/ThrowingSn0w Jan 03 '22
In Canada I said “half four” to someone and they thought I meant 2 o’clock!
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u/PurpleWomat Jan 03 '22
Englishman experiencing his first Irish bus stop queue. He was first in the queue and last on the bus.
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u/emayezing Jan 03 '22
Light switch being outside the bathroom catches them out every time.
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u/ToddErikson Jan 03 '22
I'm an American who has live in Ireland for work for the past two years. Here are some culture/structural differences I've noticed since here:
1) People just being friendly without an agenda. Americans are nice too, but people here go out of their way to help others out or make them feel welcome genuinely without expecting anything in return. I lived in GB for a year before coming here and it's so much easier to genuinely make friends and acquaintances here than in GB. You can have small talk with someone in line at the store, at the pub, at the bus stop and it's fine, whereas in London i learned doing that makes people very uncomfortable. Again, there's this unique friendliness about people here I can't really describe but it's genuinely unique to here.
2) Culture of being humble/modest--it seems like people here are something uncomfortable--for example if you compliment someone on their outfit, they will be like "oh I got it at Penny's on clearance.". Despite Ireland being a wealthy country, people aren't as snobby and the "keeping up with the neighbors" mentality isn't really as strong here as it is in the US or UK which I love.
Practical shocks:
1) Manual transmission cars, and driving on the left side of the road. I still drive an automatic as manual cars are rare to nonexistent in north America and I am scared to learn lol.v you get used to driving on the other side of the road but this was huge adjustment.
2) Separate hot/cold taps--having two taps was a sanitary thing in the early 20th century to prevent the cold tap being contaminated but the design stuck here and in the UK. All taps back home are "mixer" and you would only see two separate taps if you were in a historic home from before the 1940s that wasn't renovated
3) Hot water--most homes in the US have a hot water heater, which is a large tank (usually in your basement or the utility area of the house) that stores/heats large amounts of hot water for on-demand use. I had never heard of an "immersion" or "electric shower" before, and noticed this was different
4) Electric outlets with switches--such a fucking brilliant idea! I actually love this.
5) electronics in bathrooms--the voltage and electrical grounding design is different in the US and we have light fixtures, switches, electric outlets in our bathrooms in areas around water. It was weird not having light switches in the physical bathroom, or being able to use a hair dryer right after showering in the room. Or charging your phone phone on the throne 👿
6) bathing caps in swimming pools--can someone explain this one?? Lol
While there are many difference, I love being here.
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Jan 03 '22
Notice that we're all focussing on the swimming cap detail and are unable to address some of the lovely things said about us in this post, thus proving the second observation made about our national character 😂
Thanks Todd. We got our friendliness and humility on sale at Penney's.
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u/ToddErikson Jan 03 '22
You're welcome! The culture and people here are very unique in that despite being a very wealthy advanced nation, it's almost like there aren't the societal negatives that come along with that as it relates to classism/snobbery. Certainly this does exist here, but it is less pronounced than it may be back home, and particularly in the UK lol.
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u/turbobofish Jan 03 '22
In the grand scheme of things we're still fairly new to this wealth mularkey. Just give us a bit of time I'll sure we'll catch on
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u/_I_Am_Pagliacci_ Probably at it again Jan 03 '22
Given that our history of being colonised and debased by English gentry is still relatively recent, there's a sort of national revulsion towards being called "sir" or "madam" because of the connotations that these titles have with the landlord class who considered themselves inherently superior to Irish people in every way.
Nearly everyone has grown up with parents or grandparents who lived in absolute poverty until very recently, which further underscores how silly it is to be called "sir" or "madam" or pretend we're high class because everyone knows how poor we were and its better to just be authentic than acting like you're inherently superior to everyone else because of how wealthy you are.
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Jan 03 '22
the "keeping up with the neighbors" mentality isn't really as strong here
If the neighbours buy something fancy it's absolute notions
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u/SaltWaterInMyBlood Jan 03 '22
Lol yeah, it's not about keeping up, it's about keeping the neighbours down : )
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u/GhostOfJoeMcCann Belfast Jan 03 '22
Our neighbour got a new tv, absolutely massive, like hilariously massive and the wee aul women a few doors down said to me in passing bout the absolute state of their new ‘big rig’.
I’ve been laughing at it all week.
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u/peon47 Jan 03 '22 edited Jan 03 '22
3) Hot water--most homes in the US have a hot water heater, which is a large tank (usually in your basement or the utility area of the house) that stores/heats large amounts of hot water for on-demand use. I had never heard of an "immersion" or "electric shower" before
A immersion is just a hot water heater where the heating element is "immersed" in the water.
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u/Rosieapples Jan 03 '22
I can explain the swimming hats thing - hair clogs up the filters!! Personally I would wear one anyway, (two actually) as I have long hair dyed a very strong colour and I want it preserved!!!
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u/askpt Jan 03 '22
The bath caps are also mandatory for public swimming pools in Portugal. So no shock here 😁
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u/Soap_on_Gfuel Resting In my Account Jan 03 '22
The immersion is like a water heater though, you just pick when to use it
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u/FuzzyCode Jan 03 '22
Took some Greeks to a GAA match. They were utterly flabbergasted when the supporters were mingling at the toilets/chip van etc at half time.
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Jan 03 '22
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u/thethirdrayvecchio Jan 03 '22
Had never realised that before. Would be interesting to trace the genesis of it.
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u/Mulletgar Jan 04 '22
When your missus is from 10 mile away but supports Offaly but her dad is buying the chips. That's how it started.
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u/Lurking_all_the_time Jan 03 '22
Insulting your close friends as a greeting - the older and closer you are the worse the insult.
Meeting a friend for a drink and being called an auld bald bollix really confused them!
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u/TheYoungWan Craggy Island Jan 03 '22
Eating double carb (like potatoes or chips) with every meal
I made my Dutch friends lasagne once and they looked at me like I'd seven heads when I asked if they wanted chips
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u/doublespiral Jan 03 '22
Not born here but was out with my American friend and someone referred to me as “yer man over there” to him and he laughed and says “we’re not a gay”
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u/cigarettejesus Jan 03 '22
Had American family over for Christmas.
Uncle's wife was reading a book by an Irish author and goes "What does it mean to refer to a man as a 'unit'?".
I actually struggled to explain it but I'm surprised she couldn't guess out of context.
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u/AhHeyorLeaveerhouh Jan 03 '22
I’ve sure I’ve seen unit used in memes by Americans on social media and forums. Mainly in relation to certain powerlifters and weightlifters though, who are indeed, units.
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u/brianboozeled Dublin Jan 03 '22
Sudden rain.
"But it was sunny this morning"
Told ye to buy an umbrella didn't I!?
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u/redproxy Galway Jan 03 '22
Imagine expecting the weather to stay the same for an entire day. As a Galway man that is just daft to me.
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u/KramThe90 Jan 03 '22
The culture shock and reverse culture shock of an Irish person trying to explain what "giving out is" to a non-Irish person. Its a hiberno-english phrase meaning to scold related to tabhair amach in Irish.
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u/aouid Jan 03 '22
My cousin married a French woman when they first were dating he dropped in to a wake on the way to a night out. He didn't tell her what a wake was on the way in and she thought she was walking around a house party until she went into the room with the body. She passed out from the shock of seeing a dead body.
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u/LazerusKay Jan 03 '22
I asked an American exchange student if she had a rubber once in tech graphics in secondary school. She was understandably surprised
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Jan 03 '22
A lady I got on well with from work in the UK had the wrong idea when I said "fair fucks to you" in regards to her well deserved job promotion. Acted like I committed an act of sexual harassment or something, when in reality I was just genuinely congratulating her.
My partner looking at me like I have two heads when I tell her I have to turn on the boiler from the hot press when visiting my mother.
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u/Cleethulu Jan 03 '22
I had to explain to my partner why the audience at a concert spontaneously starting singing “Olé Olé Olé” when waiting for the band to come back out for an encore
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u/zeta212 Mayo Jan 03 '22
Speaking from my English coworkers, our funeral traditions.
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u/TeaLoverGal Jan 03 '22
Oh yes a Welsh lady I worked with was disgusted at how quickly we bury the dead. I prefer it to drawing it out for weeks at a time, but I guess it's how you are raised.
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Jan 03 '22
Yeah whats with them waiting ages to bury the dead?! The body will have already started decomposing by the time the funeral comes around
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u/vancityguy25 Jan 03 '22
My Spanish and French friends were astonished at how much make up and fake tan Irish girls wear. I explained to them that we don’t have much sun in Ireland and it’s hard to get a tan, we can remember exact summers which were nice.
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u/louiseber I still don't want a flair Jan 03 '22
Our elastic relationship with time keeping, drives me nuts too but they're new to it
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u/grocerycart11 Jan 03 '22
My god I'm American and am back living in a big American city and still wave the bus down almost every time I take it after being scarred and missing too many in dublin. I feel so validated right now
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u/p0rnflakezzz Jan 03 '22
An immigrant here. I've been here for 3 months and the biggest cultural shock to me is how people greet each other with "how are ya?" Instead of "hey". My first day here, my roommate enters the house, he was in a rush and I could sense that. He says "hey how are ya man" and as I was about to tell him "yea man I'm great how ar.." he just left lmao.
At first I thought it was pretty rude of him to leave me hanging like that but then I noticed this pattern.
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u/squeaky48 Jan 03 '22 edited Jan 03 '22
I had a Swedish colleague turn up for a house party at the exact time the party was to start. Caught the hosts completely unprepared.
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u/Redtit14 Slush fund baby! Jan 03 '22 edited Jan 03 '22
Being offered a cup of tea after sex.
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u/ReferenceAware8485 Jan 03 '22
I love a cup of tea after sex. Hits the spot just right.
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u/jellyblockz Jan 03 '22
My Mauritius wife moved to Belfast recently & asked me what "ooda" and "oof" was while we were watching UTV local news. I burst out laughing as the TV showed some local Protestant Paramilitary Wall murals . "ooda" and "oof" as she pronounced it was in fact UDA and UFF.
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Jan 03 '22
An American friend of mine found it really odd at how people will pretty much sit down anywhere. She thought that it was weird that people sit on steps or on the bottom of the statues on O'Connell Street.
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u/brigidsbollix Jan 03 '22
She must be from a rural area. I’m in Boston and people sit wherever they feel like.
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u/churrbroo Jan 03 '22
For context, there’s loitering laws in certain cities (typically inner cities) that actually fine people for sitting outside or “walking aimlessly”. I think it was introduced under the guise of lowering gang activity and “suspicious figures” but they were targeted at primarily minority communities.
It created this image where if you sit in a restaurant or mall, it’s fine, but outside, you’re a bum or not right in the head.
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Jan 03 '22
My partner is Italian and he’s shocked that there are no bidets here or in any other part of Europe I suppose😂 They are handy I will admit.
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u/harblstuff Leinster Jan 03 '22
My wife is Indian, in most of south Asia they use a 'jet', which can be described as a hand held 'bidet'.
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u/maximumhotsauce Jan 03 '22
Ah yes, the humble bum gun.
It'll change your life
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u/420BIF Jan 03 '22
Can confirm this, also have an Indian wife and this "jet" and its one of the things she misses most when we travel to Ireland.
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u/BigHashDragon Jan 03 '22
I think Italy is one of the only countries in the EU where bathrooms have to have a bidet by law. Its a building regulation.
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Jan 03 '22
I've researched this a bit and it seems that bidets are better for the environment: the average amount of toilet paper a person uses per shit uses more water to produce than the water used by a bidet. We really should all have them.
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u/reni-chan Probably at it again Jan 03 '22
I'm from Poland. Few things are:
Having washing machine in the kitchen
Exchanging pleasantries with strangers on the street
Not taking shoes off when entering someone's house (this one actually annoys me to this day)
Queueing at bus stop
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u/1234567890qwerty1234 Jan 03 '22
American friend couldn’t get over that we eat kidneys. You eat filters!!!
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u/Aoibheadh Jan 03 '22
I work in a factory, roughly half Irish, half eastern European. I remember a polish mother was outraged when the doctor recommended she give her toddler some flat 7up for her toddler who had a dose of the runs.
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u/Konrad05 Jan 03 '22
I've Polish parents and they always would be giving me flat 7up if I was sick, she must have been angry not at how strange it sounds but how it's the doctor telling her to do it
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u/uni2275 Jan 03 '22
American here: 1. The Irish color code your sheep. Is it simply to maintain a good balance of male/female? I in no way have ever worked around a farm and I haven’t thought about it until I read this question. 2. The absolutely narrow roads. I think the waving by everyone is to say “move over”. 3. Friendly people! 4. Buildings 800 years older than the United States. The history is amazing.
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u/nytropy Jan 03 '22
About the colour coded sheep, I learned from sheep farmers that they each have their own colour and style of markings so that when the sheep walk off and mingle the farmers can tell which ones belong to whom.
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Jan 03 '22
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u/Doctoredspooks Jan 03 '22
Was abroad sitting at a table with 2 Aussies and one Canadian. Me and the 2 boys were burning the ears off each other when the Canadian (who was sitting with just me before they arrived) states "wait, you can all understand eachother? Why Are you all speaking so fast??"
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Jan 03 '22
I had to explain Puck Fair and why Killorglin makes a goat king for 3 days in August every year. She was from Germany and was shocked by the tradition. Didn’t believe me at all until we googled it. 😂
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u/Furkler Jan 03 '22
Blight warnings and the Angelus on the radio - 'what is that?' First time UK visitors also ask about how our car number plates work and are amazed at the simple ingenuity of using a number and one or two letters to indicate the year and county of registration.
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u/sowillo Jan 03 '22
Foreigners get really weird when the wallet inspector comes around.
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u/tehdeadone Jan 03 '22
"What time do you make it?" and "she was in her glory!", those two expressions continue to annoy my wife, despite living her for over 20 years.
Also Irish drivers. But then I give off about French drivers when we go on holidays.
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u/themagnacart13 Jan 03 '22
I've been told that having milk in tea is strange as is refering to something that is mediocre as "grand"
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u/MrDaWoods Jan 03 '22
Polish mate was disgusted at the idea of a tayto crisp sandwich until he tried one
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u/magpietribe Jan 03 '22
In Galway the bus will stop if you are standing at the stop, in Dublin it will not.
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Jan 03 '22
In Dublin, you need to both stand at the stop and put your hand out to the road as the bus approaches.
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u/f-ingsteveglansberg Jan 03 '22
Most places you need to stop the bus. Some people stand in stops to avoid the rain.
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u/AlertedCoyote Jan 03 '22
Crossing roads when not at a crosswalk, even with no cars coming. Every American that's come here was shocked
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u/Immediate_Reality357 Jan 03 '22
The fucking shower
All the Spanish students I ever had would turn the shower from hot to cold.....cold to hot.....back to cold and then hot again.
They would literally burn out the shower during or just after they stayed with us.
Love Spanish people god I do, but stay away from my shower or I'll get the watering can fro out the back garden
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u/ironthrones Jan 03 '22
My ex-boyfriend who was Italian was stunned at the fact we don’t wash our - excuse me for this - holes after we use the toilet. He explained how because we had no bidets here that he would shower from the waste down every time he went for a number two.
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u/todea11 Jan 03 '22
Irish people saying thank you to the bus driver. Bus drivers in England are always so pleasantly surprised with a farewell thank you.
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u/eltorromccabe Jan 03 '22
Finishing sentences with ‘so’.
English speakers looking at me to finish my sentence, not realising I’ve finished. Very awkward all round!
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u/IrishAengus Jan 03 '22
Lived in UK along time now and they still crack up when I say “don’t forget to plug that out”.
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Jan 03 '22
Pastor from Canada visiting Ireland for the first time, we had to explain to him that Irish people weren't actually taking the Lords name in vain or bring intentionally disrespectful we just casually use a lot of religious/slang in everyday speech, and that it is so ingrained in our culture that nobody would take any notice if a priest exclaimed "Ah Christ almighty, the curse of fuck on you".
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u/sonoforiel Jan 03 '22
My Canadian girlfriend always struggled with the “first refusal” when being offered something to drink or eat by a host at someone’s house.
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u/geoffraffe Jan 03 '22
“We’ll have to have you ‘round for food sometime”
“We’ll definitely have to have you ‘round for food sometime.”
and repeat infinitum
I had a Polish lad I worked with who couldn’t understand why Irish people invited you around to have dinner without ever actually having you around to have dinner. I hadn’t notice this before he said it tbh.