Really upset an Irish man on Saturday...

Gornall

Gornall

Gornall

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In a bar in Amsterdam, pretty drunk at this point. It feels like 50% ignorance on my part and, 50% sensitivity on his.

I made a fairly flippant comment that I always enjoy meeting people from Britain outisde of Britain. Absolute zero malice on my part, and would have happily taken a correction if it needed one. I'd been talking to this guy a while by this point. I think the subtlely is that 'British Isles' is generally ok, but Britain implied he was from Great Britain...I don't know..

He went absolutely mental, shouting he'd "@#*&@ my Queen" and all that. It was crazy.

Felt like an overreaction, but I'm the first to admit I'm not the most versed in Ireland and it's relation to Britain. Should I have expected this, did I overstep the mark?
 
He was with his sister, who I spoke directly to when he started flying off the handle.

She was equally unhappy with it and called me everything under the sun.

I did make the point that I'd happily be corrected and would be keen not to repeat if they told me how I'd upset them so much.

Never a guy that goes out looking for trouble, or looking to offend anyone at all and I was taken aback at he volatility of the reaction. I felt like I'd all out attacked this guy verbally.
 
sounds like a massive chip on his shoulder, most Irish people could/would just correct you


a mate of mine got into trouble at a dinner once - Irish guy was a bit full, hadn't finished his main course... comment along the lines of 'I've never known an Irish person to not eat his potatoes'... his Irish mate laughed at it, random other Irish bloke at the dinner... well.. it did not go down well at all
 
"Irish Temper" ain't just a figure of speech (believe me my gran on my dads side was as Irish as they come) even that sounds like an over-reaction though.
 
Sounds like he had a chip on his shoulder.

I've made the same joke / remark to plenty of Irish people in my time and its always been taken with good cheer.
 
Did he go from mild mannered to crazy just like that, did you not see any potential for this kind of reaction.

And to be fair your going to get people that overreact like that anywhere and everywhere.
 
Irish in having a chip on shoulder shocker. I've just learnt to avoid such people. Console yourself with Alan Partridge's views on Bloody Sunday:

“’Sunday Bloody Sunday’. What a great song. It really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday, doesn't it? You wake up in the morning, you've got to read all the Sunday papers, the kids are running round, you've got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think ‘Sunday, bloody Sunday!
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jsmoke said:
Did he go from mild mannered to crazy just like that, did you not see any potential for this kind of reaction.

And to be fair your going to get people that overreact like that anywhere and everywhere.
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Zero to Swinging in about 30 seconds pretty much.

We were talking a while and having a good laugh, comparing where we've been and nice places to go in Amsterdam etc.
 
Total overreaction.

You can call me an Irish nobhead if you like, don't care I'd laugh. In fact someone did that to me once, said I looked like john o shea and then yelled something.

I found it funny.
 
Gornall said:
In a bar in Amsterdam, pretty drunk at this point. It feels like 50% ignorance on my part and, 50% sensitivity on his.

I made a fairly flippant comment that I always enjoy meeting people from Britain outisde of Britain. Absolute zero malice on my part, and would have happily taken a correction if it needed one. I'd been talking to this guy a while by this point. I think the subtlely is that 'British Isles' is generally ok, but Britain implied he was from Great Britain...I don't know..

He went absolutely mental, shouting he'd "@#*&@ my Queen" and all that. It was crazy.

Felt like an overreaction, but I'm the first to admit I'm not the most versed in Ireland and it's relation to Britain. Should I have expected this, did I overstep the mark?
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Guy sounds like a lunatic who had too much to drink, should have just said to you "no mate, I'm Irish".
dowie said:
a mate of mine got into trouble at a dinner once - Irish guy was a bit full, hadn't finished his main course... comment along the lines of 'I've never known an Irish person to not eat his potatoes'... his Irish mate laughed at it, random other Irish bloke at the dinner... well.. it did not go down well at all
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This is entirely different, to be sure ;) It's the kind of thing that can be said between friends or would have been fine for another Irishman to say.
 
Tbh I don't see Irish people as foreign, they reside in a grey area.

The fact you don't need a passport to go there does support this, I'm also part Irish so maybe that's why the lines are blurred.

He sounds like an idiot.
 
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