Ireland: The A-Z Irish Glossary - 'I' is for 'Irish Americans'
'Irish Americans'
The descendants of those Irish who left the country during the many
wars and famines and settled in the United States of America.
The Irish Americans tend to have
rather quaint and charming notions about their native land that
offer no end of amusement to the inhabitants of Ireland.
Examples: Easily found aimlessly wandering around popular tourist sites like The Hill of Tara, County Meath, Blarney Castle, County Cork or on the
hill at Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin City, asking to find "lep-reesh-ins"
(Leprechauns).
To an Irish
American, Ireland is some mist-shrouded isle of song and story, where
hearty old men gather in whitewashed cabins to play cards, drink whiskey,
and
recite a saga or two, popping out occasionally to post a letter to
America and bust a cap in a redcoat on the way back.
The mere knowledge
that people in a faraway land believe this nonsense is of great
merriment
to the Irish people of today (because we really are all leprechauns bouncing around!), but Irish Americans are kind enough to actually visit the
country (which the Irish appreciate), spending great quantities of money to come here so that we can
mock them in person!