Can you do the Riverdance?
I went for an interview for a job when I lived in the US and because I am Irish I was jokingly asked if I could "do the Riverdance." In the two years I spent there I was asked about 1,000 times if I knew someones Irish grandmother, great grandmother, tiny town in middle of no wheresville where their ancestors moved from etc. That was all fine and dandy. People were just being friendly.
What was really scary was when they said "You have a cute accent where are you from?" When I mentioned Ireland there was a confused moment followed by something like "Oh you are from Idaho, Iowa, Indianapolis?"
I was always stunned by this but really I shouldn't have been. Ireland is a tiny country. Maybe it is okay for large sections of the population not to know where it is. Let's face it how many people could find Angola on a map or Namibia before Angelina Jolie had her baby there and the world's media descended on the place?
I suppose because the US is so large it is hard for people not to be insular. It must be difficult to comprehend life outside America just because of the sheer size of the country and the fact that it is the dominant world culture. What I find offensive is when people don't try.
I don't fault Americans for this. It is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in this side of the world as well. Basically, we are all getting caught up in our own little bubble and are finding it more difficult to relate to or empathise with other cultures.
Celebrity worship is about all that unites cultures these days! I may not know a thing about Mexico but I bet if I spoke to a person from that country we would be able to find common ground by discussing the exploits of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston. How pathetic is that? (Don't get me wrong I enjoy celebrity gossip as much as the next person but it does rot the brain).
Hell I am rambling again. What I find inspiring about blogging is the potential to learn so much about different cultures. I read a blog today from a woman in Australia and it was great to be able to tune in to her frequency so to speak. Just to get a feeling for how she lives...a flavour of what it is to be like to be a mother of two on the other side of the world.
Oh back to the Irish thing. I apologise to any American I met in the States who was disappointed by the fact that I don't have red hair and freckles. People expect you to look like Nicole Kidman when the reality is that most Irish people have brown hair! Red heads are becoming a little thin on the grounds these days.
Oh, and I can't dance the Riverdance. Wish I went to Irish dancing lessons as a child -- how lucrative would that be these days. It is just that Irish dancing was so uncool when I was a youngster. Now it has come full circle and it is popular. What has the world come to?
What was really scary was when they said "You have a cute accent where are you from?" When I mentioned Ireland there was a confused moment followed by something like "Oh you are from Idaho, Iowa, Indianapolis?"
I was always stunned by this but really I shouldn't have been. Ireland is a tiny country. Maybe it is okay for large sections of the population not to know where it is. Let's face it how many people could find Angola on a map or Namibia before Angelina Jolie had her baby there and the world's media descended on the place?
I suppose because the US is so large it is hard for people not to be insular. It must be difficult to comprehend life outside America just because of the sheer size of the country and the fact that it is the dominant world culture. What I find offensive is when people don't try.
I don't fault Americans for this. It is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in this side of the world as well. Basically, we are all getting caught up in our own little bubble and are finding it more difficult to relate to or empathise with other cultures.
Celebrity worship is about all that unites cultures these days! I may not know a thing about Mexico but I bet if I spoke to a person from that country we would be able to find common ground by discussing the exploits of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston. How pathetic is that? (Don't get me wrong I enjoy celebrity gossip as much as the next person but it does rot the brain).
Hell I am rambling again. What I find inspiring about blogging is the potential to learn so much about different cultures. I read a blog today from a woman in Australia and it was great to be able to tune in to her frequency so to speak. Just to get a feeling for how she lives...a flavour of what it is to be like to be a mother of two on the other side of the world.
Oh back to the Irish thing. I apologise to any American I met in the States who was disappointed by the fact that I don't have red hair and freckles. People expect you to look like Nicole Kidman when the reality is that most Irish people have brown hair! Red heads are becoming a little thin on the grounds these days.
Oh, and I can't dance the Riverdance. Wish I went to Irish dancing lessons as a child -- how lucrative would that be these days. It is just that Irish dancing was so uncool when I was a youngster. Now it has come full circle and it is popular. What has the world come to?
posted by cara at 2:56 PM
5 Comments:
I agree with you fully on the American thing. I AM an American and know we need to snap out of it. After all, Bush was ELECTED! How did THAT happen? I digress. But not all of us are french fry eating SUV drivers who don't know where Ireland is. We're getting there (I hope!). By the way, I thought Nicole Kidman was Australian (oops). Now THERE'S ignorance for ya!
Eh hem, Nicole Kidman is Australian!
I completely identify with what you are saying here! I lived in the US for almost four years and everyone thought my Australian accent was Bostonian. "Oh, you're from back east", they would say really just because they couldn't understand me ;)
PS. I also lived in Ireland for 18 months and hardly anyone even asked me where I was from - you just are who you are there.
It seems Nicole Kidman is from Hawaii...born there! It is just that people think she looks Irish. All that red hair and freckles.
One of my best friends is Irish. A blond Irish who always gets asked about the lack of red hair and inability to Riverdance. Although in Canada we know where Ireland is and the difference between Ireland and Scotlan and Wales etc etc. :)
Great blog ... thanks for introducing me to it.
The assumptions of us all! (Americans) Some people assume that in South Dakota we are still using the old horse and buggy. ;o)
It is quite beautiful here. In Western SD you have the Black Hills and the eastern part of the state is prairie and farm land.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Post a Comment
<< Home