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Old 03-04-2013, 02:41 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernie20 View Post
The McCabes are actually Gallowglass that came from Scotland. They are a Norse/Gael tribe that came to Ireland as mercenaries for Irish chieftains.

Black Irish is really an American term. It wasn't used in Ireland. The Spanish Armada thing is a myth. It's not like darker Irish are any different. You can have all different types of colouring all in one family.
*yawn* I've heard the term Black Irish used a couple of times in Ireland in reference to dark hair. I don't know whether that person was of any Latin descent and quite frankly who cares?

 
Old 03-04-2013, 02:56 AM
 
Location: Glasgow Scotland
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It seems to be a myth about the Spanish connection from the Armada, as it says most of the sailors from shipwrecks would have been killed on the beaches..... although some it seems were spared, but tests on blood of Irish people shows no evidence or very little of being from Spanish ... I would think it was more a derogatory term over a hundred years ago.... as the Irish were portrayed badly it seems even suggesting they were less than human by some other countries, which was both sad and ignorant.




Black Irish

The theory that the 'Black Irish' are descendants of any small foreign group that integrated with the Irish and survived, is unlikely. It seems more likely that 'Black Irish' is a descriptive term rather than an inherited characteristic that has been applied to various categories of Irish people over the centuries.

One such example is that of the hundreds of thousands of Irish peasants who emigrated to America after the Great Famine of 1845 to 1849. 1847 was known as 'black 47'. The potato blight which destroyed the main source of sustenance turned the vital food black. It is possible that the arrival of large numbers of Irish after the famine into America, Canada, Australia and beyond resulted in their being labelled as 'black' in that they escaped from this new kind of black death.

Immigrant groups throughout history have generally been treated poorly by the indigenous population (or by those who simply settled first). Derogatory names for immigrant groups are legion and in the case of those who left Ireland include 'Shanty Irish' and almost certainly 'Black Irish'. It is also possible that within the various Irish cultures that became established in America that there was a pecking order, a class system that saw some of their countrymen labelled as 'black'.

The term 'Black Irish' has also been applied to the descendants of Irish emigrants who settled in the West Indies. It was used in Ireland by Catholics in Ulster Province as a derogatory term to describe the Protestant Planters.
 
Old 03-04-2013, 05:15 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yellow Jacket View Post
*yawn* I've heard the term Black Irish used a couple of times in Ireland in reference to dark hair. I don't know whether that person was of any Latin descent and quite frankly who cares?
I've never heard it used in Ireland. It could have been picked up from Americans coming back and forth. Like Dizzybint said I've heard black protestants used by older Irish people but never heard people with darker colouring being called black Irish.

People with darker colouring don't look any different they just have darker hair. There are a lot of Irish with dark brown hair. Why would they use the term "Black Irish"?

Last edited by Bernie20; 03-04-2013 at 05:16 AM.. Reason: punctuation
 
Old 03-04-2013, 06:48 AM
 
Location: Glasgow Scotland
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Ive heard it here in Scotland and my grandparents were both Irish ... I really think a derogatory term for them at some point in history and nothing else..
 
Old 03-04-2013, 11:21 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernie20 View Post
I've never heard it used in Ireland. It could have been picked up from Americans coming back and forth. Like Dizzybint said I've heard black protestants used by older Irish people but never heard people with darker colouring being called black Irish.

People with darker colouring don't look any different they just have darker hair. There are a lot of Irish with dark brown hair. Why would they use the term "Black Irish"?
They were referring to their neighbors. They were darker people. They look like they could have been of Latin or African descent. Considering the people had never been to the USA and I was the first American they ever met (they are really old people). I'm quite sure despite your desperate belief to think that Americans to blame they aren't. The difference in looks were quite clear.
 
Old 03-04-2013, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Way South of the Volvo Line
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Colin Farrell is what some would call "Black Irish". Google Image Result for http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/xp/premiere_photo/20050905/16/2861930148.jpg
 
Old 03-04-2013, 03:11 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 23 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
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The Irish in Northern Ireland - the Irish Protestants tend to be darker, sometimes with wiry hair, olive skin, hazel or brown eyes.

This is mentioned in the memoir "Angel's Ashes" by it's author Frank Mc Court, himself half Irish Catholic and Irish Protestant whose Catholic grandmother complains, at one point. about the author's unruly, dark Northern Irish hair.
 
Old 03-04-2013, 03:14 PM
Status: "I'm turquoise happy!" (set 23 days ago)
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tcrackly View Post
Yes. Colin Farrell has the "Black Irish look".
 
Old 03-04-2013, 10:32 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yellow Jacket View Post
They were referring to their neighbors. They were darker people. They look like they could have been of Latin or African descent. Considering the people had never been to the USA and I was the first American they ever met (they are really old people). I'm quite sure despite your desperate belief to think that Americans to blame they aren't. The difference in looks were quite clear.
No desperate belief just my honest opinion based on being from an Irish family and having people with every sort of colouring in the same family from brown eyed brunets to blue eyed blonds and green eyed redheads I've never heard it used by anyone only on the internet. If the people looked like they were of Latin or African descent maybe that's why they were called the Black Irish. No native Irish look like they could be of Latin or African descent even if they have darker colouring. My mother has never heard of the expression.

A good example to me of someone that could be called Black Irish is the late, great Phil Lynott.
 
Old 03-04-2013, 11:11 PM
 
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black irish has an entirely different connotation than the one stated here ---am sure one can find the history of the black irish online--am irish by association
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