The most Irish city outside of the UK or Ireland (new home, living in)
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My vote goes to the Boston area. My town south of Boston is majority Irish descended, and in the area of Boston I am from (Neponset, Dorchester) you hear plenty of Irish brogues on the street, and not from older folks but from young recent immigrants. The view from my grandparents back window is a mural of Eamon de Valera and an Orange, White and Green tricolor.
I understand how it can be annoying, however think of it this way..America is a country of immigrants and there is no one culture really (besides English language and Federal Republicanism) so therefore people get into their heritage because it gives them a sense of identity.
Also, Irish Americans seem to be representative of "old Ireland" (late 1800s to the 1960s) and are very catholic, very into IRA type symbolism (drinking a Black and Tan and yelling "Tiocfardh ar la" etc.). That's a common theme with all immigrant groups, the culture freezes when you get on the boat to your new home whereas in the native country it is evolving.
Anthropologists say the best way to study a culture is to look at the diaspora groups, for instance if you want insight into life in Germany during the reformation you don't go to Cologne, you go to Amish country because their lifestyle is frozen in time.
I notice the two posters that replied to me are from Ulster, interesting. My grandfather came from Derry in the 1950s and he is still living in that era in his mind.
Boston. Growing up I knew many many Irish people And SickandTired of this, I mean real Irish, IE came over on the boat to Ellis Island from Ireland. We were Catholic and my mother visited this woman, Mary O'neill for about 4 years. She came here at 18 in 1920's. We knew her until her death in maybe 83. Lots of New Englanders grew up with Irish parents and
grandparents. Many of them still loved Ireland and everything about it's culture, and they held on to that and passed it down.
I do think more generations have passed and we are getting away from that. But for people of my age, mid 40's, many of us knew Irish (And Italian) people.
St. John's ,Newfoundland. If you heard Newfoundlanders talking, you'd swear they were Irish. When traveling abroad, everyone thought my Newfoundland-born wife was Irish. The Irish lilt is so dominant, it is characteristic of the speech of even those who have no Irish ancestry.
I had always thought that BBC news reporter Lise Doucet was Irish, until I found out she is actually French Canadian.
It's definitely still here in MA, Allston and DOT still have lots of Irish (from Ireland). I think the Italian prescense is fading more because there is less of a flow of new Italians, whereas whenever I go "home" to my DOT and walk into a bar I hear young guys going on in the accent.
Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
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Originally Posted by jtur88
St. John's ,Newfoundland. If you heard Newfoundlanders talking, you'd swear they were Irish. When traveling abroad, everyone thought my Newfoundland-born wife was Irish. The Irish lilt is so dominant, it is characteristic of the speech of even those who have no Irish ancestry.
I had always thought that BBC news reporter Lise Doucet was Irish, until I found out she is actually French Canadian.
Newfoundland is only a 4 hour flight
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