Cultural Cluelessness, Fake Quotations, and Irish Americans
“Top of the morning,” said Vice President Pence, as he hosted Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny at his residence for breakfast Thursday.
Really? The reaction by Irish on social media was palpable.
“Literally just shouted ‘NOBODY SAYS THAT’ at the TV,” a journalist in Ireland tweeted. “I’ve literally only ever heard that said by Americans,” another person said.
“How do all the Irish people not just go, ‘Nope,’ and leave the room?” tweeted another.Ireland’s leader was in Washington for a series of events in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, including breakfast with the vice president, a luncheon at the U.S. Capitol, a one-on-one meeting with President Trump and a long-standing annual ceremony in which the U.S. president is presented with a bowl of shamrocks.
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At the luncheon, Trump shared what he claimed was an “Irish proverb.”
“As we stand together with our Irish friends, I’m reminded of an Irish proverb — and this is a good one, this is one I like, I’ve heard it for many, many years and I love it,” Trump said. “Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you.”
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A White House spokeswoman told the Hill newspaper that the proverb was originally supplied in an email on March 8 by the State Department via the National Security Council “as building blocks in advance of this event.”
She said the “building blocks” were provided in the context of the shamrock ceremony and were ultimately used in the prepared remarks at the luncheon. While a number of websites, Pinterest boards and books do, indeed, refer to the quote as an “Irish blessing,” its origin was unclear.
Across social media, many pointed out that a poem by Nigerian poet Albashir Adam Alhassan includes a similar stanza.
From the Census:
32.7 million or 10.2%: The number and percentage of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2015. This number was more than seven times the population of Ireland itself (4.6 million). Irish was the nation’s second-most frequently reported European ancestry, trailing German. Source:
2015 American Community Survey, Table B04006
2015 Population and Migration Estimates (Ireland Central Statistics Office)
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20.2%: The percentage of Massachusetts residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2015. New Hampshire, at 20.6 percent, was the only other state in which at least 20.0 percent claimed Irish ancestry. (The rates for the two states were not statistically different from each other.) California had 2.5 million people who claimed Irish ancestry, which was the highest of any state. Two other states — New York and Pennsylvania — also had more than 2.0 million Irish-Americans. Source:
2015 American Community Survey, Table B04006
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$64,322: The median income for households headed by an Irish-American, higher than the median household income of $55,775 for all households in 2015. In addition, 6.5 percent of family households headed by a householder of Irish ancestry were in poverty, lower than the rate of 10.6 percent for all Americans. Source:
2015 American Community Survey, Table S0201, Selected Population Profile for Irish in the United States 2015 American Community Survey, Table S0201, Selected Population Profile for the Total Population in the United States
241,481: The number of foreign-born U.S. residents with Irish ancestry in 2015. Of these, 143,972 had become naturalized citizens. Source:
2015 American Community Survey, Table S0201, Selected Population Profile for Irish in the United States 2015 American Community Survey, Table S0201, Selected Population Profile for the Total Population in the United States
