Turns out my mom is 20% Irish. Though she is also 29% British. And 34% "Western European" -- whatever that means.
Turns out my mom is 20% Irish. Though she is also 29% British. And 34% "Western European" -- whatever that means.
I bet she's very happy to hear that she's "right".
My sister's plan to to hold the results over my mom's head for a while, then have my mom come down to visit and reveal the results with a meal from the ethnicity she is mostly comprised of. So... fish and chips? haha
I dunno...
But I do know I will probably never hear the end of this Irish stuff now.
Why make an issue of it? I don't understand. If she enjoys thinking that she is Irish with many good features, why not? Some people take pride in being Dutch or Italian or Portuguese or Armenian or Ethiopian... What is the issue that it has become such a power struggle for you against your mother? Makes no sense at all. Just love her as she is with all her eccentricities.
Why make an issue of it? Because despite being 1/5 Irish -- how Irish is she really? Does she speak Gaelic? Does she eat steel cut oats and potatoes daily? She doesn't even drink! She doesn't sing Irish folks songs. She is devoid of culture of any kind, let alone Irish culture.Originally Posted by razz
People take pride in ethnicity -- that is true. But I think it is a "granfalloon."
What is a granfalloon?
Granfalloon – a false karass; i.e., a group of people who imagine they have a connection that does not really exist. An example is "Hoosiers"; Hoosiers are people from Indiana, and Hoosiers have no true spiritual destiny in common, so they really share little more than a name. (Kurt Vonnegut came up with this idea)
It is an issue because my mom pushes it on my sister and I who both openly admit and know that we are culturally devoid.
It is also an issue because my mom is an adult and needs to be treated as such.
Wouldn't an adult response to this be "mom, we think the emphasis on our Irish genetics is silly because you never really incorporated any of our Irish heritage into our lives."?
Yes, done that. Didn't work.
That's where the adult comes in. She isn't your child. It's not your job to change her behavior. You can communicate how you feel about it, and then ignore it, walk out of the room, calmly remind her of your feelings, or go ahead and engage in a futile battle of will if you enjoy that.
My mom is rather spiteful. My sis and I are definitely kind of spiteful too. It is not an especially helpful emotion, I know.
Do what most Irish people would do.... S******.
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