Interesting email from an Irish fellow about Irish kilts.

[Larry124]

...But for every person of Irish descent living in Ireland, there are seven people of primarily Irish descent living in the United States. Irish-Americans have long maintained some distinctive cultural traditions in the United States. Maybe it would be more proper to call this "Irish-American culture" than "Irish culture," but the sense of "Irishness" remains quite strong among Irish-Americans.
So if Irish-Americans wear kilts, then the wearing of kilts is an authentic part of Irish culture in America. Since there are 44 million of us here, and only 6 million people of Irish descent left in Ireland, who is to say which is the "real" Irish culture, if only one can be?

Good post.

When folks ask me if I'm Scottish, I say no, I'm American. I am from an Irish-American background with grandparents and great-grandparents born in Ireland and parents who grew up in a big city Irish-American neighborhood. But I don't say that. I just say American. I wear kilts for comfort and style. And if the kilt is tartan I know it's name and something about the clan/family.

The letter writer sounds to me like an angry young man. Been there, done that. Got over it (mostly).
Is there "Irish Cringe"?

[slohairt]

It probably is from a young man. It seems to be a fairly common view held by younger generations of people (especially the ones with a lack of education). I encountered it quite a bit when I lived in Ireland. I rarely encountered it in anyone over the age of forty.

There are no longer waves of emigration from the UK and Ireland to the New World. The cultural and familial links for many (on both sides of the Atlantic) are growing tenuous or disappearing. The younger Irish and British people don't often understand the difference between ethnicity and citizenship, because it is usually one and the same for them.