Happy St. Patrick's Day! I figured I'd make this video to explain the actual origin of the term "Luck of the Irish". Enjoy, let me know your thoughts in the comments and subscribe!
I've been told that I'm the only Irish person some people have met, so I wanted to represent an Irish family in this video how I imagine they saw it in their head - a whole lot of mes hahaha Happy Paddy's Day!
I’m doing research on luck and just stumbled across this and this was absolutely amazing!’ I loved it! Thank you so much for informing us. Great information here!
ha! I loved this, especially the GREEN screen work. Get it? GREEN screen? ha! Baby Benny was especially a surprise. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. :)
Actually, the opening scene I had to break out the blue screen (for obvious reasons; you see what I was wearing??), which made it harder to chromakey since it's not as good quality as the green one I own. And, yeah I know After Effects motion tracking and I'm not afraid to use it 👶🤱 Happy Paddy's Day!
Wow. Thanks for this little bit of historic information. There's quite a lot Irish/Scottish in my family. And a lot of luck to be had. Happy St. Patrick's day dear Benny. Be safe and take care. ☘
Hello Benny! This was a fascinating history that I'd never seen presented before. Puts a sort of positive spin on it. No one can say the Irish aren't hardworking! I appreciate the work you put into your videos. You're always fun and engaging. I'm going through your Irish language resources now -- thank you! Have a happy Spring!
Go raibh maith agat!!! So happy to see you relaunching the channel great video to lead ur production value is always so fun! Ur information so helpful!! In early march i read your newsletters or the first time in forever and was suddenly inspired to start learning A bit about Irish. Its been a lovely month.
As an author with a dozen or more published books I get told how lucky I am. They typically have no idea there are more than 250 rejection letters for EACH of my first several novels...all of which are out there doing pretty nicely now...after 20 years of working it out.
Great video on the luck of the irish ;-). Just heard your name for the first time in my life on a video from Barbara Oakley on coursera. Just bought your book fluent in 3 months for my teenage son . keep on the great work. Warm regards form germany
Hi Benny! Thank you for this educational and informative video. I really enjoy your content. I am a self-proclaimed Hibernophile. I love all things Irish. Wishing you and your family continued good health and safety. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️
Ps i forgot to say happy st paddys day And while i have some extra thoughts this new context makes sense. My husband and I despite being canadian and indian appear to have the luck of the irish, no one ever sees the hardwork just the « lucky » end result.
Very interesting video! Thank you for sharing this knowledge with the Word! I am a Brazilian woman and when I say I also speak French, Spanish and some Italian most of the people here in Europe say that is is the same as my mother language :) Than I must be very stupid because those languages took me many years to properly learn hi hi hi ... Great channel! Greetings from Germany, Louisa Monteiro
Thank you for this, Benny! I always enjoy your videos about Irish language and culture, and I'm glad you're posting new content again. You're such a great Irish Ambassador tk the rest of the world, and especially the US now that it's your home. I only wish that the history of Ireland was a happier one and that my country didn't play such a big role in oppressing and subjugation your people. Anyway, I'm very glad for my Irish heritage.
My mothers fathers family went to NY. His dad had enough after 10 years and went to Australia and became QUITE well off, owning many.pubs and a few rental properties. The ones left in NY, 2 sons became celebrities. One was Ed Sullivan, of the Ed Sullivan show. Like Letterman of the 1950s
I believe catholicism being a pillar of the Irish community helped harden the Irish to the journey they had to take. It helps to believe some higher power Is helping push you along. But it just adds to the perseverance of the Irish and the ability to keep going as the years added up on them. At this point I imagine the phrase sticking is because the Irish internalized it and took this as well in stride.
It’s a strange place to be for me, being English and feeling awful at the thought of ‘an gorta mór’, while also knowing that at least 8 of my ancestors came to England to escape the famine. Son even though I’m disgusted by it, I’m here (in existence) because of it.
Actually, I think nowadays many people use it in a sarcastic way, to mean the exact opposite, the unbelievable misfortune of someone's life. 'Luck of the Irish' = how worse could it be? Or to mean that 'I am a survivor after all that adversity and tragedy happened; I can deliver myself with my own hands; and that's quite something to celebrate'. 'Luck of the Irish' = yet I lived. Personally I rather like that last one ^^ Anyway, I really like your channel. Stay safe, and a very happy St. Patrick's Day to you. Sláinte!
Jen alia «irlanda bonŝanco»: kiam, post tri pluvaj semajnoj ĉiutage, vi vekiĝas, rigardas el la fenestro... kaj vidas, ke vi havos pluan pluvan tagon. Tio okazas speciale al irlandloĝantoj, sendepende de ilia origino. Dankon pro la interesa video!
I hate that it is called the potato famine when the Irish were producing enough potatoes to feed themselves despite the blight….. but the English colonizers were taking basically all the potatoes farmed by Irish folks to England.
Yank, here. I figured it was used sarcastically, like to say how UN-lucky the Irish were for all the difficulties they had endured. Thanks for the extra context. As.a matter of curiosity, what sources did you use while researching this? Happy St. Paddy's Day!
I researched this for a speech I gave to 3,000 people a few years ago, and still had my notes on hand. I used a lot of different notes to try to create a narrative, to make it more relatable, since I felt the context of WHY the Irish were lucky was missing in other tellings. You'll find varied sources for the numbers I gave, for instance, because of how difficult it was to count deaths back in those days. Lower estimates are based on simply asking people, but so many died that no family may have been left to account for the dead, so I intentionally went for that 1.5 million deaths figure, since a few different sources say it's accurate, while giving reasons for why a higher estimate is more likely. The "No Irish need apply" was brought up a while back to maybe not have existed, until a little girl proved her teacher wrong by finding the very advertisement in the New York times that agreed with the general sentiment of remembering signs. The source for the origin of the quote itself is from Edward T. O’Donnell, an Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College and author of 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History. If I'm being totally honest the conclusion about work ethic through hardship and a will to keep surviving as being the "reason" they found gold more is entirely my own and I welcome people to come up with their own suggestions. To me it's the most logical reason, since I don't actually believe in luck in the traditional sense, and I don't see another reason why the Irish would find gold more than those already settled in California. And this way, they can be just as "lucky" as other immigrants, but the earning the expression would come from the fact that the wave of Irish would have been the largest compared to other immigrants in that period, and people tend to have selective memories when it comes to things like luck. So, take that part of the video as you will, and I can't claim it as fact, but simply feel it has to be true based on all the other facts. If anything is in doubt, let me know!
Hmm Funny you pick USA, correct me if I am wrong but was it ? 1.5 million died and 1 million emigrated. Ireland population has not really recovered because such huge loss of life and also once the connection were made in England, USA, Australia etc ppl started to emigrate to get jobs and hopefully a better life. PS remember my mother telling me when she moved to london she couldn't go into some shops because the sign on the door said NO DOGs NO IRISH. PS no distinction on protestant or catholic just your all irish very equalizing.