{"id":236,"date":"2017-02-24T17:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T17:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/?p=236"},"modified":"2017-02-24T17:48:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T17:48:27","slug":"is-slagging-for-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/2017\/02\/24\/is-slagging-for-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Slagging for America?"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Kelly Schmitz<\/h5>\n

\"CincinnatiSlagging is a term used to describe a kind of harsher form of teasing.\u00a0 While this may seem like an insult to some, to the Irish, it\u2019s considered a behavior that shows affection or bonding, and, in some cases, is even used as a compliment.\u00a0 You might consider pointing out how much weight your friend has gained or take a poke at their short stature, for example.\u00a0 At this point, you, like me, might be thinking, \u201cGosh, I tease my friends all the time?\u00a0 What does any of this have to do with being Irish?\u201d\u00a0 This difference lies in that unlike in America, slagging isn\u2019t just used to playfully make fun of the other person, it\u2019s used as a form of positive reinforcement.\u00a0 To the Irish, slagging is just a bit of \u201ccraic\u201d, a term the Irish use to describe fun, entertainment and enjoyable conversation, and no harm is meant by what is said.\u00a0 In a workplace setting for example, a boss will tell his employee how great they\u2019re doing.\u00a0 Not the case in Ireland, where that same boss would be more likely to tell his employee that he finally got off his lazy arse.\u00a0 It\u2019s the difference between distributing straight up compliments and hiding them in the humorous lingo.\u00a0 Such harsh words, it seems, but is this behavior particularly unique to the Irish?\u00a0 To answer this question, I decided to delve deeper and ask a couple of my close friends for input.<\/p>\n

To begin, I described what slagging exactly means and gave them some examples (such as making racial slurs or jokes about political views), just as I did at the beginning of this blog.\u00a0 The results were pretty straightforward: slagging is something not completely foreign to American society, but the way the Irish do it is.\u00a0 Most of them thought that slagging among good friends is acceptable to some extent (as long as you don\u2019t cross the line into things they\u2019re self-conscious about), but it\u2019s definitely not something to condone in the professional world.\u00a0 The Irish find this particularly annoying, as most Americans turn what is said into an insult, and the light-hearted craic of the situation quickly turns sour.\u00a0 Even though that was not their intention, what matters most is how the communication was received, and it seems that Americans are not sure how, creating tension and diminishing an important part of the Irish culture.\u00a0 Why the difference?\u00a0 One of the friends that I interviewed in particular said something that struck me, remarking in the fact that Americans participate in an individualistic society and almost need those occasional self-confidence boosts.\u00a0 The Irish, on the other hand, are taught to downplay their achievements, and therefore slagging actually helps reinforce this behavior.\u00a0 Whether or not it\u2019s a good thing is still up for debate, and the real question might actually be whether or not the Irish or the American way of thinking is superior.\u00a0 Regardless, I think most will agree that Irish slagging is definitely not for America.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.independent.ie\/lifestyle\/slagging-is-so-much-part-of-what-we-do-that-we-find-it-odd-when-someone-objects-26469553.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.enjoy-irish-culture.com\/Irish-customs-of-interacting.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Kelly Schmitz Slagging is a term used to describe a kind of harsher form of teasing.\u00a0 While this may seem like an insult to some, to the Irish, it\u2019s considered a behavior that shows affection or bonding, and, in… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[33,32],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-behavior","tag-craic","tag-slagging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/irish-cincinnati\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}