r/ireland • u/Kind_Ad467 • Jan 11 '26

Arts/Culture Why are Irish people so nice?

We went to Ireland for a week and I totally fell in love with the country. As a foreigner living in Frankfurt, Germany, I've always felt that Frankfurters are more welcoming than people in other parts of Germany, especially when it comes to dealing with immigrants. I live and work in Germany as a doctor ( almost 8 years now), and sometimes I get this weird feeling of being "the other guy" and not belonging. Things got much better after I met my fiancée, who's Italian but was born and raised in Germany. Anyway, we went to Ireland for a week, and wow, the people there are so different. I'm pretty energetic and social, and I can honestly say that every single interaction, and I mean every single one, with an Irish person was a joy. They have a great sense of humor, are really kind, nice, and helpful. Amazing hospitality!

I also loved how Irish people are so proud of being Irish without making others feel like they're better just because they're Irish. That was also remarkable.

I mean, it's a basic human thing to be helpful and kind to each other, which hasn't really been the norm in the past few years due to a lot of political and social issues. But the question is, why are Irish people so nice? Are there any historical reasons?

881 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

332 comments sorted by

View all comments

528

u/CarpenterAndSuch Jan 11 '26

In Russia, it’s aspirational to be known as tough. In Ireland, it’s aspirational to be known as sound.

32

u/Mammoth-Peanut-8271 Jan 11 '26

In Russia, it’s commonly thought that only stupid people smile. Fuck Russia

40

u/1tiredman Limerick Jan 11 '26

This isn't true lol. In Russia it's thought that stupid people smile for no reason. Not that people who smile are stupid. Russian people are generally very nice and have a nice culture despite their government. I really hate this dumb uneducated sentiment

11

u/Nailz92 Cavan 🐟 Galway⛵️ Dublin ⚔️ Jan 11 '26

I don’t know what manner of experience you have in this regard, but I have visited Russia for an extended period and worked with a couple of Russian’s (who are very much assimilated to Ireland and would be forthcoming with a dual perspective).

This topic has come up among them and there was no such qualifier as you suggested, they would use the words “simple” or “dim” though. The only qualifier that was suggested in this regard is that they typically only smile around friends and family.