Reply #40: They could be

[Hello_Kitty]

Irish-as-great-story-tellers comes from the old belief that Irish people exaggerate and can't be trusted. The belief that the Irish are drunks is, well, not exactly flattering.

That said, as a person of Irish descent I can say that the stereotypes about my group don't sting me like they did my forebears since the Irish are no longer an oppressed group in America. We were assimilated, as other Europeans were, into the "white" category. And there aren't business people currently praising our work ethic and willingness to put up with shitty wages and conditions as if it's coded in our DNA and not the result of our very limited choices.