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''Lace curtain Irish'' and ''shanty Irish'' are terms that were commonly used in the 19th and 20th centuries to categorize Irish people, particularly
Irish Americans Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...
, by social class. The "lace curtain Irish" were those who were well-off, while the "shanty Irish" were the poor, who were presumed to live in shanties, or roughly built cabins. Neither term was complimentary. Aside from financial status, the term "lace curtain Irish" connoted pretentiousness and social climbing, while the "shanty Irish" were stereotyped as feckless and ignorant. Though lace curtains later became commonplace in Irish-American working-class homes, "lace curtain" was still used in a metaphorical, and often pejorative, sense. In the early 20th century,
James Michael Curley James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston between 1914 and 1955. Curley ran for mayor in every election for which he ...
, a famously populist
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politician who was called "mayor of the poor", used the term "cut glass Irish" to mock the Irish-American middle class, but the term did not catch on. The term “two-toilet Irish” has also been used as a synonym for lace curtain Irish. Irish Americans who prospered or married well could go from "shanty Irish" to "lace curtain Irish", and wealthy socialites could have shanty Irish roots.
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
, for example, is considered "lace curtain" even though his great-grandparents were working-class Irish immigrants.


Origin

The term "shanty" is suggested as deriving from the Irish noun ''seanteach'' (lit. "old house" - pronounced shan-tchawk). though it is closer to the plural noun "old houses", ''Seantithe'', pronounced shan-tiha. However, the direct back translation of ''shan-ty'' would arrive at ''sean tí'', the latter word an adjective meaning 'of the house' much in the vein of Bean an tí, ban-on-tee, means the matriarch of the house. Many poor Irish tenant farmers lived in one-room cabins. "The Irishman's Shanty", a 19th-century comic song, describes a stereotypical Irishman's quarters: :He has three rooms in one, kitchen, bedroom, and hall, :And his chist is three wooden pegs in the wall: :Two suits of owld clothes make his wardrobe complete, :One to wear in the shanty, that same for the street.


In popular culture

The occasional
malapropisms A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An examp ...
and social blunders of the upwardly mobile "lace curtain" Irish were gleefully lampooned in
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, popular song, and comic strips such as ''
Bringing Up Father ''Bringing Up Father'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 2, 1913, to May 28, 2000. The strip was later titled ''Jiggs and Maggie'' (or '' ...
'', starring Maggie and Jiggs, which ran in daily newspapers for 87 years (1913 to 2000). In James T. Farrell's novel trilogy '' Studs Lonigan'' (1932–1935), which is set in an Irish-American Chicago neighborhood during the early twentieth century including the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the father of Studs refers to their pompous neighbor Dennis Gorman as "Stickin' up his nose and actin' like he was high-brow, lace-curtain Irish." Other, usually derogatory, references are made to "lace-curtain Irish" throughout the novel, and at one point Studs is jokingly greeted by his friends as "Shanty Irish Lonigan." In the
Season 10 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...
episode of ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
'' "Entitled,"
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(DA)
Adam Schiff Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2024. A m ...
(played by
Steven Hill Steven Hill (born Solomon Krakovsky; ; February 24, 1922 – August 23, 2016) was an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as district attorney Adam Schiff (Law & Order), Adam Schiff on the NBC television drama series ''Law & ...
) is asked by New York Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael (played by
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), “Why is everyone so afraid of this Irish background">Irish_people.html" ;"title="efendant of Irish people">Irish background” to which Schiff replies, "[the defendant’s] favorite joke, it's the difference between lace-curtain Irish and shanty Irish..."
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
Executive Assistant District Attorney (
Jack McCoy John James McCoy is a fictional character in the American television drama ''Law & Order''. He was created by Dick Wolf and Michael S. Chernuchin and has been portrayed by Sam Waterston during the show's original run from 1994 to 2010 and agai ...
(played by
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) responds by saying, "With lace-curtain Irish, they move the dishes before they piss in the kitchen sink!" Later, McCoy states proudly that like the defendant, he too is shanty Irish. In ''
The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 crime film, crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both an English-language remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-lif ...
'' (2006), Staff Sergeant Dignam repeatedly points out the dichotomy between the lace curtain Irish lifestyle Billy Costigan enjoyed with his mother, and the shanty Irish lifestyle of Costigan's father. The dichotomous labels caused some in-fighting among Irish people. Some saw "lace curtain" Irish Americans as betraying their Irish roots in an attempt to curry favor with
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s (WASPs). "To be genuinely Irish is to challenge WASP dominance," wrote California politician
Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, becoming an i ...
. The depiction of Irish people in the films of
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was a counterpoint to WASP standards of rectitude. "The procession of rambunctious and feckless
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through Ford's films, Irish and otherwise, was meant to cock a snoot at WASP or 'lace-curtain Irish' ideas of respectability." In a 1999 episode of ''
The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...
'' called "
The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" is the eighth episode of the HBO original series ''The Sopranos''. It was written by David Chase and Frank Renzulli, directed by Tim Van Patten and originally aired on February 28, 1999. Starring * James Ga ...
", Livia tells Carmela her neighbor is "so shanty Irish with all her airs."


References

{{Reflist, 30em Class discrimination Irish-American culture Irish diaspora Upper class culture in the United States Working-class culture in the United States 19th-century neologisms 19th-century quotations Pejorative terms for people Irish-American history