Nearly 2 million Irish emigrated from america during the great famine, Exact records of how many survived the 2 month journey across the atlantic to elephant island are not kept, But we know that the ones who did survive were just as bad off in america as in Ireland. They found it hard to find jobs because of their accents, Dirty clothing and possibility off disease from the coffin boats (The name of the boats used to bring the irish across the atlantic). They ended up basically living in the streets and taking on jobs that no american was able, Bothered or stupid enough to do. One of the most famous jobs that they got was the building of the trans-american railway which was built by hand. So much Irish took on this job that when the east and west railways met, Nearly the entire workforce of the eastern side was Irish. Even though the Irish became known after this for the pure determination in them to do a job if it meant feeding their family, Most still had to live in the streets. Seeing as they lived in small gatherings on the streets, They stopped forcing the english language and began speaking Irish again. Since they lived on the streets, Many americans who lived out on the streets joined these gatherings of Irish. After living in the gatherings speaking a mixture of english and Irish, The 2 languages began merging and street slang was born. Now, Street slang has since fallen more to english rather than Irish as the Irish mixed with the americans and it was mostly the original american homeless left behind. But it is still there. The phrase "You digg?" is derived from the Irish "Digginsiedh" (Dig-gen-sieve) which means "Do you understand?". A rarely used word "Craic" Which is often said as "Any craic?" Which really means "What's up?" But it comes from the Irish "Chraic" which means "Fun".
On a side note, In the the american civil war, 7 squadrons of the union army were completely Irish complete with Irish commanders, While 3 Irish commanded another 3 squadrons and lots of Irish scattered around in other squadrons aswell. I don't know much about the civil war though, You might know more than me :P |