Lace curtain and shanty Irish

"The Irishman's Shanty", a 19th-century comic song, describes a stereotypical Irishman's quarters:[6] The occasional malapropisms and social blunders of the upwardly mobile "lace curtain" Irish were gleefully lampooned in vaudeville, popular song, and comic strips such as Bringing Up Father, starring Maggie and Jiggs, which ran in daily newspapers for 87 years (1913 to 2000).

[7][8] 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 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."

"[9] In the Season 10 episode of Law & Order "Entitled," New York District Attorney (DA) Adam Schiff (played by Steven Hill) is asked by New York Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael (played by Angie Harmon), “Why is everyone so afraid of this [defendant of Irish background]?” to which Schiff replies, "[the defendant’s] favorite joke, it's the difference between lace-curtain Irish and shanty Irish..." New York Executive Assistant District Attorney (Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterston) responds by saying, "With lace-curtain Irish, they move the dishes before they piss in the kitchen sink!"

[13] The depiction of Irish people in the films of John Ford was a counterpoint to WASP standards of rectitude.

"[14] In a 1999 episode of The Sopranos called "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti", Livia tells Carmela her neighbor is "so shanty Irish with all her airs."