"In London in the 50's, boarding houses would often display a sign saying,,,'No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish'. Can you see a connection with 'Anything but irish' ?"


No.


The cultural contexts could not be more different. Unfortunately, the commercial success of Irish music and Plastic Paddy-style pubs cropping up everywhere in the 80s and 90s resulted in Irish music having a cultural dominance over English music - in England. As a result, many English people, as has been said, think that any music with a fiddle in it must be Irish. I think Anahata's response is not dissimilar to that of a lot of people interested in English music - they are simply trying to create for it a bit of breathing space.