Sorry, Matilda.

She's also Ben Shapiro's cousin, and they hate each other lol

Ben Shapiro having beef with Matilda is not something I ever expected to hear about. Lol
- It surprised me the last time I heard about it, then I forgot and got surprised again. :p
She should do a show with Cody Johnston, the world's top expert on Ben Shapiro. I enjoy observing when facts do not care about Ben's feelings.
- She has. She’s been on even more news. It was great
Considering her Twitter name there, not surprised
Well yeah everyone hates ben and ben hates everyone because he's an idiotic republican man-child.
- idiotic republican man-child
  Why did you write the same term three times in-a-row?

Well, I've never seen Mara Wilson and Daniel Radcliffe in the same room together...

I still contend that Marjorie Taylor Greene is just Dog the Bounty Hunter in drag. I mean, has anyone seen the two of them in the same place at the same time?

Radcliffe: played Weird Al

Wilson: did not play Weird Al

There was always a clear winner.

Everyone knows Radcliffe’s breakout role was as the Swiss Army Man

Man, I say this a lot and I know it comes across standoffish, but... US ethnic categorizations seem bonkers to me.

What does "half Jewish half Irish" even mean? Isn't that a Jewish person from Ireland? That would count as fully both things. What are the other two halves?

This is why I have to think about the immigration form for ten minutes each time I get through customs in the US, it's all "was any of your grandparents a smurf?" and "are you latino and/or lactose intolerant?" and stuff like that. It makes no sense.

What does "half Jewish half Irish" even mean?
One parent is Irish and the other is Jewish.
- Or one parent was Irish and Jewish and the other was french and atheist
- If it’s the mother then they are Jewish, if it’s the father they are not
- You can be raised by one Jewish parent and one Other parent and still not be a follower of Judaism. You might still have a Jewish cultural heritage and place in the world despite differing theological views.
- So what are the religion and nationality of the other parents and why don't they count?
People can be ethnically Jewish or religiously Jewish and they are separate identities. Historically, religiously jewish people tended to only marry other religiously jewish people, leading to the formation of a jewish ethnicity over time. For many, these identities are closely intertwined, for others they have both but view them separately. And for many others still, they only fit into one category or the other.
Irish, in contrast, is only an ethnicity but not a religion. (Unless you count certain sects of Celtic Paganism, but that's usually not what people mean)
If one parent is predominantly of Jewish heritage and the other of Irish heritage, then their child might identify as half-jewish-half-irish.
Genetically speaking, they are likely less than 50% of each because that would imply that each parent was completely and totally 100% their respective ethnicity genetically, which is (if possible) very very unlikely and realistically not 100% strictly defined.
People like to categorize things, including categories. For some, a part of their identity is based on the ethnic categories they fit themselves into, and some group these categories under one subsection of their identity, and assign weights to the different components of that category.
I love the funny things our pattern seeking brains do in order to quantify the unquantifiable and to better establish a sense of belonging and self in this amorphous and crazy society we're all a part of. What's really great is that none of what I've said is even universally true. It's just (from my observation) the most common way I've seen all these categories combined. If you disagree, you're completely free to do so, and neither of us are wrong until we start using numbers and statistics in our argument
- Wonderfully put, kind internet-stranger-sir. I have done the same observations and conclusions. Now we both can add a +1 on the drawer "this specific observation might be objective reality". And due to the +1 the unquantifiable became a tiny bit more quantifiable. Even though there is no clear numerical target. Which also makes it totally useless to add a +1 😊
Is it just the Jewish part that you don't get? The US has so many different active cultures going on in the same spaces that knowing someone's ethnic background can tell you a lot about them and their family. I'm sure some people want to know because they're racist, but for most people it's just a cultural shorthand. Knowing someone is Cuban rather than Puerto Rican, or half Spanish and half Irish tells you what kinds of experiences they might have had, what comfort foods they're likely to eat, how they're likely to celebrate their holidays. Stuff like that. Especially if one of their cultural identities is one that you share, or frequently share the same spaces with, you've probably just found a whole lot of commonalities with that person. Older people might ask. In my experience younger people generally won't. So either it's obvious to you or they tell you or you might not know at all.
From a governmental standpoint, they keep track of different statistics based on ethnicity, supposedly so they can make sure they're not failing any groups of people with representation, healthcare outcomes, policing, etc. It obviously doesn't always work, but that's supposed to be why the government is interested.
- Aw, you guys are gonna make me answer this seriously, aren't you?
  No, it's not the Jewish part that I don't get. I have been around enough to understand that Wilson is implying that she has some (presumably) Ashkenazi and some Irish ancestry, and I am self-aware enough to understand that she would sound insane if she put it that way.
  The fact that she's calling it out as a shorthand for common cultural ground is the part that is strange, let alone the persistent hangup with ancestry and the weird assumption that culture is somehow genetic. I was just trying to break it down gently by being facetious about it.
  It's weird, it's highly specific to American culture, and yes, I do get the very deep roots in colonialism that lead to this outcome. It's just weird to me that's where it landed and how often Americans seem to think it's universal when it's actually pretty unusual.
  I was not kidding about the census categorizations that get repurposed on immigration forms, though. They are full of apples and oranges in all sorts of arrangements and I have never once felt I fit on any of the categories or that the categories themselves make any sense.
I think the confusing part is that Jewish is considered by most people to be both a religion and an ethnicity.
- Yeah I'm still not sure about that.
  I think it's an ethnic group with a religion and sometimes a non ethnic person join them?
How difficult is this concept?
Mother from Ireland Father from Israel, ethnically Jewish
50/50 ignoring realistic genetic history.
- Nah I agree with OP, Jewish doesn't necessarily mean Israeli.
  If they mean Israeli just say that, it shouldn't be hard ...?
I've never heard one say "I'm half English" either.
Personally it just seems a way to label people to let them know they're not proper Americans.
- Americans are all about ethnicities like that, such as “I’m half Polish and half German on my mother’s side” or “my family is Italian” though technically they’re from Long Island or Wisconsin or something. Almost nobody describes their heritage as just “American”.
- My father was born in England, I consider myself of half English descent.
I’m America they think white people come from some mountains in Armenia or something. The same classification system was invented in the 19th Century and also lists “mongoloids” as an actual race of humanity, in earnest.
- Nice to meet you, America.

That's fucking brilliant

Harry Potter probably took inspiration from Matilda, which is why this works so well.

Daniel Radcliffe got nickel allergy based on Matilda?!?
- That's probably just a half-irish, half-jewish genetic predisposion.
Radcliff probably took his inspiration from Harry Potter, since it was a global sensation at the time and literally every kid read them.
Except me. I thought I was too old, and thus too cool, to be reading Harry Potter. So I didn't read it till I was like 23, and significantly less cool.
- I never read them as they were after my time too. But when I was 25 I was driving through the middle of nowhere in Oregon and saw a book in the road. Turned around, stopped and picked it up, and it was the first Harry Potter. I read it. It was okay.

As a fellow person with partial Irish ancestry and a nickel allergy, do I have... magic powers?

You need to find an old British children's book that could be about you. Then, maybe?
James? How’s the giant peach been?
Only if one of your parents got it on under the light of a warm menorah that was owned by your other parent.
I reckon we either are or are descended from changelings. All of the downsides of fae ancestry and none of the perks.

Matilda is a gem of a movie, as is the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, which Mara also starred in.

Any version of Miracle on 34th Street is gonna be a no from me, dawg. Love the actor, but that dumpster fire of a plot needs to be relegated to the dustbin of history.

So wait, how does a nickel allergy work? Like, if they rake your leaves and you're like "thanks a bunch, here's some change for your hard work", do they die Killer Bean style?

It's a contact allergy, so mostly it just makes you break out in a rash if you wear jewelry or work with tools that have been plated in nickel. It takes time before you break out, although people instantly falling over after getting a handful of change would be hilarious to see.
- Yeah my Mum has it and has to have her shirt tucked in her pants as the buttons often contain nickel.
  Like you say she gets a red round rash if she forgets.
Yes, but in all seriousness my mom can't where watches because she breaks out with red welts where the watch back and even the clap touch her skin...
It itches and causes a rash that gets worse with prolonged exposure. I can't even tolerate surgical steel and many gold "hypoallergenic" pieces because those bitches still use nickel as part of the alloy.
It's in all sorts of things. Buttons on jeans, zippers, tools, wire, eyeglasses, and obviously jewelry.
It takes an hour or two of direct contact to start itching and getting raised bumps, less time if it is low quality metal like uncoated wire or something. Prolonged contact greater than a few hours leads to sores and it gets really really itchy and gross from there on out. Stupid jeans.
How people deal with it is just avoid metal things as much as possible because you never know if nickel is mixed in. For metal jewelry you can pay a pretty penny for higher purity metals with a much lower concentration of nickel (hard to be completely nickel free due to natural impurities) or just wear silicone/resin/leather jewelry.
Jeans though....those buttons are gonna get you. Most people paint the inside button with nail polish but that shit rubs off quickly. I just make sure I'm wearing at least 2 layers of barrier fabric between my skin and the jeans (1 layer can be pretty permeable).

"But we're in the middle of Charlotteth Web!"

(Yeah, different movie, but that's what goes through my mind when I see her. Thanks for the memories, Mara!)

Who did Mara Wilson play and in what? The image says nothing to me.

She was in Matilda but I don't remember her character's name.
- No silly, she was the character Matilda, but I don't remember the movie's name.
- Film Mathilda, thanks, that helps.

So many people means no one’s unique

hint for the identity police: it has to do with generations of historical discrimination and otherness. sorry our culture isn't yours.

That's a funny take on identity. Half Irish is a nationality, half Jewish is a religion.

Jewish is an ethnicity as well. and she specifically says she's secular, so it's definitely not her religion.
- Is christian an ethnicity ?
Jewish is a race and religion
- I would say that both are ethnicities since we're all members of the human race.