A Hibernophile is a person who is fond of Irish culture, Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 in general. Its antonym

Antonym

In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male : female, long : short, up : down, and precede : follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not...

 is Hibernophobe.

The term is often used in particular for people all over the world (in America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 especially in areas where a large number of Irish diaspora

Irish diaspora

thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...

 settled) who ostensibly base their business, political, or social practices on like of or admiration for Irish models.

In some cases, Hibernophilia represents an individual's preference of Irish culture to their own; or the belief that Irish culture is superior, or appreciation of Irish history.

Hibernophiles often enjoy attending St. Patrick's Day parades that occur all over the world. They also tend to favour stereotypical parts of Irish culture: shamrocks

Shamrocks

Shamrocks is a solitaire game akin to La Belle Lucie. The object is the same as the latter: move the cards into the foundations.-Rules:The game is layout out as in La Belle Lucie: seventeen piles of three cards are placed on the table with one card counting as an eighteenth. Any card that can be...

, blarney stone

Blarney Stone

The Blarney Stone is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab . The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446...

, Leprechauns and shillelagh

Shillelagh (club)

A shillelagh is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel, typically made from a stout knotty stick with a large knob at the top, that is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore.- Construction :...

s.

In some cases a Hibernophile may also be a Plastic Paddy

Plastic Paddy

Plastic Paddy is a slang term used to describe some members of the Irish diaspora, or those with no ancestral connection to Ireland, who appropriate Irish customs and identity. A Plastic Paddy may know little of actual Irish culture, but nevertheless assert an Irish identity...

, a person who appropriates stereotypical aspects of Irish culture without understanding it. The term is often used as a pejorative

Pejorative

Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...

 in Ireland.

Hibernia

Hibernia

Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe , Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ierne . In his book Geographia Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of...

 is the word the ancient Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

used for Ireland and which is where the word originates.