So, you catch a 'thief'...

Wrong! No racism has been spouted by Pistanator. Irish is not a race. If someone calls me an English wanker they are not being racist. For argument's sake I assume you're white, or caucasian, so if P had said "some white scumbag was trying to steal a bike" then you'd have every right to call him racist and be upset (maybe even cry a little bit). As would most of the forum. However, he did not. Either you're not aware of this simple fact or you're trying to play the race card. Poor show.

If we're playing semantics here: -

race 1 (rs)*n.***1. ** A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.
2. A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race.
**3. ** A genealogical line; a lineage.
**4. ** Humans considered as a group.
**5. ** Biology **a. ** An interbreeding, usually geographically isolated population of organisms differing from other populations of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits. A race that has been given formal taxonomic recognition is known as a subspecies.
**b. ** A breed or strain, as of domestic animals.

**6. ** A distinguishing or characteristic quality, such as the flavor of a wine.

I