To be surprised at how little British people seem to know about Ireland?

[WriterofDreams]

I'm from Ireland and I've lived in England for a total of two years. In Ireland we watch all the British channels and get all the British newspapers so most Irish people are pretty up to date on everything that's going on in Britain. Also, the Irish news tends to mention Britain a lot, so even if you only watch Irish tv or read Irish newspapers you'll still get a lot of information on current affairs in Britain.

When the whole thing with Ireland going down the pan financially came up on Channel 4 my mum rang me to say "Ireland's on the British news!" and we knew then it must be bad, simply because Ireland is so rarely mentioned over here. Now I know it's a tiny country but it's a close neighbour of Britain and a large population of Irish people live in Britain, so I would have thought it was reasonable that there would be a fair amount of mention of Ireland in schools and in newspapers and on the tv. But that's not the case.

Since living here it has struck me that so many people don't seem to know basic facts about Ireland, such as who the President is, who the Taoiseach is, what the native language is called, what the native sports are and so on. I've noticed in primary schools (not sure about secondary) that Ireland is rarely mentioned as part of history or geography despite the long and complicated historical links between the two countries.

Would it be fair to say that there isn't much mention of Ireland in Britain? Do you feel you know much about Ireland? Not saying we're special or owt, just curious.

But some of those Irish dialect or 'brogue' usages are like the variations within Britain (not to mention the rest of the Anglophone world) - each area has terms incomprehensible elsewhere.

I always mean to visit Ireland. Everyone I know tells me it's beautiful. I have only been once - I was 18m and I got whooping cough. And then again on a archaeology field trip - it was beautiful with amazing archaeology, I fell in love with Dubline! But I'm afraid my memories were a bit dominated by the fact that I was starving (hadn't known just how expensive it was in Ireland and we were all living on baked beans!), it was really cold and my best mate was having an ongoing loud and public row with current twat of a boyfriend. And we got stopped by scary squaddies when crossing the border in Armagh. They boarded the minibus with BIG GUNS . Minibus was full of hippy-looking student types with industrial quantities of illegal substances concealed about their persons

I want to go back though. With money, without friend and bf, in summer and with no hippy druggy sorts

I use 'hot press'
Also caused confusion here last week asking would blocks and turf be a good Christmas present [who knew out side Irl people would not burn blocks or turf]
Must say my favourite swear was one I heard the other day and so appropriate]
'The fcken fcker is fcken fcked My English BIL was left and then and then as it was his fault

enabledebra - you hit the nail on the head, when you commented on the 'midterms' and how the media set the agenda for what we get to find out.

While I fully appreciate that any American President, or leaders from China and Russia, have considerable power, it does bother me that whether we have a {so called} 'special relationship' or not with USA, we are constantly given miscellaneous 'facts' and the BBC even rebroadcasts some of their news services..

BBC Parliament carries a weekly C-SPAN show (have never watched, but know it covers US Government news as it is the parallel to BBC Parliament). On some 'through the night' BBC TV channel they rebroadcast ABC News and do something similar on FiveLive.

During the year before the votes are cast to select the new President, FiveLive goes into overdrive, with lots of trips (jaunts, I think) to the USA, to follow the campaign trail... while I could care less who is chosen as president until the last minute. We do not have a vote so why do the BBC think we are as interested as a US Voter might be ?

We hardly get as much coverage from commonwealth countries about to hold elections, and while stories from America can be given up to 25 minutes each hour, even when the interviewees are only able to say they have been left in the dark, yet switch to some freelancer in Africa, Asia, even Canada and they are lucky to be given much more than 5 minutes (and because of the 'stopwatch radio' where they cannot keep talking and delay the news or travel or weather, some of the most interesting topics 'run out of time' every week!!)

Sorry, WoD, but if you have a listen to FiveLive you will know there is rarely a mention of Eire and more attention is given to St P Day parads in Chicago, or New York than to what had happened that day in Dublin or elsewhere.

So unfortunately what little one learns is from incidental pieces in other programmes (perhaps a few more mentions on FiveLive than any other radio station, but still too little, in truth.

I'm a teacher and school is just a minefield for Irishisms. In Ireland we call the books the kids (and they laugh every time I say kids) write in copies We call breaktime small break and lunchtime big break, we call the shoes you wear for sport (what are they called here, trainers??) runners, we call a pencil sharpener a parer, kids who are bold (naughty) are given out to (told off) by the teacher, teachers are called "teacher" and not "miss" (I hate being called "miss," your bookbag is called a sack, the copies go in the press (cupboard), the PE hall is the Halla (Irish word), and the headteacher is the Principal.

As you can imagine I have to correct myself quite a lot.

Yes, the UK is strangely insular in this way, especialy when you consider how well-travelled many British people are plus our high levels of literacy etc. When I lived in Spain, Tony Blair and British news was in the newspaper daily and every Spanish person had heard of him, and could name some of the ministers/Opposition etc. And yet relatively few Spanish people have a passport or have visited eg, London. But then I'm from the north-east and am frequently encountering southerners who think that Newcastle is somewhere outside Birmingham.

... they're thinking of that other Newcastle in Staffs, of course :)

at Network. I'd never thought of that!

It's true. I plead guilty of this. But then, as a Londoner, I plead guilty of being really ignorant of most places in the UK beyond the M25

I went to NI for the first time last month (Derry) and I have to say I totally fell in love with it. I was really conscious of how little I knew about it, from the geography, to the history, to the culture. I'd love to learn more. And I'd love to go back.

I've often thought the same thing about Britain's relationship with the US. We watch so much American telly/films/ads etc. We're totally immersed in American culture. We understand American slang, we know about American celebs etc. Yet British films and telly programmes often have to be subtitled for American audiences because they don't undesrtand our accents.

Nobody said you should be interested, just that some may be surprised that so little is known. I'm not that interested in France (and its not my neighbour) but I know who the PM is, and what langauge they speak. It's about being informed, not interested, per se.

Yes, the official language of Ireland is Irish, although a friend of mine failed French at leaving cert level and as a result didn't have a foreign language requirement. Didn't get into UCD, Cork, Galway.

But did get into Trinity on the basis that Irish was a foreign language

Ha! I didn't know that that was the case Ilovemydog! Love it!

The country is split in two, Northern Ireland which is in the UK and Southern Ireland which is not in the UK. The South is mainly a catholic country and want us to give up Northern Ireland hence all the troubles. I know a bit about the history and why they have such strong ties with America, the potato famine etc.

Don't know what there native language is, is it Gaelic? Thought the national sport was Soccer. Not sure who the president is, who the ruling party is Fina something? Don't know what Taoiseach. I've never been to Ireland but want to go to Dublin at some point. My DD's father is Irish Catholic. My knowledge is terrible.

Oh dear Christmaseve you better read the rest of the thread cos the whole "Southern Ireland" thing was dealt with in some (angry) depth by me, and with such a nice name I don't want to subject you to that again.

The gist of it is, there is no such country as Southern Ireland.

If people are interested in something they will find out if not they won't.

I live in NI so know who the Taoiseach & the President are because they feature on the local news and have influence on what happens where I live but I couldn't tell you the name of the first minister of Wales is because quite honestly I don't really need to know. It doesn't make me a bad person just one who retains the knowledge that I need same as for most people.

Seriously guys I'm not judging anyone for this, and I never suggested anyone was a bad person, it was just an observation, honestly!

Does anyone else say "colyume" for "column"?

DH had me CONVINCED that this was just me being a weirdo, then I made a new friend from Dublin and she says it too!

I am Irish and living in London for the past few years and YABU.
The UK has worldwide cultural reach (lots of ex colonys, language etc) and the fact that we watched UK channels was because there were only 2 channels in Ireland back then.
Engish is a universal language and the language we speak in Ireland.
Whereas I think ireland is wonderful and am moving home soon, I wouldnt expect people to know who the President is.
In saying that, there can be a hugely patronising tone to some English peoples attitude to the Irish athough I find this limited to a certain type iyswim.

Yup Spidookly, I say colyume, drives DH nuts :)

"and part of North Wicklow (East Wicklow, natch!) really do sound American."

Ugh don't get me started on people from Brey and Greystones trying to sound like they grew up in Killiney or Donnybrook.

Also as for the English not knowing much about Ireland, I think you have to forgive them. A lot of them still haven't seemed to grasped the concept of UK/GB/England.

:) - yay! all the best people do :)

Wait until your baby is born (presuming it's your first) - THEN the fun starts

DD1 says "banahhna" (grrrr)
and "cupboard" (grrrrrr)

AND worst of all, she won't even call me Mammy because DH feels stupid when he says it. I refuse to be Mummy (like off Scooby Doo), so now I'm Mommy (really Mamaí)

DH is totally winning. I'm going to have to up my game with DD2 :o

nil points, christmas eve, try again!