To point out yet again to the geographically challenged of Britain....

[AnnabelleLee]

THAT northern Ireland is in the UK. Ireland is an entirely separate country. Like,properly different,with its own currency and culture and laws and all that.
FFS.

limited

You're confusing the Ireland with the Republic of Ireland OP. Ireland is not a country, it's an island.

I agree, as shortly after I arrived in the UK, an Irish friend of of an Irish friend sharply corrected me when I refered to the country of "Ireland", saying it's "The Republic of Ireland."

I note that some people further down the thread think you are wrong. I think it probably would help outsiders to get things right if the the country were always referred to as the republic though.

Stromba don't tell me to get my facts straight when YOU are in the wrong.
Ireland is not a country? Then why would the Constitution of Ireland say it is?

The Constitution of Ireland provides that "the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland". Under Irish statute law, Republic of Ireland (or Poblacht na hÉireann in Irish) is "the description of the State" but is not its official name.

Fraidy, see above. It's not opinion, its fact.

Canada has provinces.

My father was from Cork worra. His sister was called Norah.

Is the H optional or were we English spelling it wrongly all those years?

He knew more Patsys than Paddys but I know two Paddys from Cork.

btw I really like the name Norah but as my mother hated her, it wouldn't have been wise to choose it

I was told on holiday once from a naice middle class Englishman that Edinburgh was one of the most beautiful countries in England.

West European Isles covers all the islands in the British/Irish archipeligo. The only other Island is Iceland which stands alone and isn't in the same archipeligo so doesn't tend to cause any problems, geographically speaking.

I've posted this before, but I'm going to repeat myself. I live in Northern Ireland and years ago was trying to arrange travel insurance. Was flying from Dublin, so was trying to explain to the English lady on the phone that although my journey began and ended in the UK, because that's where I live, my flights were from Ireland. She quizzed me a bit and just didn't seem to be able to get her head round it. I explained several times how there were no flights to my destination from Belfast and Dublin was the nearest airport, and eventually she said 'but I don't understand why you're going to Ireland to fly from there, why can't you just drive to Manchester? You can fly anywhere from there' . She was utterly amazed to be told that I could drive to Dublin from N Ireland but would have to cross the sea to get to Manchester.

Truly I was and

Annabelle I have NI friends who sharply correct me when I say 'Ireland' in reference to the Republic of Ireland. Some of them would argue that Ireland refers to the 32 county entity (and so is a name to be saved for after reunification ). I think it's slightly more complicated than you are allowing for - the Constitution is a v dated document now, and its irredentist attitude towards NI (which extends to the name given to the 26 counties) isn't automatically correct.

Also, as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the British government agreed to officially refer to the country as Ireland. Before that the British Government and press refused to as they regarded it as interfering with the identification of northern Ireland.

now,given that the constitution says the country is called Ireland, the Irish government says so, the EU says so, and even the British government now says so....can we convince Mn'ers of this basic fact?

Limited it's probably my crappy spelling?

My Dad has a cat called Patsy!

But isn't Ireland ( as in republic of Ireland plus Northern Ireland (UK) also called/part of the geographic term British Isles (including (England/Wales/Scotland)???

I ampretty sure that those two together are called British Isles

I think Eire is the wrong term to use because you wouldn't refer to Germany as Deutschland for example, or Spain as Espana.

On second thoughts, oxbow lakes are much easier to understand

And please do not bring U.S. Americans into this one...they've got nothing to do with this...

why always putting others down to only elevate oneself

There is the island of Ireland. Upon which is one state, The Republic of Ireland, and the country, NI, which is part of the UK. There are people who would describe themselves as being of Irish nationality coming from both.

OP Ireland is not just the state located in the south!

Lots of people have opinions on the name of the country,and whether it is ok.But that doesn't in any way change the actual fact that the country has one official name, which is IReland.

Why is this so difficult?

Er, because it's a highly-contested issue, OP . The Constitution is just an opinion as well, it's not a feckin sacred document handed down from on high regardless of what that stupid preamble says.

It is though. Really.

"I can hear the difference between people from Texas and people from New Jersey [...] so why can't they?"

Can you tell the difference between people from Louisiana and people from Georgia, though? Or people from Oklahoma and people from Mississipi? And have you never ever referred to an "American accent"?

"I imagine there are different class variations too"

So you can't hear the class variations? You have to imagine that they probably exist? Yet you expect people from the US to be able to pick up on class distinctions in all the different variations of British English?

I can manage (almost always) Australian vs. New Zealander and (usually) Canadian vs. USAer, but only given a fairly large sample size (several sentences) -- I can't pick it up the moment they open their mouths. And I could once distinguish many Southern states on their pronunciation of "y'all" / "you all" but I doubt I could do it now.

worldcitizen, if you are British then you might call them the British Isles. If you are Irish you don't because they are not British Islands. It is not recognised as a standard geographical term worldwide and has never been one. It is not and have never been used on any official documents either for obvious reasons.

It's no just the constitution though,is it?Every country has an actual official legal name.
I have my passport here. Do you know what it says the name of the country is?
Ireland.

The EU,the Irish government, the passport,the constitution,the British government,the WHO,nato,the Un,etc etc etc....all wrong,because you disagree?

I bloody give up.

I understand what you are saying about the archipelago but since western Europe covers a much bigger area there are other islands in the area. The point is that the islands of western Europe are not the same as what is being called the western Isles and that can lead to further confusion.

you're thinking of it as the Islands of Western Europe rather than the Islands at the very West of Europe. It's not really ambiguous.