to wish people would use the correct name for my country?

[Buttercup2926]

I love living in the UK but I do wish people were better educated about the country right next door. Particularly its name.

The Constitution of Ireland sets out that there are two official names for the country, Ireland and Éire. Éire should only be used when speaking in the Irish language. Therefore it is correct for people in the UK to say Ireland when talking about that fab country next door!

Northern Ireland is a seperate place and is part of the UK.

Republic of Ireland is a description as opposed to a name. For political reasons FIFA forces the football team to use this name.

The term 'Southern Ireland' is very offensive and should not be used ever. It has strong historical connotations and was used by the English government as a way to avoid recognising the independence of Ireland. I understand that people genuinely do not know this and don't always mean to be offensive as so many people in England use it so casually.

I often see on here people referring to Irish accents and sayings as 'regional'. This is incorrect, Ireland is not a region of the UK no more than France or Spain are.

HesterShaw, you used Cyrillic.

????? ??? ?????????

AllBoxedUp Presumably you are English and have never felt extremely irritated when someone refers to the UK as England?

Nee, ik ben niet een buitenlander?

QuintessentialShadows - my name is only pronounced correctly by Irish people. Teaching in an English school I answer to anything not overtly rude. No-one in England spells it right either. People at work are forever trying to send me emails but spelling it wrong. Quite handy really!

Bloody foreigners come on here and steal our language and threads!

I was told on my German Linguistics course that the only reason that Dutch was/is regarded as a separate language to German, rather than simply a Low German dialect, is a political one. I don't know how true that actually is

That's strange, because German underwent the Second Sound Shift and Dutch didn't, so they are definitely different languages. Dutch grammar is quite different to German and also retains some sounds that German doesn't.

Even some Dutch refer to Nederland when talking English as "Holland" I think because its easier to say in English. Anyway, everyone is either a binnenlander or a buitenlander (in or out lander) so what does it matter? And plenty of people do actually live in Zuid Hollands or Noord Hollands as the populations density there is pretty high, so chances of getting it right are quite high. Nederland is easier to say than "The Netherlands" when speaking Dutch rather than Engish.

Apparently you should not capitalise the T in "the Netherlands".

But I would have done until today (capitalised the t).

Well, for those of you really keen on "dutch" language, this

......

I read that and thought 'NeTherlands?'

I think we have been patient, by and large.
And there's another thread atm where a poster is helpfully pointing out she didn't get married in Gretna, choosing a location in the UK instead.

Yeah them englishers are all the same. They all have black umbrellas, bowler hats and conquer other countries for no reason at all.

Squirted who will that offend? I thought Scotland wanted to stop being in the UK.

Indeed.

The stereotype about the English that always convulses me is that they are amazingly polite. Many of my Russian friends repeat that one to me and it cracks me up, being married to an old Lutonian.

I don't think it will offend anyone.
My point was to say that Gretna is in the UK. UK does not equal England, as some people on here tend to think.

The other comfortable self-generated stereo-type is that the English have always been 'welcoming to people coming to these shores'....

From a v Protestant area of Northern Ireland we all refer to anywhere below the boarder as "down south" Donegal is Donegal dont really think of it as part of the south because its not south and so many sports are played which include it (hockey , rugby etc) as part of ulster.
Many in Northern Ireland hold Irish passports and call Northern Ireland "the north of Ireland" only bothers me that they enjoy all the benefits of benefits and nhs but deny living in part of uk !

And polo horses.

I'm Irish and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. My whole family use it and they're a mixture of people from Northern Ireland and the South.

Clearly it's Nordyland and Corkland.

Think getting miffed at the Southern Ireland thing is a bit precious but Eire gets right on my tits