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.

I'm from Southern Ireland...

DuckworthLewis as others just pointed out the OP didn't care about using the wrong word and offending us.

Let's hear you say that to her then. You must be livid!

That's helpful, OP, thanks. I work with Ireland and Northern Ireland and now understand better.

I had someone rip the piss out of me once for saying my grandad came from somewhere close to Cork.

It was Fermoy. So not far. Feel a bit vindicated now, actually.

Maryz My Dad doesn't mean to be offensive when he uses a whole range of casually racist and sexist terminology.

He still does cause offence though.

The offended people tend to shrug it off though and chalk him up as ignorant/out of touch.

Do you want people to think of you that way? Should they have to shrug off your offensive words?

Offence is in the eye/ear of the beholder.

Hester, I just choked on my drink at "Poppy". I wondered who she was and why everyone was telling her their favourite accent.

DuckworthLewis as others just pointed out the OP didn't care about using the wrong word and offending us.

Yes, because two wrongs make a right

Compos my degree is in irish history, though ive never used it but ive such an interest, I'd love to know about your book when its done !

Eh sorry now maryz but I think you have it wrong, tis us cork people have the real accent and the rest of ye are only regional!

I get that you prefer it a certain way, but it's just not that important to the rest of us.

What a lovely attitude to have.

referring to Ireland as 'southern Ireland' is a colonial hangover and offensive

It's not a colonial hangover in my case. I have not inherited a habit of referring to Ireland as Southern Ireland from evil forbears who held the people of Ireland in low esteem . I have sometimes used the term Southern Ireland to specify that I didn't mean Northern Ireland.

I tend to think of it all as Ireland - North and South. Both countries are on the island of Ireland. I've always thought it was a shame it had to be two countries at all. I do say Northern Ireland and Ireland though. I think NI is a lot more similar in culture to Ireland than England or Scotland.

The land mass ie the actual island as a whole is known as Ireland I thought

Would be lovely if others with similar bits of information could enlighten us MNetters

sixpencesings Okay, here's one (from my medical journal proofreading days). You should avoid using the term 'diabetic' or even 'diabetic patient' and should instead use the term 'patient with diabetes', i.e. you should avoid labelling and defining a person by their condition but instead acknowledge they are a person/patient who happens to have a condition. Same goes for any other medical condition - 'patient with IBS' rather than 'IBS patient'; 'person with visual disability' rather than blind person etc etc).

DuckworthLewis no they don't but I still don't see you saying anything to the OP about it so can I assume you are treating me differently because I am the wrong race?

It's easy to toss around accusations of racism isn't it.

Maryz
This guy was adamant that it wasn't true cos "everyone says that"

My nan was from Wicklow - been there and love it

MaryZ and Handsoff - repeat after me Cork is not the capital - lovely place and all but nowhere near as nice as Dublin which although you guys find it hard to admit is the capital. Just saying in order to update any non Irish MNs who must find it confusing enough. The football team is called the Republic of Ireland to distinguish it from the Northern Ireland football team. Unlike rugby where there is one team drawn from the whole island, football has two separate teams.

The politics of Ireland and Northern Ireland are very complex and I doubt most people would understand the difference.

Handz I'm not writing it (thank goodness) I'm only reviewing it!

I wish that people the world over would realise that my country is called the UK and has been for 200 years. It's not England. I don't mind so much when it's normal people, but when it's printed in textbooks, well I've started writing to the publishing companies because they should know better, and when they take several hundred kroner for a book they should bloody well get it right. Also journalists who refer to the english prime minister, or the english MP Michael Martin.