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.

Better not get arrested for yelling "stop oppressing me" at myself, then...

I manage to bear up under the guilt. :)

Since we all come from Olduvai Gorge I don't know what the fuss is about.

If I popped over to Belfast and/or Dublin and said all people are the same would I be generally welcomed?

I quite like using "Eire". Just as I like using "Espana", "Italia" and so on (can't do any required non-English accents, sorry).

My Mum would describe herself as Southern Irish, simply as a way of distinguishing her birthplace from Northern Ireland. I don't think she's ever thought it offensive. My Nanny also used it, and she remembered when Ireland used to be the United Kingdom.

Sorry, isn't the standard response to religious matters "that would be an ecumenical matter" ?

Ain't that the truth.

Thank you op but I really doubt you will educate the rest of the uk about this, it really is pointless. The responses say it all.

hahaha gobbysadcase that is exactly the sort of thing my dad comes out with!

People endlessly used the term 'southern Ireland' to me in the UK and it drove me nuts. I would respond that I was from the Republic of Ireland and if they enquired further would explain that to me 'southern Ireland' means Cork or Kerry so it would be daft for me to say I'm from 'southern Ireland' since I'm from the NW.

Even in the post office I couldn't even send a letter home without this hassle. I would write 'Ireland' on the address and would be asked 'North or South' every. Fucking. Time. Er, no it says Ireland. It's clearly NOT NI because people from NI don't refer to their region of the UK as 'Ireland' do they? And it would have a bloody post code on it if it was NI.

It drove me nuts. And if you correct people then or clarify that it's an offensive term they think you're some crazed IRA nut.

I live in the US now and it's not an issue. I write 'Ireland' on my letters and they know it's not NI because - guess what? - it doesn't have 'UK' written on it or a British postcode!

I'm sure people think it's petty but it is incredibly annoying so I agree with you OP. Except I don't have a problem using the term ROI if it helps to clarify things.

Didn't we just have this exact same thread a matter of days ago or am I having deja vu.

Back, no one is asking you to research Ireland. If you watch the news or read newspapers you must have noticed something about Ireland. You say that 'we don't have an official interest ...'. Your prime ministers certainly spent a lot of time discussing something that you say they had no interest in.

I personally like to be neighbourly. I don't want to be best friends with my neighbours but I feel I have a connection with them. If I was you I wouldn't go knocking on France's door if you run out of sugar.

yes Maryz the pissed up political debates are great craic at the time and never ever mentioned again when sober and possibly never ever eye contact again

If I was you I wouldn't go knocking on France's door if you run out of sugar
lolololol funny

I'm going to save a lot of hassle and just call it Susan from now on.

We (family living in NI) refer to the Republic of Ireland as the 'Republic' and Northern Ireland as 'the Empire' but then we also watch a lot of Star Wars...

AveryJessup just to be clear. No one from Northern Ireland would ever say "from Ireland".

Never! not even once? Not one person.

Because if there ever were one person who once said 'Ireland' or even a chance that someone might say 'Ireland' then the other person has to say "do you mean..." because there's no way to be sure.

First disclaimer I live in NI and can safely say Irish History was never taught in the school I attended, local history yes, Irish no. The furthest our geography lessons even went were teaching the provinces Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht.

In my family (mixed) we would generally say up north (Donegal/North Coast) or anything past Armagh is down south we live on the East Coast. This is not a political point of view just direction in our case.

Since the early 1900's there have been terrible unjustified atrocities on innocents on both sides of the divide.

An ancestor of mine was in the first "Free State Government" the only gentleman from the North as it was put to be voted into office.

There are of course many regional dialects in Ireland both North and South and yes some are better than others with some being down right horrendous and painful to listen to.

No Gobby - it's
"These ones are small. Those ones are far away."

whitesugar I hear a lot about Syria lately on the news, but I'm not sure of their prefered term for their southern regions and no one would reasonably expect me to, or to care deeply.

Well, OP, I'm English and am happy to have been educated but how do you refer to the landmass which constitutes both Northern Ireland and Ireland? FWIW I refer to the whole island as Ireland so I then need to differentiate between the North and Eire (which I'm not supposed to use because I don't speak Irish).

Thank you for explaining it all so clearly. Names matter... a lot! Especially when there are such political sensitivities.

Maybe we should go back to Latin and use Hibernia as the name for the whole island. Then Northern Ireland and Ireland within it.

Onthe "down with this sort of thing"

Back, no one gives a hoot whether or not you care about Ireland. It is just extraordinary that you assert that 'we don't have an official interest any more than in Angola'. Margaret Thatcher had an official interest in Ireland. You have heard of Margaret Thatcher, have you?

grovel - I think the OP explained that, or maybe I misunderstood? Ireland is for the landmass (or Eire if you're speaking Irish Gaelic). The 'Republic of Ireland' is a political designation for the state that covers most of that landmass. 'Northern Ireland' is the country to the north east that is part of the UK politically.

Is that right?