An Irish person would never say this

[yodelehoho]

"I'm thinking of moving to the north east, where can you recommend"

Neither would a Scottish person, not a Welsh person.

Why do English people seem to think that everything revolves around England? I see this time and time again on Mumsnet. People assuming that "North East" is flipping England.

Ok I'm going to have to insist that everyone specifies the country they're talking about from now on.

Otherwise I'm going to assume you mean Australia.

Im in Scotland and would mean the north east of Scotland if I said north east. However, if I said down south I would mean the whole of England. People on tje north of England would probably find that strange.

I think people just think/speak relative to their personal circumsyances. I think YAB a little U.

my Scottish hubby talks about the south east, the west, the southwest and the borders. All of which are in Scotland.

One of my school friends moved to "the north" and she meant Watford.

We all make different assumptions.

There is a tendency for English people to not notice that the UK and England are different, which is annoying. But this is one of the least annoying ones!

It's actually the same on the BBC. "It's going to be raining in the North East". So I presume, Dundee or Aberdeen.

No...it's not the North East of the UK they are talking about. It's England (again)

Well I do that because I live in England and I would never want to be accused of 'country appropriation'.

Those who live in that country might get offended by my colonial attitude in annexing other nations in my common geographic directional speech.

MN isn't an international website though, is it?

And England, Scotland and Wales are geo-political nomenclatures.

We might not like it, but our passport says British.

My Scottish friends do refer to the north east quite a bit actually, as do my Irish friends and my Welsh friends, American, Indian, Australian blah blah blah. Never thought to be annoyed about it.

Actually Welsh people do talk about north and south - meaning North or South Wales. I can't speak for the Irish or the Scottish but I bet they do too. Most people use their own location as the centre of their frame of reference, it's normal. I can't see the issue.

The clue on the BBC weather is the fella waving his arm in the direction of the map.

And I don't think the BBC weather covers Ireland, what with it being a different country.

(and no, I'm not getting into the NI question because I just bet you're dying to)

I don’t think the OP is complaining that people in England, when talking in England, say “the North East” without adding “of England.” Because everyone else in that conversation knows they’re English and knows where they’ll mean.

I think the OP’s point is that it is a bit annoying when someone on MN says “the North East” and just assumes everyone else will understand “of England”, even though we don’t know that they’re English.

I wouldn't say "the north east" because I rarely hear Irish people say that about Ireland but I would also never say "the north east of Ireland".

I had to think where this would be! Irish people only use NSEW

YANBU to think they'd be being unhelpfully non-specific, because they are forgetting that not everyone has the same frame of reference as them. A bit like asking for restaurant recommendations but neglecting to mention that you meant vegetarian ones, forgetting that not everyone is vegetarian.

YABU if you think people do this because they think Ireland, Scotland and Wales are inferior or unimportant. To me, the North East means the North East of the country I live in. If I lived in France, it would mean the North East of France. I might remember to say 'the North East of England' in a post. I might not.

People always do this when they're talking to a group they think is broadly the same as them geographically. I'm not in England or even the UK and don't find it problematic to realise that on an English-dominated website people mean the north east of England. I was confused when living in NE England that people from north of the Tyne say Shields meaning North Shields and those from south of the Tyne say Shields meaning South Shields. So unless you knew where someone was from, you couldn't tell which they meant.

Assuming you're a troll becaus your half-term isn't the same as the English one, now that's annoying.

The 2009 MN census had 16% of Mumsnetters as not living in England. I'd imagine that's gone up by now. So maybe 20%? So 1 in 5 are not in England. That's a pretty sizeable amount I'd have said. So yeah, maybe people should stop and think when they type NE. It'd take them a second to add in the country to what they're typing.

This is mainly a UK site
Populations
England 55.8 m
Scotland 5.4 m
Ireland 4.8 m
Wales 3.1 m
N.I. 1.8 m
So yep, it is likely that around 79% of the people are from England.

53rd way - thank you. At least one person understands what I'm trying to convey. I actually didn't think it was that difficult.

I agree with what another poster said, 'North East' and 'North West' and 'Midlands' have become sort of titles for those areas. It's what they have long been known as.

It's just that the Newcastle is "the Northwest" to far more people than it is not. There are only 4 million people in Scotland (please correct me if I'm wrong)? for which it would be south. That's about the population of west London.

I think the OP’s point is that it is a bit annoying when someone on MN says “the North East” and just assumes everyone else will understand “of England”, even though we don’t know that they’re English.

Well, as it's apparently only the English who are rude enough to do this, presumably we CAN instantly know they're English.

OP this clearly annoys you. Why?

I'm Welsh, if I was moving to North Wales I'd say I was moving to North Wales, not just north. I sort of see where you're coming from but I can't say I've ever thought about it.

I'm in the South West. I'm also in Europe, but I don't mean I am in sodding Portugal!! (wish I was, the weather here is shit lately...)

I really don't get what's winding you up. If I was in the north of Scotland, talking to someone who lives there and whose life is there, and they said something about 'the south' i would probably think they meant southern Scotland. If it was someone who travels extensively around the UK i would think it was Cornwall - East Anglia they were talking about. It's all about frame of reference and context, surely?! An American talking about 'the south' is not talking about London, for instance!

I'm sure I have heard Welsh, Irish and Scottish people refer to north etc in their respective countries with no mention of the country. I also suspect there would be far more people offended if the English start appropriating devolved countries by e.g. referring to Wales as 'the East'. Independence was quite hard fought i seem to remember.

People in northern ireland do say they are going to the south though? And they are talking about southern ireland not the south coast of England.

I dont think this is something that I couod ever get worked up about Op

I think it's probably part of a wider issue where England sometimes seems to be used interchangeably with Britain. Or Britain with England. If you live in Scotland, Wales or N. Ireland these things are more noticeable and probably more annoying. For instance, the fuss in the national media when A level results come out (not e.g. Highers) or the talk of the start of the Summer holidays when eg Scottish holidays started a month earlier.

JoWithABow - not on flipping mumsnet you don't!