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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Well fuck me pink and call me Rosie. AIBU?

454 replies

TooBigForMyBoots · 15/04/2023 22:44

Do you know that Belfast and NI are in the British Isles? Are you aware that some British people claim they do not know that NI is in the same timezone as the rest of the UK?

YABU = You can't expect British people to know the history and geography of their country.
YANBU = Of course British people know this stuff. Anyone who says otherwise is having you on.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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IVflytrap · 15/04/2023 22:48

Boring answer, but most people do, but some unfortunately don't. If it helps, I used to work with a fellow (British) girl who didn't know time zones existed at all.

Is this maybe complicated by the fact that a lot of Irish people understandably don't like the term British Isles as applied to Ireland?

Lolaandbehold · 15/04/2023 22:51

Many of those who do know this also think that Ireland is also part of the UK. Or conflate Ireland with NI. But ultimately, imo, most Britons don’t really care either way.

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 15/04/2023 22:52

Which people?

Pixiedust1234 · 15/04/2023 22:52

Some people know, some don't. Probably doesn't help when NI have very different laws to the rest of the UK, ie abortion laws.

Abhannmor · 15/04/2023 22:55

You can't expect ppl to know anything about geography now. Kind of Cinderella subject !

PickAChew · 15/04/2023 22:55

This is an unimaginative TAAT. What's the point?

TooBigForMyBoots · 15/04/2023 22:55

Pixiedust1234 · 15/04/2023 22:52

Some people know, some don't. Probably doesn't help when NI have very different laws to the rest of the UK, ie abortion laws.

Does that mean you think we live in a different global timezone?Confused

OP posts:
TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 15/04/2023 22:57

Who thinks NI is in a different time zone?

Cosycover · 15/04/2023 22:58

Surely everyone who lives in the UK know what countries make up the UK?

PuffinsRocks · 15/04/2023 22:58

Sadly since living in Ireland I have been stunned by the number of patent idiots people in England particularly who don't know that a) Ireland is not in the UK and doesn't have an NHS and b) that Ireland and Northern Ireland are not two names for some distant part of the UK.
Don't tell them Ireland has it's own language or that it's a republic, it might hurt their little brains.

horridjobescapee · 15/04/2023 22:59

What's the context to this?

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 15/04/2023 23:01

horridjobescapee · 15/04/2023 22:59

What's the context to this?

It means the bun fight OP is having on another thread isn’t having the desired effect so she’s come here to stir up trouble

ApplesandPares · 15/04/2023 23:03

If the question is, are there some really thick people in the world, and are some of them British? Well then, yes.

FWIW they will be thick about all things, not just those pertaining to Northern Ireland.

IVflytrap · 15/04/2023 23:04

So someone thinks NI is in what, C.E.T or something? Did you not just tell them they were wrong? Assuming you're also British, don't you find it boring when people constantly make out that the thickest Brits are representative of the whole?

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 15/04/2023 23:05

It doesn’t help when people smugly say “Ireland isn’t in the UK” when actually people in NI call themselves Irish. DH’s family is from Belfast - not one says “I’m Northern Irish”. They are Irish. And the possessiveness of the ‘Im more Irish than you’ attitude of some people in ROI is a massive bone of contention to them.

Smallyellowbird · 15/04/2023 23:06

The level of ignorance about Ireland/NI in Britian was really obvious in the Brexit debate.

Tory MP and Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen (? not sure of spelling) thought he was eligible for an Irish passport by dint of being British, not quite getting that Ireland is a sovereign independent nation, thanks to the War of Independence, against Britian.

And of course the impact of Brexit on NI was hardly considered, by both sides, during the debate.

JaneJeffer · 15/04/2023 23:07

Jesus there's been some amount of shite about Ireland on here over the weekend.

And the possessiveness of the ‘Im more Irish than you’ attitude of some people in ROI is a massive bone of contention to them.
What does this bullshit even mean?

Aylestone · 15/04/2023 23:07

This may come as a shock op, but not all UK Citizens know all of the facts about the UK. I hate the implication that someone is stupid because someone else has decided that their lack of knowledge on a subject is indicative of their intelligence. It’s attitudes like yours that contributes to the ‘dumbing down’ of society. People are afraid to ask simple questions because of answers like ‘omg I can’t believe that there are actual people who don’t know that Belfast is in the British isles’. People only know stuff that they have been taught. Humans don’t always know the answers to questions they haven’t been asked, and there are questions that people don’t even think to ask themselves.

mainsfed · 15/04/2023 23:08

TooBigForMyBoots · 15/04/2023 22:44

Do you know that Belfast and NI are in the British Isles? Are you aware that some British people claim they do not know that NI is in the same timezone as the rest of the UK?

YABU = You can't expect British people to know the history and geography of their country.
YANBU = Of course British people know this stuff. Anyone who says otherwise is having you on.

Jade Goody thought East Anglia was a different country.

Should we start abusing her too? Hmm

Scotlasss · 15/04/2023 23:11

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 15/04/2023 23:05

It doesn’t help when people smugly say “Ireland isn’t in the UK” when actually people in NI call themselves Irish. DH’s family is from Belfast - not one says “I’m Northern Irish”. They are Irish. And the possessiveness of the ‘Im more Irish than you’ attitude of some people in ROI is a massive bone of contention to them.

Errrr i think you’ll find that only counts for half the population.

TooBigForMyBoots · 15/04/2023 23:13

I have recently discovered that some Mnetters claim to not know that Belfast is in the same timezone of the rest of the UK.Shock

Not a bun fight.
Not a TAAT.
Just trying to find out how many UK Mnetters are so ignorant of their own country.

Because I don't believe it for one second.

OP posts:
WonderingWanda · 15/04/2023 23:13

TooBigForMyBoots · 15/04/2023 22:44

Do you know that Belfast and NI are in the British Isles? Are you aware that some British people claim they do not know that NI is in the same timezone as the rest of the UK?

YABU = You can't expect British people to know the history and geography of their country.
YANBU = Of course British people know this stuff. Anyone who says otherwise is having you on.

In actual fact op The Republic or Ireland is also part of The British Isles. I think what you mean is that Belfast and Northern Ireland are part of the United Kingdom. The British Isles is the entire group of islands including the islands of Ireland and Great Britain and all there little satalite islands like The Isle of White.

These are not to be confused with the political names of the United Kingdom which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and The separate country of The Republic of Ireland.

Most people cannot get it right.

tentinginmarch · 15/04/2023 23:16

Hate to point it out to you @TooBigForMyBoots but it's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. NI is not part of GB.

VeniVidiWeeWee · 15/04/2023 23:17

The OP specifically mentions the "British Isles". They did not say UK.

This is a geographical description, not a political one.

As such it includes England, Wales, Scotland, and the whole of the island of Ireland. It also includes the Channel Islands.

tentinginmarch · 15/04/2023 23:17

@WonderingWanda "there"?? Isle of Wight?? I know people type quickly and make errors that don't take away from the point they're trying to make, but really.