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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
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16
DemiColon · 17/04/2023 18:53

isitshe · 17/04/2023 00:47

Of course you can. My response ‘It's astounding to think that people in mainland Britain may think NI is in a different time zone’ was to one PP. I wasn’t ridiculing people, I thought that PP’s post was ridiculous. I didn’t even touch what he/she haughtily said here: ‘You would be better off going 'Low Contact' to use the MN phrase, and either becoming and independent state or re-joining the rest of the Island of Ireland.’
Why ever didn’t we think of those options?!

I do still think it’s astounding that people in mainland Britain may think NI is in a different time zone.
The USA is huge, of course you could walk across a border and be in a different state or time zone, and the divides, even in a clustered area like Western Europe have to be demarcated according to some logic, i.e. borders, but look at this image of Britain and Ireland. It must be such a familiar image to so many people, seen in homes on a daily basis. It’s such a tight cluster, and even if you know nothing about NI/ROI you must get the concept that we’re somehow physically ‘separate’ to the rest of Europe, and have some geographical commonality. I’ve met Americans who didn’t have a blind notion of where Ireland was, never mind in relation to Britain, it seemed really abstract to them, but I don’t know how any one from any of these islands could think the geographical divide is that significant.

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It doesn't really matter how huge it is. It depends where the lines for the time zones are. They are largely based on lines of latitude, it's entirely possible for even a tiny country to have a line that happens to go right down the middle. There are cities in some places that are technically divided by time zone.

Usually in a case like that, the tint country will choose one zone or the other. But where there is a national border, especially where there is a sea in between, or a historical political division, you would be more likely to find they were in different zones. If it happened to be the case that the time zone line was between the two islands, I would not be at all surprise to find the ROI wanted to be different from the UK, and I could easily imagine NI might go either way.

As it happens, if you look at the time zones, the east coast of England and the west coast of Ireland do pretty much cover a whole time zone and in fact cross into another one. So, it's not really so small compared to the width of a time zone.

Ourladycheesusedatum · 17/04/2023 20:57

Rosula · 16/04/2023 00:13

We've all had the benefit of being entitled to free education, and I refuse to believe that any school teaches that Northern Ireland is so far away that it is in a different time zone.

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I dont remember it ever coming up, in school or elsewhere.
I dont know very much at all about Ireland/northern Ireland. And from the stuff I've read so far on this thread, I'm no wiser. Lots of posts state a thing, a few posts later someone denies that thing.

If people who live there cant be factual, I'm not sure Google will help.

And OP heres a 🍪

Are you happy with yourself for being so condescending.

NameChangeFoot · 17/04/2023 21:37

DownNative · 16/04/2023 21:03

Wow, you seriously need to take English refresher classes!

My statement is correct because the ONLY way ALL of the* Republic of Ireland could be more northerly than ALL of Northern Ireland is for TWENTY-FIVE counties *to somehow be moved above Northern Ireland!

Impossible! 🤦‍♂️

A very small part of the Republic is more northerly than Northern Ireland, yes. But this does not mean the Republic itself as a whole is more northerly! 🤦‍♂️

Apart from County Donegal, the entirety of the ROI is to the south of Northern Ireland.

So, the statement "all of Northern Ireland is more northerly that all of the Republic of Ireland" still stands as correct.

The keyword in the statement is "ALL".....twice.

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Oh ffs, as numerous people have told you YOUR statement is incorrect. Obviously it's not true that ALL of the ROI is more northerly than ALL OF NI. NOBODY SAID THAT.

"ALL OF NORTHERN IRELAND IS MORE NORTHERLY THAN ALL OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND" is completely incorrect. Think it's you who should take some classes. All of NI is NOT more northerly than ALL of the ROI. You're literally contradicting yourself. Donegal IS in the ROI and as part of it IS more northerly than ALL of NI (no matter how small) your statement is WRONG. You are correct that the keyword is ALL🙄.

Dishwasherdisaster · 18/04/2023 01:27

Ourladycheesusedatum · 17/04/2023 20:57

I dont remember it ever coming up, in school or elsewhere.
I dont know very much at all about Ireland/northern Ireland. And from the stuff I've read so far on this thread, I'm no wiser. Lots of posts state a thing, a few posts later someone denies that thing.

If people who live there cant be factual, I'm not sure Google will help.

And OP heres a 🍪

Are you happy with yourself for being so condescending.

Show quote history

What are you finding confusing exactly @Ourladycheesusedatum? (Apart from this thread that is, and I don't blame you 😅)
But maybe we can clear it up?

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