There is no Southern Ireland

[Needeyebrows]

So sick of hearing people say say Southern Ireland when referring to anywhere outside of Northern Ireland. Any place outside of Northern is the Republic of Ireland. We do not have southern Ireland..

The Irish Free State existed until 1937 when Ireland declared itself a republic. In general I'd say it's best never to use the term Free State at all because that could be misconstrued in a way that would take an essay to explain.
But if Ireland win tomorrow people can call the place anything they want, we'll all be partying too hard to care.
@ColleenDonaghy you won big. Did you also avoid Toraiocht Diarmaid Agus Grainne?

Not unless we're also going to talk about 'West Korea' and 'East Korea.' Northern Ireland is the name of a country. Southern Ireland is not.

And as the first year to miss Peig, did I win big or miss out on an important cultural touchstone?
You missed out big time

If we win then the BETTER get our name right!!!!

Would you like me to recite it
Cos I can you know.
Bloody hated that Irish teacher I did. 🙄

Unfortunately not, unfortunately not.

Christ but the Irish syllabus is awful, no wonder none of us can speak it.

Yeah but who cares really if anyone calls it southern Ireland.

It's a minor thing.

Right it's midnight I have to go and do the kitchen (after Wordle).

Behave while I'm gone!

You know what, I think I'm alright.

Yes me too, time for sleep.

Oíche mhaith!

Ah go on go on go on....

I mean whatever really 🤷‍♀️

The woman in the red hat was something else...

If asked where I'm from I'd just say Ireland. Personally, I'd only use Republic of Ireland for clarity ( in a discussion about NI for example). But others here would say ROI if asked where they lived. I think they don't realise it's not the country's official name.

The people I've heard using Southern Ireland mostly aren't Irish. Or they are Irish but have lived abroad for ages and so have picked up the local expressions/are being polite/don't want to get into politics.

For the same reason if I'm ever asked if I'm from Southern Ireland (as has occasionally happened with work colleagues when working abroad) I just reply that I'm from the south of the country - which I am - but wouldn't ever make a thing of the correct names.

People do use the term Southern Ireland to mean the entire country in my experience and it's just not its name. It's like rechristening England as Western England or something. So a bit off. But people usually just make the mistake very innocently and it's not a big deal.

I do find it a little annoying if writers or the post office or people labelling maps use the wrong terms. They should check really.

In the past the British government/journalists got the name wrong deliberately of course, as they wouldn't accept the name Ireland. That must have contributed to the confusion around the country's name. There was/is also sensitivity around name use in NI.

I wouldn't be so smug; I've tasted the NI vegetable soup many a time - the one that's so salty that you can feel your body dedicate with every spoonful! I had it again only last week and am just recovering🤣

The saltiest soup i ever had was in Limerick.

I want a wee traybake now!!😁
It's past midnight and all the talk of soup - even saltly soup - and buns and traybakes has me starving!!

"Ireland is an island. Like every other island on the planet, it has a north, south, east and west. There is a country called Northern Ireland, so that linguistically sets a precedent. If some of the island is northern, then another part of it can be southern without causing offence in the 21st century, surely?"

You have read this thread, haven't you?

*dessicate.

Post-soup syndrome.

They were just making you feel at home...

There is a LOT of ignorance around. On many, many topics. It’s quite startling.

@eggandonion I'm pretty sure the saltiest soup in the world was made by my mother, not in Limerick but not too far away from it. The trick was to add packet Knorr soup plus extra salt, and then more salt to taste.

But there's no such places as the north of Ireland. It's Northern Ireland. I've often heard the republic referred to as "the south" or "Southern Ireland".

However it's pretty trivial in the scheme of things that annoy me. Same as Derry/Londonderry.

At the risk of offending every tray baker here, I spent some time researching tray bakes in NI ( as the Holy Grail of tray bakes), with the help of the NI WI cook book, and a few parish websites which very kindly posted recipes for the public to enjoy. To my surprise, I discovered that a significant number of tray bakes were not actually baked, but relied on various consistences of digestive / rich tea biscuits and chocolate.

Delicious though they be, really be called "tray bakes"?

<hides>

"Can they really be called, etc..."

My ability to construct a cheeky sentence has been sacrificed in all the excitement!