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AIBU?

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Original poster

There is no Southern Ireland

549 replies

Needeyebrows · 13/10/2023 21:34

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..

OP posts:
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8
Trickofthetrade · 14/10/2023 07:49

Livelovebehappy · 13/10/2023 23:07

But tbh, those same people think Cornwall is a country in its own right! The majority of people in the UK know which part of Ireland comes under the UK, but I find a lot of young people are pretty crap with Geography. I don’t think it’s taught the way it used to be.

Show quote history

History is not taught properly either .......

ColleenDonaghy · 14/10/2023 08:00

TheLadyofShalott1 · 14/10/2023 02:13

My Mum was born in Dublin, but grew up in Enniskillen, my Irish Grandparents and my Mum often referred to Éire as "over the border", other than that they would usually refer to a particular place in Éire if they were talking about somewhere specific, but Éire or Ireland when not being specific.

However, and I'm sort of sorry to be "that" person, but I think there are far more important things to get het up about at the moment, and maybe it would be better for all of us if we didn't waste our energies on such things anymore. Maybe we should focus on what brings us together rather than what seperates us. Surely all around the world we should be trying to narrow any gaps, not widen them?

I am not naive, I know that bringing people together is a very uphill and often thankless task, but isn't it better than the altermative? I am not talking here about us losing our own idenities, just about us all accepting reasonable and morally fine cultures from all around the rest of this small planet. I do know that sadly a few cultures are destructive in their beliefs and behaviours, and we must call them out on it if they are making other individuals suffer, whether they are from their own culture or others.

You are being "that" person though aren't you.

And if you're going to be "that" person, then I will be too, and point out that current international events should remind us what a miracle it is that we live in peace after years of bloodshed. And that when miracles like that are achieved, the language involved is important and it is disrespectful to that peace and the sacrifice and compromises made to achieve it not to make an effort to use the correct terms.

And that is particularly true of those who live in GB, who frequently don't seem to realise that there was a civil war in their own country not 30 years ago, and are somehow ignorant of the terms of that peace and even the constituent parts of their own country.

I'm getting my small DC up for the day, little girls from a Catholic background who go to a Protestant school in NI and no one gives a crap, who don't know what a security alert is, or even a Catholic or a Protestant. What a bloody miracle.

ColleenDonaghy · 14/10/2023 08:09

Ah sorry @Neverinamonthofsundays we cross posted and I destroyed your point about us all being grown-ups now Grin (mine took forever to write also due to battling my children)

ColleenDonaghy · 14/10/2023 08:10

Ah sorry @Neverinamonthofsundays we cross posted and I destroyed your point about us all being grown-ups now Grin (mine took forever to write also due to battling my children)

ColleenDonaghy · 14/10/2023 08:13

Time to go make breakfast. With the toaster that's waiting for me on the worktop, in its proper place, obviously. Haven't gone that far to the dark side.

Livelovebehappy · 14/10/2023 08:27

Neverinamonthofsundays · 14/10/2023 07:45

Also I think from now on we need to refer to England as Southern Scotland.

That might not go down too well, but the other way round and Scotland referenced as North England…….then I think the post would collapse into chaos and be deleted within the hour 😆

MeinKraft · 14/10/2023 08:30

'What is the legal nationality of people who are from Northern Ireland? I.E what is on their passport?'

You can get a British or an Irish password so either. Lots of people don't really feel fully British or Irish though, I know I don't. Well unless there's something good on like the Queens jubilee, I was British that day. Or if Ireland are playing in the rugby, then I'll be Irish Grin

Warum · 14/10/2023 08:32

Needeyebrows · 13/10/2023 21:34

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..

Agreed.
As an aside though, if I heard 'southern Ireland' I'd assume somewhere in the southern half of the republic of Ireland, in the same way 'southern Scotland' means somewhere in the southern half of Scotland.

YoBeaches · 14/10/2023 08:39

Hmm growing up in the Uk in the 70's and 80's it was a very important distinction to make, because nobody understood the context of Rep of Eire, but not being from Northern Ireland was important.

It was bad enough just being 'Irish'.

Splitscreened · 14/10/2023 08:42

glenleeegardens · 14/10/2023 01:48

Get a grip will ya so. I'm Scottish and if I had a pound/euro for everyone who said to me (especially abroad coz I am ginger/strawberry blond as my mam told me) "English? Dutch? German?" and when I say Scottish they glaze over. Who cares? 😂

Your post makes no sense. Why would people be asking a Scot if they are Dutch or German unless they’re abroad? Are you suggesting people from the UK regularly ask you if you’re Dutch or German?

AInightingale · 14/10/2023 08:46

It's not a miracle for people living on housing estates in Northern Ireland @ColleenDonaghy. Very little has changed here. And if I lived in many of those estates as a Catholic, my house would be burned down, no doubt of that. NI does not have a fully realised 'peace'. We're utterly at the mercy of gangs of paramilitaries, who themselves are controlling the Democratic Unionist Party and holding the govt to ransom. The place is in disarray.

TheLongpigs · 14/10/2023 08:47

For anyone interested in hearing a well-balanced look at the whole Irish Question, and it's history, I recommend The Rest is History. This is a great episode, and there are 3 others too.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rest-is-history/id1537788786?i=1000614984074

Or google Rest is History episodes 336, 338, 338 and 339.

Evaka · 14/10/2023 08:49

Many of my 20 something, highly educated colleagues don't even realise Ireland isn't part of Britain. I'm Irish working in London and have had to correct SO many of them on stinkers such as referring to Dublin as a city in the UK, not knowing Ireland has the euro and asking me why I wasn't coming to the pub to cheer on England in a euros game. Fucking christ.

Neverinamonthofsundays · 14/10/2023 08:50

AInightingale · 14/10/2023 08:46

It's not a miracle for people living on housing estates in Northern Ireland @ColleenDonaghy. Very little has changed here. And if I lived in many of those estates as a Catholic, my house would be burned down, no doubt of that. NI does not have a fully realised 'peace'. We're utterly at the mercy of gangs of paramilitaries, who themselves are controlling the Democratic Unionist Party and holding the govt to ransom. The place is in disarray.

I agree with this. When we go to NI (like we should have done an hour ago, bloody kids) we stay DP's parents side cos it is safer for us and we never can hail a cab home from town or anything we have to call one to make sure it is a catholic cab taking us safely to the catholic side. When I met dp first i thougt he was paranoid about stuff like that but I have seen over the years that he is not.

WandaWonder · 14/10/2023 09:02

There is southern England or 'the south', southern states of America I would presume 'southern Ireland' is geographical

eggandonion · 14/10/2023 09:25

When we are in the North we are sometimes aware we have a southern registered car in certain places. And would call it southern registered.
As for traybakes...my friend from a strict Baptist background reckons the most amazing ones are created by strict teetotal sects. (I bet Iris Robinson makes a mean traybake)

cartagenagina · 14/10/2023 09:30

Livelovebehappy · 14/10/2023 08:27

That might not go down too well, but the other way round and Scotland referenced as North England…….then I think the post would collapse into chaos and be deleted within the hour 😆

Show quote history

This reminds me of Patrick Kieltys joke about Londonderry being called Derry. He said “why didn’t they just call it London?”

Obviously a joke very few people could make and get away it!!

belleager · 14/10/2023 09:44

LizzieAnt · 14/10/2023 01:09

But I don't know anyone Irish who minds this terminology.
But there's lots of people who mind it even on this one thread @belleager?

I accept that. I remember another thread about this where I saw the same. It surprised me but then you would rarely need to make the distinction in Ireland because people usually have context and know what you are talking about.

AInightingale · 14/10/2023 09:45

eggandonion · 14/10/2023 09:25

When we are in the North we are sometimes aware we have a southern registered car in certain places. And would call it southern registered.
As for traybakes...my friend from a strict Baptist background reckons the most amazing ones are created by strict teetotal sects. (I bet Iris Robinson makes a mean traybake)

Iris was a great one for the body of the kirk, indeed.

Splitscreened · 14/10/2023 09:53

belleager · 14/10/2023 09:44

I accept that. I remember another thread about this where I saw the same. It surprised me but then you would rarely need to make the distinction in Ireland because people usually have context and know what you are talking about.

Show quote history

But lots of Irish people don’t live in Ireland.

When I lived in England, the complete ignorance of the geopolitics of the island of Ireland meant that getting a NI number was made needlessly complicated by a number of people on the Jobcentre phone line telling me I didn’t in fact need an appointment because I could just use my usual ‘home’ number. I spoke to two people and was then passed on to a supervisor who clearly thought I was making trouble!

Over the next 25 years I would realise that I didn’t just happen to encounter three unusually dim people, it was actually fairly indicative. The DUP’s prominence in Brexit negotiations was another depressing insight into how many people knew absolutely nothing about the island of Ireland.

Dulra · 14/10/2023 09:56

Evaka · 14/10/2023 08:49

Many of my 20 something, highly educated colleagues don't even realise Ireland isn't part of Britain. I'm Irish working in London and have had to correct SO many of them on stinkers such as referring to Dublin as a city in the UK, not knowing Ireland has the euro and asking me why I wasn't coming to the pub to cheer on England in a euros game. Fucking christ.

Good grief that is a disgrace. What has happened to the UK education system? Something seriously wrong when your own citizens don't know the borders of their own country.
I lived in London in the early noughties and people were definitely not as ignorant then

ColleenDonaghy · 14/10/2023 10:04

Splitscreened · 14/10/2023 09:53

But lots of Irish people don’t live in Ireland.

When I lived in England, the complete ignorance of the geopolitics of the island of Ireland meant that getting a NI number was made needlessly complicated by a number of people on the Jobcentre phone line telling me I didn’t in fact need an appointment because I could just use my usual ‘home’ number. I spoke to two people and was then passed on to a supervisor who clearly thought I was making trouble!

Over the next 25 years I would realise that I didn’t just happen to encounter three unusually dim people, it was actually fairly indicative. The DUP’s prominence in Brexit negotiations was another depressing insight into how many people knew absolutely nothing about the island of Ireland.

Show quote history

But it was soooo funny when commentators kept referring to them as "the Irish unionists". Oh to see Arlene's face.

Dulra · 14/10/2023 10:09

My twopence worth is that I think it is quite arrogant to continually get the name of your neighbour wrong and shrug and think it is not important, considering our history. The text below states clearly our name. Even the Republic of Ireland is not our official name, it is just Ireland.

The Constitution of Ireland of 1937, provides that Ireland (or Éire in Irish) is the official name of the State and following the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948, in 1949, Ireland became a Republic.

My dh is English we live in Dublin. When I first met him his parents did not have a clue, assumed we were all still part of the UK in some way. I have educated them over the years and they understand things better. I just think it's such a lazy arrogant attitude tbh not to try and understand it.

Splitscreened · 14/10/2023 10:16

It was indeed comedy gold, @ColleenDonaghy.😀

@Dulra, I agree entirely.

Ahjaysus23 · 14/10/2023 10:50

I am amused by British people who are outraged by what Israel is doing. Northern Ireland? Gibraltar? The Falklands?