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..

Doubt the people on this forum did any of that.

This is irrelevant to the thread!

None of those is the same as in Israel-Palestine.

Northern Ireland - counter-insurgency/terrorism.

Falklands - Argentina invaded.

Gibraltar - counter-terrorism. Obviously, you're referring to the PIRA 3 - ECtHR stated the SAS did not carry out premeditated murder.

Quite frankly, it's ridiculous you're trying to create a false equivalence between those and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 🤦‍♂️

How is the illegal theft and occupation of Palestinian land not equivalent?

I think a lot of Jews say that they were actually there first.

And then Muslims invaded and took over. And kicked the Jews out

Then the Jews went back after world war two.

Then the Muslims say that the Jews took over again.

No one owns a patch of land. People are always moving around lands.

It's false equivalence to draw them all together as the same thing which they're not.

But this isn't the topic of this thread. 🤦‍♂️

I once got abuse on here for saying I honeymooned in southern Ireland when I want referring to Ireland as a whole, I was traveling along the southern part of Ireland.

I agree it can be annoying when people get the name of your country wrong though.

Hi @ColleenDonaghy I'm sorry if I offended you, but would you mind telling me which term/s my sadly now long-ago departed ROI Grandparents and DM used that did upset you?

My beautiful cousin (also sadly no longer with us) married an amazing person, they met at university and yes one of them was Catholic and one was Protestant. This was in the 1990's so probably even more of a miracle that both family's welcomed the other with open arms. I am very happy that your dear children know nothing of the troubles. Of course that will inevitably change as they get older, but with you as their Mum, and the community you live in, I hope and expect that they will grow up without facing any lingering resentments from either side of the religious - reducing, and hopefully soon stopping - divide.

I grew up in England as my DM met my English Dad when he was stationed in NI during WW2, and unfortunately due to the type of work my Dad did, after he left the forces they had to live in England. My Dad adored Ireland, both the North where they met, and Éire whenever they had the chance to go there - they honeymooned in Dublin. I would have loved to have been born and lived in Ireland, but that wasn't what fate had in store for me...

I of course, while a child growing up, was very aware of The Troubles even though I was never personally directly affected by them. I did have a young teenage very distant cousin blown up in a targeted attack during that time (it wasn't my distant cousin who was targeted, he was just very sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time), but as a family we were all very sad about what was happening in such a beautiful country, that was mainly populated by such wonderful caring, lovely and very amusing people. I wish that my Grandparents had lived to see the peace they so longed for.

Maybe it is exactly my knowledge as a child of such close and personal conflict, that has made me be "that person"? Maybe I am more aware than many of the importance of everyone being able to live in peace in their own home, and to not live in fear of the fall of their dear Country, indeed of their very livlihoods, and even their near neighbours?

Of course anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence and life experiences, will - or at least should - know that we all need to hope for, indeed strive for, and if at all possible, actually contribute to (in some way) the breaking down of any hatred for our fellow human beings, and the building up of a new future for us all; one where we can live in harmony together, whilst still holding on to our own individual personalities and characteristics.

I am sorry if I am sounding too "hippyish" but really since the 1960's (when there were a lot of peace signs, and "make love, not war" slogans, and - jumping to the early '80's now - woman and children camping out at Greenham Common because they were passionate about us not having nuclear weapons on our soil), what progression have we, as the human race, made to have peace, to get on with our 'neighbours', to improve the lives of everyone on this relatively small globe?

I know that "they" hold summits, and talk a lot, and that a very few individuals put themselves out there - sometimes very bravely - but maybe I am just being a typical 'oldie' and think that things were actually better in the "good old days", and maybe my dispair for this planet and it's inhabitants is just boring, and not something that I or anyone else should actually bother about. I don't have any clever insights, never mind any workable suggestions on how to make even the smallest bit of difference. Apparently all I can manage is to get some backs up of people on a thread about someone (sorry OP) who is thoroughly fed-up with people not using the correct terminology when talking about her homeland. I will try to shut-up now, with one further apology for any offence I have caused.

Sorry you got abused for it @BigBoysDontCry , that shouldn't have happened.
The term is ambiguous especially when said by someone not Irish who doesn't have the context. That's the trouble. South coast, Munster etc might have worked better for you. People assumed you were getting the name of the country wrong. But there was no need to be
nasty to you about it.

@TheLadyofShalott1
I'm very sorry about your cousin.

I think you may have gotten backs up by suggesting the ( mostly respectful) discussion being had wasn't one we should be having. We are all very aware of what's going on in the world at the moment, please don't think we're not.

Éire isn't used unless the person is speaking Irish. There is some history around the use of the name in English which means it's probably best avoided in that language as its use may send signals you're probably completely unaware of.
In English, the name of the country is Ireland.

Ireland's name is deliberately ambiguous (Island or state) and the official alternatives are only for use in Irish or bit of a mouthful. Republic of Ireland, for emigrants to the UK in the last century, was unfortunately evocative of the Irish Republican movement and its atrocities.

I'm not surprised that people report older relatives using the vague but uncomplicated Southern. I don't find it offensive that people lapse into terms like the South, Southern Ireland and I do it myself for a quick uncomplicated yes, not Northern Ireland (hence Southern). All over the internet too on tourist sites if you look. So people learn from what they see.

People often mean well with Eire. I think I would only draw the line at Free State, myself.

Yep, my friends and colleagues 35 plus are informed. 20 somethings are off the charts clueless. Maybe they're a very weird sample and they're super nice people overall but sorely lacking on current affairs etc. I expect social media being their main source of info has contributed.

On the same topic

Did you know that both the Belfast and Dublin based football teams called themselves Ireland and claimed to represent the whole island from 1936-50?

FIFA finally put a stop to it after they both entered world cup qualifiers as Ireland in 1950, and played in different groups but called up four of the same players 😂

Hence the glory days of the Repubbalick of Ireland under Jack Charlton in the 1980s and 90s, as I recall it said and sung in Dublin.

I did not know that about the football teams @belleager. I also absolutely agree that people mostly use the terms Southern Ireland or, more occasionally, Éire/Eire simply because that's what they've heard and there is no ill-intent whatsoever. This is a useful thread to point out what the actual name is though😊

Yes exactly thanks @LizzieAnt

I'm from NI and now living in Dublin. I specify ROI when I'm on MN or other social media, but people here don't say that much, they just say Ireland.

Then in NI, people refer to 'down south' all the time.

And Eire is never used. I've only heard that from older English people.

The name of the Republic of Ireland WAS the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1948 tho - Saorstat Eireann. Older people (those born in the 20s/30s) would have quite legitimately referred to it as that, and it's hard to stop referring to something when it's been habit all through your childhood.

My next door neighbour in NI was talking about the Free State in the 1990s though. She was born in the 60s.

Maybe her parents and grandparents referred to it as that? My Dad was born in the 30s and he was always on about 'the Free State'. I just sort of intuited that it wasn't really the 'right' way to refer to it because my father was old-fashioned about many things...

Maybe her parents and grandparents referred to it as that?

Sure, sometimes these things take a long time to fade out.

The Free State is also used in Derry Girls which is set in the 90s. Mary (Erin's mother) uses it anyway iirc. I think it's probably still used there by older people at least? I'm not sure, is it?

Isn't Gerry referred to as a 'free state fucker'? 🤣

By Joe, no doubt😂

It irritates me, too, OP and I'm not even Irish!

How hard is it to get the name of a country right, ffs?