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..

I call it The South or down south, or would say we’re going down south for the weekend, or so and so lives in the South.
I live in NI.

However, I would never call Ireland, “Southern Ireland”. It’s Ireland, or the Republic..

Clear as mud 😂

I live right on the border just about in Northern Ireland but skip across several times a day just carrying out our day to day life. We talk about in the North and in the South just because that is the way it is where we live. So we get our fuel in the North and our groceries in the South.

Oh I thought you meant the word Eire wasn't on stamps. Eire is on stamps.

Does it really matter if it has the fada or not.

Of course it's technically correct with the fada, but does it really matter if it is not there.

People in Ireland often forget the fada in my friend's first name. She doesn't care

@Whowhatwherewhenwhy1 I love the image of you skipping across the border

In this case the fada significantly changes the meaning of the word. They're not just for decoration.

As I remind my father in law, Sean

I'm aware "Taoiseach" is a title, but so is the German "BundesKanzlerin(feminine)/BundesKanzler(masculine)"!

It is still an Irish Gaelic word anyway.

"Does everyone who says Éire say Cymru and Alba as well as then? Or España, Italia, La France, etc.? I could go on."

I don't think that's relevant to the argument that when speaking English you should use the Irish Gaelic form.

But you demand the Gaelic "Taoiseach" from English speakers.

Do you say "Chancellor" or "BundesKanzlerin/BundesKanzler"?,

Of course.

So, people can use either an Irish Gaelic word or an English one. 🤷‍♂️

Yes! Fadas matter!! Hyperventilates...😅

I'm totally easy-going about how people spell their own names (none of my business), but everwhere else, yes, they matter!

It's like using the wrong letter if you leave it out?

So what does Eire mean without the fada

As I remind my father in law, Sean

It means burden @Mooshamoo and it's pronounced differently.

Yes they matter. But they are not worth getting that annoyed about.

People over react. They seem to think that people leaving a fada out is disrespecting the Irish language.

When actually people just misspell things all the time . They misspell things in England and in Irish. It will always happen

Yes it matters.
It changes the word completely.

It matters but it is is not that big of a deal.

People spell things wrong in every language. .

I don't think that's relevant to the argument that when speaking English you should use the Irish Gaelic form.
Níl fhios agam cád atá tú ag rá

Consider how disrespectful it is to call it The Ukraine. It is Ukraine. And it matters.
Words matter in things such as this.
My dd has a v Irish name.
Her colleague in the UK was hauled before HR cos she cldnt be arsed learning how to pronounce it properly and asked 'could she not anglicise it'.

It is v disrespectful to not get a name correct.

And I respectfully completely disagree with you.

I'm a languages teacher, and I must confess I find it hard to understand how calling a country by the name it's known by in the country's language, or missing off an accent, can be that offensive. I doubt the Spanish would take huge offense if someone wrote 'I went to Espana'. They'd just notice that it was misspelt.

Hmm depends on which part of España you went to wouldn't it?

You know when you edit we can still see what you wrote?

People do make mistakes but if, say, people in Ireland started using Ongland or Eastern England fairly routinely for England we should expect a few complaints...

Well you should also know that not using the tilde or using it in the wrong place changes the pronunciation of a word and you can and should be and would be marked down in an exam for not using it.
Because it matters.

They probably wouldn't like it if you used Spana rather than España though, as in a take on the word in the native language that wasn't actually right.

Also as has been explained several times on the thread, the history of the word adds weight. Sometimes the meaning of a word or term goes beyond the pure meaning. The obvious (and much more inflammatory) example being describing someone as Pakistani but shortening the word - there is intent in the shortening. Historically, there was intent behind the use of Eire rather than Ireland or even Éire.

There's historical political context too.
The use of Eire instead of Ireland by the British establishment was a deliberate stategy.
It doesn't matter who was right or wrong if anyone. The outcome is the use of the word in English is loaded now.

They probably wouldn't like it if you used Spana rather than España though, as in a take on the word in the native language that wasn't actually right.

I think they'd just think you were bad at Spanish or spelling though. I doubt they'd think you were spelling it wrong in order to be offensive.

I don't think Irish people think that people using Southern Ireland or Eire are trying to be offensive either these days. People generally know they're simple mistakes. Southern Ireland is widespread outside Ireland though, no harm in setting the record straight.