to ask everyone to get the name of my country right?

[runnybottom]

Its not "Eire" unless you are speaking/writing in Irish, its Ireland. Its definitely not Southern Ireland. Its not even "Republic of Ireland"

Its just Ireland.

PS> Yes I do realise there a bigger things to worry about, just bugs me a teeny bit is all.

The republic of Ireland is a description of the country, it is not the official name. The country is called Ireland and it is a republic. If you look at the entire rest of the site you linked to Tee, they refer to the country as Ireland.

Eire is written on the stamps because they are in Irish. If you are speaking or writing in Irish then Eire is the correct term. But not in English.

Southern Ireland is patently ridiculous since a) its not the name of the country, b) lots of the Republic is in the northern half of the country and c)calling 5 sixths of an island southern, even the northern bits is just silly. Oh and d) Southern Ireland means Munster.

The reason its important is that the name of the country has changed many times, and the names have political and cultural significance.
Since people seem to have read the Wiki page without actually reading the part about the name, I'll reprint it here;

Article 4 of the Constitution of Ireland, which was adopted in 1937, provides that:
The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland.

For all official purposes, including international treaties and in other legal documents, where the language of the documents is English, the name of the country is Ireland. The same is true in respect of the name Éire for documents written in Irish.

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provided a supplementary description of the state as "the Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann).[8] The Act was to change Ireland to a republic rather than a form of constitutional monarchy and transferred authority from the monarch to the elected president. No change of name took place due to that act, and in 1989 the Irish Supreme Court rejected an extradition warrant that used the name "Republic of Ireland". Justice Walsh ruled: "if the courts of other countries seeking the assistance of this country are unwilling to give this State its constitutionally correct and internationally recognised name, then in my view, the warrants should be returned to such countries until they have been rectified."

If you are speaking english, the name is Ireland. If you are speaking Irish, the name is Eíre. If you are describing the country, you can use the Republic of Ireland. In practice you can say whatever the hell you like, as long as you know some people will not like it, and its really quite rude.

I always put Eire when sending cards letters but then all my family there speak Irish and I have used Eire because my mum always has.

Now I feel like an eejit

I don't even write NI on things. It's still UK, so I thought just the address, town and postcode would do, no? Always seems to get there.

What gets me is the no postcodes in Ireland. How do they sort stuff? I just write Ireland on it.

I'll give a dispensation for envelopes then, seeing as this is the favourite place to use it! Thats not too bad.
But not in any other context

This post is making me chuckle. I quite like the way that you just put the general area of the addressee and the postman works it out.
Postal codes are in use in Dublin and are coming to Ireland. A tender was issued for consultants to assist the Irish post office in Jan 2010.

First time I had to post something to Ireland, from work, I asked the customer for a post code (I am American/British so have a Southern accent) and she explained there weren't any. And then she had an address which wasn't a number and street, just a house name (which she had to spell out).

I did say, 'Ma'am, may I ask, how does the postman find your house with no postcode or street address?'

And she said, 'Oh, it's my brother.'

lol expat, exactly like my family. I just put name, area they live and Eire.

Always makes me chcuckle.

Our postman is from Cornwall, and is fabulously eccentric. The arrival of postcodes will be fascinating.

I guess saying the Republic of Ireland is just like saying the Kingdom of Belgium which is what it is (in that we have a King). Nobody calls is that though so I don't see why people would call Ireland the Republic of Ireland.

I also don't understand why it bothers trafficcone to see Angleterre written on letters from France. The first stop for post is the post office of the country it's being sent from. Surely it therefore makes sense to write it in the language of the country of the sender rather than the receiver. (Here they seem to prefer Royaume-Uni as that's what is listed in the tariffs.)

I never knew that they called us 'mexicans' up North. that's very funny.

i've opened up another can of worms by saying up north

This thread is hilarious!

I'm in Donegal (so kinda up north in the south ), I use/hear on a regular basis all and any of:
Ireland
Republic of Ireland
The Republic
Eire
Southern Ireland
Northern Ireland (or Norn Iron)
The South
The North
Down South
Up North
and The Free State or the 32 Counties etc, very rarely and never by anyone under about 60!)
Can't say I've ever been bothered one way or the other, tis only a name

i once went ape a someone inviting me to speak at a conference in dublin who refered to britain as 'the mainland'. it is tricky and hard not to sound like some sort of militant tbh

'free state' is oh so vintage!

I call it Ireland, but write Eire when addressing letters to my family. Habit.

I was taught years ago to call the six counties the North of Ireland and not Northern Ireland

up north in the south!? you're a gringo!

I'm from Norn Irn, but live in Cork after a long stint in London. IMO I live in Ireland, and I'm from Northern Ireland ( I write NI on envelopes). The Free State was what my grandad used to call 'the south', and is archaic. My family all say Up North and Down south, which is more or less geographically correct ( except for Donegal).

I don't even bother writing NI and the things seemed to get there!

Just like, if I were posting something from Scotland to England I didn't write 'England' on it.

Just address and postcode and it always got there.

my dad lives in ireland.. the bit at the bottom...

OP you read my post on the favourite accents thread didn't you!? Was it me who set you off? Will never refer to Ireland as Eire for any reason ever again!

meh I'm from Dublin and it doesn't really bother me. When British people include it as being part of Britain/the Uk etc. it doesn't even bother me it just makes me wonder at their intellect that they don't even know the make up of their own political structure.

Eric, "the mainland" really irritates the bejesus out of me too! Especially as it's only another fecking island!

When we lived in Belfast there was a vogue for getting the ferry across to Scotland or England, driving to the south coast, then a ferry to France. That was known as 'the landbridge' which put 'the mainland in its place'.

I don't know what country I live in. Is it England or the UK?

After all this month's politicing, it seems I live in a place called Britain. Who knows?

More importantly, who cares? People are more important than countries. Nationalism leads to racism and segregation. Just ask yourself how many Celtic people you have met who assert the genetic purity of their race compared to the English. I remember a chappy with a wee little moustache from Deutschland who was fascinated with genetics in this way.

You are being totally reasonable, bugs me too!

Can't believe Gerry Ryan is dead though

Heh, interesting semantics. Better tell the Advertising people not to call it ROI in their ads then.

Now, who can answer me this one - if I am sending a letter to (London)Derry, do I address it to Londonderry or Derry? Never sure...

This is funny, so basically you're saying that before sending a letter to Ireland you had better study the political history for at least an hour so as not to offend anyone. Or alternatively.. you could decide that people just do their best and don't set out to offend anyone. Is it people from any country that annoy you by writing the 'incorrect' name, or just, by chance, English people? Feel free to address your letters here to Blighty if you wish