JK and the Manx flag

[Morverner]

I'm a huge fan of Jo and I'm far along the GC Road. But can anyone explain what the hell is going on with her thirder Twitter comments and her use of the Manx flag. I'm Manx myself and I'm not entirely OK with it, not least because it's not helping the GC argument at all here.

Have obviously name changed for this thread.

Sorry to raise a sore subject OP!
I was going to ask you about Finn Mccool, but won't risk it now

Heresy 😱

I can't really answer the country question. I'd refer to it as such, but officially I assume not. I'd guess the official description would be an island nation.
Yes, we have the world's oldest continuously sitting parliament - Tynwald. Coincidentally tomorrow is a bank holiday celebrating that.

People from the island are called Manx, not related to Manchester, isn't that Mancs? I'm coincidentally a Lancastrian/ Manx mix.

has a now largely extinct (I believe) version of the Gaelic language.

We took the UN to task and won over it's claims that Manx Gaelic was a dead language. It is on the rise again, there are children brought up speaking it and we have a Manx language primary school . Sadly it's not widely spoken though.

Agreed. This is cringe- making and I guess so far as being a joke, one probably had to be there.

I'm also not terribly impressed by all "who cares about the Isle of Man" comments.

I agree. This has nothing to do with telling women they can't make a joke. The "joke" is predicated on the rather witless assumption that there is something inherently laughable about the Isle of Man and its flag.

OP, you have dealt with this thread with a lot of grace. I’m sorry you (and a few others) have been spoken to in the way you have. Like a PP said, it makes me question who I learn from on this board - which is sad.

I totally support JK and JB, but repurposing a flag for a joke or otherwise just isn't cool, it’s cheap, and FWIW I also think the piss-taking of the alphabet is a bit cringe.

<braces to be told to ‘fuck off’ or something similar>

The comments you quoted are dreadful and there has been quite a display of ignorance on here - some of which could have been prevented by a quick Google.

I doubt very much these type of comments would have been made, or allowed to stand, if they had been made about the other Celtic / Gaelic parts of the British isles. The Isle of Skye for example has its own flag, as does Barra and Sutherland and Caithness. Flags for geographically distant communities seems to be quite a thing.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-53887936.

Sorry, posted too soon- Flags for geographically distant communities seems to be considered quite a thing, as evidenced by competitions being held to design new flags.

Matthew Kneale's (2000) book English Passengers had quite a few Manx characters and used quite a bit of the language, too. (Pretty good, from what I remember of it - and it won the Whitbread Book Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Passengers

It was very good and I remember it being quite funny in places too- despite the subject matter.

I can't remember exactly but the original joke was from the reporting around the lunch and something about being two thirds lesbian. And that JK wasn't a lesbian and then someone (maybe her) said she was at least a third lesbian. It's an in joke. The flag I guess was because she chose something with three on it to make a point about each identity having a flag.

It was all tongue in cheek and lighthearted. No idea why we need a bickering thread about it.

I know it wasn't the purpose of this thread, but it is bringing back some lovely memories about childhood holidays. We sailed over to the Isle of Man from Belfast for a few years when I was growing up. I didn't appreciate it at the time but it really was the most beautiful place. And we're well used to rain, so that was just par for the course!

Ah apologies, its really good to hear its not extinct though

BTW, the Isle of Man doesn't have an exclusive right to the image used on their flag. The design was used on the obverse ("tails" side) of a
silver drachma minted during the reign of Agathocles (361–289 BC):
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:001-syracuse-Triskeles.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

The motif is a triskelion and has been used in lots of cultures since ancient times, its actually has a fascinating history. Sicily has similiar on their flag. But in current usage the image and colour used was obviously the Manx flag, no one is querying copyright.

The pp who mentioned people confusing it with a swastika, you'd be surprised (or maybe not) how often that happens.

@TheBiologyStupid

Thanks I'll take a look at that book, interestingly the author's mother was Judith Kerr.

One of the reasons I wasn't keen on the island being dragged into this debate, is the people and government are very touchy about our poor past history regarding gay rights. No one is keen to make similar mistakes again with another seemingly marginalised group and there are TRAs set on manipulating that agenda.

The exchange probably would have been better in their What's App group. But heigh ho.

I’m only just learning that the Manx flag is a thing.

And yes, flags can be used in jokes.

Being mostly women on here, we probably all have someone in our lives with PTSD from domestic abuse. I know I do.

It sounds like my daughter has had precisely the same experience as you and definitely has PTSD. I strongly suspect my husband has it too as a result of the trauma of it all.

Really we have bigger things to worry about than two women making a very mild joke about it on twitter. Please don't try to imply that this has anything to do with standing up for abused women. It hasn't.

If you asked my daughter about this she would be cheering them on, not trying to pick apart every word JKR types.

The demonisation of JKR is ridiculous.

Exactly @knittingaddict while the joke is meh, I will fully defend their right to say it, as a PTSD sufferer, I’ve got bigger things to worry about than a joke on Twitter.

Not sure why the fact JKR and JB have helped women justifies the sneering comments about the Isle of Man being made by some posters, however interestingly the Isle of Man's Parliament decriminalised abortion in 2019 and doesn't have the "2 doctor rule" the UK has.

Thank you for this information. I am always learning things on this board and am happy to do so.

Abortion has only been legal UK-wide since 2019 anyway.
I actually think a lot of negative comments are made on mumsnet about various parts of the U.K., I don't think the IOM comments are an anomaly.

Content warning: less than serious rabbit with the flag of a Crown Dependency.

Saw this today and thought of yesterday's storm in teacup. Happy Manx day!