Ramblings

Foxwood

I hate to be picky, but Donegal is in the north of Ireland, and Cork is in the south of Ireland. The correct terms are "Northern Ireland" and "The Republic of Ireland". If you're going to make a point about different outcomes in different jurisdictions, it makes sense to get the labels right.

I know I'm not alone in instinctively thinking "Cork and Kerry" when I hear the term "south of Ireland".

eircomtribunal

Perhaps it's time to bring in the Chinese to help the "Republic of Ireland", some would argue it should rather be called "Ireland", to help with our Communications situation?


The Hindu of today writes:

Chinese Premier loans Ghana US$66 million
Accra (Ghana), June 19 (AP): China's Premier on Sunday committed to lend about US$66 million (euro52 million) to Ghana to fund a telecommunications upgrades and other projects in the west African nation.

China, the world's fastest growing economy and most populous nation, has spent the last few decades building relationships and trade throughout Africa _ regularly conducting state visits and financing infrastructure projects in resource-rich markets that the West has been slower to embrace for reasons ranging from small profit margins to bureaucratic hurdles.

Premier Wen Jiabao and Ghanian President John Kufuor agreed to a low-interest loan of about US$66 million (euro52 million) for a number of projects, including a plan to upgrade Ghana's communications network by increasing phone lines and improving the country's Internet-access. The plan also includes training students and workers in communications technology, finance minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu said after the meeting.

P.

lucernarian

Foxwood wrote:

I hate to be picky, but Donegal is in the north of Ireland, and Cork is in the south of Ireland. The correct terms are "Northern Ireland" and "The Republic of Ireland". If you're going to make a point about different outcomes in different jurisdictions, it makes sense to get the labels right.

I know I'm not alone in instinctively thinking "Cork and Kerry" when I hear the term "south of Ireland".

I have to say that "the North" is the most common reference to Northern Ireland by far in my experience. Mabye it's because where I live, anywhere northwards will bring you into NI. The border is close enough to me.

Anyway, it's not hard to understand Peter with the references to BT and all.

Btw that committee article was one of the best I've read on Irish comms. in a long time.

Foxwood

eircomtribunal wrote:

the "Republic of Ireland", some would argue it should rather be called "Ireland"

It's not a "either-or" choice. The name of the State is Ireland. The Description of the state is The Republic of Ireland. If you want to avoid ambiguity when referring to the two jurisdictions on the island, use The Republic of Ireland rather than Ireland when referring to this jurisdiction. I fully agree with To_be_confirmed that "the North" is so widely used that it is effectively uambguous (despite Donegals anomolous geographical position), but "the south" doesn't have that unambiguous meaning (even the capitalization in the article reflects this).

I'm not trying to make any political point here, I'm just saying that if you're trying to make a strong case about the difference in coverage in the 2 jurisdictions, your argument is weakened a little bit if you're sloppy with the terminology you use, even if people know exactly what you mean. It's like punctuation and grammar, you can be understood without them, but you'll be more convincing if you use them properly.

DonegalMan

Foxwood wrote:

"the North" is so widely used that it is effectively unambiguous

A lot of Nationalists in the North don't like the expression "Northern Ireland" and refer to it as 'the North' ... a bit like people in the South who don't like Northerners still referring to the South as "The Free State" (which many older Northerners still do )

Foxwood

DonegalMan wrote:

A lot of Nationalists in the North don't like the expression "Northern Ireland" and refer to it as 'the North' ... a bit like people in the South who don't like Northerners still referring to the South as "The Free State" (which many older Northerners still do )

Sinn Fein prefer to use "the 6 counties". That's a political decision on their part (they even avoid the use of "the North" on their website). The SDLP have numerous references to "Northern Ireland" on their website (951, according to google).

But as I pointed out (twice), I'm not trying to make a political point. Referring to "broadband in the south of Ireland" is just sloppy, and simply weakens the impact of the argument that is being made. It's not a question of anyone being offended, it's not a question of anyone misunderstanding the point you're making, it's simply a question of making a good impression on the audience you are addressing.