Do you think it's strange when someone calls Ireland "Eire"?

Aoife-FM104

Hi,

I don't think I've ever heard any Irish person refer to Ireland as Eire!

If you saw something written like "Guide to the streets of Eire" would be you thinking wtf or would you take no notice?

Rhyme

Aoife-FM104 wrote:

If you saw something written like "Guide to the streets of Eire" would be you thinking wtf or would you take no notice?

I would think, "American tourists?"

LadyJ

Can't say I'd lose any sleep over it really....

Dave!

Well that's the name of the country(fada over the first E though:D)! But yeah most people don't call it that.

I'd think "nationalist"

Ruu_Old

It doesn't bother me, I haven't heard too many people say that for a while now.

LadyJ

DaveMcG wrote:

I'd think "nationalist"

That'd probably cross my mind too.

Dragan

I sometimes refer to it as Eire, but normally when i'm speaking to my friends who use a lot of irish in conversation themselves....i don't mean full Irish, just throwing in Irish words and stuff.

It odd, i'm not entirely sure why they do it to be honest.

Karl Hungus

Hmm, I use "Republic of Eire" as my location on a lot of other websites, because I think it'll probably confuse people.

Dooom

Who're these crazy people that call it Eire? Crazies.

gurramok

Spike wrote:

Who're these crazy people that call it Eire? Crazies.

Your country, have a look at the front of your Irish passport if you have one

Dooom

Jaaayzuz an' all.

Only heard one person call it Eire, and he was American. I corrected him.

pbsuxok1znja4r

I've actually started to say éire a bit lately just to amuse my foreign friends. I should really stop. I used to hate when other people did it. In general I think the whole playing up to being Irish thing is a tad sad. Yeah, that includes nationalism.

faceman

Jaysus if anyone is going to take exception to hearing eire, then you might as well give up speaking foreign english too! LOL

1huge1

ya i use ROI on msn to people i dont know just to confuse them to
ive never used Eire though only really seen it in british newspapers but even that is rare
most of the time now im referring to it as the Republic (though for a foriegner they wouldnt have a clue but everyone here would)

ctrl-alt-delete

I use it for anywhere that insists on asking for a zip code when ordering stuff online, i just throw in eire

havana

My OH does it all the time and it drives me mad.

Ruu_Old

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

I use it for anywhere that insists on asking for a zip code when ordering stuff online, i just throw in eire

Yep, a number of stuff I bought from England, whatever it was, the company would use Eire as the postal code.

chamlis

Eire is an Anglicisation. There is no word eire in truth. It's Eireann. Or Eirinn, depending on your grammar.

Andrew 83

I wouldn't say Eire in English and would find it strange to hear it in English, just as I wouldn't say Ireland in Irish and would find it strange to hear it in Irish.

Dave!

chamlis wrote:

Eire is an Anglicisation. There is no word eire in truth. It's Eireann. Or Eirinn, depending on your grammar.

The country is called Éire or Ireland

LivingDeadGirl

I use it a bit sometimes, just for variation.

Nevyn

No not strange at all, infact I quite like it.
Eirn in an anglicisation of Eiru.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriu wrote:

In Irish mythology, Ériu (/ˈeːrʲu/), daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was one of the eponymous patron goddesses of Ireland. Her husband was Mac Gréine (‘Sun's son’).[1] She was the mother of Bres by Prince Elatha of the Fomorians.

The English name for Ireland comes from the name Ériu and the Old Norse or Anglo-Saxon word land.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ire wrote:

Éire (pronounced [ˈeːrʲə]) is the Irish name of the island called Ireland in the English language.

The name Éire is the nominative form in modern Irish of the name for the goddess called Ériu in Old Irish, a mythical figure who helped the Gaels conquer Ireland as described in the Book of Invasions. Éire is still used in the Irish language today to refer to the island of Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland - as well as the goddess. The dative form Éirinn is anglicized as Erin, which is occasionally used as a poetic name for Ireland in English, and has also become a common feminine name in English.

The name was given in Article 4 of the 1937 Irish constitut

I don't see it being any different then someone from germany or some one who speaks german saying Deutchland instead of germany.

Due to the fact we have two offical languages in the country we have two names Ireland and Éire for the country, the land.

I prefer Éire not out of daft silly nationalist/republicalian stuff but for the fact it is the name of one of the Goddess' of the land and even if you are not of that religous/spiritualt inclination it reminds us of the past and our heritgate.

Even Éiru and her people were invadors who came to live here and when the celts won the land from the Tuatha Dé Danann they coudl not have done it with out the help of Éiru and so they name the land after her.

the Shades

I use Éire sometimes to distinguish between the North and the South because it's easier. I don't think anything when I see it and as Irish is an official language of the country I'm quite pleased to see it used.

angelbaby

i only ever heard tourists callin it that sometimes.

Calibos

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

I use it for anywhere that insists on asking for a zip code when ordering stuff online, i just throw in eire

I use a different Irish word for the Post code bit 'na'

Black Swan

Getting ye Eire up?

juliuspret

Andrew 83 wrote:

I wouldn't say Eire in English and would find it strange to hear it in English, just as I wouldn't say Ireland in Irish and would find it strange to hear it in Irish.

Same here!

This has been covered to death already and when speaking in English then the English version is used (Ireland) but when speaking in Irish the Irish version is used (Éire)...simple!

Spitfire666

i dont think anything when i see it but id rarely use Éire if i was speaking english. I'm fluent in irish so seeing irish words about the place doesnt rely register to be honest. itd be the same if it was in english or irish it wouldnt matter, id still know what it ment without working it out so to speak.

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

Aoife-FM104 wrote:

Hi,

I don't think I've ever heard any Irish person refer to Ireland as Eire!

If you saw something written like "Guide to the streets of Eire" would be you thinking wtf or would you take no notice?

at home nobody calls it Éire, but when i was working abroad in different places we (Irish) would always refer to home as Éire.

The Hill Billy

\m/_(>_<)_\m/ wrote:

at home nobody calls it Éire, but when i was working abroad in different places we (Irish) would always refer to home as Éire.

Why not just refer to it as "Ireland" like normal people? Or did you think that the foreingers would think that you were cool being able to say the name of the place "as gaelige"?

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

Hill Billy wrote:

Why not just refer to it as "Ireland" like normal people? Or did you think that the foreingers would think that you were cool being able to say the name of the place "as gaelige";)?

acutually we used also speak in Irish, and no it wasn't for the foreigners, but like normal people is was for the bit of pride in our culture and language.

that was only the people who could speak a little Gaeilge, some people have trouble with English...;)