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What do you think Ireland would be like if it was never Anglified ?

  • 05-06-2011 12:10am
    #1
    bayern282
    Closed Accounts Posts: 140 ✭✭


    Possibly like one of the Nordic Countries I would think.

    You have to envisage us as never having become '' more English than the English'' in the way we have, ie; no British style Judicial system, Railways, Roads, By Laws,
    No plantation of Ulster, obsession with snobbery and social class, the list goes on.

    How do you think we would have evolved organically? Remember that we had quite an advanced civilisation in the days of Skellig Michael and the Book of Kells, Would we have embraced The Reformation like our Scottish cousins

    I still think we'd speak fluent English albeit in the way the Dutch and Scandanavians do as a second language and lingua franca.


Comments

  • #2
    epgc3fyqirnbsx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,228 ✭✭✭epgc3fyqirnbsx


    I know this is a purely hypothethical question but it's very hard to answer becasue we are our neighbours and they are us. Anglicisation is Norman really and we already had Viking settlements which would have a Nordic element in us also.
    Even Skellig Michael wouldn't have existed were it not for the papael empire. So if we were never influenced, that would mean we never imported, which would mean we never even took any tin from Cornwall which in turn means we may never have had our bronze age.
    So we'd probably be savages. An island of Corkonians if you will.


  • #3
    Floodric
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 255 ✭✭Floodric


    Our women would all be incredibly sexy?


  • #4
    Amhran Nua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,124 ✭✭✭Amhran Nua


    Floodric wrote: »
    Our women would all be incredibly sexy?
    The oul' Irish dancing does wonders for the pins alright.

    On an unrelated note, does anyone else ever think it looks a bit like a martial art for people who glued their hands to their hips? Do that and boxing and you're a blurring whirlwind of Gaelic devastation.


  • #5
    Dangerous Man
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,674 ✭✭✭Dangerous Man


    bayern282 wrote: »
    Possibly like one of the Nordic Countries I would think.

    You have to envisage us as never having become '' more English than the English'' in the way we have, ie; no British style Judicial system, Railways, Roads, By Laws,
    No plantation of Ulster, obsession with snobbery and social class, the list goes on.

    How do you think we would have evolved organically? Remember that we had quite an advanced civilisation in the days of Skellig Michael and the Book of Kells, Would we have embraced The Reformation like our Scottish cousins

    I still think we'd speak fluent English albeit in the way the Dutch and Scandanavians do as a second language and lingua franca.

    Impossible to know in fairness but I can't help but feel that we'd be a country more at peace with itself - both in terms of actual confrontation and psychologically. Colonial rule has left us with a lot of baggage, IMHO.


  • #6
    BESman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 563 ✭✭✭BESman


    The country is still under Anglo rule isn't it? The bank that is.


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  • #7
    Laika1986
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 620 ✭✭✭Laika1986


    I reckon we would have done it Viking style and raped and plundered are way across Sasana.


  • #8
    Saila
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,751 ✭✭✭Saila


    Floodric wrote: »
    Our women would all be incredibly sexy?

    but they already are :confused:


  • #9
    B_Fanatic
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 334 ✭✭B_Fanatic


    BESman wrote: »
    The country is still under Anglo rule isn't it? The bank that is.

    That's the germans me thinks.

    On topic: That is a crazy question. Not a bad one, just a really hard one considering it goes back over a thousand years.


  • #10
    Bannasidhe
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,218 ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    We'd all be speaking Spanish - Phillip II would have used us a backdoor to attack England. Our economy would still be ****e but at least there would be protests on the streets.


  • #11
    dsmythy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,560 ✭✭✭✭dsmythy


    French or Spanish speaking and culturally inclined. Take your pick on who would have colonised us first.


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  • #12
    thetonynator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,234 ✭✭✭thetonynator


    dsmythy wrote: »
    French or Spanish speaking and culturally inclined. Take your pick on who would have colonised us first.

    Why? It's not like we have useful natural resources or anything worth colonising really . . .


  • #13
    dsmythy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,560 ✭✭✭✭dsmythy


    thetonynator wrote: »
    Why? It's not like we have useful natural resources or anything worth colonising really . . .

    Didn't bother the British did it :D


  • #14
    Saila
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,751 ✭✭✭Saila


    thetonynator wrote: »
    Why? It's not like we have useful natural resources or anything worth colonising really . . .

    have you seen our women?


  • #15
    Son Of A Vidic
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,370 ✭✭✭✭Son Of A Vidic


    Here's a more pertinent question - What do you think Ireland would be like, if we hadn't of been subjected to Catholicism/Christianity down through the centuries?


  • #16
    thetonynator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,234 ✭✭✭thetonynator


    dsmythy wrote: »
    Didn't bother the British did it :D

    More as a way of protecting themselves from attacks through here by other countries really . .and a desire to have a big empire, so they might as well have had the nearest neighbour as well. . .


  • #17
    dsmythy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,560 ✭✭✭✭dsmythy


    thetonynator wrote: »
    More as a way of protecting themselves from attacks through here by other countries really . .and a desire to have a big empire, so they might as well have had the nearest neighbour as well. . .

    Plenty of other Empire desiring sorts around at the same time and if that wasn't the reason the fact that you're an underdeveloped island of the wrong type of Christianity might have raised an eyebrow or two.


  • #18
    Owldshtok
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 292 ✭✭Owldshtok


    Corvus Maximus wrote: »
    Here's a more pertinent question - What do you think Ireland would be like, if we hadn't of been subjected to Catholicism/Christianity down through the centuries?

    If there hadn't been Catholicism then we'ed probably mostly be Prodestant or Presbyterian

    If there hadn't been Christianity , Islam would have quickly stepped in.


  • #19
    Rds1989
    Closed Accounts Posts: 133 ✭✭Rds1989


    Well for one thing there might not be an ireland as we know it but a number of different states. We probably would be more confident as a people, we'd be all speaking irish probably with everyone speaking english as a second language. There would be no trouble in northern ireland because there would be no northern ireland or plantations. We'd have brehon law and have a society even more divided by class than now.


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