Why Do Irish People Misunderstand the Term "Ignorant"?

ClovenHoof

All my life - including several educated Irish people - have looked at me strangely when I used the term 'ignorant' correctly.

What is the origin of this eh, ignorance?

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

Frank Lee Midere

ClovenHoof wrote: »

All my life - including several educated Irish people - have looked at me strangely when I used the term 'ignorant' correctly.

What is the origin of this eh, ignorance?

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

It means uncouth in Hiberno English. Also it means not knowing stuff.

Sleephead

Ignorence?

AnonoBoy

ClovenHoof wrote: »

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

Ignorance I suppose.

Tefral

Mostly in Ireland when someone says it to you it means they think your a thick Cúnt

ClovenHoof

cronin_j wrote: »

Mostly in Ireland when someone says it to you it means they think your a thick Cúnt

no they do not - they are implying someone is a rude and snotty mother****er.

podgemonster

ClovenHoof wrote: »

no they do not - they are implying someone is a rude and snotty mother****er.

rude and snotty mother****er = Cúnt

AnonoBoy

ClovenHoof wrote: »

no they do not - they are implying someone is a rude and snotty mother****er.

Well looks like you're ignorant of the various different ways the word can be misused.

PizzamanIRL

ClovenHoof wrote: »

All my life - including several educated Irish people - have looked at me strangely when I used the term 'ignorant' correctly.

What is the origin of this eh, ignorance?

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

You ignant man.

SEPT 23 1989

Ignoramus

Earthhorse

I always thought in such instances it was just shorthand for saying the person is ignorant of proper manners.

KungPao

It can mean rude, but in Ireland it is way overused. What is wrong with using the word "rude"?

recylingbin

Ignance, I reckon.

AnonoBoy

KungPao wrote: »

It can mean rude, but in Ireland it is way overused. What is wrong with using the word "rude"?

Down the country we like pure fancy words like ignorance, sh*tfuckery and hoi polloi. 'Rude' just isn't ornate enough for us.

wretcheddomain

I prefer the term unlettered.

Irish people think it involves not receiving any mail that morning.

o1s1n

Lots of people use it instead of the word 'inconsiderate'.

Balmed Out

Its North America ive always heard it misused.

Zillah

Earthhorse wrote: »

I always thought in such instances it was just shorthand for saying the person is ignorant of proper manners.

Hole-in-one. OP is getting angry at other people for using English correctly.

tenifan

ClovenHoof wrote: »

All my life - including several educated Irish people - have looked at me strangely when I used the term 'ignorant' correctly.

What is the origin of this eh, ignorance?

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

It means ignorant of proper manners.

Seems you were ignorant to this usage, despite your arrogance.

Tarzana

ClovenHoof wrote: »

All my life - including several educated Irish people - have looked at me strangely when I used the term 'ignorant' correctly.

What is the origin of this eh, ignorance?

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

In Hiberno English it has an extra meaning - it's not really wrong. Not sure if I'd say that extra meaning is 'arrogant', more belligerent.

I've often used it the "correct" way though too.

masonchat

Edited because i feel i was harsh.

But it annoys me the number of posts implying irish people are ignorant this that or the other.

Usually started by an irish person , why are irish people so Self-deprecating : - )

The_Captain

ClovenHoof wrote: »

All my life - including several educated Irish people - have looked at me strangely when I used the term 'ignorant' correctly.

What is the origin of this eh, ignorance?

How did the Irish come to confuse it with 'arrogant'?

What do you think it means yourself?


It can mean uneducated, stupid or unaware and it can also mean rude and poorly mannered

wretcheddomain

The_Captain wrote: »

What do you think it means yourself?


It can mean uneducated, stupid or unaware and it can also mean rude and poorly mannered

But it doesn't mean all of those things, it means lacking in knowledge about a particular subject - it's that simple.

Sunnyisland

I was told before by my aunt that I was the height of ignorance, I am not really that tall ?

correa cristobal

I'm not Irish and have only been for a little while, but where I come from calling someone ignorant is most likely to be taken as an insult, even though you might just be pointing out that person is ignoring a fact or the sorts. I guess it all depends in the context of the usage though. "You ignorant motherf*****" wouldn't be taken as lightly as "You're ignoring x thing". That being said, I like using the first one hahaha

sarkozy

I work in the kind of place that gets Alive! newspaper against our will. I read this extremeist reactionary conservative mouthpiece for entertainment value. It's the nuts.

Similarly to our use of 'ignorant', it defined the evil mindset 'agnosticism' as 'ignorance'. Given Irish people's use of the term, this is meant as an insult.

Agnosticism doesn't mean 'ignorance'. 'A' is Greek for 'without' or a negation, and 'gnosis' is a specific kind of knowledge - spiritual/mystical/superstitious knowledge. Agnosticism is a rational skeptical position that posits that we can never have certain knowledge of mystical/spiritual matters beyond our perception and beyond rational thought or empirical scientific enquiry. It's a pragmatic position literally meaning 'not knowing' (as in, we cannot know this or that, but we can, based on evidence, on the balance of probability, assume ...).

Well, there you have it: dogmatic, religious nutbags lying again.

chakotha

I think it's used with the same meaning as bolshie a lot.

Bolshie - deliberately creating problems and not willing to be helpful (MacMillan)

You never hear anyone using bolshie.

correa cristobal

chakotha wrote: »

I think it's used with the same meaning as bolshie a lot.

Bolshie - deliberately creating problems and not willing to be helpful (MacMillan)

You never hear anyone using bolshie.

Hey, I've met a few of those at work! hahaha. Lately I've been fond of the term illiterate though, has a nice ring to it when you add a foul word next to it!

Mal-Adjusted

Iv'e never heard ignorant substituted for arrogant. It's often used as an insult, yes but that's a new one to me.

sarkozy

chakotha wrote: »

I think it's used with the same meaning as bolshie a lot.

Bolshie - deliberately creating problems and not willing to be helpful (MacMillan)

You never hear anyone using bolshie.

Bolshie
Etymology
From Bolshevik (Russian большевик (bolʹševik), the socialist party in the 1918 Russian Revolution, from Russian Bolsheviki, "majority faction").

The_Captain

wretcheddomain wrote: »

But it doesn't mean all of those things, it means lacking in knowledge about a particular subject - it's that simple.

Words can have more than one meaning. Using it to mean rude is quite well documented and used extensively all over the world