are we in Ireland like the UK citizens?

Andy From Sligo

You know how the British are defensive and pashionate of a lot of things like when it comes to the £ currency and keeping it (none of that euro note malarkey) - not wanting to use Kg preferring to use stones and ounces / want to use inches and feet instead of centimetres , not wanting to get rid of their MPH road signage and wanting to stick to driving on the left - and now lately citing one of the reasons for Brexiting because one of the reasons being they want to get their country back (whatever that means) and not being dictated to by Brussels .... are we the same in Ireland on the whole, do we feel as passionate about all things or have we become complacent and just do as we are told? or just go with the flow. With the exception about Water Charges , i cant think what else has really got our backs up and standing up for what we feel passionate about.

Ruu

No, our "leaders" bend over for Merkel and company.

jive

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

i cant think what else has really got our backs up and standing up for what we feel passionate about.

we literally stood up for the boys in green a week ago... some people

TheDoctor

And also sat down for them

harney

You might as well speak Chinese or Gaelic to me when you use stones and ounces for weight.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

TheDoctor wrote: »

And also sat down for them

Even took our shoes off for them

Ruu

Ruu wrote: »

No, our "leaders" bend over for Merkel and company.

I agree that our 'leaders' are chocolate teapots when it comes to having any gumption of fighting our corner, but that spineless buffoon Johnson is a disgrace and should be fired with balls of his own shíte for his conduct. The EU is in need of serious reform and it is rotten with bureaucratic dictatorship who show absolute contempt for sovereignty but leaving the EU was the nuclear option and once he achieved this he walked away from Rome burning. A disgusting coward

PARlance

I don't mind.

WesternZulu

I think a lot of the reasons as to why the UK is so reluctant to let go of things like their currency, imperial systems of measurement etc is down to their emperictic past.

For better or worse they believe that they should be the ones setting the rules rather than following them.

Andy From Sligo

Deleted User wrote: »

I agree that our 'leaders' are chocolate teapots when it comes to having any gumption of fighting our corner, but that spineless buffoon Johnson is a disgrace and should be fired with balls of his own shíte for his conduct. The EU is in need of serious reform and it is rotten with bureaucratic dictatorship who show absolute contempt for sovereignty but leaving the EU was the nuclear option and once he achieved this he walked away from Rome burning. A disgusting coward

Farage has resigned today - lit the nation with his racist posters and views .... now he's buggering off out of it

ScumLord

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

are we the same in Ireland on the whole, do we feel as passionate about all things or have we become complacent and just do as we are told? or just go with the flow. With the exception about Water Charges , i cant think what else has really got our backs up and standing up for what we feel passionate about.

There's being passionate about something and then just being over nostalgic. Britain wants to hold onto old school measuring systems when the rest of the world has pretty much moved on to a better integrated system. That's just stupid.

Ireland is quite rightly following global trends. If you want to succeed these days as a small nation and no matter how "great" Britain thinks it is it can't survive as an island, it never has, it's always been plugged into a global market now it seems to be throwing it's toys out of the pram because it's not the top dog anymore. Britain's independance day was the most sickening slogan a colonial power could have come up with.

Fratton Fred

ScumLord wrote: »

There's being passionate about something and then just being over nostalgic. Britain wants to hold onto old school measuring systems when the rest of the world has pretty much moved on to a better integrated system. That's just stupid.

Ireland is quite rightly following global trends. If you want to succeed these days as a small nation and no matter how "great" Britain thinks it is it can't survive as an island, it never has, it's always been plugged into a global market now it seems to be throwing it's toys out of the pram because it's not the top dog anymore. Britain's independance day was the most sickening slogan a colonial power could have come up with.

Maybe we could meet up for a few 568ml and you could teach me this new fangled metric thingy.

Andy From Sligo

going back a few years in UK this grocer refused point blank to weigh/sell his produce in kg and display it on the board as Kg, put up a great fight... lost in the end though, think he got a pretty hefty fine and a couple of weeks in prison for it as well I think i remember -

makes you wonder now , I suppose when they are properly out of the EU they can if they wish to not have to teach metric in school and go back to feet and inches now and old weights couldnt they? - I think they only had to change to metric because europe dictated that they had to use them

Winterlong

The UK are not as obsessed about us as some of us are about them.

LordSutch

ScumLord wrote: »

There's being passionate about something and then just being over nostalgic. Britain wants to hold onto old school measuring systems when the rest of the world has pretty much moved on to a better integrated system. That's just stupid.

Ireland is quite rightly following global trends. If you want to succeed these days as a small nation and no matter how "great" Britain thinks it is it can't survive as an island, it never has, it's always been plugged into a global market now it seems to be throwing it's toys out of the pram because it's not the top dog anymore. Britain's independance day was the most sickening slogan a colonial power could have come up with.

Re the global market, isn't that the whole point of Brexit? to trade globally, free from the constraints of the EU ( as the Brexiteers would see it).

Arsemageddon

The bloody EU - how dare they impose their convenient and logical metric system of measurement on us - the fascist barstards!

The flying mouse

I love weighing myself in kilos than stones, it makes me feel lighter...

Badly Drunk Boy

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

makes you wonder now , I suppose when they are properly out of the EU they can if they wish to not have to teach metric in school and go back to feet and inches now and old weights couldnt they? - I think they only had to change to metric because europe dictated that they had to use them

As others have said, why chose the logical, convenient system over tradition?

The flying mouse wrote: »

I love weighing myself in kilos than stones, it makes me feel lighter...

Do you mean kilos are better than pounds (rather than stones)? For example, 10 stone = 140 pounds = 63.5 kg.

Andy From Sligo

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Farage has resigned today - lit the nation with his racist posters and views .... now he's buggering off out of it

Another worm

MPFGLB

I feel more and more the comparisons between western countries no longer holds water

Instead the real comparisons regardless of nationality is between those on the political right and those on the left and/or between those who have (highly educated, professional, or even upwardly mobile/well to do ,etc) and those who have not

I am Irish in London but I fee I have more in common with many Londoners than I have with many Irish , same with Australians, Americans, Europeans

And I think the internet has gone someway to break down borders of nationality and unite/divide in other ways

But of course that does not take away from mine and others pride in being Irish
However the people I align with in my thinking and outlook are not necessarily categories by nationality

riclad

The decimal system is more logical than the old system,
easier to use on computers, 10, 100, 1000 .
And other countrys use it,
everything changes ,
We,ll probably use plastic banknotes, and in the future i think more
people will like apple pay, android pay, than use cash or credit cards .
A phone is more secure than a card as it uses digital tokens,
credit cards can be copied or cloned .
The EU Needs reform as it seems more concerned with the needs of big corporations than ordinary people ,
as in ttip trade agreement ,isds, new courts for companys to sue governments etc

The_Kew_Tour

No we are quiet different in my opinion, but as a landscape we are getting closer to them every year that goes by

Andy From Sligo

I cant remember now but when we were told in 2002 that we would have to change over to yoyo's were we passionate and distressed at loosing the Irish Punt? .... can you imagine what would happen if the UK had to loose their pound notes , even when its been suggested in the past people in the UK have almost had a coronary heart attack at the thought of it and would initiate a WW3 to keep the pound lol

rainbowtrout

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I cant remember now but when we were told in 2002 that we would have to change over to yoyo's were we passionate and distressed at loosing the Irish Punt? ....

I wasn't passionate or distressed when we changed over to euros on New Year's Day 2002. I was as hungover as fcuk and just thought 'oh new money' when the girl in the shop handed me over euro for change when I handed in punts while buying a breakfast roll.

The euro changeover here was pretty smooth, and I remember lots of people queuing at banks in the first week or two of January to get their money changed to euro as quickly as possible. Didn't see much distress there.

riffmongous

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

makes you wonder now , I suppose when they are properly out of the EU they can if they wish to not have to teach metric in school and go back to feet and inches now and old weights couldnt they? - I think they only had to change to metric because europe dictated that they had to use them

Why stop there? My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's just the way I likes it

Andy From Sligo

just to think , in the future some time brussels could dictate to Ireland (ROI, you know the Europe part of Ireland hehe) that we will all have to drive on the other side of the road ... but Britain who will be out of the EU will be able to still drive on the left. That will be fun crossing the border from republic to nor'n ireland haha

Winterlong

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

just to think , in the future some time brussels could dictate to Ireland (ROI, you know the Europe part of Ireland hehe) that we will all have to drive on the other side of the road ... but Britain who will be out of the EU will be able to still drive on the left. That will be fun crossing the border from republic to nor'n ireland haha

Lets not get too sensationalist huh?

Badly Drunk Boy

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

just to think , in the future some time brussels could dictate to Ireland (ROI, you know the Europe part of Ireland hehe) that we will all have to drive on the other side of the road ... but Britain who will be out of the EU will be able to still drive on the left. That will be fun crossing the border from republic to nor'n ireland haha

In Thailand, they drive on the left hand side. 90% of its borders are with countries that have right hand drive. They make it work, and there are other parts of the world that do it too.

Would you advocate the UK keeping it real by going to pre-decimal currency? I bet you 2 bob you wouldn't!

murpho999

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I cant remember now but when we were told in 2002 that we would have to change over to yoyo's were we passionate and distressed at loosing the Irish Punt? .... can you imagine what would happen if the UK had to loose their pound notes , even when its been suggested in the past people in the UK have almost had a coronary heart attack at the thought of it and would initiate a WW3 to keep the pound lol

Irish people were very enthusiastic about the Euro introduction (what are yoyo's ? And why does it have an apostrophe?).

Shows the difference in attitude and we all benefit when we travel.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

LordSutch

Agreed^ we also talk about going for a pint and how much mileage is clocked up on our cars and about how many 'quid' that will cost. I've even seen people counting their pennies on the shop counter (cents).

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Grayson

We're a lot smaller than the UK and we're a lot more cynical in some ways. Studies showed that Irish people are a lot better at dealing with ambiguity. Even hiberno english reflects that. There's loads of ambiguous phrases that make complete sense to us but sound ridiculous to others.

It's something I try to express in threads about the Irish language. We are Irish. We have our own ways of talking and thinking that are unique. I don't think we need to worry about becoming too English because we're not really suited to it. Take our kind of patriotism. It's entirely different to the UK & American type. We take pride in ourselves but it's tinged with a healthy dose of self depreciation. If anyone here gets too into it the response of the rest of the country is to get over yourself.

ScumLord

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I can't think in stone at all anymore. I find it much easier to think in Kilos because just about everything is weighed in Kilos these days.

Still do refer to my height in ft and inches, but I just reference my height in ft and inches, I haven't measured myself in ages and because everything I deal with on a daily basis in measured in metres I starting to use myself as a reference for a metre.

It's all about familiarity, if you're using metric on a daily basis your brain switches over, if you're not measuring things out regularly in metric it becomes second nature.

Andy From Sligo

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

are we in Ireland like the UK citizens?

I only opened this thread because I wanted to know what this heading actually meant. I'm none the wiser now.

riffmongous

Do any young people use pounds and ounces while cooking anymore? My mother would but I never had a clue. Beyond beer, who uses a pint or quart for cooking?

Grayson

riffmongous wrote: »

Do any young people use pounds and ounces while cooking anymore? My mother would but I never had a clue. Beyond beer, who uses a pint or quart for cooking?

I do. But I don't own a cooking book that was written in the last 20 years.

Andy From Sligo

Deleted User wrote: »

I only opened this thread because I wanted to know what this heading actually meant. I'm none the wiser now.

im no good at thinking up titles

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

JupiterKid

I use a combo of metric and imperial and know the conversion rates pretty well. I was educated with the metric system and the imperial really makes no sense at all. Measure my height in feet and inches but for all distance measurements I use centimetres, metres and kilometres. Hell, Ireland has been using kilometres on its road signs for over 40 years now.

We are proud of our counrry but also have a healthy degree of self-deprecation which is all good. There are very few "little Irelanders" here. We know that going with global trends - not resisting them - is the only game in town.

Andy From Sligo

JupiterKid wrote: »

.... Hell, Ireland has been using kilometres on its road signs for over 40 years now.

...

has it? - when I moved here in 1991 and for some time it was mph road signs and even the black and white distance signs to places (when they were about ) used miles

Andy From Sligo

still think its odd, the road signs in kmh when just across border is MPH still, I mean I can understand if the distance signs were in km and the road signs were in Kmh it might get confusing , but still. and its not like we are like other Europeans that have adopted driving on the right of the road and using the kmh road signs. - hopefully if we get this 'cross-border' initiative with NI they are talking about maybe as well as not putting border control back, maybe we could have Ireland wide MPH roads signs back again

Skylinehead

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

The worst thing about America and measuring systems is Fahrenheit.

http://imgur.com/gallery/3ZidINK

I think there comes a point where they should admit defeat...

maudgonner

Deleted User wrote: »

I only opened this thread because I wanted to know what this heading actually meant. I'm none the wiser now.

All of the UK citizens are in Ireland. (To collect their passports maybe?). Andy is wondering whether we too are in Ireland.

LordSutch

JupiterKid wrote: »

Ireland has been using kilometres on its road signs for over 40 years now.

Fifteen years at the most

I remember well all the hullabaloo regarding peoples speedos and being told by the AA to read the smaller inner circle for the new Km/h speed limits! The UK of course have stayed with Miles per hour, which is is one good way to tell when you have crossed the border from the ROI into the UK.

beardybrewer

Skylinehead wrote: »

The worst thing about America and measuring systems is Fahrenheit.

http://imgur.com/gallery/3ZidINK

I think there comes a point where they should admit defeat...

Not bloody likely. In fact, I'm surprised the imperial ounce and pint are bigger. I'd expect 'merica to have super-sized em.

maudgonner

LordSutch wrote: »

Fifteen years at the most

I remember well all the hullabaloo regarding peoples speedos and being told by the AA to read the smaller inner circle for the new Km/h speed limits! The UK of course have stayed with Miles per hour, which is is one good way to tell when you have crossed the border from the ROI into the UK.

For speed limits, yes. The changeover came in 2004-2005.

But distance signs had displayed kilometres (or both miles & kms) since the 1970s.

Alun

beardybrewer wrote: »

Not bloody likely. In fact, I'm surprised the imperial ounce and pint are bigger. I'd expect 'merica to have super-sized em.

Ounces and by extension fluid ounces are virtually the same, with minor differences due to how they're defined, on both sides of the Atlantic. The big difference is that a US pint is 16 fl.oz., and therefore weighs 1lb, whereas an Imperial pint is 20 fl.oz., leading the old phrase "A pint of pure water weighs a pound and a quarter".

Andy From Sligo

maudgonner wrote: »

For speed limits, yes. The changeover came in 2004-2005.

But distance signs had displayed kilometres (or both miles & kms) since the 1970s.

naw, im sure they were all black and white distance signs in miles as I say when I moved over in the 90's - there were no km distance signs pretty sure/almost sure - well not in rural ireland

http://www.emerald-isle-gifts.com/images/articulos/big/rssl02.jpg

Andy From Sligo

Skylinehead wrote: »

The worst thing about America and measuring systems is Fahrenheit.

http://imgur.com/gallery/3ZidINK

I think there comes a point where they should admit defeat...

so logical in centigrade/Celsius knowing that freezing is 0c rather than 32f

Lt Dan

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I wasn't passionate or distressed when we changed over to euros on New Year's Day 2002. I was as hungover as fcuk and just thought 'oh new money' when the girl in the shop handed me over euro for change when I handed in punts while buying a breakfast roll.

The euro changeover here was pretty smooth, and I remember lots of people queuing at banks in the first week or two of January to get their money changed to euro as quickly as possible. Didn't see much distress there.

I was working that day and hung over. The workplace was like a bank, loads of people came in who probably would not normally come in to shop. Pure nightmare. Even the customers were loosing the rag when staff were apparently skipping ques, even if it was to fix the tills.

There was a bit of novelty in it. People were underwhelmed by the look of the notes. Of course, they shysters that they are, all the shops and pubs tried to hike up the prices on everything really quick. One Euro was about 73 Irish pence. A Snickers bar was about 30 p. Come the Euro, it goes up to a Euro. Thief!!

I suppose Joe Higgins did go to jail on behalf of the people of Finglas over paying bin charges. That allowed many Fingal people not paying for years, while many other parts of the country were all ready paying for their bins, bit like the water (many in the West for paying for decades)

The turf scenerio was a good 15 years too late. Parts of Galway had their bogs taken off them since the late 1990's to early 2000's

Pensioners and the IFA tend to scare the government when they go to protest. They often get their way too.