People who still think Ireland is part of the UK

The J Stands for Jay

PCeeeee wrote: »

Absolutely. The traditional unionist garb is unique and simply cannot be sourced from the EU.

Just have the ships from Bangladesh go to Dublin instead of Portsmouth or wherever.

martinedwards

on the other hand, in the olden days when we could have holidays, every attraction in Portugal and Spain have a "and where do you come from?" visitors questionnaire.

Northern Ireland just doesn't appear.

STRICTLY speaking to keep their stats right we'd eventually cave and say UK.

our island has it's own issues and identities and folk far away have their own problems.

I have a mate who's really keen on American wrestling. He thinks I should be interested, but frankly?

I care about as much as an underpaid Spanish till jockey cares about Irish affairs

Hotblack Desiato

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

Jesus, life is rough. I must give Bob Geldof a ring, see if he can do something...

How is it Tesco in the Republic are managing fine?

Granadino wrote: »

I doubt most Irish would be able to point out Laos on a map

I doubt most Irish would be able to point out Laois on a map :pac:

Hamsterchops

McGinniesta wrote: »

Oddly, my parents think that northern ireland isn't part of the uk.

Quite obviously it is, (how could they not know this), but for how much longer? That's the question.

VinLieger

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

How is it Tesco in the Republic are managing fine?

Because Tesco Ireland along with every other supermarket operator spent the last 4 years adjusting their supply chains so they weren't as dependent UK suppliers or transit via the UK landbridge anymore.

They were assisted in this by the Irish Government adding several new high capacity RoRo routes between us and Europe.

The J Stands for Jay

VinLieger wrote: »

Because Tesco Ireland along with every other supermarket operator spent the last 4 years adjusting their supply chains so they weren't as dependent UK suppliers or transit via the UK landbridge anymore.

They were assisted in this by the Irish Government adding several new high capacity RoRo routes between us and Europe.

Tesco Ireland sources products locally, in addition to what cane through the UK. For NI, they were probably not given enough time to adapt by the lack of certainty caused by the UK negotiations.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

McGaggs wrote: »

I reckon a fair few could. Laos gets loads of Irish backpackers who arrive crossing the border with Vietnam.

I've met loads of Irish people who spent time in Colombia and still can't spell the name of the country properly.

Nqp15hhu

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Jesus, life is rough. I must give Bob Geldof a ring, see if he can do something...

How is it Tesco in the Republic are managing fine?




I doubt most Irish would be able to point out Laois on a map :pac:

Would you be saying the same if there was a customs border within the Republic? Don't be so insensitive.

And of course TESCO ROI didn't have problems, it's a different company! You can't even use our clubcards down there.

Nqp15hhu

McGaggs wrote: »

It's more sensible than having trade barriers with a jurisdiction 0 miles away.

From which we don't source the majority of our goods from.

Hotblack Desiato

Fail to plan, plan to fail.

Address all complaints to Mr. B. Johnson and Ms. A. Foster.

air assault

This has really escalated :D:D:pac::pac::pac:

Jamsiek

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Ask most people in Ireland what the constitutional situation of Puerto Rico is, and they're not going to have a clue. Does the average person know that France's biggest land border is with Brazil? And it also has a border with Canada? Some people might know that Principality of Andorra is an independent country, but do they know that the Princes that are the heads of state are the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell, Spain?

Not everyone in the world should be expected to know the ins and outs of a small nation with a complicated history.

I work for an American company. I've come across this countless times, people referring to us as the UK.

But by the same token, the company's HQ is just outside Minneapolis. We'd often refer to it as the "Minneapolis office". But this is incorrect, and doesn't make any sense to them. The office isn't in Minneapolis, it's in a different city, and they would never refer to it as such. It would be like someone referring to an office in Bray as "the Dublin office". As you get further from a place, the resolution decreases and the details become less apparent.

Good points there. However France doesn’t have a border with Canada, they have an island off the coast of Newfoundland so it’s almost a border. Sorry for being pedantic.

Hotblack Desiato

To be even more pedantic, two islands.

maestroamado

This is kinda related i think.
I cannot help thinking that the reason why all the banks pulling from here is to do with Brexit.
UK seems to be doing their own thing in Banking area but they have a pretty big economy.
Our market is very small and i am thinking the big-guys in the banking area not to bothered with such small stuff.
I believe that we were in the same box as UK as regards global banking.
We seem to be "out on a limb" a bit right now.
Add Covid to the mix we have a bit of work to do...

JeffreyEpspeen

Deleted User wrote: »

We are an incredibly small country. If you asked people even what continent Papua New Guinea is in, let alone the currency, most people would get it wrong even though they have about twice the population.

Does the prime minister of Papua New Guinea get an audience with the American president in March every year?

JeffreyEpspeen

Deleted User wrote: »

If you asked the average Irish person where the Isle of Man, that large island off our coast, is located, most would say it's in the UK or Great Britain, both of which are wrong. So why should we get a free pass for that but America shouldn't for Ireland?



So what do you mean by educated? Do you think the majority of educated people in Ireland know that the Isle of Man is not in the UK?

Are you honestly comparing what people's knowledge of the Isle of Man should be in relation to Ireland or are you just being obtuse?


It's like excusing someone's ignorance of France because people don't know whether Corsica is a French or Italian region.

Hamsterchops

I think we forget sometimes just how small we are on the world stage. People from all over the globe see this island as part of this group of islands, which is mostly associated with the UK, we even speak the same language, intermix and interbreed, we're so interconnected with the UK, we even share part of this island with the UK, so people in other countries can be forgiven if they make the odd slip up and presume we too are part of the UK.

And of course we were, although even though we're now politically independent, were still a hair's breathe away from being in the UK - Geographically speaking.

We look out from here and presume everybody knows we're not part of the UK, but it's just not that obvious to some...

air assault

Hamsterchops wrote: »

I think we forget sometimes just how small we are on the world stage. People from all over the globe see this island as part of this group of islands, which is mostly associated with the UK, we even speak the same language, intermix and interbreed, we're so interconnected with the UK, we even share part of this island with the UK, so people in other countries can be forgiven if they make the odd slip up and presume we too are part of the UK.

And of course we were, although even though we're now politically independent, were still a hair's breathe away from being in the UK - Geographically speaking.

We look out from here and presume everybody knows we're not part of the UK, but it's just not that obvious to some...

How are we a hair's breath from being in the UK????????????

Hamsterchops

Well the border isn't that thick is it? Maybe a bit thicker than a hair, but step over it and you're either in the UK, or you're not.

Some people in far off countries just presume we're in the UK, obviously they haven't done their homework.

Badly Drunk Boy

So what you're saying is that the UK is a hair's breath from being in Ireland?

Hamsterchops

I guess so, only the border separating us...

buried

Hamsterchops wrote: »

I guess so, only the border separating us...

Despite what the likes of TLLS would have you believe Ham, The vast majority of us don't give a **** how anybody else sees how this island of ours is getting on or in conjunction with any other island over across the sea from us. We are too busy actually enjoying being Irish and everything our island and culture has to offer us.

Hamsterchops

Agreed, but I'm just responding to post #1.

"Some people in far off countries just presume we're in the UK, obviously they haven't done their homework."

Greyfox

Hamsterchops wrote: »

so people in other countries can be forgiven if they make the odd slip up and presume we too are part of the UK.

They should be but its not an easy thing to forgive

Wallet Inspector

Always so many insecure comments on these threads about how "we" aren't as significant as "we" think we are. Who would this "we" be?

murpho999

Hamsterchops wrote: »

I think we forget sometimes just how small we are on the world stage. People from all over the globe see this island as part of this group of islands, which is mostly associated with the UK, we even speak the same language, intermix and interbreed, we're so interconnected with the UK, we even share part of this island with the UK, so people in other countries can be forgiven if they make the odd slip up and presume we too are part of the UK.

And of course we were, although even though we're now politically independent, were still a hair's breathe away from being in the UK - Geographically speaking.

We look out from here and presume everybody knows we're not part of the UK, but it's just not that obvious to some...

I really find so much wrong with this.

I remember being a curious young kid and looking at political maps of the world and the different colours clearly identified and made it easy to see the different countries.

Whilst it doesn't teach you about cultures and languages it teaches you quickly about different places.
I could see that USA & Canada where different countries despite being on the same land mass and I knew they both spoke English.
Same as learning from the map that Corsica is France and Sardinia is Italy.

I even saw that Papua New Guinea (That's been mentioned here) despite being on the same island is not part of Indonesia.

You can look at the same map and see quickly that Haiti and Dominican Republic share on island but are two entities. Does anybody think that they're the same political entity? Don't think so.

I don't believe that people in other countries don't look at the same political map and see the same thing.

As for the posters point here that we intermix and interbreed. What a load of rubbish. That's common in all countries. I don't actually see how Irish and UK intermix that much and if they did I don't see how it diminishes Irish identity or nationality.

As for being a hairs breath from being in the UK? What rubbish is that?
Are Bangladesh or Pakistan a hair's breath from being in India.
Is Austria a hair's breath from being in Germany?
People don't have a problem all the countries in South America despite most of them speaking Spanish.

It's strange how many think Ireland is part of the UK and I wonder about education in other countries. I remember learning about other countries in geography in school, and was shocked when I moved to Holland and how many people there just refer to Britain and Ireland as "England" and think we're all the same and one country but don't have the same problem with other neighbouring countries. It's really bizarre.

As for being small on the work stage, I think we're bigger that countries of similar size in terms of business, arts and influence (look how popular Patrick's Day is ) so there's no need to put Ireland down.

dd973

A lot of English people have barely travelled around their country, many have rarely visited London, many London residents have never been to Birmingham or Manchester, add to that their parents/grandparents all being from there if that is the case and many automatically and lazily ball park Ireland North and Republic into the Scotland and Wales category.

A bit like the 'British Isles' term rolled out about English speaking non contiguous Europe, I wouldn't expect all U.K people to be au fait with the events of 1922 or 1949. They don't regard us as foreign because of familiarity, proximity and common language.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

murpho999 wrote: »

People don't have a problem all the countries in South America despite most of them speaking Spanish.

A lot of Irish people do have very little knowledge of Latin American nations though. For instance, how many Irish people think they speak Spanish in Brazil? Certainly quite a few I've met.

Anyway, the key difference is that the UK, our large neighbour, consists of a few territories that insist on calling themselves countries, despite not being independent. It's easy for people to assume Ireland is part of this nonsense.

murpho999

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

A lot of Irish people do have very little knowledge of Latin American nations though. For instance, how many Irish people think they speak Spanish in Brazil? Certainly quite a few I've met.

Anyway, the key difference is that the UK, our large neighbour, consists of a few territories that insist on calling themselves countries, despite not being independent. It's easy for people to assume Ireland is part of this nonsense.

I think most people know that Brazil speaks Portuguese and my point is that everybody knows that it's a separate country along with the other South American countries.

I appreciate your point about the UK and it's different "countries" but I don't think it's that difficult.
I lived in the Netherlands and met so many people who were adamant that was not only British but "English", they called everything English and just think we're all the same and I found it so ignorant and infuriating but I just said they were typical Germans.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

It would be difficult to assume one of the world's biggest countries is part of another country.

I'm no saying people are right to think Ireland is part of the UK, but there are more reasons for them to think that than there are for them to think Brazil is in Argentina for instance. A lot of Irish people know Uruguay is a country because it has a soccer team. You can't say that about Scotland or Wales.

Incidentally, given that the overwhelming majority of people in the UK are in England, calling it England isn't that far off.