Why do the British Media constantly refer to Irish people as british!

Raekwon · 06-07-2007 03:34PM

Ah this has been happening for years.

Golfer Darren Clarke was born in Dungannon and has always claimed to be British, but when Europe won the Ryder Cup a few years ago he jumped on the Irish bandwagon and was photographed with Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington draped in the tri-colours.

Raekwon · 06-07-2007 03:38PM

Another one that springs to mind is Kate Thornton's interview with Samuel L Jackson about his movie S.W.A.T. (that co-starred Colin Farrell).

Kate: What’s it like working with Colin, ‘cos he is just so hot in the U.K. right now.

Samuel: He’s pretty hot in the U.S. too

Kate: Yea! But he’s one of our own!

Samuel: Isn’t he from Ireland?

Kate: Yeah, but we claim him ‘cos Ireland is beside us.

Samuel: You see that’s your problem right there. You British keep claiming people that don’t belong to you. We had that problem in America too - it was called slavery.

Good work Mr. Jackson

Spud83 · 06-07-2007 03:40PM

Raekwon wrote:

Good work Mr. Jackson

I have forgiven him a lot of bad movies due to that one comment.

Tar.Aldarion · 06-07-2007 03:41PM

Even American Dictionaries i have seen have soccer down as football, other ones have it as any game using a foot and a ball etc. I always called soccer football, and I called gaelic - gaelic or football.

Dub13 · 06-07-2007 03:44PM

This works for us as well,when Irish youths are misbehaving in Spain/Greece they are always referred to as British.But when they are good natured and having a bit of 'craic' they are Irish.

So the Brits get the blame for Anto and Deco running wild in Ibiza.

R0ot · 06-07-2007 03:46PM

Shiva wrote:

Oh...and Gerry Ryan. We dont need him either.

Don't forget Pat Kenny and Daniel O' Donnell

Andy-Pandy · 06-07-2007 03:48PM

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

I dont think remembering millions of war dead is 'Tripe', if i lived in the uk i may very well do the same. Not to mention the tens of thousands of Irish that have been killed serving in the British Army, perhaps they were wearing a poppie to remember them, although this does seem unlikely

tinner777 · 06-07-2007 03:52PM

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

hey that's no excuse, i could off load a million english clowns to ireland for drinking guiness on paddy's day, i'll swap you jordan for pat kenny

darkman2 · 06-07-2007 03:53PM

I think people go OTT with this. Ive never heard most Irish celebrities being referred to as British because they are not and the vast majority of people are not that stupid. I remember Samantha Mumba was being interviewed on MTV and a caller phoned in and said - Where do you prefer living, the UK or the US? To which she replied - Neither I prefer living in Ireland (perplexing the caller a little it has to be said). Its little things like that you hear from time to time. I dont think its meant in a bad way. Its mostly just an honest mistake and less face it were not a particularly big country able to differentiate ourselves greatly on a global scale.

Thrill · 06-07-2007 03:56PM

Why do the British Media constantly refer to Irish people as british!

Wishful thinking.

karen3212 · 06-07-2007 03:57PM

R0ot wrote:

Don't forget Pat Kenny and Daniel O' Donnell

Ah no, I like Pat Kenny.

Could we claim the Welsh, as they are near us and a smaller country?

jor el · 06-07-2007 03:59PM

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Yeah and then McFadden changed the spelling of his name to Bryan instead of Brian. OK, that has nothing to do with the whole British-Irish thing, but I just wanted to point out the fact that he is a tw@t and if the Brits want him then they're welcome to him.

Actually, if we gave them him and the rest of Westlife and maybe throw in Bono too would they let us claim some of theirs as our own? I've got dibs on Keeley Hazel anyway.

jor el · 06-07-2007 04:01PM

karen3212 wrote:

Could we claim the Welsh, as they are near us and a smaller country?

We should invade the Isle of Man, then we'd have the TT races. That'd be worth the odd celebrity's nationality.

Kintarō Hattori · 06-07-2007 05:05PM

Tony Danza wrote:

Because nobody likes British people and everybody likes Irish people? I'd say really it's just because they are c*nts!

Remember this a while ago, fair play to Samuel!!

That was cool, fair play to him. Does anyone have a linky to a video of it?

robinph · 06-07-2007 06:44PM

Why do the Irish always get so over excited/ offended when someone makes the slightest ambiguous remark about an Irish persons nationality who plays some minor role in the latest flick?

I think that the quote from J K Rowling is more about the fact that they have managed to avoid having any US actors forced on them by Hollywood, Tom Cruise to play Harry Potter? Maybe he would be a bit too short though for playing an 11 - 17 year old through all the films, but he did do a wonderful Irish accent in some film before I think so he might be able to pull off a UK accent as well now after hanging around with Beckham so much recently.

Robert ninja · 06-07-2007 06:47PM

I couldn't care less what they call us. I'm Irish, and that's what's on paper, so I don't care.

Fad · 06-07-2007 07:00PM

in all fairness its a mainly british cast, and generally british people give a better portrail of british people in film

(also i cant for the life of me see why this would bother someone)

Brian Capture · 07-07-2007 10:16PM

robinph wrote:

Why do the Irish always get so over excited/ offended when someone makes the slightest ambiguous remark about an Irish persons nationality who plays some minor role in the latest flick?

.

The ones who get over-excited / offended are probably rabid IRA supporters for whom 15 August 1998 was one of the happiest days of their lives.

Mr.Nice Guy · 07-07-2007 11:26PM

Brian Capture wrote:

The ones who get over-excited / offended are probably rabid IRA supporters for whom 15 August 1998 was one of the happiest days of their lives.

I get offended by it and I'm not a RA head. It's common knowledge that we are a different nationality and to pretend otherwise shows ignorance.

Reminds me of the ITV commentator remarking on Stephen Roche's victory in the Tour de France...

"Stephen Roche , the only British or Irish cyclist to win the Tour De France."

MooseJam · 07-07-2007 11:28PM

Brian Capture wrote:

The ones who get over-excited / offended are probably rabid IRA supporters for whom 15 August 1998 was one of the happiest days of their lives.

what happened on 15 August 1998 pray tell

Driver 8 · 07-07-2007 11:41PM

Right, so naturally anyone who dislikes some in the media continuing to believe that Irish people are somehow also British is an IRA supporter who thinks the Omagh bombing was great. :rolleyes: What a genuinely ridiculous statement, even if it's one I hope you don't genuinely believe.

If the person in question is from Northern Ireland, such as Liam Neeson, you can understand where the idea comes from, but I do remember reading a review of Batman Begins which referred to the British cast which included "Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and Liam Neeson". It's not a huge issue, just a little annoying.

Hermione* · 08-07-2007 04:13AM

MooseJam, the Omagh bombing was on August 15 1998.

Terrontress wrote:

Strictly speaking "British" and "Great Britain" are geographical terms and not a political one and Ireland is part of Britain, as is Brittany.

The country you refer to is most likely the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

I think you'll find that it's the British Isles which is a geograpical term. The union of the crowns of England and Scotland in 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England led to the official renaming of the three islands as Great Britain. James I was the first king to style himself as King of Great Britain (although legislatively, the crowns were not united until 1707 in the reign of Queen Anne). Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. Ireland is not a part of Great Britain, nor has it ever been so. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland existed from 1801 until Irish independence in 1922 when it became the United Kingdom of G.B. and Northern Ireland.

It does really, really annoy me when Irish people are 'claimed' by the British as one of theirs. We may be a small country but we're still a seperate country. Residents of Northern Ireland can, under the Good Friday Agreement identify themselves as British or Irish or both, and are entitled to hold citizenship in either or both countries as they choose, which can lead to confusion. There's no confusion however with the likes of Richard Harris, he's from Limerick!

I do love the Harry Potter films though for only having Irish and British actors; I think they're so much better as a result of this casting decision and much truer to the books as I imagined them. At least this way, the characters have proper British accents!

The Sweeper · 08-07-2007 05:13AM

I love how people cut the Samuel L Jackson/Kate Thornton interview off after the slavery crack, and don't bother reading on to the part where Kate points out to him that he appears to have done very well for himself in spite of the US enslavement of black people and he then backs right down and gets the hell off his soap box.

ironictoaster · 08-07-2007 05:49AM

I do agree this thing its very annoying indeed. Shows that the British media isn't taking the Rep. of Ireland seriously as a country.

Kudo's for Sammy for sticking up for us after that ignorant comment from the interview.

Also Bono for refusing to be knighted was really cool of him.

luckat · 08-07-2007 09:29AM

Yes, it annoys me too - was looking at the BBC News website the other day and Bertie's latest gaffe was listed under 'Northern Ireland' rather than Europe.

The mainland, obviously, is Europe, by the way.

The reason the British media do this is that most journalists are not highly educated; if they say something incorrect, write in to their editor and politely correct them - "By the way, your reporter Mr xx xx referred to WB Yeats as a British poet; he was in fact Irish, and a member of the Irish Government; perhaps you'd be so kind as to call this to Mr xx's attention so that he doesn't make the same mistake again..."

The JK Rowling remark, though - I think that was just bad phrasing. I think what she meant was that there was pressure to have whiney American child stars and relocate Hogwarts to Martha's Vineyard or somewhere, and they managed to keep it set in Britain with a [mainly] British cast as she wrote it.

Harry Potter seems to me to visualise its Irish characters as inept dynamiters or lovable eccentrics, or both, anyway, probably both English conceptions of the Irish - but that's another discussion.

robinph · 08-07-2007 10:02AM

Hermione* wrote:

I do love the Harry Potter films though for only having Irish and British actors; I think they're so much better as a result of this casting decision and much truer to the books as I imagined them. At least this way, the characters have proper British accents!

What about the proper Irish accents?

There is only the one Irish character in the books as far as I remember anyway, at least only one where being Irish is mentioned as part of the character background.

Basically nobody else in the world really cares, but I'm sure that boards.ca is full of people ranting about slurs on their fellow countrymen's nationality every other week as well when the wrong people get accused of being American. But Canadian actors and musicians make their money from the US, and the Irish make their money from the UK, music and film industries. If these people were really that bothered about it then they might make more of a fuss about being listed as the correct nationality in the credits of every film or something, but why bite the hand that feeds you for such a minor issue?

Anyway where would boards.ie be without the opportunity for people to give out about the British every other day?

pickarooney · 08-07-2007 10:45AM

As long as there continues to be no distinct adjective for 'from the United Kingdom', there's always going to be confusion w.r.t. Nordies and their nationality.

The Denouncer · 08-07-2007 11:00AM

A few months ago I remember seeing a tabloid "Irish" Sun or Mirror or something with a screaming headline about "drunk Irishman gets thrown off plane".
The next day the same paper had a tiny apology printed, stating the man was in fact from the north of England with no Irish connections whatsoever.
It's classic media manipulation dating right back from the days of Punch magazine to boost national pride "England can do no wrong, glory to the Queen, and death to the thick Treacherous Irish and Rebellious Scots"

philstar · 08-07-2007 12:32PM

well guys if you feel so strongly about it...why don't you boycott all the british newspapers, british radio and british TV > BBC, ITV, SKY etc etc

(bet not many will):rolleyes:

Brian Capture · 08-07-2007 01:01PM

philstar wrote:

well guys if you feel so strongly about it...why don't you boycott all the british newspapers, british radio and british TV > BBC, ITV, SKY etc etc

(bet not many will):rolleyes:

and stop crying crocodile tears and offering sympathy for events like

- Madeline McCann kidnapping
- Soham
- London 7/7 bombings

make up your mind. Do you hate the English or not?

Why do the British Media constantly refer to Irish people as british!

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