"Irish Republic" and the BBC - What is their problem?

Rebelheart · 26-05-2009 04:14PM #1

Odd how when we had our Irish Republic the British refused to accept it, but now you can't stop them from accepting it. They are "Irish Republic" crazy - they love it.

How illiterate are these people? Really, I do mean that. I am specifically talking about the British Broadcasting Corporation. Why do they keep referring to this state by neither its official name nor its official description? Are they making a political point that I am not aware of? I have never, ever, ever heard or read a BBC report that refers to this state by its correct, internationally recognised name: Ireland. Indeed, they cannot seem to even manage the official description, Republic of Ireland.

The only satisfaction is that I can read really pompous English (or is it British?) academics, influenced by this "Irish Republic" illiteracy from the BBC, with the knowledge that every time they write so smugly about this "Irish Republic" that they are wrong, they are incompetent, they have not done their research properly, and they are unprofessional. And academics pride themselves on not being any of these.

daveirl · 26-05-2009 04:16PM

This post has been deleted.

silverside · 26-05-2009 04:17PM

who cares really, its better than "Eire" or "Southern Ireland"

Beanstalk · 26-05-2009 04:19PM

Its just part of the wee game both our nations play. Its been going on for years, here's some of our little tricks too, particuarly in our weather reports...

Many Irish people normally don't refer to Derry by its other alias...

The majority of Irish people (including the government) also don't consider themselves part of the term 'British isles'...

Just an observation. Im not advocating anything should be called anything by the way, im just saying, this is the way it is and has been for years!

Would you call the banana republic the republic of banana? Would you call the People's republic of China the Chinese peoples republic?

Im not sure what im saying, my eyes hurt, im confusing myself now...

stovelid · 26-05-2009 04:19PM

I'm going to take a wild guess that you probably wouldn't like whatever the Brits do.

Principally because they are Brits.

Anyway, it is Irish. And it's a Republic.

Latchy · 26-05-2009 04:19PM

The use of the word Republic to describe ROI is to distinguish between that country and Northern Ireland , at least that's what I hear on the BBC news ie, police in Northern Ireland have .......or police in Republic of Ireland have . ......

I am agreeing with Stovelid on this

Rebelheart · 26-05-2009 04:20PM

silverside wrote: »

who cares really, its better than "Eire" or "Southern Ireland"

That's true. But "Irish Republic" equally has no basis in law so why are they using it? It cannot be that difficult to get this basic thing correct, and they do have a BBC style guide for such matters.

Saruman · 26-05-2009 04:20PM

Stop being so sensitive. It is simple, when someone in the UK refers to Ireland then it can mean Northern Ireland which is part of the UK or the republic of Ireland which is us. So they use Irish republic to distinguish us.

Get over it, no political conspiracy its simply to let their audience know where exactly they are talking about.
The same way we refer to America as the United states so as to distinguish it from Mexico and Canada.

Why call them Brits or British? You know we are British too right? Its a Geographic name around long before there was a nation called England.

Rebelheart · 26-05-2009 04:24PM

daveirl wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

But that is part of my point: our soccer team is not the "Irish Republic" - it is "Republic of Ireland". Republic of Ireland is the official description of this state since the Republic of Ireland Act 1948. "Irish Republic" has no basis in Irish law. It was the name of the first all-Ireland state from 1916 until 1922 (depending on your view).

And Ireland remains the official name of this state. They must clearly be aware of these facts but are wilfully ignoring them. Why?

loveissucide · 26-05-2009 04:24PM

It's actually Republic Of Ireland.And we are officially known as Eire.

stovelid · 26-05-2009 04:26PM

Latchy wrote: »

The use of the word Republic to describe ROI is to distinguish between that country and Northern Ireland , at least that's what I hear on the BBC news ie, police in Northern Ireland have .......or police in Republic of Ireland have . ......

This.

Beanstalk wrote: »

Many Irish people normally don't refer to Derry by its other alias...

I doubt that most of the BBC staff give a sh*t about LondonDerry/Derry/Doire or whatever. The official name is LondonDerry (no matter how palatable or unpalatable that is) and they are the state broadcaster.

Yet again, the default Irish mode of forensically examining the most humdrum and unintentional of British utterances for traces of prejudice.

Beanstalk · 26-05-2009 04:27PM

Why call them Brits or British? You know we are British too right? Its a Geographic name around long before there was a nation called England.

I agree with most of your quote except this. The word Briton refered to a tribe that dwelled in mainland britain prior to the Roman conquest. The word Britannia was used to describe the island on which they were from. Hibernia was used to describe Ireland.

Karlusss · 26-05-2009 04:28PM

Saruman wrote: »

Why call them Brits or British? You know we are British too right? Its a Geographic name around long before there was a nation called England.

No we're not. Britain is an island, and if you're talking about ethnically British people, then that would the Welsh and Cornish, who are the remnants of Britons who inhabited most of the island before Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Normans had a go of it.

p1akuw47h5r3it · 26-05-2009 04:28PM

Hate these kindof threads tbh

Coriolanus · 26-05-2009 04:29PM

Eh, do you say Israel, or the State of Israel. One is the official term, the other common usage.

Not sure I see the big deal here. Some people are constantly determined to be insulted though and I can't help but think the OP is one of em.

Rabies · 26-05-2009 04:29PM

We are such a fussy bunch.

dodgyme · 26-05-2009 04:29PM

Saruman wrote: »

Why call them Brits or British? You know we are British too right? Its a Geographic name around long before there was a nation called England.

Can you explain a bit further here. ?

Beanstalk · 26-05-2009 04:30PM

stovelid wrote: »

This.

I doubt that most of the BBC staff give a sh*t about LondonDerry/Derry/Doire or whatever. The official name is LondonDerry (no matter how palatable or unpalatable that is) and they are the state broadcaster.

Yet again, the default Irish mode of forensically examining the most humdrum and intentional of British utterances for traces of prejudice.

Im aware of the official name. I was simply pointing out the fact that Irish weather broadcasters (or the majority of Irish people that ive ever met for that matter) don't refer to Derry as Londonderry. I don't have a political opinion on this, don't hate me. :eek:

Rebelheart · 26-05-2009 04:30PM

Saruman wrote: »

Stop being so sensitive. It is simple, when someone in the UK refers to Ireland then it can mean Northern Ireland which is part of the UK or the republic of Ireland which is us. So they use Irish republic to distinguish us.

Why call them Brits or British? You know we are British too right? Its a Geographic name around long before there was a nation called England.

Why use "Irish Republic" when they could use "Republic of Ireland" and at least be more correct? And indeed 'Ireland' is shorter still, and happens to be the correct official internationally recognised name of this state. But they opt for a longer version. Hmmmm.

When RTÉ start referring to them as Brits and the BBC start referring to us as "Paddies" that might be equivalent. However, RTÉ does not refer to the UK as England or something similar (even though the UK is just an extension of England, but let's not get into that).

stovelid · 26-05-2009 04:30PM

DanDan6592 wrote: »

Hate these kindof threads tbh

Typical {West Brit | Provo maniac}

/delete where applicable.

Draupnir · 26-05-2009 04:31PM

Karlusss wrote: »

No we're not. Britain is an island, and if you're talking about ethnically British people, then that would the Welsh and Cornish, who are the remnants of Britons who inhabited most of the island before Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Normans had a go of it.

I'm the King of the Britons.

Karlusss · 26-05-2009 04:33PM

Good man yourself.

RaverRo808 · 26-05-2009 04:33PM

The BBC make my blood boil with thier really condesending 'Republic of Ireland',and their 'LondonDerry' and 'the United Kingdom of England,Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland',they still think of us as a puppet of Britain,sure when Samantha Mumba was big,she was credited as being the fastest selling artist from Britain,FFS they wont even let us have Samantha Mumba,jesus I hate them,lol

Beanstalk · 26-05-2009 04:36PM

They took our Graham too! :pac:

http://bit.ly/13jqq6

stovelid · 26-05-2009 04:37PM

Beanstalk wrote: »

Im aware of the official name. I was simply pointing out the fact that Irish weather broadcasters (or the majority of Irish people that ive ever met for that matter) don't refer to Derry as Londonderry. I don't have a political opinion on this, don't hate me. :eek:

Sorry man, I wasn't having a go at you.

Obviously, it's acceptable here to say Derry. In Britain, referring to LD probably doesn't necessarily mean anything other than adhering to the official name.

Also to your average British TV viewer who isn't that well up on Irish politics, Ireland could probably refer to either side of the border. Loads of British people just think of NI as 'Ireland' so it's probably natural for the BBC to distinguish between the two.

Saruman · 26-05-2009 04:37PM

Karlusss wrote: »

No we're not. Britain is an island, and if you're talking about ethnically British people, then that would the Welsh and Cornish, who are the remnants of Britons who inhabited most of the island before Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Normans had a go of it.

I was under the impression that we are part of the British Isles, and were named that way not only by the Romans but by the Greeks.
I could very easily be wrong of course but my point is more along the lines of I don't give a crap if the BBC calls us Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Eire, Irish republic. I don't care if they name us as one of the British Isles.

edit: This is what I was referring to pretty much.

The rediscovery of Ptolemy's Geographia by Maximus Planudes in 1300 brought new insight, and circulation of copies widened when it was translated into Latin in 1409.[99][100] This spread Ptolemy's naming of Hibernia and Albion as Island of Britannia.

Draupnir · 26-05-2009 04:37PM

Karlusss wrote: »

Good man yourself.

You don't like movies, do you?

tororosso · 26-05-2009 04:37PM

Saruman wrote: »

Stop being so sensitive. It is simple, when someone in the UK refers to Ireland then it can mean Northern Ireland which is part of the UK or the republic of Ireland which is us. So they use Irish republic to distinguish us.

Get over it, no political conspiracy its simply to let their audience know where exactly they are talking about.
The same way we refer to America as the United states so as to distinguish it from Mexico and Canada.

Why call them Brits or British? You know we are British too right? Its a Geographic name around long before there was a nation called England.

Have to agree with most of the post except for the last bit about being British;) However the thread isnt about this so I will leave it at that!

In reference to the OPs statement that "I have never, ever, ever heard or read a BBC report that refers to this state by its correct, internationally recognised name: Ireland", I would imagine that the correct term is 'Republic of Ireland' as Ireland refers to the whole island or the 32 counties or whatever other term can be used to describe the geographical rock we live on! The fact that the BBC say 'Irish Republic' clearly refers to 'Republic of Ireland' and doesnt seem to confuse most people so I cannot see what the issue is to be honest!!!!

AnonoBoy · 26-05-2009 04:38PM

Republic? :eek:

What?????? Nobody told me about this.

Oh. My. God. We did it guys!!! WE DID IT!!!!

WUHOOO!!!!!

SEPT 23 1989 · 26-05-2009 04:39PM

and after everything thats happened in the country in the last week all your bothered about is whatever name some people call it

Hydroquinone · 26-05-2009 04:41PM

RaverRo808 wrote: »

The BBC make my blood boil with thier really condesending 'Republic of Ireland',and their 'LondonDerry' and 'the United Kingdom of England,Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland',they still think of us as a puppet of Britain,sure when Samantha Mumba was big,she was credited as being the fastest selling artist from Britain,FFS they wont even let us have Samantha Mumba,jesus I hate them,lol

Samantha bloody Mumba? Good God, is that the best example you can come up with? How long is it since anyone heard of her?

And if that's the sort of guff that gets under your skin, I presume you are equally hacked off that there were ninnies claiming that Barack Obama was from Offaly not too long ago?

"Irish Republic" and the BBC - What is their problem?

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