What Americans know about Ireland - CNBC interview

While it's inexcusable for a business anchor, I can understand your 'normal person' being a bit confused at times.

The usual confusion is that people don't understand the UK's rather complicated setup and think that "UK" is a polite term to refer to Britain and Ireland sort of like "Benelux" or "Nordic Region" or something like that.

The UK setup is incredibly confusing, to the point that even many British people seem to be a bit fuzzy about some aspects of it:

Geopolitical entity: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Subdivides into four regions that get treated as countries in various sports:
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Then you've got a confused quasi-federal setup where some regions are more devolved than others : Scotland and Northern Ireland are basically autonomous states within a federal UK, then Wales has less devolved power and England has none.

Then you've got the geographical terminology : Britain, Great Britain (includes small islands and not Ireland), Ireland and the collective term British Isles (which is politically charged and can be offensive to some Irish people).

Then you've sports teams:
England, Scotland and Wales play internationally as separate countries despite all being part of the UK
Ireland sometimes plays as the historical single entity which includes the Republic of Ireland, sometimes it doesn't
Olympic teams are referred to as "Team GB" even though GB excludes Northern Ireland and it should really be Team UK.

Then you've the other big geopolitical entity: Ireland
Ireland's sometimes called Ireland, sometimes called the Republic of Ireland and sometimes called Éire (using either of these terms is a political minefield and can get you verbally bitchslapped for no apparent reason other than someone takes a notion to be offended).

In sports terms : Sometimes Ireland plays as the Republic of Ireland (but you're not allowed to use that term as it's apparently offensive sometimes to some people).
Sometimes it plays as Ireland (but does not include Northern Ireland) e.g. in the olympics.
Then other times it plays as Ireland which also includes Northern Ireland (Rugby).

Then to add even more confusion you've a whole rake of independent crown protectorates Isle of Man, Channel Islands (of which there are several states) that are technically part of the British Isles and also technically part of the British system, i.e. common travel area access, +44 phone numbers, same currency etc but they're independent countries yet the Queen is the head of state and some of their higher functions of state get referred to the British Government e.g. supreme court functions in some cases.

Then add to that confused mix that Irish and British citizens can move seamlessly between the two countries and have almost the exact same rights as locals in a way that is WAY beyond EU treaties and includes full voting rights and instant recognition of residency. Making the two places probably the most interconnected pair of countries on the planet and neither of them are in Schengen and issue separate visas ...

So, eh, to say it's a BIT confusing is a gross under statement.

CelticRambler wrote: »

My son was sitting beside a French lad on his first flight to Ireland (Dublin ) back in September. The lad was really excited about getting away to somewhere foreign (the French don't get out much) and spending strange money. "Huh? We use the Euro in Ireland, same as in France" said my son. The French lad was shocked - he had a wallet full of sterling, sold to him by his local bank after he'd asked what currency he'd need.

Reminds me of the American guy I know who was told he needed 4 different adaptors for Ireland and arrived with :

Three different size round-pin adaptors for the obsolete UK system with the big round pins.
Two different continental adaptors (earthed and unearthed)
and oddly no adaptor that actually fitted modern Irish/British rectangular pin sockets which were the only type he ever encountered.

Radioshack ≠ experts in geography.

Thargor wrote: »

So? I remember meeting someone who thought Athlone was a county once, that person still wouldn't be stupid enough to think the #1 superpower on the planet was the same country as Canada, you made a ridiculous claim about Irish people and have been backtracking and throwing out strawman arguments for 2 pages now and I really couldn't be bothered talking about it anymore.

Wow, highly offended for some reason due to observations of facts being reported on a thread disproving rose tinted glasses view world?

You mustn't get out much or have ever dealt with the 'general public'.
Irish people are as intelligent and as thick as any other group of people in my experience of them.

A % of the population seem to basically just go around in a foggy haze munching on snacks. That's precisely why Homer Simpson is a worldwide success, every culture, every country has a % of Homer Simpsons.

The problem is that mostly we don't hire them as anchors on major international business news programming.

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

Are we taking this whole thing a bit out of context? I assumed that third presenter on the clip was a kind of Ali G or Karl Pilkington-type character thrown in for amusement purposes.

Maybe he was just someone's embarrassing uncle who was in looking around the studio on an open day and accidentally wandered onto set?

The younger guy and the female presenter seemed quite knowledgable, competent and a bit embarrassed!

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

"why wouldn't we" great answer!!

Reminded me of a Father Ted sketch where Father Jack was taken out of his box with the starscape painted inside.

"What's that thing there?"
"are those my feet?"

I'm sure it's on YouTube somewhere.

If somebody had Fujian on their passport you'd think they were from Fuji, wouldn't you?

Nope. It's a province in China.

A good troll doesn't make himself look like a total muppet though.

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

True, he's not a great troll or even a good one.

It's actually been picked up by quite a few media outlets in Ireland and Britain as well as a couple of US news sites.

It's in the Guardian and the Independent (UK)

Maybe he could do an in-depth piece with the Curry My Yogurt man in Northern Ireland?
They seem to be on the same level when it comes to trolling.

catallus wrote: »

If somebody had Fujian on their passport you'd think they were from Fuji, wouldn't you?

Nope. It's a province in China.

There is no country called Fuji so not sure what your point is

Molester Stallone II wrote: »

There is no country called Fuji so not sure what your point is

Well I know that now, don't I??

I've just found this on YouTube - it's the previous IDA man on that Squawk Box programme earlier this year (different host).

Something rather unexpected happens at around 0.24.