People who still think Ireland is part of the UK

jmlad2020 · 25-03-2021 10:07pm

Some Irish people think Donegal is in Northern Ireland.

Now that's a whole new level of stupidity on our doorstep.

boardise · 25-03-2021 10:19pm

murpho999 wrote: »

The country that has no say in the world's affairs that currently on the UN security council?

So are you saying that people would only know about the G8.

That's not how the world works.

People know about countries for more reasons than politics.

The arts are important. Ireland has a long literary history and 4 nobel prize winners as well as other famous writers such as Joyce and Wilde that are translated into many languages.
Music, apart from our well know traditional music we have a long history in "modern" music U2 of course being the most famous. How could people not know they're Ireland?

Sport: Often the most famous people on the planet, especially footballers and Ireland has produced a fair few of them, Roy Keane arguably the most famous one recently.

My point is that Ireland, is small, as many here say but I think we punch above our weight interns of societal and cultural impact and influence and I do not understand how people think we're just English.

For heaven's sake,who gives a goddam about who knows what about Ireland ?
We know who we are .
Don't know why anyone would be exercised about this sort of twaddle.

WesternZulu · 25-03-2021 10:23pm

I don't necessarily mind when people from far off lands don't know the difference between Ireland and the UK.

What does really grate me is British people who have no idea that Ireland is a separate sovereign nation. I lived there and was genuinely shocked at even well educated people who thought Ireland was part of the UK.

To not know the borders of your own country is pretty damming!

KungPao · 25-03-2021 11:02pm

The saddest thing is Papua New Guinea and Andorra would probably beat Stephen Kenny's boys in green.

Duckworth_Luas · 26-03-2021 2:38am

KungPao wrote: »

The saddest thing is Papua New Guinea and Andorra would probably beat Stephen Kenny's boys in green.

Papua Smurf, Andorra the Explorer and the rest of the cartoon all-stars could do that.

Nqp15hhu · 26-03-2021 2:48am

People in Great Britain rarely think of Ireland. I haven't met any who think that the Republic is part of the UK.

Also I have noticed that people in the Republic don't use the proper meaning of the term UK, they use 'UK' to refer to the rest of the country excluding Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, the correct term is Great Britain.

Nqp15hhu · 26-03-2021 2:51am

Deleted User wrote: »

I don’t buy this argument because Britain is well known. Therefore any reasonable education system should throw in the fact that there’s two separate countries on those two islands. If they can be taught where Britain is (which they must have done because they know Ireland is close by) then that slightly extra information is all that’s needed.

People in England in general rarely think about anywhere else but England (or America). They're just not that outward looking a people.

Oranage2 · 26-03-2021 3:03am

I live abroad and I'm called British or English nearly every day, in the beginning I'd tell them Ireland is independent but now I don't care as much and just say yes,"fancy a cup of tae governor"

wandererz · 26-03-2021 3:18am

Part of the problem lies in the fact that in many countries people were and probably still are taught that the UK is composed of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Rather than England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

And there is no distinction made with The Republic of Ireland.

B2021M · 26-03-2021 3:54am

I agree that a lot of the time British people hear about Ireland rather than NI and Republic of Ireland so there is not a clear distinction.

The fact that there is a single rugby team representing the whole island must surely confuse many people.

whisky_galore · 26-03-2021 6:56am

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

People in Great Britain rarely think of Ireland.

We brood and obsess about GB only all the bloody time, change the record. "The Brits" is our Godwins law.

ittakestwo · 26-03-2021 6:58am

A lot of people now within the UK refer to themselves as English, Scottish, Welsh etc. They see that as thier nation and so don't really care to much about what is part of the UK. A more extreme but similar example would be like saying Ireland is part of the EU. Is everyone here experts on the EU's borders? No because we see ourselves as Irish so we are not overly concerned about the EU.

whisky_galore · 26-03-2021 6:59am

wandererz wrote: »

Part of the problem lies in the fact that in many countries people were and probably still are taught that the UK is composed of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

I've heard of hand me downs but +100 year old school text books, really?

26-03-2021 9:26am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Whatever about yanks, someone from Britain not knowing where their border begins and ends is appalling. And in fact is one of the reasons why Brexit is such a mess. They didn’t discuss the border (the only land border with the EU) during the referendum if I recall.

We are far off their consciousness radar. Particularly in the south of the UK which is densely populated and they have half an eye on the continent. It is a bit like asking someone from Dublin where Rockall is located and what is the legal jurisdiction of the place. They might have heard about it in a song and know it exists, but most people without links to the place just don't have a reason to think all that much about it.

26-03-2021 9:30am

Oranage2 wrote: »

I live abroad and I'm called British or English nearly every day, in the beginning I'd tell them Ireland is independent but now I don't care as much and just say yes,"fancy a cup of tae governor"

Am in the same boat. The misunderstandings would have irritated me when I was younger and I would have been at pains to point out the differences between Irish and British. Eventually you just can't be @rsed anymore, especially when you realise people don't care that much. We drink different tea and have fried breakfasts that are different but basically the same. Big deal. We are like the Koreans to their Japanese.

LMC7 · 26-03-2021 9:33am

I've worked with English people...One rang me and asked what time is it as they thought Ireland might be in a different time zone to them??

Another said he had never heard of John Hume when he died.

To say they know nothing about us is not wrong.
When they politely ask where you are from and you say galway/cork/limerick etc they usually haven't heard of it.

We learn nothing but the British through history in school whereas we never get a mention in their history books.

Nqp15hhu · 26-03-2021 1:02pm

ittakestwo wrote: »

A lot of people now within the UK refer to themselves as English, Scottish, Welsh etc. They see that as thier nation and so don't really care to much about what is part of the UK. A more extreme but similar example would be like saying Ireland is part of the EU. Is everyone here experts on the EU's borders? No because we see ourselves as Irish so we are not overly concerned about the EU.

It’s not that cut and dry, people still have allegiance to the U.K. It’s more that they just think of and travel around Great Britain and ignore the rest of it.

Nqp15hhu · 26-03-2021 1:04pm

LMC7 wrote: »

I've worked with English people...One rang me and asked what time is it as they thought Ireland might be in a different time zone to them??

Another said he had never heard of John Hume when he died.

To say they know nothing about us is not wrong.
When they politely ask where you are from and you say galway/cork/limerick etc they usually haven't heard of it.

We learn nothing but the British through history in school whereas we never get a mention in their history books.

I was asked this too.. though it does kinda make sense... in the summer it’s not dark here until 90+ mins after London.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 26-03-2021 1:54pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Am in the same boat. The misunderstandings would have irritated me when I was younger and I would have been at pains to point out the differences between Irish and British. Eventually you just can't be @rsed anymore, especially when you realise people don't care that much. We drink different tea and have fried breakfasts that are different but basically the same. Big deal. We are like the Koreans to their Japanese.

Koreans and Japanese are far more different from each other than Irish and British people.

Idle Passerby · 26-03-2021 3:52pm

In South America when I told people I was from Ireland they heard Holland. Some other European country, close enough as far as they were concerned.

I was at a hen party in Belfast once with English attendees. One of them wanted to wear comedy tri-colour sunglasses and couldn't understand why we advised against it.

26-03-2021 3:56pm

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

I was asked this too.. though it does kinda make sense... in the summer it’s not dark here until 90+ mins after London.

90? At most 30-35. The west of Ireland is probably later than you. Longitude matters more than latitude in this case.

Fun fact I learned today. Bremen in Germany is pretty much the exact same latitude as Dublin and it’s longitude is almost exactly as far west from the 15° meridian as we are from Greenwich. So their subsets and sunrises are almost exact the same as Dublin. To a minute. Cork in comparison is a few minutes off.

26-03-2021 3:59pm

Idle Passerby wrote: »

In South America when I told people I was from Ireland they heard Holland. Some other European country, close enough as far as they were concerned.

I was at a hen party in Belfast once with English attendees. One of them wanted to wear comedy tri-colour sunglasses and couldn't understand why we advised against it.

Why would Holland be better known? Islands are fairly easy to memorise. My only time in Central America I got a beer for being Irish - in Mexico.

I mean if you were doing a quiz about American states and somebody was asked about Wisconsin and couldn’t find it you wouldn’t think he was that thick, but if asked about Hawaii and couldn’t find it you would start to think it.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 26-03-2021 4:18pm

Idle Passerby wrote: »

In South America when I told people I was from Ireland they heard Holland. Some other European country, close enough as far as they were concerned.

I was at a hen party in Belfast once with English attendees. One of them wanted to wear comedy tri-colour sunglasses and couldn't understand why we advised against it.

Same. They sound alike, and South Americans often assume all the small European nations are English speaking.

Deleted User wrote: »

Why would Holland be better known? Islands are fairly easy to memorise. My only time in Central America I got a beer for being Irish - in Mexico.

I mean if you were doing a quiz about American states and somebody was asked about Wisconsin and couldn’t find it you wouldn’t think he was that thick, but if asked about Hawaii and couldn’t find it you would start to think it.

It's bigger and is better at soccer. And most people don't know Ireland is an island. How many Irish people know the geography of Latin American nations? Mexico isn't in Central America for instance.

Idle Passerby · 26-03-2021 4:25pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why would Holland be better known? Islands are fairly easy to memorise. My only time in Central America I got a beer for being Irish - in Mexico.

I mean if you were doing a quiz about American states and somebody was asked about Wisconsin and couldn’t find it you wouldn’t think he was that thick, but if asked about Hawaii and couldn’t find it you would start to think it.

I couldn't tell you why they'd heard of Holland but not Ireland, but no matter how many times I corrected them, they still thought that's what I was saying. I did get greeted with Cead míle fáilte on the street by a native in Equador once though, so its the same as any place, some people have good knowledge of other countries, some haven't a clue.

The J Stands for Jay · 26-03-2021 4:49pm

joe40 wrote: »

That is surprising, I have yet to meet an Irish person that thought that.

It probably doesn't come up in conversation as much for non-Donegal people. There are people who genuinely don't know it, and there's a much larger group who pretend not to know for the 'bantz'.

The J Stands for Jay · 26-03-2021 4:52pm

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

Also I have noticed that people in the Republic don't use the proper meaning of the term UK, they use 'UK' to refer to the rest of the country excluding Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, the correct term is Great Britain.

True, but it's actually much more common for British people to refer to Britain as the UK, to the exclusion of NI. TBH, I don't understand why they don't properly abbreviate their country to UKoGB&NI.

The J Stands for Jay · 26-03-2021 4:56pm

LMC7 wrote: »

I've worked with English people...One rang me and asked what time is it as they thought Ireland might be in a different time zone to them??

Maybe they'd seen the news about the EU wanting to end daylight savings?

whisky_galore · 26-03-2021 5:07pm

Idle Passerby wrote: »

In South America when I told people I was from Ireland they heard Holland. Some other European country, close enough as far as they were concerned.

I was at a hen party in Belfast once with English attendees. One of them wanted to wear comedy tri-colour sunglasses and couldn't understand why we advised against it.

Where you from?

Ireland.

Iceland?

Hamsterchops · 26-03-2021 5:29pm

air assault wrote: »

Before anyone says part of Ireland is still part of the UK, I'm aware of that.

I remember watching a video on YouTube where there's an Irish guy from the IDA or some organization like that discussing trade on an American tv show. One of the panelists was totally confused why Ireland used the Euro and Scotland uses the pound. He seemed to be oblivious that we are an independent country.

It seems to crop up now and again. It really annoys me and shows people ignorance. What's everyone's thoughts.....

Here's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpasQJJF-h0

The reason is simple, ignorance.

Large swathes of the population in England know and see Irish people as part of the family, like the Scots, the Welsh or the Cornish people, they see Ireland on the map as being part of this group of islands, so they mistakenly think we're also part of the UK.

We on the other hand look at it through a different lens, as we've spent the last 100 years trying to distance ourselves from the rest of these islands, not withstanding the fact that we also want Northern Ireland to leave the UK.

Geography says England, Scotland, Wales, NI & Ireland are all part of this little group of islands, politics says otherwise . . .

ShatterAlan · 26-03-2021 5:39pm

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.

I can understand a guy down the pub not knowing the fundamentals of the territorial dispute regarding Western Sahara but if you're a panelist on a fcuking show about trade and you don't know the currency of an OECD country or even its international boundaries then you shouldn't be on the damn panel. Maybe better off on some bullcrap Discovery Channel show about extreme hoarding.

People who still think Ireland is part of the UK

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