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Oh, wow, this is nuts.
In 1999, #NorthernIreland secretaries were issues documents on how to correctly refer to #Ireland and #Britain. The article describes it as being written for #PeterMendelson, but it sounds like a standard document issues to all secretaries.
Apparently as late as 1999, #NI Secretaries had to be specifically advised not to refer to the #RepublicOfIreland as the #IrishFreeState, a political entity that had not existed since 1937.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0824/1401391-northern-ireland-briefing-papers/
Also they were not to refer to Britain as "the mainland". You'd think this is obvious, but it isn't so to too many Sasanaí, because of #imperialism and #colonialism
My dad encountered this attitude when he was working. A British vendor talked about the business they did "on the mainland". Dad raised his hand and asked "So are you talking about France, Germany, Switzerland...?" This was in the 1990s.
It also adivses not to refer to Northern Ireland as #Ulster or as "The Province". Actually, can we get this piece of advice to everyone in the UK and some people in Ireland? Because NI is not Ulster. Ulster is one of the provinces of Ireland, and contains nine counties. Northern Ireland comprises six of those counties, making it ⅔ of Ulster. Yet so many people use "Ulster" to mean "Northern Ireland".
Speaking of which, #Unionists need to stop using the #RedHand as a symbol. The Red Hand is a very specifically #Gaelic symbol; for Anglos to use it is crass #CulturalAppropiation, and that's actual cultural appropriation, not the kind of bullshit that is stereotypical of Tumblr.
""Eire - official name of the Republic in Irish. Refers to the island of Ireland and implies claim to the 6 counties comprising Northern Ireland. Unacceptable."
In ainm Badhb Dearg, Rí na Sídhe, this is amazingly wrong.
'Eire' is not the Irish name of the Republic of Ireland. The name of the country is Éire. It is a completely different word. No, I'm not being pedantic. The fada matters.
'Éire' meand 'Ireland'. 'Eire' means burden. They are different words.
Also, no, Éire does not imply a claim to Northern Ireland. It is simply the name of the country in Irish, but can ALSO be used for the island. Indeed, British media often makes a point of referring to Ireland as 'Eire' in English to deny legitimacy to the independence of Ireland.
@Infrapink Could be worse. They could call it The Land of the Ire.
@Infrapink In fairness, the Republic refers to itself as Ireland, although it comprises only 26 of the island’s 32 counties. And unionists complain about this, even as they go on to refer to Northern Ireland as Ulster.
Both may be wrong, strictly speaking. But at least Ireland is 81.25% right, as compared to Ulster’s mere 66.6%.
@marcas The actual name of the country is Ireland. It says so right in Article 4 of the Constitution:
https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html
Thus Ireland refers either to the country or the island depending on context. Calling it Republic of Ireland is like calling someone Mx. Alex Smith. 'Mx.' isn't part of Alex's name, it's a descriptor (which would distinguish them from Mr. Alex Smith and Ms Alex Smith).
@Infrapink Thank you. As it happens, though, I knew that.
Art. 4 or no, complaining when NI people call their place Ulster has as much and as little merit as complaining when ROI people call their place Ireland. It’s as ludicrous as the Greek-Macedonian spat over what the latter would call itself.
But if unionists so complain, my suggestion is that they vote for a UI in a border poll and then, as citizens of the Republic with TDs in the Dáil, seek to change the country’s name.
@faduda I'll get to that on.
@Infrapink
What's remarkable is that the author of the text doesn't seem to understand *why* some of the phrasing is objectionable.
@faduda The culture of England has rarely included a respect for that of other countries.
@Infrapink
Textbook example of a story that would lose precisely nothing and might even be improved by linking to the actual document - or at least the full text. Why can't we enjoy the full flavour of the original? Were they denied permission to scan it? Do they just not trust their audience to leave the site?
@faduda It's not an RTÉ thing. The article was written by a news agency, which RTÉ bought it from (as the the Guardian and a bunch of other news sites). It's the Press Association that isn't providing the document.
I did some quick googling but wasn't able to find a copy.
@Infrapink it's an every single news outlet thing.
They seem to be allergic to linking to original documents, reports etc.
And yet they'll embed a tweet from @dogsniffer99 giving his opinion on the latest Trump arrest.