The Star or The Daily Mirror need to beat this headline out there.

Wouldn’t the Celtic Isles be a better term that the British Isles?

No the Irish isles is a better name for Britian

Actually according to Australia’s constitution New Zealand is a territory/state of Australia. But realistically it means nothing. Food for thought!

Well it is in the continent of Australia?

Australasia is the continent I think. Or is it referred to as Oceania? I don’t know. Only google knows

Australasia

Yes – we have a slightly inflated idea of ourselves – but Hey – taoiseach gets to white House on Paddys Day .

You obviously were in Torremolinos

They call it the British Lions in that part of the world. The jerseys have British Lions written inside them would you believe? This is not about what we know its about why they refer to BOD as British. I’m giving you the answer.

It was officially the British Lions until relatively recently – 2000 or so I think. It was a derivation of “British Isles” which the team were known as. ‘British Isles’ is a more correct geographical description in any event.

It wouldn’t really be a correct geographical description at all. Similar to the same road being the Dublin road when you’re in cork but the Cork road when you’re in Dublin…

@ Bilbo, the Professor is in fact correct. We are part of the British Isles along with the United Kingdom and its that the Lions were named after. And its was British Lions until recently when it was changed to British and Irish Lions as its previous name was interpreted as meaning Ireland was part of Britain. So it is a correct geographical description seeing as the Isle of Ireland is geographically located in the British Isles.

This is because as the largest of the 2 islands Britain takes the honours in terms of geographical location this nothing more than the old fashioned way of locating places on a map prior to Google maps and satellite etc the larger land mass was easier to find and therefore used as a location point

Shem it was named the British isles hundreds of years ago when the British controlled them all, its no longer (in the majority at least ) referred to as the british isles unless you’re simply referring to Britain and its outlying islands. It is not a geographical term its more of a regional term from Britains point of view a century ago.

Its a name associated with the archipelago not the former Empire that controlled the people or places in it. Plenty of place names are named after former rulers. Plenty of villages in Ireland were named during English occupation yet are not now statements of ownership of the English empire. The British Isles is an archipelago in the north Atlantic and Ireland is a part of it. You dont have to call it the British Isles if you dont want but it is entirely correct if you do want to state Ireland is part of the British Isles.

At least we have our own flag & didn’t just stick a few stars on the British flag.

To answer the question asked : You do it , please

Why don’t they get it…its so simple…just explain to them that the Irish rugby team is an all Ireland team that contains players from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom of Greater Britain and Northern Ireland, which is a separate country to the Republic of Ireland, with Northern Ireland being located on the island of Ireland within the Irish province of Ulster, which is located in both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, which makes all the players Irish, but some of the players from Northern Ireland may call themselves British, although Northern Ireland is not part of Britain which consists of England and Wales or Great Britain which consists of England, Wales and Scotland although Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Mann, the later of which is a dependency of, but not part of the UK, and which may also include other UK dependencies, Guernsey and Jersey, although these form part of separate group of islands known as the Channel Islands, from part of the British Isles, although many Irish dispute this, and this in itself does not necessarily make one British unless you are English, Scottish or Welsh…..see its simple

@JayTee, breathe!!! Try use a full stop now and again….

Best comment. Ever.

@thomas francis Megaher.
thats exactly waht Connoly forecast
-” all we have done is cahnge the colour of the flag ”
- and u boast it as an achiement !!!!!!!!!!!!.- and worse got nearly 300 thumbs up !!

Comment of the week there

Brilliant comment, simple and concise!

Tw*ts !!

Maybe they meant west Brit ..

Ah the poor devil, the writer got it all mixed up when he saw a carlsberg ad on his holidays in England!!!! ‘if carlsberg did English rugby players…’ And then they show BOD getting warmed up for a game…. Bless him

Nope just everyone with a passing knowledge of geography and no chip on their shoulder. Don’t worry it doesn’t mean you need to start supporting their football teams watching their tv shows or speaking their language though

Geographically speaking the archipelago that Ireland and Britain are in is termed the Atlantic Isles

Only people with an axe to grind (a west-brit or unionist one) refer to them as the British Isles

The British Isles are Britain, Lewis, Skye, Jersey etc

I’ve never heard anyone use the Atlantic isles or whatever archipelago however British isles is commonly used what’s the fuss? I demand people change the name of Europe as I don’t like Germans

It’s simple though Brian , Ireland is no longer considered part of the British isles.. Most British people I know don’t consider it part of it , nor does geography. Catch up.

@ Bilbo, what ? It is still part of the British Isles the island hasnt gone anywhere. Some people get the hump over the use of the word British and refuse to consider it part of the British isles but thats their own business. It doesnt change the fact that the Archipelago we are part of is called the British Isles.

In Britain you are correct but not here, you won’t find the term used in any official Irish documents. It’s a century old geopolitical/colonial term. If people prefer to live in the past with it that’s fine but peddling it as current fact is weak. Britain is an island, British is a nationality. Something being British denotes ownership. Thus its no longer the British isles. I don’t feel insulted by the term I just see it as incorrect. But I suppose its all point of view but I can’t see how it can be seen too differently than an old world term from an Irish point of view.

As I said in the previous post its not incorrect to call it the British Isles as it is still recognised as such. You dont have to be living in the past to call a geographical location by the name associated with it. I know some people may not like doing so which is why alternative names exist, but it is 100% correct to still call them the British Isles and claiming that to be untrue is nothing short of ignorance.

Was the second time worth the wait?

The journalist is based in Dublin. You think he may have used some of his journalistic skills to work out what country he was in.

It’s actually down to ignorance I’d say. Most of the people living here actually refer to anything connected with Britain as English, so it’s not really worth bothering about.

The reporter wouldn’t have been responsible for the sub headline in fairness, Stephen.

What about Rory McElroy the greatest British/Irish? golfer

Actually Peter, it says “Britain’s greatest player of his generation is having way too much fun to retire”, It’s in big letters at the top of the page! you can’t really miss it!

Damn it Peter I WANT to half read things and over react stupidly !! I am outraged by your post.

Who are you calling stupidly?

Ian i bet your great craic to go drinking with….

Cliona you’re an ideas person

Maybe you a bit green eyes as Amy has a little bit of class ?

Maybe you are Penski material Cliona.

I have blue eyes and no class……..I hate when a stranger is right! Meh!

Going forward it is something to think about………

stop red thumbing me it hurts :(

Claire she’s with child it’d be three for the price of one

The daily edge (exposé) is the that way —–>

Explain please.

Whether people like it or not Gillian you are dead right from a geographical standpoint. Ireland is actually an island in the archipelago of the British Isles. The Great in Great Britain does not mean great as in brilliant, it means great as in bigger. Great Britain is an island, not a political entity or a sovereign state. There are over 6 thousand islands in this archipelago, of which Great Britain and Ireland are the largest…

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the UK and GB are the same thing. They’re not. The UK is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. People from Northern Ireland that consider themselves part of GB are wrong, whether they like it or not.

Just because you red thumb it, doesn’t make it wrong.

So why isn’t in called Greater Britain?

@noddyfingers – It should actually. It comes from the latin Brittannia Major which means Greater Britain. I guess historically it got shortened like lots of other anglicised names.

Here’s a diagram which identifies the differences, geographically and politically… http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/British_Isles_Euler_diagram_15.svg

Any other facts we can back up by using Wikipedia?

Don’t waste our time please.

Anyone who uses the term British Isles and includes Ireland is as idiotic as anyone who has to be shown where Ireland is.

Haha good one Gavin. I’m using a diagram as an aid for description, not as source for my facts…

I am as uncomfortable as anyone else is with being labelled as British and was merely backing up Gillian’s factual statement (fact – not opinion by the way). She’s right and like I said, it’s whether you or I like it or not.

What should we do? Should we lobby the world to change the geographical term of this region of Europe to “The Western European archipelago”? Save your arguments for a fight worth having – there’s plenty of them locally and nationally without being so dogmatic about an irrelevant point.

Britain? It’s somewhere near the Irish Sea is it?

It would be interesting to see a source for these so called facts.
Should we just tell the people of Derry to call it Londonderry from now on?
I’ll stick with my opinion thanks.

If you look at the origins of where ‘British Isles’ came from and began to be imposed on Ireland too, you can see the reason

The Atlantic archipelago is what neutral academics refer to it as. Just because British politicians and their Irish lackeys with their UK bias refer to it as British isles doesn’t mean it is

And I would say Ian that it is not an irrelevant fact. Language and the naming of places has a great impact on people’s mentality and identity. As Gavin has pointed out “Londonderry” is a clear example of the desire to superimpose Britishness onto Ireland, as was the naming of Laois and Offally as Queen’s and King’s County.

Gillian – We are not British. I know that such a fact ruthlessly haunts you and a minority of your colleagues in Fine Gael who are drawn to the British nationality – But you’re going to have to get over it.

I like the Greek names to stop this naming dispute : Pretanic Islands and Britanniae

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles_naming_dispute

@Kerron – I’m not an Irish lackey, I would describe myself as a pragmatic Irish realist. The difference is I can retain my Irish identity without a chip on my shoulder. There’s bigger fish to fry than this…

@John – That would be great…

The island of Ireland is absolutely in The British Isles. I have no particular wish to be called British but this is not a case of sovereignty, it’s just a case of geography: There’s an archipelago called The British Isles and the island of Ireland happens to be in it. It doesn’t at all imply that the Republic of Ireland is in Great Britain.

There’s more to sovereignty that physical territories

I think cultural imperialism is a major fish to fry

Just because it has previously been termed “the British Isles” does not mean it cant change! If the second largest island is not actually British, it kind of makes the name meaningless. Just because the British wont get rid of the term, doesnt make it valid.
Times have changed – change the name!

Years ago we requested that the term British Isles no longer be used in EU circles. Only one country objected – France, because they thought it was more convenient. Speaking of the French, they are the reason why Britain is called Great Britain. The international language of diplomacy was French and the word Bretagne (Britain) was already used to describe the north western peninsular region of France. To distinguish between the two they called the bigger one Grande Bretagne. Back to the British Isles, to me it refers to Britain and its outlying islands like Shetland but not Ireland. Some British geologists have even suggested that Sicily is a British isle. But that’s the British for you, they always claim what doesn’t in fact belong to them. They even call Celtic Sea the South western approaches …

True Gillian they can red thumb all they like but Ireland is part of the British Isles either Britanis or Mikra Brettania whichever you choose. Both mean little Britain even though it’s the second largest in the archipelago

Who needs facts when you’ve got your opinions.

The North Atlantic archipelago. The British isles is not a geographic reference but a statement of ownership that began by English writers and politicians in the 16th/17th century. No basis in geography

no Gillian now please leave.

The Joke ======================>

Your head ﴾͡๏̯͡๏﴿

Bridie

By the British it is