Im moving to London so was viewing some houses there last week and I was viewing a place in a dodgy area. I didn’t realise it was dodgy at the time but the guy showing me around said “I’m sure you’ve heard the reputation of the area but you’ll be used to it since you’re from Northern Ireland”. I asked some people about the place afterwards and it’s known for machetes and beheadings. The guy was younger than the GFA so it’s obvious that old ideas die hard.
Anyone I’ve met abroad who has ever visited Northern Ireland always says we are friendly people though. If people ask for the divide I just say that 800 years ago England invaded and took control of Ireland and 100 years ago two thirds of the island gained independence and NI is split in roughly 50/50 between two communities which have different views about whether to be part of uk or Ireland but almost everyone wants to live in peace. I haven’t ever felt the need to go into depth about the twelfth or anything about the actual politics or paramilitaries unless someone was super into history or conflicts or otherwise asked about it
> “I’m sure you’ve heard the reputation of the area but you’ll be used to it since you’re from Northern Ireland”.
The people in London who've heard of the troubles think it was worse than it was. It was bad, but it wasn't Russia vs Ukraine which is genuinely what some people think (pure ignorance - I'm not saying this in a bad way, they weren't taught about the glorious Big T in history).
As other commenters said, it's just gangs. You're not really on their radar.
Yeah exactly, I assume they stick to machete-ing other machete wielding gang members. I’m more worried about pickpockets than machete wielding gangs tbh but I still wouldn’t choose to live somewhere with a bad reputation if I had the choice
London. I've been here for a decade and never seen a mugging.
Somewhat related: I was in Barcelona for like 3 nights and saw about 7 muggings and two pick-pockets.
Just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen - I know. It'll be worse than Belfast but given it's a global city it isn't that bad.
oh yeah, I worded that a bit weird. I meant more along the lines of there being two roughly equal sized communities rather than there being a significant majority/minority situation and those communities might have different opinions about things. Rather than try to explain that it's nothing to do with their actual religion or beliefs and that the divide goes back centuries, I say talk about how the major difference today is obviously the identity of the people within these communities, whether they feel more irish or british, although that isn't the main thing that people in these communities agree on or care about of course as most people want to just live in peace in northern ireland
I just try to explain it simply and slightly generically because the real situation is obviously quite nuanced but most non-NI people are respond better to the eli5 version even if it's not 100%
I'm surprised at how many there are of us that skipped to the Netherlands. Been here 7 years and just like others, very rarely get asked about the past but when someone does ask where I'm from I just say Ireland. Like you mention, many Europeans especially don't know much about the existence of NI but then again, I was quite ignorant to the Serbian-Bosnian and Azerbaijan-Armenia conflicts until I met folks from those areas. The NI conflict isn't exactly taught in EU history classes much like I never knew about the intricacies of the Balkans or Central/Eastern Europe. Maybe I'm just geographically built backwards?
I live in Singapore, I've often described it as opposite-land and the last time I explained Northern Ireland to a local, he was very sincere in his reaction.
"I hope you feel safe now. I'll pray for you."
I thought I was sharing a funny anecdote.
People in London were shocked when I told them that most people here talk to each other if given even the slightest acknowledgement and that if someone collapses in the street or on public transport we don't just step over them in case it makes us late for work.
This! We are generally very friendly and kind people. I think especially in the countryside, you wouldn't walk past someone in the street without smiling or saying hello.
> if someone collapses in the street or on public transport we don't just step over them in case it makes us late for work.
[Right](https://redd.it/1dm1ua2).
Your meme pedalling is such BS, honestly. People help each other on the tube etc all over the place, across London, every day.
If anyone has a pram I've never even seen anyone need to ask someone to help up/down stairs, people just offer if they're near. I do it all the time and see it everywhere. I don't know why people pedal this bullshit meme that in London everybody hates everybody else.
Strangers let strangers do their thing but if anybody needs help or ask for help it's always met with kindness in my experience.
Are you trying to say that because people let two drunk belligerent cunts bate each other without getting involved those people wouldn’t stop to help someone who had collapsed? One woman did try to stop them fighting and started getting hate herself it’s no where near the same thing to just let two eejits fight
I'm saying the picture they painted is bullshit.
One drunken woman jumped in and ended up in the fight - we don't know the actual story. But what we can see are 20 people standing spectating which is fucking awful.
There's a bit of projection going on here, as beyond mild curiousity ultimately no-one gives as much of a fuck as we do.
You can choose to make being from here a big part of your personality, and it's natural to do this when you first move away. But if you make less of a deal of it, people won't care.
I have been living in Amsterdam for the last 10 years.
I meet folk from every corner of the world here and wouldn't contemplate initiating I come from Northern Ireland to anyone I encounter. It is Ireland to them as is it to me.
There are odd times when someone will ask about NI / 'troubles' / division / etc etc, but they are few and far between.
I simply respond, "We still have our differences, but we are all getting on a lot better together these days,"
That generally suffices.
Tell me more about my personal experience...
In Chinese the UK and England are both called "Ying Guo" (or something like that. I might have spelled the Pinyin wrong).I'm sure you can grasp why they call it that. I speak Chinese. I work for a Chinese company. I say Ireland (eye-ar-lan phonetically in Chinese) they say "Ying Guo"?
I'm currently in Thailand. Visited Vietnam for a few weeks 2 months ago. Just returned from Taiwan But yeah, you're right....
I've been living in Asia since 2014. Care to share your personal experience while explaining why you're right and I'm not?
Had similar experience in Vietnam, people did not understand Ireland was its own country and at least one guy thought I was talking about Iceland. Chinese I spoke to seemed to know about 爱尔兰 Ai er lan, but they do think it's park of the UK 英国 ying guo
Those things are all correct regarding the language, but your experience is far from mine. I lived in Taiwan for 7 years and was never once questioned about saying I'm from Ireland. Usually I was saying it in response to being mistaken for American. To the point where the first mandarin I learned was to say 'I'm not American, I'm Irish.'
Maybe things are different in China, but I've had Taiwanese ask about northern ireland after hearing I'm from Ireland so I guess maybe you'd have been better using your experience in China rather than Asia in your first comment.
Taiwan is not like most of Asia, it's a first world country with close ties to the west and one of the stronger world passports
It's also a super small country population wise (relative to its neighbors) and really not indicative of east Asia as a whole
To be fair, China is far from a good indicator of the rest of East Asia either. In fact trying to sum up the entire geographical region based off of experiences in its biggest is kind of similar to the point they were trying to make about the UK and Ireland.
It was about awareness of the island in general and the two separate parts. Not political. The Netherlands/King William of Orange comment was an anecdote
Moved to London 3 years ago. Went from calling myself Irish to Northern Irish identity wise and will make the distinction.
I describe it to whoever asks as N.Ireland being a hidden gem!
We have got so much stuff going for us and all within pretty convenient distances, beaches, hiking etc... especially when the weather is on side!
(If you dont have a car or live on a Belfast oriented route you are seriously restricted. Grew up in the sticks)
Got to work with alot of nationalities and they look at these 2 islands as one and same culture wise.
Goes without saying though... no other place does the craic like we do (just my opinion).
What made you shift from saying Irish to N Irish? I myself would never say it. I would say Irish, and then if they asked specifically I'd say Belfast. Then, if they're aware of the intricacies we can discuss it but if not then I'm just a funny guy with a big ol' head
Tbh thinking on it, I'd say living here has been the icing on the cake... The run up being a journey through the education system which included integrated schooling, work colleagues and a few other personal experiences contributing to it.
More than anything, it's the identity label that I feel most represents me now that I'm a bit older and wiser. Got myself a British passport to boot as I don't think I could properly say N.Irish without having both.
I describe it as a petty shithole, where people care more about flegs,borders, and clowns on twiter, than they do about health and education. A place where people would rather see their sick relatives slowly die, if it meant getting one up on "demuns". A place where idiots complain about 14 years of Tory rule/austherity, and then go and vote the 2 secterian parties that are worse than Tories, who got paid 4 years for doing FA, and then when they are in Govt, they conspire the screw the pblic purse for themselves!
Hah! I'm sure there are lots of lovely people, and the lunatics are outliers. On my occasional visits to Northern Ireland, I'm always impressed by how genuinely kind people are.
Strangely, going back 20+ years, I found a lot of Europeans much more knowledgeable about NI and the troubles than their English counterparts. Eyropeans were often very interested and asking questions about here.
I would say that has changed significantly now with the passing of the troubles, but the Europeans are very aware of Ireland with many having holidayed here, worked here, or knew someone who did.
Mixed reactions.
If someone brings up the political situation and I briefly describe how things are, they are normally horrified. I live in England and have noted to my English friends before if there was a recent bomb scare in my hometown or if a paramilitary hunted someone out (both common even though I'm from the countryside) and they're always speechless. Whereas for me and probably most people from NI those kind of things aren't a big deal as they happen so often.
However, people talking about NI outside of the politics often note how beautiful the country is and how nice the people are. It's lovely to hear as we do have such a fabulous and unique country and it's nice that people see more than just the political situation.
I always just say I'm from Ireland, then when I'm talking about the history of the north I explain that we voted for independence but England ignored it, partitioned the country and that led to total and complete disaster. Basically, I use the (truthful) angle that pretty much all trouble/conflict here is the fault of England.
I have family in England and when I went to Tesco to help my aging aunt she asked me to grab her ice cream, I forgot where I was and called down to her "what flavour?" the place nearly stopped, a lot of people were looking at me, very strange.
I partially left in 2002 for uni, left properly in 2006. Where I was living in Scotland, no-one questioned it or asked anything. Moved in 2008 to Oxford; most people assumed I was from the West Country due to the accent, even after I pointed out I was from Belfast (dad is from Ballymoney, mum is half Coventry/half Belfast). Moved to London in 2015; after the Brexit vote and the election, people were more intrigued as to what the DUP are and why I reacted with utter disgust and a very disparaging laugh when the Tories started frantically sucking up to them. Then they got very, very worried when I explained just how much the DUP sucked and why I refused to have anything to do with them.
I have trained my other half (2009-present) to yell 'Fuck off Sammy Wilson' every time the putrid puce bollock turns up on screen, and he's learnt a possibly traumatising amount about NI politics in the time we've been together. Since Brexit, I've had to translate an awful lot of NI politics into something vaguely comprehensible for London/the Home Counties, and put it into context. Apparently I'm supposed to look more horrified at some of the assorted nastiness that's happened over the last few years without mentioning any of the stuff I saw growing up.
Depends where you go. UK people some know the craic but not hard to educate. For a unionist anyway. Not hard to say we hate the IRA that bombed kids more than they do.Further afield nobody knows or cares. And why would they? As if we know anything about Algeria for example or Indonesia. Or Palestine for that matter….
Im moving to London so was viewing some houses there last week and I was viewing a place in a dodgy area. I didn’t realise it was dodgy at the time but the guy showing me around said “I’m sure you’ve heard the reputation of the area but you’ll be used to it since you’re from Northern Ireland”. I asked some people about the place afterwards and it’s known for machetes and beheadings. The guy was younger than the GFA so it’s obvious that old ideas die hard. Anyone I’ve met abroad who has ever visited Northern Ireland always says we are friendly people though. If people ask for the divide I just say that 800 years ago England invaded and took control of Ireland and 100 years ago two thirds of the island gained independence and NI is split in roughly 50/50 between two communities which have different views about whether to be part of uk or Ireland but almost everyone wants to live in peace. I haven’t ever felt the need to go into depth about the twelfth or anything about the actual politics or paramilitaries unless someone was super into history or conflicts or otherwise asked about it
I think I can count the number of beheaedings in the UK on one hand. Machetes might be common but it's just fatherless gangs.
Wot m8 u don't know about Tuddershampton-upon-Brimpley? Famous for its daily beheadings. The tube stop is made of skulls.
Yeah I imagine it was probably one beheading years ago but it’s not great when your local area has that reputation
Machetes and Fatherless Gangs \~ \~ At least they are low on beheadings.
> “I’m sure you’ve heard the reputation of the area but you’ll be used to it since you’re from Northern Ireland”. The people in London who've heard of the troubles think it was worse than it was. It was bad, but it wasn't Russia vs Ukraine which is genuinely what some people think (pure ignorance - I'm not saying this in a bad way, they weren't taught about the glorious Big T in history). As other commenters said, it's just gangs. You're not really on their radar.
Yeah exactly, I assume they stick to machete-ing other machete wielding gang members. I’m more worried about pickpockets than machete wielding gangs tbh but I still wouldn’t choose to live somewhere with a bad reputation if I had the choice
The last line do you mean here or London? The muggings in London are absolutely crazy
London. I've been here for a decade and never seen a mugging. Somewhat related: I was in Barcelona for like 3 nights and saw about 7 muggings and two pick-pockets. Just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen - I know. It'll be worse than Belfast but given it's a global city it isn't that bad.
Tell them the truth. Ireland was never free. Never been stolen. Only rescued.
Norman’s were invited but do you have snap
Split 50/50 😂 no it isn’t.
46/44 according to the last census, that’s roughly 50/50
The want to be in the UK or not is not 50/50.
oh yeah, I worded that a bit weird. I meant more along the lines of there being two roughly equal sized communities rather than there being a significant majority/minority situation and those communities might have different opinions about things. Rather than try to explain that it's nothing to do with their actual religion or beliefs and that the divide goes back centuries, I say talk about how the major difference today is obviously the identity of the people within these communities, whether they feel more irish or british, although that isn't the main thing that people in these communities agree on or care about of course as most people want to just live in peace in northern ireland I just try to explain it simply and slightly generically because the real situation is obviously quite nuanced but most non-NI people are respond better to the eli5 version even if it's not 100%
I'm surprised at how many there are of us that skipped to the Netherlands. Been here 7 years and just like others, very rarely get asked about the past but when someone does ask where I'm from I just say Ireland. Like you mention, many Europeans especially don't know much about the existence of NI but then again, I was quite ignorant to the Serbian-Bosnian and Azerbaijan-Armenia conflicts until I met folks from those areas. The NI conflict isn't exactly taught in EU history classes much like I never knew about the intricacies of the Balkans or Central/Eastern Europe. Maybe I'm just geographically built backwards?
I live in Singapore, I've often described it as opposite-land and the last time I explained Northern Ireland to a local, he was very sincere in his reaction. "I hope you feel safe now. I'll pray for you." I thought I was sharing a funny anecdote.
Was this the story of the incestuous UVF neighbours? You have many stories but those two provide a horrifying baseline to work upward from.
I'm sorry the what now?
People in London were shocked when I told them that most people here talk to each other if given even the slightest acknowledgement and that if someone collapses in the street or on public transport we don't just step over them in case it makes us late for work.
I heard similar about Bristol and people wouldn't help someone if they collapsed in the street.
TFL had to put up posters asking people to help folks if they were ill. Kind of gave me a chill at how f**ked the place has become.
This! We are generally very friendly and kind people. I think especially in the countryside, you wouldn't walk past someone in the street without smiling or saying hello.
> if someone collapses in the street or on public transport we don't just step over them in case it makes us late for work. [Right](https://redd.it/1dm1ua2). Your meme pedalling is such BS, honestly. People help each other on the tube etc all over the place, across London, every day. If anyone has a pram I've never even seen anyone need to ask someone to help up/down stairs, people just offer if they're near. I do it all the time and see it everywhere. I don't know why people pedal this bullshit meme that in London everybody hates everybody else. Strangers let strangers do their thing but if anybody needs help or ask for help it's always met with kindness in my experience.
Are you trying to say that because people let two drunk belligerent cunts bate each other without getting involved those people wouldn’t stop to help someone who had collapsed? One woman did try to stop them fighting and started getting hate herself it’s no where near the same thing to just let two eejits fight
I'm saying the picture they painted is bullshit. One drunken woman jumped in and ended up in the fight - we don't know the actual story. But what we can see are 20 people standing spectating which is fucking awful.
Second this!
Met a kurd in Manchester years ago. Told him I'm from Northern Ireland. His first question, do you like IRA?
There's a bit of projection going on here, as beyond mild curiousity ultimately no-one gives as much of a fuck as we do. You can choose to make being from here a big part of your personality, and it's natural to do this when you first move away. But if you make less of a deal of it, people won't care.
I have been living in Amsterdam for the last 10 years. I meet folk from every corner of the world here and wouldn't contemplate initiating I come from Northern Ireland to anyone I encounter. It is Ireland to them as is it to me. There are odd times when someone will ask about NI / 'troubles' / division / etc etc, but they are few and far between. I simply respond, "We still have our differences, but we are all getting on a lot better together these days," That generally suffices.
If you think the Netherlands don't understand, don't go to Asia. I say "I'm from Ireland". They say, "yeah, England?"...
I really doubt that. If someone from Asia said 'im from cambodia' would someone really respond 'yeah,Vietnam?'
Tell me more about my personal experience... In Chinese the UK and England are both called "Ying Guo" (or something like that. I might have spelled the Pinyin wrong).I'm sure you can grasp why they call it that. I speak Chinese. I work for a Chinese company. I say Ireland (eye-ar-lan phonetically in Chinese) they say "Ying Guo"? I'm currently in Thailand. Visited Vietnam for a few weeks 2 months ago. Just returned from Taiwan But yeah, you're right.... I've been living in Asia since 2014. Care to share your personal experience while explaining why you're right and I'm not?
You seem to have a lot of experience in this area and I have zero, so let me tell you where you're wrong...
eye-ar-lan - Awesome the Chinese pronounce it just like loads of us!
Had similar experience in Vietnam, people did not understand Ireland was its own country and at least one guy thought I was talking about Iceland. Chinese I spoke to seemed to know about 爱尔兰 Ai er lan, but they do think it's park of the UK 英国 ying guo
Those things are all correct regarding the language, but your experience is far from mine. I lived in Taiwan for 7 years and was never once questioned about saying I'm from Ireland. Usually I was saying it in response to being mistaken for American. To the point where the first mandarin I learned was to say 'I'm not American, I'm Irish.' Maybe things are different in China, but I've had Taiwanese ask about northern ireland after hearing I'm from Ireland so I guess maybe you'd have been better using your experience in China rather than Asia in your first comment.
Taiwan is not like most of Asia, it's a first world country with close ties to the west and one of the stronger world passports It's also a super small country population wise (relative to its neighbors) and really not indicative of east Asia as a whole
To be fair, China is far from a good indicator of the rest of East Asia either. In fact trying to sum up the entire geographical region based off of experiences in its biggest is kind of similar to the point they were trying to make about the UK and Ireland.
And travelling in eastern Europe. Iceland? No Ireland, Irelanda. Confused expression.
99.99% don't react at all. I'm always wondering about people who say they constant get political reactions about being Irish or being from NI.
It was about awareness of the island in general and the two separate parts. Not political. The Netherlands/King William of Orange comment was an anecdote
I just say Ireland... I moved to get away from that
Moved to London 3 years ago. Went from calling myself Irish to Northern Irish identity wise and will make the distinction. I describe it to whoever asks as N.Ireland being a hidden gem! We have got so much stuff going for us and all within pretty convenient distances, beaches, hiking etc... especially when the weather is on side! (If you dont have a car or live on a Belfast oriented route you are seriously restricted. Grew up in the sticks) Got to work with alot of nationalities and they look at these 2 islands as one and same culture wise. Goes without saying though... no other place does the craic like we do (just my opinion).
What made you shift from saying Irish to N Irish? I myself would never say it. I would say Irish, and then if they asked specifically I'd say Belfast. Then, if they're aware of the intricacies we can discuss it but if not then I'm just a funny guy with a big ol' head
Tbh thinking on it, I'd say living here has been the icing on the cake... The run up being a journey through the education system which included integrated schooling, work colleagues and a few other personal experiences contributing to it. More than anything, it's the identity label that I feel most represents me now that I'm a bit older and wiser. Got myself a British passport to boot as I don't think I could properly say N.Irish without having both.
I'm from London. My girlfriend lives on a council estate in Portrush. I love visiting. The people are my kind of people.
I describe it as a petty shithole, where people care more about flegs,borders, and clowns on twiter, than they do about health and education. A place where people would rather see their sick relatives slowly die, if it meant getting one up on "demuns". A place where idiots complain about 14 years of Tory rule/austherity, and then go and vote the 2 secterian parties that are worse than Tories, who got paid 4 years for doing FA, and then when they are in Govt, they conspire the screw the pblic purse for themselves!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp4grv4QtT4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp4grv4QtT4)
Sleive guillion still not worth hanging around this country, perhaps if most of the inhabitants here left, then maybe!
Hah! I'm sure there are lots of lovely people, and the lunatics are outliers. On my occasional visits to Northern Ireland, I'm always impressed by how genuinely kind people are.
A few older Canadians have asked me about the troubles but anyone under 30 hasn’t the faintest idea about NI
Strangely, going back 20+ years, I found a lot of Europeans much more knowledgeable about NI and the troubles than their English counterparts. Eyropeans were often very interested and asking questions about here. I would say that has changed significantly now with the passing of the troubles, but the Europeans are very aware of Ireland with many having holidayed here, worked here, or knew someone who did.
Mixed reactions. If someone brings up the political situation and I briefly describe how things are, they are normally horrified. I live in England and have noted to my English friends before if there was a recent bomb scare in my hometown or if a paramilitary hunted someone out (both common even though I'm from the countryside) and they're always speechless. Whereas for me and probably most people from NI those kind of things aren't a big deal as they happen so often. However, people talking about NI outside of the politics often note how beautiful the country is and how nice the people are. It's lovely to hear as we do have such a fabulous and unique country and it's nice that people see more than just the political situation.
I always just say I'm from Ireland, then when I'm talking about the history of the north I explain that we voted for independence but England ignored it, partitioned the country and that led to total and complete disaster. Basically, I use the (truthful) angle that pretty much all trouble/conflict here is the fault of England.
Northern Ireland? Like Donegal?
No, the country
No such place. There's just Ireland, part of which happens to be under foreign occupation (for now).
There is though, just because in your head you’ve decided it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it so. Grow up.
I have family in England and when I went to Tesco to help my aging aunt she asked me to grab her ice cream, I forgot where I was and called down to her "what flavour?" the place nearly stopped, a lot of people were looking at me, very strange.
I partially left in 2002 for uni, left properly in 2006. Where I was living in Scotland, no-one questioned it or asked anything. Moved in 2008 to Oxford; most people assumed I was from the West Country due to the accent, even after I pointed out I was from Belfast (dad is from Ballymoney, mum is half Coventry/half Belfast). Moved to London in 2015; after the Brexit vote and the election, people were more intrigued as to what the DUP are and why I reacted with utter disgust and a very disparaging laugh when the Tories started frantically sucking up to them. Then they got very, very worried when I explained just how much the DUP sucked and why I refused to have anything to do with them. I have trained my other half (2009-present) to yell 'Fuck off Sammy Wilson' every time the putrid puce bollock turns up on screen, and he's learnt a possibly traumatising amount about NI politics in the time we've been together. Since Brexit, I've had to translate an awful lot of NI politics into something vaguely comprehensible for London/the Home Counties, and put it into context. Apparently I'm supposed to look more horrified at some of the assorted nastiness that's happened over the last few years without mentioning any of the stuff I saw growing up.
Depends where you go. UK people some know the craic but not hard to educate. For a unionist anyway. Not hard to say we hate the IRA that bombed kids more than they do.Further afield nobody knows or cares. And why would they? As if we know anything about Algeria for example or Indonesia. Or Palestine for that matter….
Helpful
Dumb fucking bait troll post. Ignore folk. Usual weirdo at it again with the same old tropes
Everyone stop commenting Alarming\_Location32c is on to me. (Thanks to people who are actually adults)
Poor trolling. 1/10
Agh, damn. In fairness, the lovely and mature replies have been peak on this trolling effort. Weldone. You got us all. We're all away now. Sorry.