Isle of Men?

Factual Questions
1

Two questions about The Isle of Man.

  1. What is it’s legal status? ie, is it part of England?; part of the UK like Scotland and Wales?; an overseas territory like St Helena or the Falklands?; what?

  2. What are people from the Isle called? Men (even the women)? Islanders (The whole damn UK is an island)? Isle-of-Manners (Emily Post’s dreamland)? what?

This was prompted by news that the isle is issuing BeeGees commemorative stamps, and I almost started to make jokes, but I didn’t want to rub it in on all you middle-aged types.
Using my walk like woman’s man…

2

I don’t know about people, but the cats are called Manx (you know, the cats with short tails or no tail at all).

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. - Henry Van Dyke

3

It is neither part of the UK nor part of England, but a Crown Possession administered by the Home Office. It has its own parliament and its own coinage (although they’re just the same as English coins except for design details).

An inhabitant used to be a Manxman. That might be a little old-fashioned nowadays.

John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams

4

Anyone have a clue where the name of said isle comes from?

5

I would give the derivation of Man (the isle) except that the dictionary gives you a classic run-around when you try to get it. < sigh >

In short, its from the Norse. God knows what the Manx called it (there is a version of Celtic that is indigenous but almost dead).

6

My dictionary (Webster’s New Collegiate) lists two alternative names, both ancient: Monapia or Mona. Presumably all three names are Gaelic and the coincidence with the English word man is accidental, although it is probably reinforced nowadays by the association.

“If you had manifested fatigue upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest surprise was to be again an ass.”
Mark Twain
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

7

BTW, my wife’s great-grandmother was Manx and lived to a great age (over a century!). She frequently referred to herself as Irish, rather than Manx specifically. Apparently the cultures were nearly the same.

“If you had manifested fatigue upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest surprise was to be again an ass.”
Mark Twain
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

8

Manxman (and I presume the PC for this would be Manxperson) is the standard use.

The old Celtic term is, roughly, Vannin, and adjectives where Man- or Manx- seems inappropriate can be produced from Vann(i)-.

Manx is the smallest surviving Celtic language, though IIRC there are no monoglots and only a few hundred English/Manx bilinguals.

9

Everything you never wanted to know about the Manx language seems to be linked to this site.

Looking at an updated-to-the-modern-world dictionary linked to this site, one finds these Manx (Gaelg) names for the Isle of Mann:

Ellan Vannin, Innis Falgey, Mannin

One of the links from the above page claimed this was supposed to be “Manx language from Manx Radio”. (RealPlayer required.) What I got was American hip hop in. . .well, true correlate dialectal American (sort-of) English.

Ray

10

Thanks Ray! Language is fun, ain’t it! :slight_smile:

And for further info on the Isle of Man, here is the official web site:

http://www.isle-of-man.com/

11

From what I’ve read the Isle of Man is a great tax shelter for wealthy people. That is something to keep under your hat until you win the lottery.

12

Just for the hell of it, here is a link where you can also learn about Manx cats:
http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/manx.faq.html

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. - Henry Van Dyke