(Not quite sure this is in the right part of the forum…? :))
I’m not posting this to start a tedious discussion about the merits or otherwise of Northern Ireland’s major western city being called either “Londonderry” or “Derry”. But the controversy regarding the name seems to have been “resolved” by Translink/NI Railways in about the dumbest way possible (at least so far as their website is concerned).
One option they might have gone with is to use the formal legal name: Londonderry. But that’s not what they went with.
Another option they might have gone with is to use the alternative name, as used (for example) by the city council: Derry. But that’s not what they went with.
A third option they might have gone with is to use both names, and either cross-reference or duplicate as appropriate. But that’s not what they went with.
Nope, they’ve gone for their own option: “L/Derry”. Fantastic. When you try to find the place alphabetically on their drop-down menu you can’t find it in either place you’d expect, but have to scroll through the whole thing looking for it! :smack:
Even better:
The Republic’s Bus Éireann have apparently decided that the difficulty of what to call the place is just too much for them to cope with, so they’ve instead completely omitted it (so far as I can tell) from their drop-down menu. This makes finding the timetable for their buses to/from Donegal Town just a little difficult to find! :smack:
Rather than arguing about water rates or education, can’t the politicians over there address themselves to these more important issues?! :rolleyes:
Oh, wait til you actually go on the main road from Belfast to Derry.
In particular the Glenshane pass, which was briefly impassable during the heavy snow last winter.
Geography has played its own part in preventing you getting there!
This is a road separating 2 reasonably large population centres- Belfast has about 700,000 in the greater metro area, Derry has about 250,000 in the greater metro area, and until 2003 the main linkage route was basically a 2 lane highway.
Belfast is about the size of Las Vegas or Sheffield, and Derry is similarly sized to Jersey City or Preston- if that helps contextualise.
The L/Derry, London/derry, Derry/Londonderry situation has lead to the Northern Irish nickname “Stroke City”- which is what happens if you pronounce the punctuation.
The Translink and Bus Eireann information is badly integrated. Bus Eireann (apart from in their PDF menus) acts like Northern Ireland doesn’t exist. It’s extremely irritating and just bad fucking design on their part.
I think the question that has to be asked is why anyone would want to travel to Derry?
btw recently had a conversation with a fireman where the subject came up, it was kind of amusing how he stated “Derry or Londonderry” every time the city was mentioned, perhaps they’re told to do so in order to avoid giving offence…
It’s not just to avoid giving offence, it’s also self defence.
This is a Shibboleth, still used to identify one’s beliefs and background.
Firemen and ambulance crew come from both communities and serve both communities, in some very dodgy areas. The wrong phrase in the wrong place to the wrong person could make them targets.
Advice is to use both names, and to take your cues from the person with whom you are speaking, if you choose to drop one.
I thought I had read somewhere that in recent years, the sectarian issues regarding the name had faded a bit and now nearly everyone from the city proper (as opposed to elsewhere in the county) calls it “Derry City” – is this inaccurate?
What would you do if that was your hometown and another N. Irish person asked you where you were from, and you didn’t know what his politics were?
Well in the context of the conversation he really didn’t have much to worry about but I see where you’re coming from.
And in other news:
Once again a fire engine and crew comes under attack.
In regards to ambulance crew and hospital staff I would bring in a rule that if you attack a member of medical personell physically or otherwise you don’t get treated, simple as.
You answer honestly unless you really think the other person will take it badly!
Eh, most conversations between Northern Irish people consist of subtly or not-so subtly trying to “place” the other person.
Of course the super localised accents help.
Northern Irish people can often place each other’s class, education, religious background and hometown by accent alone, although names are also a big clue.
You could tell from their names, the employers they worked for, the areas of town they lived in, the streets they lived in - in some cases how far along the street - and the buses they caught to go to and from those places.
The writer and broadcaster Gerry Anderson began called it ‘Stroke City’ on his radio show [note: / is called ‘stroke’ here, though ‘slash’ seems to be creeping in] and it was soon taken up by many people, to the annoyance of bigots on both sides.
I’d already downloaded a different timetable from their site for Donegal Town to/from Derry. I can’t actually remember how I found the URL; presumably I searched for “Derry”. Anyway, this suggests their website is even more stupid than either of us had previously given them credit for!
(Goes off briefly to compare timetables…)
The timetable I’d downloaded was at http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1275643160-480.pdf; despite being headed as a “Summary timetable”, it lists more stops on “my” route…! It also lists times for two different route nos. in contrast with “your” timetable which has just the one.
Because I’m co-ordinating my travel arrangements with an American friend who’s already on the road in the Republic, advance information for my journey on to Donegal Town this Saturday is more important than it otherwise would’ve been. Once we’ve met up, we can then just go with the flow using information that’s locally available. (That said, I think most of my time over there will be in the North.)
As usual, I have nothing of value to add, but just wanted to thank you for reminding me that when I was in band in middle school, we always had a good giggle when the instructor asked us to play “Londonderry Air”.
