# 'The Troubles' - Orgin of the name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 22, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357 "2004-07-22T15:36:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357/1 "2004-07-22T15:36:43Z")

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I have always thought the term ‘The Troubles’ to refer to the period of unrest in Northern Ireland in the late 20th Century to be a wonderful term, albeit for such a horribly violent, devisive and depressing period in Irish history. Does anyone knopw the origination of the term, if it even has one? Or did it just come about generically?

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357/2 "2004-07-22T15:48:38Z")

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I’ve always taken it to be a) a euphemism, and b) typical understatement (cf. “The Emergency” to refer to WWII).

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**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357/3 "2004-07-22T15:56:12Z")

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I can’t find anything as to the origins of the term.

Maybe if you look around these links you may find something.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/troubles/index.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/troubles/index.shtml)  
[http://www.wordiq.com/definition/The\_Troubles](http://www.wordiq.com/definition/The_Troubles)

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**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357/4 "2004-07-22T16:07:24Z")

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Likewise, I’ve always viewed it as at attempt at a euphemistic understatement, of the “oh, it’s no matter, it will all blow over soon” sort of thing. :smack SImply don’t know who coined the phrase though ☹ :smack:

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357/5 "2004-07-22T16:15:21Z")

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As a euphemism, it doesn’t compare to the term a few elderly Southerners use for the American Civil War: “the Recent Unpleasantness.”

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**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-troubles-orgin-of-the-name/256357/6 "2004-07-22T16:36:59Z")

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Without any cite available to hand, I always believed that _The Troubles_ was a term coined by the UK press in 1919 to describe the goings-on in ireland at the time. But these days, the phrase normally applies to the tension in the North since 1968.