Well, the name has kind of been reclaimed by the Rangers fans I know, who will refer to themselves as Hun. And no research I have done has turned up any reference to the Hun referring to Celtic fans since the 1960s.
But we can agree on the great club as a name.
Rangers fans calling themselves Huns? I’d imagine they’d have to be either naive or very stupid. I was a season ticket holder for 10 years and never heard anyone calling themselves hun. It is a slur, pure and simple and if a supporter named themselves that word, they obviously have no idea of its connotations.
I am currently looking for a cite for proof for you.
There is a song that was sung by Rangers fans.
“NO NUNS NO PRIESTS NO HOLY WATER… NO HOME RULE FOR IRELAND! IF I HAD A TOMMY GUN I’D SHOOT EVERY** FENIAN HUN** JUST FOR WALKING ON THE QUEENS HIGHWAYS!”
Not denying it was used for Celtic - I just never came across it, and when I looked it up, I couldn’t see it past the 60’s. I will certainly bow to your greater experience on this one.
In know Hun was a slur. But there is a history of slurs being adopted by the group they were directed against and worn as badges of honour. I know a fair number of Rangers fans who refer to themselves as Huns. As for myself, I’m a secondary supporter (Villa first, and English anyway so the Scottish league was always a secondary thing for me). So I’ll apologize for using Hun as a descriptor,
Here’s a little more info (source is an acquaintance)
The term comes from a reference to the droves of Irish heading home at the outset of WW2 to avoid conscription. Articles in the British mainstream newspapers referred to them as “stay at home huns”. The term was also adopted as a reference to Celtic FC and their fans sympathies during the War against the Nazis.
Right up until at least the late 70’s, Rangers fans were still singing “Go home ya huns” to the Celtic support. Other clubs fans adopted it as an anthem against anyone they were beating ie; “Go home ya huns” became a variation of “cheerio cheerio cheerio”.
It eventually evolved into a term of abuse used by the Celtic support aimed specifically at Rangers fans or Protestants.
I haven;t found a cite for Celtic fans in particular, but I have found several sources for their ilk and people from, what they would call “their homeland”
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/....&pqatl=google
More like neat but bullshit. And all too obviously just a variant of the much-debunked myth about the origin of the Spanish lisp. None of the older spellings of the name of the English river included an ‘h’, suggesting that it has never been pronounced with a ‘th’ sound. The addition of the ‘h’ was just a relatively recent, pseudo-Classical affectation.
And count me in as another Scot to whom ‘the Rangers’ sounds very odd.
No Irish person would talk about Seltic people or Seltic traditions.
No Irish person would say Keltic football club.
Nobody, Irish, Scot or English that I’ve known or heard ever refers to Rangers with a “The” in front.
ETA: There is no question whatsoever about “Hun”. It is an insult and i’ve never heard a Rangers fan take ownership of the term.
One elderly man I know - Scottish highlander and native Gaelic speaker - is convinced that “seltic” is the proper Scottish pronunciation, “keltic” being Irish. I’ve never heard anyone agree with him, he’s the only person I know who uses “seltic” in contexts other than the football team.
I wouldn’t call Rangers “The Rangers” but the club is referred to “The” Rangers in many of its songs. “The” is more proper than “Glasgow” Rangers, as Glasgow isn’t part of the team’s name.
Indeed. In French, “Celte”, “celtique”, are always pronounced with a soft ‘s’ sound. I thought that this “kelt” thing in English was, as someone said, a fad of “scholars and neopagans” (and Dopers). I’m sure it’s closer to the pronunciation in Celtic languages, but it sounds really strange to my ears. So strange, in fact, that I’ll probably continue pronouncing “Celt” with a ‘s’ sound in English, even though it’s not the preferred pronunciation today.
Indeed. "From the Medieval Scotland website,…"
Props: griffen1977, in this thread devoted to this subject: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=363296
I always thought it was ‘duh Bron-ex’. GGGG
It’s “duh Zombies”.
I understand that insiders in government, and those speaking insider-ish, refer to the CIA as CIA (as in “CIA says…”, State, DOD, etc.
Of course, Yankees and New York Timeses keep the.