Was It For This?

at

This morning/afternoon.

Brussels, Belgium.

FIGHT!

Brexit: Theresa May and Leo Varadkar discuss backstop (BBC)

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59 thoughts on “Was It For This?

  1. ReproBertie

    Waste of time complaining. Just turn it around and have our media their PM the British Taoiseach.

  2. Eoin

    As Sky’s Adam Boulton said not so long ago
    “Some of you Irish need to get over yourselves.”

    It’s funny though how the UK has a “chancellor of the exchequer” while other countries have less grand “finance ministers”

    As for the substance of Theresa May’s supplication today, the backstop can be temporary but can only be replaced, “unless and until a better solution is found” and Ireland has a veto on that solution. That’s what the agreement says and we, the royal EU 27 “we”, aren’t changing that text in the withdrawal agreement.

  3. Rob_G

    The American president is the executive, not the prime minister. And Sky News usually refer to Macron as ‘the French president’ rather than the ‘Président de la République française’, soooo… yeah.

    1. George

      Except the word Taoiseach has a completely different origin to prime minister. It means leader or chief.

      1. Rob_G

        Tá ‘s agam, a Sheoirse – but it is also the title we give to our ‘prime minister’. Describing Leo as ‘Irish prime minister’ is completely accurate.

        1. Nigel

          Feck off he’s our chieftain and if at the end of seven years we can sacrifice him to Danu the earth goddess and get a new one.

          1. Papi

            Don’t they have to copulate with a horse and then bathe in its blood? Like, for reals, I’m not making it up.

        2. ollie

          Describing Leo as ‘Irish prime minister’ is completely accurate

          I can think of more accurate ways to describe him

  4. Ollie Cromwell

    At least the media calls Angela Merkel by her correct name.
    What an idiot.
    There’s always one Irish person looking for offence where none is intended….

    Heh,heh,heh.

  5. milk teeth

    TBF they don’t call Squee the “Irish King”; Trump isn’t the PM. Is Chancellor the same as PM as shes head of the German federal Government? I’d like to see them say “Irish Chief Leo Varadkar”

  6. phil

    They do that so their viewers understand who the guy is , I know they could educated their viewers , but you have to think about the type of people who watch Sky News …

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      That annoys me more – that she canceled her Dublin meeting because of her no confidence fiasco, didn’t bother rescheduling it and decides to loop in the Taoiseach while she’s in Brussels.

      1. Cian

        She wanted to have face-to-face meetings with some leaders before the big EU bash.
        She was right to cancel us – there was no point in her being here if the vote had gone the other way.
        There wasn’t time to come to Dublin before the Brussels gig.

        Makes sense to me

  7. Hank

    “Chancellor” and “President” are words in the English language.
    “Taoiseach”, on the other hand, just eyes up the British presenters, taunting them, going “Go on, try to pronounce me. I dare you..”

    1. Cú Chulainn

      It’s simple. Some thing you put a golf ball on added to something you get if you put your finger into an live socket..

    2. Ollie Cromwell

      I’ve lost count of the number of RTE presenters who use the word fillum when they’re talking about watching a film.
      And then there’s this strange SE Asian country they mention called Thighland where people eat thigh food.

      * hopes Bodger doesn’t throw a hissy fit and spill his Cidona *

      1. millie st murderlark

        Oh lolz how clever and witty you are mocking how another nation pronounce a word.

        How very very original of you.

        1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

          The Thighland thing drives me nuts too. Thames, Thailand, Theresa, thyme. COME ON!

          1. millie st murderlark

            It’s a soft T, surely.

            Not quite a ‘th’ but not a hard ‘t’. It’s not my fault I was given elocution lessons as a child.

            It’s because I sound like a Moore St gossip when my posho accent starts to slip.

          2. millie st murderlark

            Makes sense. Though I will agree with you both re Thailand. That really annoys me.

            See also: Turty tree. Ew.

          3. Slightly Bemused

            Actually, that is a deliberate shibboeith. When the Irish were getting educated in the 19th century, they were deliberately taught to pronounce the ‘th’. It was a way of identifying the Irish from the Aristocracy, but also addressed the fact that in the Irish language there is no directly comparable sound. That is why many Irish pronouce a ‘th’ as a ‘d’ (e.g.: dis, dat, dese and dose)

            We just have not learned past it yet, as the Catholic church maintained it in schools almost as a statement.

          4. Slightly Bemused

            Sorry, @Andyourpointiswhatexactly?: forgot to post the most recent link for this:

            https://www.quora.com/Why-cant-Irish-speakers-many-who-have-been-using-English-all-their-lives-pronounce-the-English-th-sound-correctly

            About the shibboleth, I learned that from a professor of linguistics in college (|UCD). He did reference a work where it was researched, but I admit to not recalling at, as I was not studying linguistics: it was part of a course related to business contract management, and why latin is used to remove ambiguity.

          5. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

            I’ve never heard that before.
            But the dis dat dese and dose goes against the soft T, doesn’t it?
            I’m confused.

          6. Slightly Bemused

            It seems to stem from those who originally were native Irish speakers who learned English later, versus those who learned English natively, but with different emphasis on letters deriving from their past pronunciations. From what I can tell, the best source on this is the book Phonetics by J.D.O’Connor:

            https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2064833.Phonetics

          7. Rob_G

            @ Slighty – seems kind of funny that they would need to come up with a shibboleth (surely their mode of dress and their pronunciation of every other word would be enough to distinguish them from the aristocracy), but fair enough.

        2. Ollie Cromwell

          Er,it was in response to posters on here mocking how Sky News presenters have difficulty pronouncing the word Taoiseach.

          There seem to be some very sensitive souls on here today.Can’t think who they take their lead from …

          1. Nigel

            …you? Isn’t all the time and effort you’re putting into this in response to your offence at supposed anti-British racism being endemic on the site?

        1. Mé Féin

          Don’t forget the droves of them who can’t pronounce the letters R and L.
          Woga for Roger, modow for model, pwofessow for professor. The list goes on. Teeth grinding stuff. Awful to listen to.

  8. Murtles

    English newsreaders trying to pronounce Taoiseach is akin to a donkey sneezing while eating carrots. Call him by his other nom de plume Leo Varadkar – Gravy Train Rider, Only In It For The Money, Couldn’t Care Less About The County Politician

        1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

          I must say that laddish thing he does with Eoin Murphy and The Theesh makes me laugh.

  9. Ollie Cromwell

    Well,that’s me off.
    Broadsheet regularly posts items about how the mainstream media won’t print certain stories and the extent to which Denis O’Brien is sensitive to any criticism – yet you’re guilty of exactly the same sin yourself.
    All my posts being critical of BS today have been deleted or re-written to censor.
    You don’t even have the courage of your convictions to explain why publicly.
    Selective racism is allowed on this site whereby anti-British abuse is actively encouraged yet any mild Irish joke is met with threats of a banning.
    Save yourself the trouble because any site operating with such hypocrisy and cowardice is not really worth the effort.
    Of course this post will probably not even get put up – but you and I will always know the truth.
    You’re no better than Denis O’Brien.

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      I can see you dance off the TV set to infinity, Eric Morecambe style, to ‘Bring me Sunshine…..’

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