Stranger having a go at me because my name isn't catholic or protestant

[Kryton]

Very odd encounter, but if he was genuinely being cunty over a way of spelling a name, I'd ignore him. Not with the hassle.
New page.

[Shit Good Nose]

I think he was more cunty about the fact that it has absolutely nothing to do with religion.  Got a feeling he would've been fine if I responded with "yeah mate, protestant me - no such thing as non-catholic, just BAD catholic, AMIRITE, hurhurhurhurhurhurhur".

[Ambient Sheep]

I think he was more cunty about the fact that it has absolutely nothing to do with religion.  Got a feeling he would've been fine if I responded with "yeah mate, protestant me - no such thing as non-catholic, just BAD catholic, AMIRITE, hurhurhurhurhurhurhur".

Reminds me of the baffled hostility I used to get in primary school when I at first I didn't even understand the question "What team do you support?" and then when it was explained to me that they meant football team, I would say "I don't".

"But you must do!  Come on, which team?"

"I don't, I really don't, I don't watch football."

and so on round that loop for another couple of minutes.

The sheer violent bewilderment at the fact that I didn't watch football at all was, I suspect, far worse than any kicking I would have got for supporting whatever the "wrong" team was.

[Mister Six]

I've heard stuff from a client in Glasgow before about being wary of letting people know what the initials of her company name was, because it's the initials of her 3 children, and knowing what those names were would immediately identify her as Catholic/Protestant, I can't remember what one, and that would automatically alienate 50% of potential clients (or worse). Complete and utter fucking disease of the mind.

I was once on a business trip and got asked my name by a Norn Irish bloke who was very much a unionist, although I didn't know that initially. I told him my surname, which is very common in my home county of Yorkshire, and he remarked, "Ah, a good English name."

I mean, fucking hell. These people are mental. Can you imagine giving that much of a shit about something so meaningless?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Reminds me of the baffled hostility I used to get in primary school when I at first I didn't even understand the question "What team do you support?" and then when it was explained to me that they meant football team, I would say "I don't".

"But you must do!  Come on, which team?"

"I don't, I really don't, I don't watch football."

and so on round that loop for another couple of minutes.

The sheer violent bewilderment at the fact that I didn't watch football at all was, I suspect, far worse than any kicking I would have got for supporting whatever the "wrong" team was.

I've had conversations like that in pubs, with adults.

[Thomas]

A few acquaintances in Ireland have begun to call me Tomás, some without realising. I enjoy it as a sign of successful social absorption. It also serves as cover in more 'traditional' pubs.

[Shit Good Nose]

I've had conversations like that in pubs, with adults.

Ditto - I don't like ANY sport at all, it just baffles me as to what entertainment people get from a ball going back and forth for two hours or being hit back and forth for two months, or watching a car or bike whizz by in a fraction of a millisecond - but, growing up in Bristol with Welsh parents and then moving near to and working in Bath, I was surrounded by football and rugby mad folk who just couldn't understand why i had no allegiance to any colour shirt, and then were amazed when I said I had no idea who whichever zillionaire footballer they were talking about was. 

I don't think people know how easy it is to avoid sport and everything about it.

[Thomas]

I don't think people know how easy it is to avoid sport and everything about it.

Today, watching its halftime J. Lo/Shakira performance, I realised I don't know what sport the Superbowl is. I do however know that it is proudly sponsored by PEPSI.

[Shit Good Nose]

Today, watching its halftime J. Lo/Shakira performance, I realised I don't know what sport the Superbowl is. I do however know that it is proudly sponsored by PEPSI.

My dad loved the Superbowl, but all the stops and in between bollocks really frustrated him, and he often said "this is why I like rugby!"  But then there were VERY few sports he didn't like and wouldn't watch - darts, golf (although he would watch the tournament that the amateurs could play alongside the pros), wrestling and anything involving vehicles.  Everything else was fair game, even kabaddi (although I'm not sure he'd be keen on the way it's gone, with team shirts, played indoors with sponsoring and that - he loved it on channel 4 on just a rough patch of ground with all the players wearing whatever they turned up in on the day).

[Buelligan]

I knew it was wrong as I typed it but just didn't have the respect for you to look it up.

Ah, right, because I'm the cunt. 

[Kryton]

Ah, right, because I'm the cunt.

You're not.

People just disagreeing. S'all good.

[Non Stop Dancer]

Ah, right, because I'm the cunt.

You get accused of being a supercilious, nasty piece of work on here practically weekly. You might want to reflect on whether there's a shred of truth to it.

I will apologise for the cunt remark though, that was rash.

[Ambient Sheep]

Meanwhile, I'd forgotten all about the Stephen/Steven thing, that's if I ever knew and it's not just a false memory that I might have done.

I think my favourite example of weird consequences of sectarianism is this story (copied and tweaked from here and here).

For a while I became friendly with a woman of around my age who'd grown up in West Belfast, very very deep in the Catholic/Republican community there.  She told me some hair-raising tales, e.g. of being held at gunpoint by British squaddies on a street corner when she was just seven years old, literally pissing herself in fright as the scary man yelled questions at her while having a sub-machine-gun pointed at her.  Or hearing a loud bang and a man's boot then land in her garden, still smoking (just like a cartoon), only to find when she looked into it that it wasn't entirely empty.

(The moment she was old enough to do so, she moved out into the countryside to get away from it all, picking the most non-sectarian apolitical village she could find to live in.  When that village then became too Catholic in itself a few years later, she moved out again to a bungalow in the middle of nowhere.  She wanted no part of it, either side of it.  She still has nightmares about seeing people blown to bits outside the Europa hotel from the top of a bus.)

And yet, to this day, despite all this, despite the peace process, she always drives into the city along the "Catholic" route (from the west of the city), rather than along the "Protestant/Mixed" route (from the north of the city), even though it would be slightly shorter for her to get to work that way.

When I once went over there to see her for a few days, I marvelled at this as we drove in from the north-west, saying "so basically, at this key roundabout, you can tell whether someone's P or C by which exit they take off of this roundabout to get into the city?"  "Aye, yes, basically."

Old habits die hard.

So strange.

There's still a huge amount of IRA sympathisers in Glasgow (someone told me more than there are in the whole of Ireland these days, but I don't see how that can be true).

I think it could well be.  From what I gathered from my friend (albeit a few years ago, before all the Brexit bollocks, not sure how things might have changed) that's all pretty much dead now on the island of Ireland.  Even the Catholic community think the "Contis" and "Real" bunch are twats... everyone just wants to get on with their lives now.  At least, thats the impression I got from my friend, maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, slightly (but only slightly) surprised to hear it's still going strong in Glasgow.   Someone needs to tell them the news.

[Shit Good Nose]

I think it could well be.  From what I gathered from my friend (albeit a few years ago, before all the Brexit bollocks, not sure how things might have changed) that's all pretty much dead now on the island of Ireland.  Even the Catholic community think the "Contis" and "Real" bunch are twats... everyone just wants to get on with their lives now.  At least, thats the impression I got from my friend, maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, slightly (but only slightly) surprised to hear it's still going strong in Glasgow.   Someone needs to tell them the news.

That sounds absolutely mad to me, but then good for Ireland (somewhere I've never been, I should add) if that is the case.  And let's hope it is.

But yeah - I hear lots of stories from my mate and his wife and some of their friends I've got to know over the years, but then they typically involve older weegies who've had a few too many lemonades and frequent the old-school pubs where you can't see in through the windows and the doors are always shut.  I imagine the younger more "cosmopolitan" locals aren't bothered either way, perhaps aren't even aware.

[Cloud]

How completely bizarre.  We wonder how people get radicalised (and if they can be de-radicalised) while our cousins across the Irish Sea get heated about the spelling of someone's name.  Religion, man...

If this Brexit nonsense gets to the point of leaving England, I think I'll head North rather than West and perhaps pick Edinburgh, lol

As to having a word, I mean... it's a good idea on probationary periods to avoid bringing religious bigotry into the workplace!  Would be his own fault if he got pinged by HR.   But he clearly didn't anyway.  Interesting to see if he settles into the job and stops accidentally berating people for being suspected protestants.

[Ambient Sheep]

Ah, right, because I'm the cunt.

You're not, but let's face it, you did make a wrong assumption and jumped in with both feet.

You immediately assumed he'd gone trotting off down the corridor squealing to his boss "Daddy daddy new man did bad thing" (in which case your criticism would be reasonably valid), when in fact the manager and the two colleagues were sitting there at the time it happened, witnessing it as it happened (which, I grant you, wasn't 100% clear from the original post, but, for myself, I certainly assumed they'd been in the room at the same time at least) and he was just asking, as almost anyone would, "wtf, was that just me?!".

[chveik]

nah, snitches get stitches

[Shit Good Nose]

As to having a word, I mean... it's a good idea on probationary periods to avoid bringing religious bigotry into the workplace!  Would be his own fault if he got pinged by HR.   But he clearly didn't anyway.  Interesting to see if he settles into the job and stops accidentally berating people for being suspected protestants.

Professionally I won't have ANYTHING to do with him - our respective fields are completely different and separate with no crossover whatsoever, it's just literally sharing the same office (it's quite open plan in our place so everyone's sort of lumped in together, and in our office there are about 40 desks which house five different departments with a block set aside as hot desks).  I'm also out and about quite regularly on site meetings and visits, so I expect our paths will only ever cross in the kitchen area.

Oh, I'll be civil, but I'll also be sure to keep it very very vanilla.  And I certainly won't be going out of my way to strike up a conversation with him.  Which won't be too difficult - there's probably a good 15 people who work in the same office I've NEVER been introduced to and only exchange a "hello" just because of the familiarity of being in the same office.

[Ambient Sheep]

That sounds absolutely mad to me, but then good for Ireland (somewhere I've never been, I should add) if that is the case.  And let's hope it is.

You should go sometime, it's beautiful.

I hope it is too.  It was heartening to see how many people on both sides of the Irish border (usually regardless of persuasion) were wanting to keep it fully open after Brexit, when they were all being interviewed a few years ago.

How completely bizarre.  We wonder how people get radicalised (and if they can be de-radicalised) while our cousins across the Irish Sea get heated about the spelling of someone's name.

Do they, though?  I do wonder how long Shit Good Nose's man has been over here.  Similarly to Glasgow, I've heard there's pockets of people in London who are still fighting the old battles long after those who are still there have stopped.  (Not that SGN is in London, but same principle applies.)


I fully accepting I might be Dunning-Kruger-ing on this one though.  I know a bit (although she and I talked a lot about the political situation there, although that's just from one well-educated[nb]First in History ftom Queen's College Belfast.[/nb] Catholic woman's point-of-view), but perhaps I only know enough to be dangerous. :-)

[Ambient Sheep]

nah, snitches get stitches

Given that his boss was literally sitting next to him and witnessed the whole thing from start to finish, how is it snitching?

I really don't see how saying to the other three people round the table, who saw it all, "wtf?  was that just me?" can be snitching under those circumstances.

[chveik]

Given that his boss was literally sitting next to him and witnessed the whole thing from start to finish, how is it snitching?

I really don't see how saying to the other three people round the table, who saw it all, "wtf?  was that just me?" can be snitching under those circumstances.

that was an ironic comment

[Ambient Sheep]

that was an ironic comment

Ah ok, sorry. :-)

[Shit Good Nose]

You should go sometime, it's beautiful.

One of my mates is..n't Irish (born over here), but his parents are, and his dad was nearly killed in some car bombing in the 70s (he was either in an adjacent car, or walking by on the way to the shops - can't remember now).  Anyway, the rest of his family are still there, mostly in Dublin, and he's said to me a few times about going over.  I really ought to take him up on it, seeing as how I'd only be paying for the flights, food and drink.  We'd stay at one of his cousin's place - fucking enormous barn conversion set in about 6 acres.  They apparently bought it for a pittance (even then) in the early 90s when it was finished.  Dread to think how much it's worth now, but I've seen photos and video of it and it's like an episode of Cribs.

[Sebastian Cobb]

They sometimes divert the orange marches down the road by my flat to free up the main road for a bit. Noisy cunts with their pots and pans. I saw it from a few feet away on a bus once, all old angry looking families with some young kids up front out for a day learning about hate.

The best bit is when you see a bunch of decrepit fuckers at the back in mobility scooters all hatchet faced, like a bunch of anti-catholic Davros's.

[Ambient Sheep]

Genuine LOL at that last part.  Heading for the guffaw thread now, with tears in my eyes... thanks!

[Shit Good Nose]

like a bunch of anti-catholic Davros's.

Ohhhh Bobby.

[Buelligan]

You get accused of being a supercilious, nasty piece of work on here practically weekly. You might want to reflect on whether there's a shred of truth to it.

I will apologise for the cunt remark though, that was rash.

Thanks for the thoroughly backhanded apology.  I have thought about it.  I think it's because there are some people who just cannot stand it when another person declines their offer, often with menaces, of conforming, allowing oneself to be bullied into submission.  Especially, though not exclusively, when that person is a woman. 

I go on discussion boards to talk about ideas, maybe have a laugh, I don't go on them to stand around in little groups pursing my lips and nodding along.  None of it is personal, though many wish to make it so.  If you think that's a problem, it's not my problem.

[touchingcloth]

Genuine LOL at that last part.  Heading for the guffaw thread now, with tears in my eyes... thanks!

I thought this was a bit racist until I googled him.

[Ambient Sheep]

I thought this was a bit racist until I googled him.

Hah, what, you thought it was a Greek name or something?  (I suppose it could also be.)

[Blue Jam]

I've been cold-called by folks who ask me if I want Koran lessons (whatever they are).

Are you sure they didn't mean Korean lessons?