Miles O`Brian

[Kegg]

^
Nah, Eire's fine. It's all about context. You want to wax poetical about the land of old, you use Eire. Or Eireann or Erin or hell, I'm fond of Hibernia personally. Scotia Major if you want to be a dick to some Scottish people, and why not.

But if you're talking about UK/ROI relations, 'Ireland' is a bit more applicable.

I guess I just don't see them as Irish, I imagine that they are descended from a group of Irish Americans that wanted to be "Irish" as they imagined it, realised that Ireland isn't "Irish" so they flew away to another planet to recreate the "real" Ireland.

That's probably the best defence of that episode I've ever heard, and it's had a long and little loved history as my most hated hour of the entire franchise (as I've loudly and annoyingly declaimed here over the years).

It doesn't really fit I think what the episode is implying about their origins but it does, weirdly, exactly fit the culture behind the episode. Melinda Snodgrass's idea originally didn't have anything to do with Irish tinkers, but Maurice Hurley, the Irish-American that he is, bloody well wanted tinkers on his space opera show (TNG did not lose him fast enough in retrospect).

Entire thing rubs me the wrong way anyway.

And I just find the use of Éire to be silly. The constitution is clear that when speaking in English this country is called "Ireland", and since we're all speaking English on this board I would expect us all to call the country by that name.

Just to be clear, incidentally, for non-Irish unfamiliar with this and our myriad other stupid naming controversies: The British called the Irish Free State 'Eire' precisely because they did not want to call it 'Ireland'.

Sidebar: You can practically tell someone's political convinctions based on which words they use as far as this stuff goes, or one used to. Take Northern Ireland. To Republicans it's the Six Counties. To Unionists it's Ulster. Etc. We have a charming linguistic minefield.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I gotta go with "Up the Long Ladder" being more offensive.

Okay, they're basically some kind of Amish. That doesn't really excuse the hoary stereotypes of moronic Irish peasants... IN THE FUTURE! Not even the Amish are like that, probably.

As someone who lives in relatively close proximity to some Amish communities, I can say "no, they aren't."

 

[TheGodBen]

I am sorry I ever used Eire now. Just living in a foreign country I get nostalgic for all things Irish, including our language and our culture, things that I didn`t regard too well when I was home. I will stick to Ireland from now on.

Don't worry about it, I only brought it up with iBender because he was a troll that preached about peace, love and unity while having a smug sense of superiority about being from London.

As for feeling a bit homesick, I can appreciate that. I spent a lot of time in England back in 2007, happy times, but I always missed "home". It was the little things that got to me, such as how the traffic lights go red/yellow a couple of seconds before going green. Of course, now that I drive I wish that the lights would do that here. I hate it when a green light sneaks up on me like a ninja.

Entire thing rubs me the wrong way anyway.

Honestly, the first time that I saw the episode I barely even made the connection that they were supposed to be Irish. It was so far removed from what I know that I just assumed they were a colony of generic annoying backward folk. It wasn't until the second time I saw it that the stereotypes stood out for me and I figured what was going on.

Just to be clear, incidentally, for non-Irish unfamiliar with this and our myriad other stupid naming controversies: The British called the Irish Free State 'Eire' precisely because they did not want to call it 'Ireland'.

Just to be extra clear, the UK government referred to the Irish Free State by that name, but when the 1937 constitution was enacted and changed the name of the state to Ireland, as well as including a territorial claim to Northern Ireland, that's when they started referring to Ireland as Éire. (Which is stupid as Éire means Ireland anyway.) When Ireland was declared a republic in 1949, the UK government started referring to Ireland as the Republic of Ireland even though that wasn't the state's name, but its description. At the same time, the Irish government refused to call the UK by its official name which is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, opting to leave off the Northern Ireland part. Thankfully, this nonsense was put to bed when Ireland voted to remove the territorial claim to NI following the Belfast Agreement.

 

[indolover]

I liked Miles as a character, but seemed to everyman for my tastes. I don't generally like people as that in real life, so I guess it's just a personal bias.

 

[Mr Silver]

I liked Miles as a character, but seemed to everyman for my tastes. I don't generally like people as that in real life, so I guess it's just a personal bias.

Colm Meaney isn't amused

 

[Gary7]

As for feeling a bit homesick, I can appreciate that. I spent a lot of time in England back in 2007, happy times, but I always missed "home". It was the little things that got to me, such as how the traffic lights go red/yellow a couple of seconds before going green. Of course, now that I drive I wish that the lights would do that here. I hate it when a green light sneaks up on me like a ninja.

Funny thing about that... in the USA, there was a period in time when traffic light implementation was just slightly different in some places. Mostly, it was red to green in one shot. But in some places, they had no yellow, and used a combination of red and green at the same time before transitioning to red. I think Canada uses the yellow+red before transitioning to green, something I don't think has ever been used in the USA.

Some interesting variations that have come up recently:
A flashing yellow arrow means you're permitted to make a left turn, but oncoming traffic is moving and has the right of way. Another is a flashing white strobe mounted inside the red light. It is used to help for long distance viewing and as an additional alert in areas where truck drivers are known to have been on the road for many hours.

 

[indolover]

Another thing is that there are no nation-states on Earth in any Trek era (Archer, Kirk, or Picard/Sisko/Janeway), so national rivalries probably don't exist. Also humanity has evolved so I doubt Julian and Miles give a crap about national rivalry lol.

 

[Canadave]

Then again, he did take a role in The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, so who knows what he really thinks?

I suspect he thinks, "I really like getting paid."

I think Canada uses the yellow+red before transitioning to green, something I don't think has ever been used in the USA.

Nope. Or at least not in Ontario and Quebec. I haven't driven in the rest of the country, though, so I may not remember it if it's done in other provinces. Our unique quirk is that a flashing green light means the same thing as a green left-turn arrow.

 

[klingonhybrid]

"They tried to kidnap him a few times. The kids used to tie a rope around his neck, drag him down the street to their site and tie the rope to a tree. He'd then chew through the rope and come home. We must have found him with a chewed rope around his neck a half-dozen times before he finally disappeared for good."

"Oh no. I know what that feels like. During Halloween lots of cats and dogs used to go "missing" on my estate. Lost two cats that way."


Are you serious? what in the hell is wrong with the kids in your area? Where im from you'd be arrested for stealing a dog, and not many people would have the slightest inkling for stealing someones dog and tying it to a tree.

I say you should set up a trap, and next time you see someone coming to lasso your dogs neck, pummel them and throw them in a municipal trash bin with their hands and legs bound.
And do it on a monday so they can get toppled with waste for a day or 2.

 

[Hawkeye_90]

O'brien and Bashir were two of my favorite characters in star trek. I really liked how ds9 developed those characters. TNG O'brien was a kind of a cool side kick but In DS9 he was main and I think he really made the show what it was. Part of this though is just because ds9 was known for its character development.