Our Dysfunctional Relationship with the Term: 'Ignorant'

OurLadyofKnock

Am I the only Irish person alive who is a aware that 'ignorant' and 'arrogant' are not interchangable terms?

How did 'ignorant' come to mean rude or nasty in this country?

Ironically, this confusion shows that the Irish people calling others 'ignorant' are the most ignorant of all!

Ignorant of good manners is still ignorant

Odysseus

Yeah, you can often get funny looks when you say I'm quite ignorant about "such and such"

davet82

i'm ignorant so i wouldn't know

Cuddlesworth

<@Cedaie&gt; Your ignorance isn't helping.
<@KTottE&gt; How am I ignorant?
<@Cedaie&gt; <@KTottE&gt; Do it again, do it right - Ooh great help *clap* *clap*
<@KTottE&gt; http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ignorant
<@KTottE&gt; Maybe the word you were searching for was http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=arrogant ?
<@Cedaie&gt; yeah thats the one
<@Cedaie&gt; Your arrogance isn't helping,
<@KTottE&gt; Neither is your ignorance

Gurgle

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

Am I the only Irish person alive who is a aware that 'ignorant' and 'arrogant' are not interchangable terms?

How did 'ignorant' come to mean rude or nasty in this country?

Calling someone 'ignorant' in this context means that they don't know how to behave properly.

Ironically, this confusion shows that the Irish people calling others 'ignorant' are the most ignorant of all!

Whats ironic is that you're ignorant of the meaning behind calling people ignorant. Maybe you are the most ignorant Irish person alive, as you don't understand your own countries' common colloquialisms. :P

Gbear

People are too quick to take it as a pejorative. It's often used that way but it doesn't have to be.

optimistic_

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

<@Cedaie&gt; Your ignorance isn't helping.
<@KTottE&gt; How am I ignorant?
<@Cedaie&gt; <@KTottE&gt; Do it again, do it right - Ooh great help *clap* *clap*
<@KTottE&gt; http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ignorant
<@KTottE&gt; Maybe the word you were searching for was http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=arrogant ?
<@Cedaie&gt; yeah thats the one
<@Cedaie&gt; Your arrogance isn't helping,
<@KTottE&gt; Neither is your ignorance

The f*** is this?

optimistic_

optimistic_ wrote: »

The f*** is this?

Are you professing ignorance of its origin, good sir?


Bash.org:)

I like this one:

#618078 +(2048)- [X]
ErrorHst : im getting tired of your ignorance
DoomDayMassacre : im not ignoring u

py2006

It used to really bug me how people got those two words mixed up.

optimistic_

bluewolf wrote: »

Are you professing ignorance of its origin, good sir?


Bash.org:)

I like this one:

#618078 +(2048)- [X]
ErrorHst : im getting tired of your ignorance
DoomDayMassacre : im not ignoring u

Indeed'n I am!

sfwcork

did you start this thread after seeing another poster make the same complaint on another thread?

OurLadyofKnock

Gurgle wrote: »

Calling someone 'ignorant' in this context means that they don't know how to behave properly.



Whats ironic is that you're ignorant of the meaning behind calling people ignorant. Maybe you are the most ignorant Irish person alive, as you don't understand your own countries' common colloquialisms. :P

and calling it a 'Dort' still makes it a train.

CASE CLOSED

King Of Wishful Thinking

People are always confusing words.

I'm an electrician and was working on a house wiring job one day for this guy, as his fuse box kept blowing out.

Discovered the issue and was telling him that it I felt he had a serious impedance problem - bastard flung me down the stairs.

OurLadyofKnock

King Of Wishful Thinking wrote: »

People are always confusing words.

Yep, like the time in a department store when an American woman asked me if her fanny looked big in what she was wearing.

I still have the restaining order.

smash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqgHFcmAOc

Gurgle

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

and calling it a 'Dort' still makes it a train.
CASE CLOSED

D is for Dublin
A is for Area
R is for Rapid
T is for Transit.

It is of course a train, but its a very particular one. It runs in the Dublin area, and is intended to facilitate rapid transit.

You must have a fit when someone refers to a vacuum cleaner as a hoover.

Dangerous Man

Is this what people care about these days?

Emeraldy Pebbles

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

Am I the only Irish person alive who is a aware that 'ignorant' and 'arrogant' are not interchangable terms?

No.

Cavehill Red

What pisses me off is when people describe any political position they don't happen to agree with as 'ignorant'.
Like there was that time the hardcore Christians in Britain didn't want an unmarried gay couple staying in their B+B. They got accused of being 'ignorant' by all sorts of lobby groups.
Surely by any definition, they were the opposite of ignorant? They didn't want the gay lads staying in their home because they knew all about homosexuality and didn't agree with it. If they'd been ignorant, they'd have let them stay in their blessed innocence.

Emeraldy Pebbles

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

How did 'ignorant' come to mean rude or nasty in this country?

It's a colloqialism. Hiberno-English. 'Desperate' can have a different meaning in Ireland too, depending.

Even when used the Hiberno-English way, I don't see people using 'ignorant' as interchangeable with 'arrogant'.

Emeraldy Pebbles

Gbear wrote: »

People are too quick to take it as a pejorative. It's often used that way but it doesn't have to be.

Yeah, I don't mind saying I'm ignorant of a particular topic, especially if asked my opinion on it. Better than bluffing and making an eejit of yourself.

Mr Benevolent

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

I still have the restaining order.

Not sure if that was intended or not, but a good joke if it was.

Ellis Dee

Whether or not you like it, "ignorant", which usually refers to lack of knowledge, also means "boorish" or "devoid of good manners" in the Hiberno-English spoken in many parts of Ireland, especially the Midlands.

http://lifeis2shortdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ignorance-is-bliss.jpg

jester77

We were all born ignorant

DebDynamite

Ellis Dee wrote: »

Whether or not you like it, "ignorant", which usually refers to lack of knowledge, also means "boorish" or "devoid of good manners" in the Hiberno-English spoken in many parts of Ireland, especially the Midlands.

http://lifeis2shortdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ignorance-is-bliss.jpg

+1.

The term "pig-ignorant" is also used.

Death and Taxes

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

Am I the only Irish person alive who is a aware that 'ignorant' and 'arrogant' are not interchangable terms?

How did 'ignorant' come to mean rude or nasty in this country?

Ironically, this confusion shows that the Irish people calling others 'ignorant' are the most ignorant of all!

Rude and nasty people are described as ignorant, because they are ignorant of the accepted standards and codes of good manners and decency!

Balmed Out

Gurgle wrote: »

D is for Dublin
A is for Area
R is for Rapid
T is for Transit.

Have you used the Cork one?

As an aside 15 years ago to my knowledge the word ignorant was barely used but perfectly well understood in Ireland. I would always have a laugh when in the states at its misuse hover it has sadly spread.

Gurgle

Balmed Out wrote: »

15 years ago to my knowledge the word ignorant was barely used but perfectly well understood in Ireland.

Ignorant was always (for at least the last 30 odd years anyway) commonly used as a criticism of behaviour / attitude.

Balmed Out wrote: »

I would always have a laugh when in the states at its misuse hover it has sadly spread.

Is this another one? What does hover mean in this context?

al28283

King Of Wishful Thinking wrote: »

People are always confusing words.

I'm an electrician and was working on a house wiring job one day for this guy, as his fuse box kept blowing out.

Discovered the issue and was telling him that it I felt he had a serious impedance problem - bastard flung me down the stairs.

Ohm... oh i get it