Unionism's big opportunity to shed its religious bigotry

[lynchbhoy]

Only people I ever hear using the phrase would have been unionist/loyalists on the telly !

Therefore it is bad and must be opposed 

no ya headcase (its not all about you!)
catholics just dont say/use that ? its just incorrect what you are saying !

what was that you were saying on another thread about 'bloody obvious' etc !

[Maguire01]

Just something that came to mind - and not wanting to labour the point - i acknowledge that some people obviously find the term offensive, even if i don't fully appreciate why, but another place i've seen the 'R.C.' used a lot is on signposts, north and south in Ireland. I hadn't really thought anything of it previously.

[carribbear]

That isn't a traditional sign. It's probably been put there so Poles and new irish don't accidentally turn up at a bible-thumping.

[Maguire01]

A traditional sign? You mean an old one? That's just one i found on google - Churches have been signed like that for as long as i can recall.

Anyway, that's missing the point. Surely 'Catholic' Church would be all that would be required for the Poles? At least that's what has been argued on this thread.

[carribbear]

A traditional sign? You mean an old one? That's just one i found on google - Churches have been signed like that for as long as i can recall.

Anyway, that's missing the point. Surely 'Catholic' Church would be all that would be required for the Poles? At least that's what has been argued on this thread.

Those signs are actually very expensive so in order to make them descriptive enough they probably added the 'R'
I know a guy in Rennicks signmakers who told me before that the small "welcome to XXXXXX" signs can cost over 100k due to the weatherproofing

[Maguire01]

Yes, i'm sure the price of letters was the reason.

[Rossfan]

The "Roman" prefix was previously only used by English speaking Prods.
Nowadays the PC idiots in RTE and by extension other clowns of the type who ban cribs from hospitals are big into the "Roman" bit.

[Chrisowc]

And there you have it.

It's those pesky Brits' fault again.  Who'd have thunk it?!

[Rossfan]

Well the Yanks never put "Roman" before Catholic and we dont so ......

[Maguire01]

The "Roman" prefix was previously only used by English speaking Prods.
Nowadays the PC idiots in RTE and by extension other clowns of the type who ban cribs from hospitals are big into the "Roman" bit.

So is 'Roman Catholic' is the Politically Correct version then?

[Maguire01]

Well the Yanks never put "Roman" before Catholic and we dont so ......

The Yanks spell with a Z instead of an S and don't put a U in Colour - i wouldn't necessarily use them as a point of reference for spelling or use of the English language.

[Lar Naparka]

I think the main reason that Nationalists find the "Roman" tag offensive is that it was widely used by Papa Doc and his Free Presbies back in the days when the big fella began to make headlines. It was definitely used in the pejorative sense.
I guess that most on here are too young to have lived through the early days of the Troubles, the late 60s and the early 70s. Believe me, the times were scary back then. Whole communities, from both sides, I might add, lived in fear of being burnt out of their homes. 
Paisley was very prominent back then and he certainly was a far different character to the chubby, avuncular old man who appeared on the Late Later Show in recent months. He bawled and roared throughout the province and in London, using terms from a bygone age in the John Knox tradition.

I am deliberately simplifying matters here as I think those days are best left in the past and we should concentrate on the present and future but Paisley was hated and feared in equal measure by nationalists everywhere.
He did have a particular hatred of Rome and all things Roman and terms like 'whore' and 'harlot' were two a penny with him. He also made the bizarre claim at one stage that the Pope had communist leanings because he wore red socks.
Later, I recall him being interviewed on a British TV program, where he laughed off this remark but at the time it was uttered it did serve to stir up the feelings of his volatile followers.
People from both sides of the divide in the North, with whom I have discussed the matter, agree on this point: to the Free Presbies, the term "Roman" was one of contempt. Probably still is.

[Rossfan]

The "Roman" prefix was previously only used by English speaking Prods.
Nowadays the PC idiots in RTE and by extension other clowns of the type who ban cribs from hospitals are big into the "Roman" bit.

So is 'Roman Catholic' is the Politically Correct version then?

It is among the RTE/Dublin 4/Chattering classes as they feel that by simply saying Catholic they might offend someone somewhere sometime somehow...so better to irk 95% than to upset 0.004%.

[Maguire01]

The "Roman" prefix was previously only used by English speaking Prods.
Nowadays the PC idiots in RTE and by extension other clowns of the type who ban cribs from hospitals are big into the "Roman" bit.

So is 'Roman Catholic' is the Politically Correct version then?

It is among the RTE/Dublin 4/Chattering classes as they feel that by simply saying Catholic they might offend someone somewhere sometime somehow...so better to irk 95% than to upset 0.004%.

You really think it irks 95% of the population? Really? I'd say the vast majority wouldn't even notice.
The only negative connotation seems to be the use of the term by Paisley and the FPs.

[Tony Baloney]

Brought up a Catholic (now lapsed!) and have never, ever heard of anyone being offended by the term RC. Maybe where I'm from people don't go out of their way to be offended by trivia. Having said that I rarely hear people referring to themselves as RC - it's generally just Catholic.

If a "prod" is asked what their religion is do they say "Protestant" or "Prebyterian/CoI/Methodist" etc? Genuine question.