Talk:Isles of Scilly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Isles of Scilly is included in the 2007 Wikipedia for Schools, or is a candidate for inclusion in future versions. Please maintain high quality standards, and make an extra effort to include free images, because non-free images cannot be used on the CDs. |
 |
This article has a deprecated, subst'ed or incorrect infobox and needs a new one. Please consult the relevant WikiProject or this category to find the appropriate replacement. |
[edit] Gulf Stream
Should this article mention the Gulf Stream? It is credited, or has been credited, to the mild temperature of the Scilly Islands. -24.149.185.189 (talk) 13:51, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Scilly Isles
People who live in the isles of Scilly DO NOT like it to be called the Scilly Isles. - fonzy
- OK - so what would they prefer? (I'm not saying that we should then move it to whatever they prefer, though we might - but I am curious) --Camembert
Move it to Isles of Scilly (whihc i think is the right name anyway)- fonzy
- You're right - I remembered just after I typed the above. Just out of interest - do you know why they prefer that formation to "Scilly Isles"? --Camembert
unfortunaty no, maybe its just thye like being correct, like ceratin things annoy the scottish, if not said, written wrong. - fonzy
Maybe for the simple reason that Scilly Isles sounds too much like Silly Isles? - Hwebers
Well then, who really wrote this article ?
[edit] Miles to Kilometers
How much would be 28 miles in kilometers? Which mile is being used in the article? Sorry if the questions seem stupid to any of you. --matusz 23:06, 8 May 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Scilly Isles (reprise)
People who live on the Isles of Scilly (IOS) dont like it being called the Scilly Isles or the Scillies as it sounds like the word silly. IOS is located 28 land miles WSW off Land's End, roughly 45km or 24 nautical miles.
[edit] Tresco Photograph
In the photo labelled Tresco, is the vantage point and the land surrounding it, Tresco, or is Tresco the island with the lighthouse on it? Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 02:03, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
The photo is taken on Tresco, which is the foreground (Blockhouse Cottages, I think); the island in the background is St Helens, but the lighthouse is actually on Round Island beyond that. Agingjb 14:52, 13 October 2006 (UTC).
[edit] Origin of name
Anyone know the origin of the name? It's obviously a bit confusing with the "real" Sicily. --P3d0 16:28, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
-
- Don't know the origin - I have heard it's pre-Indo-European
I believe the Romans called it Scilly, meaning "islands in the sun", so it is probably derived from the same origins as Sicily. I'm not sure how I know this, but I remember reading it somewhere, and someone telling me, plus it sort of makes sense.
[edit] Scillonia?
I've removed this
- Note that the use of the name The Scilly Isles is deprecated by the locals, who prefer Scillonia.
pending a source. Morwen - Talk 11:51, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
- I have heard of "Scillonia", but I am not sure how wide its use is (never have visited the islands). However, I would second the comments above that "Scilly Isles", "the Scillys/ies" are frowned upon by many people, and are shibboleths of a kind. --MacRusgail 15:17, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
- Acceptable use is usually just Scilly, cf. Cornish Zillan. I think the Cornish used in the article is a calque on the English Isles of Scilly. Doire 22:48, 29 December 2005.
The Scilly Isles are a pair of round abouts in Surrey I believe and lets face it we wouldn't want to be confused with them. I dislike the phrase "The Scillies" becuase it is wrong, and it sounds stupid, it is wrong for the simple fact that there is only one place called Scilly, it is made up of lots of islands, each with their own distinct character. The sea is also Scilly so to refer to it as plural doesn't make sense. The name Scillonia is used for the phone area code. The most commonly used name is simply "Scilly".
[edit] "sui generis" status
As with the City of London the Isles of Scilly has a sui generis status within the English system of local government. Note the following two references:
Civil Contingencies Act - under "Local authorities" the Council of the Isles of Scilly is listed seperately (along with the Common Council of the City of London).
Isles of Scilly Council - "This unique nature has been recognied by its special constitutional position, known as the Isles of Scilly Clause."
As other local government pages on Wikipedia point out, the Isles of Scilly are a Unitary Authority in every sense, being administratively seperate from Cornwall, but they do not constitute a seperate county in any way.
Feel free to discuss and even prove me wrong/ammend the facts stated here!! :) David 23:09, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Liquor laws differed in the 1930s?
I am presently reading the novella "The Death Penalty" by Leslie Charteris, part of the Saint mystery series (and published in Once More the Saint in 1932). In this book, the hero travels to the "Scilly Islands" (sic) and it is noted that due to their location they are not subject to certain British laws prohibiting liquor sales at certain hours (apparently during midday if I understand the story correctly). It's doubtful Charteris would have made this up, so if anyone can confirm dates, etc. it might be an interesting tidbit for the history section. 23skidoo 13:40, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Gugh
According to this article Gugh is the smallest of the inhabited islands, with only three citizens. But according to the article Gugh, it's uninhabited. Which of the two articles is correct? Aecis Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984. 01:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
There are two houses on Gugh, both are occupied for at least some of the year. Agingjb 09:29, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Samson etc.
A recent change gives the number of inhabited islands as seven, presumably including the formerly inhabited Samson. But then St Helens, Tean, at least two lighthouses, and some of the eastern isles were formerly inhabited. Agingjb 17:04, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
The number has since been corrected, does the article need more about formerly inhabited islands (Samson is covered), possibly not. Agingjb 07:43, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Critical comment - 30/01/2007
It's refreshing to see that there is some sort of critical comment here. I do think that perhaps the tourist 'image' of the Isles of Scilly is far too rosy at times - and the new BBC series 'An Island Parish' is indeed in many ways a testament to this.
My experience of the islands is primarily based on a dissertation project submitted in canditure for a degree in human geography back in 2004. This included two weeks intensive fieldwork and looked at the opportunities for young people growing up on the islands. I conducted nearly 20 in-depth interviews with young people between the ages of 16 to 26 from the different islands to understand their perceptions of access to housing, employment and education. This was situated in the context of research into the local economy and its dependency upon tourism as the main source of revenue. Interviews were also conducted with relevant employees of the council and the Duchy of Cornwall.
The main finding of the research was that many young people feel they have to leave the islands. This was in most cases due to a conflict between their future hopes and aspirations and the reality of limited and therefore exclusive opportunities to access employment and particularly housing. The islands also have no higher education provision forcing a migration of nearly all 16 year olds to the mainland, albeit temporarily.
What is concerning here is that The Isles of Scilly are loosing their future. If they can’t retain at least some of the younger generation, then this threatens the sustainability of the whole community as the operational viability of core services will be threatened. Indeed the school has had to adapt to a 'federated' structure to temporarily close off-island schools when the need arises due to the decline in numbers of children living in these catchment areas.
If tourism is indeed to be the strategy for economic survival, then it also needs to take into account the opportunities for young people living there and provide them with the support to stay if they want, and allow them to be innovative in securing the island’s future. This requires the commitment of all actors and stakeholders.
--Phillip Vincent 17:40, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
P.S Oh, and I would love to discuss this with anyone who is interested.
[edit] Rewrote statement on winter shutdown
The following statement has recently been added to the article:
- Tourism is also a highly seasonal industry due to its reliance on outdoor recreation causing a near shutdown of the islands in winter.
which I think fails the common sense test. It surely isn't tourism that is causing the winter shutdown, but rather the absence of tourism in winter that is causing the shutdown. Put it another way. If the island tourist industry disappeared overnight, would this in itself increase activity in winter?. I've rewritten the statement to what I think was really meant:
- Tourism is also a highly seasonal industry due to its reliance on outdoor recreation, and the low level of tourist activity in winter causes a near shutdown of the islands during that season.
Apologies if I've misunderstood. - Chris j wood 12:23, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
- Incidentally, it would be really good to have either elaboration or a source (or even better both), for that statement. 'Near shutdown' has a whiff of POV about it, and in any case probably means quite different things to different people depending on their background. For example, does the electricity supply shut down in winter? (I'm pretty sure it doesn't, but if I lived in large swathes of the developing world that would be one of my criteria for near shutdown). Likewise, do the 24 hour street markets shutdown? (again, I'm pretty sure the islands don't have 24 hour street markets, but if I still lived in Hong Kong that might be what I would read into 'near shutdown'). I think what I'm saying in an overly long-winded fashion is that we need some objective examples of what is meant by near shutdown. -- Chris j wood 12:37, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
...
Cheers Chris, that makes sense to me.
In a tangible sense, there are far fewer visitors to the islands in winter. If you look at the IOS Intergrated Plan for example, this had a concern for expanding the tourist season outside of the busy summer months. Also in my own research I was led to believe that many of the locals who run tourist businesses go on holiday themeselves over the winter months so this doesn't disrupt their earning capacity for the rest of the year. It would be intersting to check out the booking periods for tourist accomodation actually - I think this would provide a better way of accessing whether many tourist providers hope to attact people during the winter.
The following article by Butler was a review of seasonality in the tourist industry more generally and this spoke explicitly about how previous research had failed to see seasonality outside of a business context, as its implications reach far beyond this into issues of community sustainablity.
Butler R (2001) 'Seasonality in Tourism: Issues and Implications', in T Baum, S Lundtorp (eds) Seasonality in Tourism, Pergamon, Oxford, pp. 5-23.
'Near shutdown' is as you say ambigious, but I felt this reflected the way that the young people I spoke to felt about the islands in winter. They often complained that it was boring to be at home during this time, with fewer people around and less chance to get out because of the weather etc.
I agree, its an important point that does need clarification because its integeral to the debate of economic mono-dependency and how this affects the community in a broader sense.
--Phillip Vincent 13:22, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] "White" People?
“…and the ethnic makeup of the islands is almost exclusively White,” is rather inarticulate and barbaric. In the 21st Century is “white” still acceptable as an ethnic classification? I should hope not. I vote to alter this to something more scholarly (such as Caucasian). If it is unacceptable to use “black” to refer to a group of people, then how in the name of logic can it be acceptable to use “white” in this case? The PC movement has rendered the average writer of the English language incapable of seeing the ridiculousness of this misnomer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.1.236.22 (talk)
- White is the standard term in British English Black is also standard in British English - Caucasian refers to someone from the Caucasus . DuncanHill 11:03, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
The makeup, as far as I can tell, is mostly white Cornish (yes, Cornish IS alloted a census code, but does not appear as an option) or white English. --MacRusgail 19:11, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
Which of the following statements is true?
The people of the islands have a genetic link to the ancient British tribal people who inhabited the islands long before the arrival of the Celts or Romans.
Whilst there is little evidence to substantiate the claim, it is sometimes rather tenuously suggested, that the early inhabitants of the islands may have had a genetic link to the "Ancient British" who inhabited the islands long before the arrival of the Celts or Romans —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.43.102.175 (talk) 20:55, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
I guess both statements must be true then.
Is "White" an ethnic group? Don't we have to differentiate among, say, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Finns, and so forth?
--Knowledge-is-power (talk) 05:27, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Geography
Er. Land's End isn't the most westerly point in Great Britain (that's Ardnamurchan Point in Scotland). The other changes in this section from "England" to "Great Britain" may or may not be justified. Agingjb 08:01, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
- I've changed this back to England. Bistromathic 19:39, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] pronunciation
it seems somewhat precious not to tell us ignorant furreners how to pronounce the name of the place. 'sounds too much like silly' - is it or not, please?
- Yes it sounds just like the word "silly". Don't forget to sign your comments using the
button. --Joowwww 11:57, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Talking islands? Now that's just Scilly
I changed "It is not known at exactly what time the islands stopped speaking Cornish" to "It is not known at exactly what time the islands' inhabitants stopped speaking Cornish."
Three suggestions for edits I don't feel qualifed to make:
1. How is King Olaf visiting a seer there evidence that the Isles once were larger and many of them joined?
2. Can the reference to "Some of the Cornish language placenames also appear to reflect past shorelines, and former land areas" be supported with some examples?
3. The bit about the Isles attracting rare birds is very interesting but a little vague. Any examples?
JamestownArarat (talk) 05:43, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
- 1 - it isn't. No one said so. 2 - Yes. 3- no idea, but could be expanded. Not a twitcher myself. --MacRusgail (talk) 18:47, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
