Acknowledge my Effin Hometown!

About Effin time! The village of Effin in Co. Limerick has finally achieved what it set out to do so many months ago. Facebook have finally given up and allowed the happy villagers to list the parish as their hometown.

The campaign to get Effin recognised by the social network was started by Effin woman, Ann Marie Kennedy, who works at the University of Limerick. She began the campaign after she and a number of others tried to insert Effin as their hometown, only to have it deemed "offensive".

Kennedy even set up a Facebook page called "Please get my hometown Effin recognised", but this, too, was deemed "offensive". It was an Effin disaster.

Ann Marie Kennedy took to the airwaves to speak about her campaign, and gathered many followers. She interested not only those of us in Ireland, but also people in the UK and even the US.

Apparently Effin was not recognised by Facebook, as it is a parish, and not a village or town, but the campaigners did not let up, and finally Effin people got their own little Christmas present.

"We weren't told about it," Kennedy told the Irish Independent, "but it seems that the change happened sometime over Christmas. It looks like everyone here in Ireland can register that as their homeplace.

"It is great, but we're not there yet. While anyone here in Ireland can put Effin as their homeplace, some people abroad cannot so hopefully that will be overcome soon as there is a lot of Effin people abroad."

It seems that the Effin issue has not been fully resolved, however, as the Effin phrase can still be used offensively, so only users living in Ireland are permitted to list the village as their own. What an Effin pain!

16 Jan 2012

by Jessica Thompson