Mr Justice Weatherup has the unenviable task of deciding the city of Derry's /Londonderry's official name. Fionola Meredithtries to help
It's hardly surprising that judgment has been reserved on the correct name for the North's second city. Nationalist- controlled Derry City Council has asked Mr Justice Weatherup, in Belfast's High Court, to declare that the city's official title is Derry, finally consigning the prefix "London" to the rubbish bin of history. Unionists are aghast at the prospect, claiming that such a move would only reinforce the sense of alienation they already experience in the city.
But it's not the sort of dispute you settle on the hoof. Is the proposed name-change a case of sectarian triumphalism, a blunt dismissal of the city's minority Protestant population? An attempt to purge the city of the lingering whiff of colonialism? Or is it merely a pragmatic acknowledgement of the name that everyone - both nationalists and unionists - uses on a daily basis? After all, just look at the loyalist fraternity, the Apprentice Boys of Derry. And Derry pops up again in that catchy marching favourite, The Sash.
For years vandals have been out on the highways and byways around the city, adjusting the road signs in line with their political sensibilities, but many people living in the North are weary of the apparently endless controversy over the name. It has become politically over-determined - so thoroughly saturated with meaning that choosing to use the term "Derry" or "Londonderry" can, in certain contexts, instantly mark the user with an assumed sectarian identity. This reluctance to nail one's political colours to the mast has led to all sorts of elaborate efforts to come up with an alternative name.
Why not try "the Maiden City", a nod to the fact that the city was not breached during the siege of 1689? It was good enough for Ulsterbus, which dubbed its service from Belfast to Derry "the Maiden City Flyer". But inevitably nationalists pooh-poohed the term, since it could be read as casting a smug virginal patina on unionists.
"Stroke City" (a reference to the punctuation mark that nestles between the cumbersome phrase Derry/Londonderry) is another option. On the up side, no one, not even in Northern Ireland, can attribute negative historical or political resonances to an innocent little slash. But Stroke City can sound too jocular and matey for some tastes. Then there's always the compromise term, "L'derry", but that one only works if you're writing it down. Verbal employment of L'derry merely makes users sound as though they have an unusual speech impediment.
The whole thing is a nightmare for civil servants, businesses and other organisations throughout the North, which fear alienating clients and customers from either side of the community. When responding to letters from L'derry-dwellers, it's usual to reply using the same nomenclature as the initial communication, whether Derry or Londonderry.
Meanwhile, long-established BBC policy says that the city should be initially referred to as Londonderry, and Derry in any mention after that - a canny compromise motion that gives the official version its place while implicitly acknowledging that Derry is the term in everyday usage.
Mr Justice Weatherup must consider whether, as the Department of the Environment argues, a name-change would require a petition to Queen Elizabeth, to amend the name established in a royal charter granted by King James I in 1613. Derry City Council contends that it isn't necessary to get the queen involved, since royal charters are subject to the provisions of local government legislation, which enabled the council to rename itself Derry City Council in 1984.
Michael Lavery QC, for the council, remarked: "It is a fiction to suppose that there are two separate entities - one which is called Derry City Council and the other called Londonderry city." Wading deep into the murky waters of structural linguistics, he added that "a name is not an independent entity. It is a description which has to describe something".
If Mr Justice Weatherup hasn't had his brain addled by contemplating the chessboard of linguistic meaning, he may yet come up with a coherent answer to this particular teaser. But whatever he determines, it seems likely that Derry/Londonderry/the Maiden City/Stroke City/Doire/L'derry dwellers will go on arguing about it for many generations to come.