Six Counties

a.k.a. Sax Couynteys, especially among Irish Republicans - see Norn Iron.

The six counties are known to many by the unfortunate mnemonic of FATLAD:

• Fermanagh
• Antrim
• Tyrone
• Londonderry
• Armagh
• Down

When Ireland was partitioned in 1921, there were noyin couyn...(sorry!) nine counties in Ulster: the sax above, plus Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal. Someone forgot to tell the last 3 how to vote, so they stayed with the 26 counties of the Irish Free State (today's Republic of Ireland.) A nice, handy bolt-hole for any little toe-rag who wants to claim Republican sympathies as an excuse for vandalism or murder. (Come to think of it, they're not too strong on arithmetic, are they? Maybe they ran out of fingers when counting up. They lost a few digits in the early bomb-making days, didn't they?) Hmmm...