Hi, Im from the U.S. and I was wondering what is the difference between Britain, England, and the UK? Second, what do ya'll call yourselves, British or English(...U.K.ish...LOL ;))?
Please Help!
John
Visit projectbritain.com for more about British life and culture.
Posts
12 comments:
I was born in England. I am British and English. I am British because I live in one of the countries which form Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and also the UK.
The United Kingdom official title is the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. It consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK or United Kingdom is collectively Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain or Britain is again the same collection of countries. I was born in Scotland, so am Scottish and also British or a citizen of the United Kingdom
I don't aggree that Great Britain is the same as the UK. On my passport it say 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Surely this is evidence that Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain.
UK - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Great Britain (Britain) - England, Scotland, Wales
Great Britain is Scotland, England and Wales
The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Island - it used to be the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland but we got divorced.
England is England, one of the nations that make up the united kingdom, as is Scotland. Wales is a principality of England but its now treated as a nation the same as England and Scotland. Northern Ireland.........now that ones a bit more tricky than the rest (and thats tricky enough to explain without upsetting someone).
It all goes back to kings wanting to rule more than one country and parliaments having to create legal frameworks.
Me, I'm English and British (with Irish antecedents). The Welsh and Scotish are more likley to think of them selves as Welsh or Scotish first rather than British but the English are now doing so more.
Britain as a state is breaking down in to its component nations.
Just to let you know a lot of Irish people do not like it when Ireland is included in the term British Isles. As it gives the impression that Ireland is part of Britian.Also having worked with some English people here in Ireland they are amazed at the lack of knowledge they have about the history of the British in Ireland.
I am an American who hit this site and felt that the answers given did not answer the question of British or English. So I did some research and came up with the following excerpts - Great Britain is an island. All of the island is territory of the sovereign state the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and most of the United Kingdom's territory is in Great Britain. The term "Great Britain" is sometimes used inaccurately to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland under Queen Anne. This resulted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This in turn became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922, following the partition of Ireland. Politically, “Great Britain" refers to the largest island only, or to England, Scotland and Wales as a unit . It does not include Northern Ireland. Therefore, in my opinion your are British. English refers to the dialect only. So I my opinion, if you are a native “Great Britain” you are British, who happens to speak english.
Both my parents are migrants to this country (although I was born here in London), so when asked my nationality, I tend to say 'British' as that is what my passport says. I think that to be English, you need to have had English ancestry - ie you need to be of English ethnicity.
It seems to me that the British are held in pretty positive regard around the world. My Kenyan and Indian relatives all refer to 'The British' with some fondness, due to what they perceive to have been a beneficial colonial influence. I think that we Brits should refer to ourselves as Britons more often in order to tap into this history.
I do not agree with Scottish and Welsh devolution, which in my understanding is the handing back of powers to governments within those countries. That said, we will all be citizens of the United Federal States of Europe before long, so perhaps no need to argue about the English subsidy of the Scottish and Welsh nations!
Interesting topic this.
Geographically the islands of Britain and Ireland are called the 'British Isles', which works because, geographically, both are quite similar.
The Republic of Ireland inhabitants may have an issue with this, as they are not 'British', but it's actually just a geographical name as much as the Balklands or Scandinavia.
a name does not change the person you are . you will still be you . so dont let other people play with your mind .enjoy your own country and visit others the world is on dave
I always said i was english now i don't know what i am. i was born in woking surrey England. but if i tell people i am from England they go "you're British". i just go with the flow and am proud to be who i am.
the term British used to refer to the celtic inhabitants of these isles(Welsh,Irish and Scottish,Manx and Cornish).English referred to the anglo-saxons(including Jutes).Nowadays I find immigrants tend to refer to themselves as British and the term British is used to blur distinctions between the original inhabitants and those incomers who have recently arrived.I am Welsh and have no wish to be British.The terms Great Britain, the United Kingdom are political terms not geographic.The English tend to refer to themselves as British when it is of advantage to them whether financially as in the case of Scottish oil or politically as we're all in this together or their sports teams fail yet again and they cling to the hope of being associated with success by hanging onto the tails of another country's sports person eg Andy Murray or Scotland getting through to the world cup when England didn't qualify.
Remember an Englishman does everything on principle.He takes your land on the prionciple he needs it you don't.He destroys your culture on the principle that it is inferior to his .He bans your language on the principle everybody should speak English and doesn't need to speak any other language. The various acts of union only benefited England that why there is so much resentment against the English.
I was waiting to read a response like yours above. I for one am British/English. I hate it when people have a strong desire to rake up the past history of our great nation. I know through history "The English" have not acted "honourably" to our neighbouring countries, however in times of crises we have all rallied round to join forces when in required. It is only narrow minded individuals that fail to recognise the multicultural multinational Nation that Britain has now become if a language has been pushed out then why has the government produced pamphlets that have loads of different languages on it. I would like to stress that i follow my country "England" when ever they are playing (football/rugby) etc.. I do like to see all of our "Home Nations" doing well at sport (apart from when playing against England) i understand that if we were to seperate the sporting teams right down to the country that person was born in then some of the sporting stars may not be in a position that they are in now playing in the "English Premiership".
I dont have a hatred for my fellow Britons however you are so typical of uneducated people that have the same point of view!!!!!!!!!
Post a Comment