Are you British or English, Scotish, Welsh or Nothern Irish

Basher said:
Britain in the proper definition doesn't. It refers to the British Isles, of which NI is not part.

It's not that Great Britain 'often' doesn't. It's that NI just isn't part of Great Britain.

The UK is GB+NI.
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Wrong, the British Isles refers to the main Islands of Britain, Ireland and associated smaller islands forming an archipelago above the Northwest coast of mainland Europe.
 
Born in South Africa of English, Irish, German, Italian and French descent. Lived here over 60 years and was given citizenship on arrival in 1960. I've always called myself British.
 
Born in Nigeria (British mother/Nigerian father) and lived there for nearly 7 years, and then moved to a very different world - the Surrey countryside. Always considered myself British.
 
Hagar said:
Wrong, the British Isles refers to the main Islands of Britain, Ireland and associated smaller islands forming an archipelago above the Northwest coast of mainland Europe.
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Apologies yes, you’re right.

Great Britain, however does not include NI.
 
Basher said:
Apologies yes, you’re right.

Great Britain, however does not include NI.
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Agreed :).

There are several descriptions that do like including it expressly as Great Britain and Northern Ireland or just the United Kingdom.
 
I am British.

When I am in Scotland, I am still British.

When I am in Wales, I am still British.

When I am in Northern Ireland, I am still British.

When I am in England, I am still British.

I am British.
 
ianh said:
See I'm the other way, British first and it's only rarely that I'd use English, should anyone ever ask for that level of detail.

It's not a "pride" issue or anything like like, it's just there's no use of "United Kingdom-ish" as a shortening of where I'm from to describe my country (I'd usually just say I'm from the UK) so the next one down is "Great Brit-ish" so thats what I use.

Burrowing further down in the specific Countries just seemed a little odd to me as an Englishman :D
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Most people from other countries will not know the difference between English and British.

I remember getting into an argument with a Finish girl in Portugal. She said Scotland isn't a country and she should know because she studied there. Funnily enough the Scottish girl working behind the bar stayed out of it.

I am curious if you asked someone born in Bratislava years ago, would they have said they were Czechoslovakian or would have said they are Slovakian. Same with someone born in Ljubljana. Asked before 1991 what nationality they were would they have said Slovenien or Yugoslavian?

One of my exes is from a baltic state that was USSR. She said people identified with their country rather than the union.
 
I'd consider myself Welsh first then British.
If I can pick a flag for a game, for example, I would pick the Welsh over the British flag but are fine with the British one if that's the only option.
 
Basher said:
Britain in the proper definition doesn't. It refers to the British Isles, of which NI is not part.

It's not that Great Britain 'often' doesn't. It's that NI just isn't part of Great Britain.

The UK is GB+NI.
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I thought that this was total cobblers, and set about Googling to prove it,
whereupon I was shot up the **** to read the following;

Great Britain is the collective name of England, Scotland and Wales and their associated islands.
IT DOES NOT INCLUDE NORTHERN IRELAND and therefore should never be used interchangeably with ‘UK’- something you see all too often.
I was mogadored, (allegedly Cockney rhyming slang for floored.)
 
MikeTheNative said:
I'd consider myself Welsh first then British.
If I can pick a flag for a game, for example, I would pick the Welsh over the British flag but are fine with the British one if that's the only option.
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Some 5 years ago, my son sent me a WhatsApp containing a clip of his son, my grandson, around 12 or 13 then, belting out at least two verses of La Marseillaise, (in French), at Twickenham during a rugby match between France and Italy and waving a French flag.
When I queried it, my son said that a neighbour of his had migrated to France a couple of years back, but had returned for the match, with his son who was a schoolfriend of my grandson.
The neighbour had taken both boys to Twickenham, where my grandson declared that had England been playing, he’d have cheered for England, but opted to throw his weight behind France as he knew that his grandpa was proud of his soupçon of French blood, while my sons weren’t bothered about their bit, and had stuck with England.
 
Basher said:
Britain in the proper definition doesn't. It refers to the British Isles, of which NI is not part.
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It is, which is why the term "British Isles" is now out of favour. "British Isles" is a geographical term that refers to a particular archipelago off the coast of mainland Europe. The whole of the island of Ireland is, obviously, part of that archipelago. An archipelago that nowadays is rarely named because "British Isles" is out of favour and it doesn't really have any other name. I've seen "Northwestern European archipelago" suggested, but that's a clumsy workaround for political reasons.
 
Le Clandestin Brun said:
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:D
 
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