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As a Brit[1] this convention still irks me. Maybe we should just be American about it, and call the whole of the UK 'England', and pretend Scotland is it's own
by Jaruzel 6y ago
As a Brit[1] this convention still irks me.
Maybe we should just be American about it, and call the whole of the UK 'England', and pretend Scotland is it's own country? /s
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[1] Yes, I get the irony of calling myself a 'Brit', but 'Uker' just doesn't sound right.
- headmelted 6y agoUker sounds so very Farage of you to be fair.
- rightbyte 6y agoAre not Scotland, Wales and England each countries though?
- scarygliders 6y agoThey are not sovereign countries. Both Scotland and England gave up their sovereign status when the Acts of Union were enacted, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Basically, Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, are nations which comprise the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is the sovereign state.
- raverbashing 6y ago"Gave up", that's a charitable way of putting it ;) But to the topic, yes there's no apparently shorter way of referring to the UK as anything else but "Britain" Other Kingdoms get away because they only have a "single name" (Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, etc) Unless we come up with a name like the flag and call it Swaland or something like that
- dragonwriter 6y ago> Are not Scotland, Wales and England each countries though? Sure, but in a sense where UK “countries” are a thing somewhat like US “states” (but somewhat less, in that neither is independent, but US states are notionally sovereign nevertheless.) The UK is the entity which is a sovereign and independent entity.
- arethuza 6y agoThere are amusing anomalies such as the UK constituent countries having their own international sporting teams in some sports.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- arethuza 6y agoI suspect most people from the UK when asked their nationality will answer English, Scottish etc.
- robhu 6y agoI'm from the UK (England in particular) - I think most people from England would say they are British (sometimes depending on context / person / non-requirement for brevity: 'from the UK' instead). Perhaps a higher proportion of non-English UK people would answer otherwise.
- arethuza 6y agoI think this is the survey that I vaguely remembered: "How British is Britain?": https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24302914 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24302914 If I read that correctly, London seems to be the only place where a majority of people see themselves primarily as "British"? It's nearly 10 years old, but I don't think things are going to have changed to make people feel substantially more "British", certainly not here in Scotland!