4 ms·

Extremely boring fact check: Rutland is not "the UK's smallest county" - it is England's smallest county, once again English organisations find it hard to tell

Extremely boring fact check: Rutland is not "the UK's smallest county" - it is England's smallest county, once again English organisations find it hard to tell the difference between England and the UK. Clackmannanshire (159 km2) is significantly smaller than Rutland (382 km2).

iso1210 5y ago
> Rutland is not "the UK's smallest county" Who are you quoting?
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  The headline, both on HN and the source article.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    I did pause, tempted to change the headline, but decided to leave it for mods if desired. Not because I was fact-checking though - I just think it's irrelevant and uninteresting!
6LLvveMx2koXfwn 5y ago
Rutland is not even England's smallest county [1], it's the fourth according to definitions laid out in the Lieutenancies Act of 1997 [2]. I guess the copy editor kiboshed "Britain’s largest ‘Sea Dragon’ discovered in England’s fourth smallest county". 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_counties_of_England#Lieutenancy_areas_since_1997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_counties_of_England... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenancies_Act_1997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenancies_Act_1997
- JetSetWilly 5y ago
  Hmn that is an interesting point, maybe then the "City of London" is the UK's smallest county?
- goodcanadian 5y ago
  It is, however, the least populous.
- OJFord 5y ago
  It's the smallest 'historic county' (i.e. per Domesday book, I believe), that's probably where they got it from. It's also not the smallest unitary authority (which I'd argue is a more usual layman's meaning of 'county' than 'ceremonial county for the purposes of the lieutenancies act' - who on the street means to include the City of London when they say 'county' for example?) - beaten by Bristol and the IoW.
  - stakkur 5y ago
    This is the most English thread I’ve read all year.
thaumasiotes 5y ago
> once again English organisations find it hard to tell the difference between England and the UK. If you think that's difficult for English organisations, you should see what the rest of the world thinks. I'm proud to treat "England" and "the United Kingdom" as synonyms. It's like referring to the Soviet Union as "Russia". Only English (Welsh / Scottish / Irish) organisations would have any interest in distinguishing between England and "the United Kingdom". Who's more likely to distinguish between New York and Texas: the Guardian or the New York Times?
- chrismcb 5y ago
  New York is not a subset of Texas. Distinguishing between the two of like distinguishing between Wales and Scotland, something I think most people can do. Distinguishing between New York City and New York state on the other hand is much closer to distinguishing between Britain, UK, England
- JdeBP 5y ago
  Possibly The Guardian given the View from 9th Avenue's implications for New York geographers. (-: * https://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/view-of-the-world-from-9th-avenue/ https://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/view-of-the-world-...

iso1210 5y ago

> Rutland is not "the UK's smallest county" Who are you quoting?

dragonwriter 5y ago
The headline, both on HN and the source article.
- OJFord 5y ago
  I did pause, tempted to change the headline, but decided to leave it for mods if desired. Not because I was fact-checking though - I just think it's irrelevant and uninteresting!

6LLvveMx2koXfwn 5y ago

Rutland is not even England's smallest county [1], it's the fourth according to definitions laid out in the Lieutenancies Act of 1997 [2]. I guess the copy editor kiboshed "Britain’s largest ‘Sea Dragon’ discovered in England’s fourth smallest county". 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_counties_of_England#Lieutenancy_areas_since_1997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_counties_of_England... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenancies_Act_1997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenancies_Act_1997

JetSetWilly 5y ago
Hmn that is an interesting point, maybe then the "City of London" is the UK's smallest county?
goodcanadian 5y ago
It is, however, the least populous.
OJFord 5y ago
It's the smallest 'historic county' (i.e. per Domesday book, I believe), that's probably where they got it from. It's also not the smallest unitary authority (which I'd argue is a more usual layman's meaning of 'county' than 'ceremonial county for the purposes of the lieutenancies act' - who on the street means to include the City of London when they say 'county' for example?) - beaten by Bristol and the IoW.
- stakkur 5y ago
  This is the most English thread I’ve read all year.

thaumasiotes 5y ago

> once again English organisations find it hard to tell the difference between England and the UK. If you think that's difficult for English organisations, you should see what the rest of the world thinks. I'm proud to treat "England" and "the United Kingdom" as synonyms. It's like referring to the Soviet Union as "Russia". Only English (Welsh / Scottish / Irish) organisations would have any interest in distinguishing between England and "the United Kingdom". Who's more likely to distinguish between New York and Texas: the Guardian or the New York Times?

chrismcb 5y ago
New York is not a subset of Texas. Distinguishing between the two of like distinguishing between Wales and Scotland, something I think most people can do. Distinguishing between New York City and New York state on the other hand is much closer to distinguishing between Britain, UK, England
JdeBP 5y ago
Possibly The Guardian given the View from 9th Avenue's implications for New York geographers. (-: * https://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/view-of-the-world-from-9th-avenue/ https://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/view-of-the-world-...