Do people get the difference between British and English?

I know as do most people in the UK. However, it would seem quite a few Americans do not (no offense!). Although I am only judging this from the American users of IMDB, which itself is not great source of IQ!

Yorkshire is a place. Yorkshire is a state of mind.

Generally, if someone says that they are English, they tend to be waving an England flag. This puts them in the category of Daily Mail reader, football supporter, member of the BNP or, frequently, all three. It is much safer to say that you are British.

For a lot of Americans, the term "British" also seems to encompass Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and, on occasion, South Africa. It's like a catch-all for any English-speaking country not on the American continent.

As far as I can tell, this is mostly because they have trouble telling the accents apart.

I'm from Scotland. I do not have a problem with being referred to as British though I prefer Scottish. "Britishness" though is not something I can identify with outside the fact that I enjoy the freedoms, protections etc of HM Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

I think "British" has different connotations depending on the context and the user. In Northern Ireland, for instance, there is a divide where those one one side definitely do not welcome the term British and prefer Irish and on the other hand there's those that do identify with being British and would prefer that term to Northern Irish sometimes. Those on the British side there however don't necessarily have any great love for the English, just as it is here in Scotland for those that do identify with being British.

It's in England where the terms English and British are pretty much synonymous and interchangeable. British being a rather more benign term and does not carry the same historical and political connotations. Or at least the English appreciation of those connotations is far less important to the English.

Simply put, the application of the word British in a Scottish or Northern Irish context can imply, to some, a loss of historical national identity and sovereignty which can be traced back to the various treaties and acts of union which have brought about the United Kingdom as we know it today. In England that is inverted into a implication of solidarity, progress and (though for some nutjobs) conquest. It just depends who's playing who at football that day.

I can't speak for Wales because, as far as I know, they're not even a nation as they were in fact conquered by the English for good and all.

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British is basically anyone from Wales, Scotland or England(People from Great Britain). English refers to people specifically from England.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

The United Kingdom
Great Britain
The British Isles
Britain
England
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland

No wonder non-Brits get confused. I know plenty of British people who get confused as the differences between the first four.

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