Ask a Scot if he is British or Scottish.
Ask a Welshman he is British or Welsh.
Ask an Englishman he is British or English.
A Scot will almost always say he is Scottish rather than British.
A Welsh person will almost always say he is Welsh rather than British.
An English person (like me) will almost always say she is British rather than English. The Scots and Welsh are anxious to hold on to their identity as Welsh and Scots, rather than be subsumed into all things English or British.
However, the
nationality of a Scot or a Welshman is British. There is no such as a Welsh or Scottish passport nor, indeed, is there an English passport.
Does a Scot sound like an Englishman?
Does a Welshman sound like a Northern Irishman?
Let's leave Northern Ireland out of this discussion. A person from Northern Ireland will say he is
Irish rather than British even though N.I. is not part of the Republic of Ireland. However, a person from N.I. requires a British passport.
On the regional accent issue even within England - does a Geordie sound like an East Ender?
Does a Brummie sound like a Scouser?
Does someone from Chester sound like a Cornishman?
Which country does
not have regional accents? Here in America where I live everyone can recognize a New York or a New Jersey accent. Or a Boston accent or someone from the Deep South. But we are all Americans regardless of our accent (I have dual nationality).
Scotland, Wales and England are actually separate countries
Not exactly. They are
constituent countries within the larger country of Great Britain.
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antoni109
11 years ago
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Agree totally that a Scot would say they are Scottish first, and an Englishman might call themselves British first.
Of course all countries have regional accents - I'd argue that regional differences in England are more pronounced than, say, in the US, but I guess that could be debated. In Australia there are regional differences but these are almost imperceptible to an outsider, and I'd say the difference between urban Australia vs country Australia is more pronounced than say the difference between Melbourne and Brisbane.
On your final point, I would argue the countries are indeed separate countries but are all part of the sovereign state that is the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is not a country.
Anyways, the generic catch all of "the Brits" or "British" by North Americans still annoys me, but it clearly doesn't annoy you... and you are English/British so live and let live I say.
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Stirchley
11 years ago
The United Kingdom is not a country.
I never said it was.
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antoni109
11 years ago
Not exactly. They are constituent countries within the larger country of Great Britain.
I stand corrected, you said Great Britain was a country.
Unfortunately you are still wrong, Great Britain is an island, but not a country. Do you want to continue? :-)
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Stirchley
11 years ago
Great Britain is an island, but not a country
I disagree.
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antoni109
11 years ago
You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. There is no composite country of "Great Britain". It simply doesn't exist as a political entity. It has no government, legislature, police force, civil service.
As we've already discussed the United Kingdom is the sovereign state, composed of the countries of England, Wales, etc etc. There once was the Kingdom of Great Britain but as a political entity that no longer exists.
So well played thus far Stirchley, but you just lost. And the worst of it is is that an Australian knows more about the political geography of your own island than you do.
Prove me wrong.
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Stirchley
11 years ago
The United Kingdom is not a country.
Direct quote from you two days ago.
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antoni109
11 years ago
And it's not. It's a sovereign state, but it's not a country. You seem to have trouble with the concept, check it out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_state
Great Britain is neither a country nor a sovereign state. Keep floggin' that horse though brother.
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Stirchley
11 years ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_countries_map_2.png
Back at ya. (BTW, I'm a sister, not a brother.)
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antoni109
11 years ago
Oops, my mistake sis.
So it seems that a sovereign state (eg the UK) can be considered a country (even though it's composed of subordinate countries) so you win that round.
However the Isle of Britain is still not a country
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Stirchley
11 years ago
subordinate countries
Constituent countries, not subordinate.
the Isle of Britain is still not a country
Probably because there is no such thing. There is the
island of Great Britain or maybe you are referring to
the British Isles, which is a whole other story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles
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antoni109
11 years ago
the Isle of Britain
Probably because there is no such thing. There is the island of Great Britain or maybe you are referring to the British Isles, which is a whole other story.
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michaelstorry
10 years ago
so pleased this topic exists. as mentioned the accent is all over the place, very distracting. american/english/australian???
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