duck and gulp
wendy: what’s the name of the bit of mainland britian that includes England, Wales, Scotland and Cornwall but excludes Northern Ireland (NI)
NI Lady: Great Britain, look at your passport it says ‘United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Northern Ireland“
German: Wendy are you British?
wendy: what do you mean am I British?
German: I thought you were American
simultaneously, everyone in the room
ducks and GULPS
wendy: I’m British, I did live in the US for about 8 years, what made you think I was American?
German: someone told me
NI Lady: It’s defintiely not your accent
German: I can’t recognise all the British accents!
May 8th, 2010
As far as I can remember, in the GEOGRAPHICAL sense, Britain means the island where most of England is. Great Britain means that island and all the smaller islands which are naturally associated with such a significant land mass. The Hebrides are part of Great Britain. I think the Isle of Man might be too.
Politically, as a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK), my nationality is “British”. A native of Northern Ireland is geographically Irish, but also a British Citizen. (This isn’t a comment on the identity they personally align with, only the current political status quo.)
Don’t sweat it! As it happens, I live in Holland. Actually that’s true, because I live in Amsterdam, which is in the province of Noord-Holland (North Holland). Large parts of The Netherlands (a.k.a The Kingdom of the Netherlands, or Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) are not in Holland.
Most places have such ambiguities.
[reply]