Since when is "British" a synonym for "English"? (price, stations)

[dunno what to put here]

Originally Posted by french user

The confusing has maybe something to see with the fact that huge majority of the "United Kingdom of Great britain and Northern Ireland" (official name of the country) is actually made of England. The confusion is also that many British things, even if originally English have been spreading to the whole country. English language istself is not only the language of England, but still is named "English and not "British".

Indeed. England makes up 83.9% of the UK's total population, and roughly 86% of its total economic output. Things that are usually seen as traditionally British are almost always associated with England/the English - royalty, upper class aristocrats living in large stately homes in a rural idyllic setting, tea, top hats, monocles, crumpets, scones, fish and chips, English Breakfast, Bulldog etc. This isn't to say that fish and chips aren't popular in Scotland or that people in Wales don't like drinking tea, but they are usually stereotypes applied to England and therefore transferred to Britain. A lot of people associate haggis with Britain though, as well as Scotland, even though haggis originated in England (well, the first written recipe did). I can't think of many things in Wales or Northern Ireland that are considered British as well as Welsh/Northern Irish. Do people associated sectarian violence with the UK from your perspective?

Originally Posted by paull805

An assembly isn't a parliament though, not as much powers if I'm not mistaken?

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

The Welsh Assembly has slightly less power and autonomy than the Scottish Parliament, this is evident in the fact that Wales is still tied to England under a single jurisdiction, but an act passed in 2006 made it that Wales was able to pass its own laws separate to that of England. It can set laws in areas such as agriculture, education, health and housing, but does not have the power to raise taxes/implement varying tax rates within Wales, unlike the Scottish Parliament. However, the Government of Wales 2006 Act means that a referendum can be put forward to increase the power of the Welsh Assembly to the same level as the Scottish Parliament, so if the initiative is there, nobody is stopping them.

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

If he's not obsessing about race, he's obsessing whether or not a particular group of people are true blonds or not. Very unhealthy, IMO.

So he obsesses over how white certain people are (Brits are darker than other northern Europeans, don't you know?), but also obsesses over how blonde certain groups of people/nationalities are? The only thing missing is the admiration of blue eyes. One would think he holds pale blonde people in higher regard than any other people on Earth.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by LindavG

@ French_user and Acajack: Wallonia, Flanders and Quebec are not officially recognized as countries though, so you still can't quite compare it to the UK.

Agreed. But what is interesting is in spite of the fact they have less official name status as countries, on the ground Flanders and Wallonia are more different from each other, and Quebec more different from the rest of Canada, than Scotland and Wales are from England.

[paull805]

True, but you can say Americans are similar to a lot of Canadians or Argentinians are similar to Uruguayans even though they are separate countries. You can also say that a lot of Indians are different in different parts of the country. Scotland has a LONG history of being a separate nation.

[Bernie20]

Originally Posted by Cruithne

Dport I didn't want to go into it because I don't want to start insulting Americans here on this forum but since you are pushing me here are a few of my stories. You'll probably think I'm making this up because its ridiculously stupid stuff, but I can assure you I'm not.
I am originally from Liverpool so I have what you Americans would think is 'a bit of a funny accent'.
Someone once said to me "I hear from your accent you are from Scotland". Lightheartedly I replied: "well no you're close, actually I'm English". He point blank refused to believe I wasn't Scottish. "No, you are definitely Scottish". He was being serious. As if I didn't know where I come from!!!
Another time I was on a house viewing and a few ladies were standing around discussing a full length picture window because people kept walking into it thinking it was an opening. I overheard the conversation and said "maybe put a door there". They all looked at me as if I was from Mars. Believe it or not they couldn't understand my accent when I said 'door' because I pronounce it 'dor' instead of 'dooooo-orrrr'. In end I had to pronounce it in a really American accent then said "I'm English". This was obviously a huge mistake because from the dirty looks I got, they obviously thought I was insulting the language (they were all very stuck up).
I've had other similar examples of the door story. Such as you have to say 'wadrr' instead of 'water' otherwise you might as well be speaking German.
Also I've had occasion where I've said I'm English then you have to go into a whole drawn out explanation about it whereas if you just say British, people tend to just let it go.

That's hilarious. I must admit I've thought some Northern English were Scottish and I'm pretty good with accents as my family are Irish and I know the accents from Britain and Ireland pretty well and there are so many English people here in Australia. For such a small area like the UK you have to admit there are so many accents so it isn't always easy to pinpoint where people are from but it is going a bit far when people disagree with you when you tell them what your accent is.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by paull805

True, but you can say Americans are similar to a lot of Canadians or Argentinians are similar to Uruguayans even though they are separate countries. You can also say that a lot of Indians are different in different parts of the country. Scotland has a LONG history of being a separate nation.

Agree. But that's why even though I don't think Scotland being called a ''country'' in the current context really means much, I am generally supportive of whatever direction the Scots want to take. Whatever that may be.

[Bernie20]

A lot of people have difficulty with what is Britain, what is the UK and what is the British Isles. A lot of Australians still think Ireland is part of the UK. I mean is the Isle of Man part of the UK? I don't think it is but if you are not from that part of the world it is a bit confusing to be honest.

[Willsson]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Same with Russia and the Soviet Union. Back when it was the USSR they'd still just call it 'Russia' even if it included much more than Russia.

And the same with calling the U.S. 'America'. ??? All or part ???

[P London]

This is how it works

Great Britain is an island which consists of England, Wales and Scotland

The British Isles is Great Britain (the island of Great Britain, Island of Ireland and surronding islands which included Jersey, Shetlands islands, Orkney etc...) So it can be said that an Irish person from the Irish republic can be British because its located within the British isles however for many reasons they identify themself as Irish only.

Now the Island of Ireland is to the west of Great Britain which consists of the Republic of Ireland e.i not apart of the United Kingdom however Northern Ireland is.

So the United Kingdom is Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland - given it a official name of the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'

So every 'country' thats in the UK is British under citizenship but culturally someone from Belfast, Northern Ireland may only refer to themselves as northern Irish or Irish.

So scottish bagpipes, haggis, wales' st david and Northern Ireland's ulster fry are equally as British as many cultural stereotypes of England.

[le roi]

Originally Posted by P London

This is how it works

Great Britain is an island which consists of England, Wales and Scotland

The British Isles is Great Britain (the island of Great Britain, Island of Ireland and surronding islands which included Jersey, Shetlands islands, Orkney etc...) So it can be said that an Irish person from the Irish republic can be British because its located within the British isles however for many reasons they identify themself as Irish only.

Now the Island of Ireland is to the west of Great Britain which consists of the Republic of Ireland e.i not apart of the United Kingdom however Northern Ireland is.

So the United Kingdom is Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland - given it a official name of the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'

So every 'country' thats in the UK is British under citizenship but culturally someone from Belfast, Northern Ireland may only refer to themselves as northern Irish or Irish.

So scottish bagpipes, haggis, wales' st david and Northern Ireland's ulster fry are equally as British as many cultural stereotypes of England.

And when you throw in the ancient celtic "British" -- people get really confused.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britons_(Celtic_people)

[le roi]

Originally Posted by paull805

True, but you can say Americans are similar to a lot of Canadians or Argentinians are similar to Uruguayans even though they are separate countries. You can also say that a lot of Indians are different in different parts of the country. Scotland has a LONG history of being a separate nation.

you may be interested in the World Names Profiler

it is very helpful in researching this sort of thing.

for example, many of my family surnames are dominant in:

A) South Carolina, B) Eastern Canada, C) Scotland, and D) Australia/NZ

but they might be extremely rare in, say, Michigan or New York or California.