Okay, the Irish thing confuses me, but be that as it may, since it has become synonomous culturally, would it be, just out of curiousity, considered insulting to a Scot to be called 'British' as well as one from Wales? Especially to the young urban minded youths of your country...Or is cultural pride a thing of the past and it doesn't matter much today as it did once before whether you're british or whathaveyou?
I cannot think of any reason why a Scot or Welshman would hate to be called British unless it was clear that you wre using British and English interchangably.
Frankly, most people aren't really too bothered by these distinctions; it is only a minority who get stuffy about it. Even if you called me Scottish I would only correct you, as much as a Texan would if you said he was from California.
What's the confusing thing about the Irsh?
The fact that they're separate, are they so because like Canada is to the U.S.? even though both countries are considered N. America. For the most part, canadians do not call themselves other than canadians, and we here in the U.S. seem to have all the license to call ourselves americans. *wonders why*
But being separate, are the Irish considered a country of it's own? I've read some of the history and seen most of the news story on the difficulties that are going on in Ireland with England, if the stories are to be taken as truth...
And thanks for clearing that up for me about the Scots and the Welshman...If ever I were to come across one, it would be okay to say they were British in a respectable way and not be offended by it...
Thank God you do not label yourselves as we do, e.g.: Asian American, African-American, etc...
Originally posted by Ushgarak
Heh... well, I don't have any confidence that the average British schoolkid knows what he or she should do about the States either... I mean, a staggering amount still think New York is the capital. And if they don't, it is more likely due to watching American tv than any form of formal education.
hahaha!!!
New York? 😛
The Irish are British... Ireland being the second largest of the British Isles, after Great Britain itself... and lets be honest, the English themselves have been a subject race since 1066, first to the Normans, then the Angevin French, then the Franco-welsh Tudors, then the Franco-Scots Stewarts, then the German Hanoverians... we have been told for centuries that European ways are better, especially French ways, and that to be English is wrong... if we say that we want to reclaim our English identity, and ask for an English assembly with the same powers as the Scottish and Welsh assemblies, we are denounced as racist... We are even taught at school that when the English ruled England it was a barbaric time, with no history and bad laws, despite all the evidence to the contrary, and that civilisation only came to these shores with the Norman conquest... which is why an awful lot of us, especially the further away you get from the capital, get a bit of a bee in our bonnet about being called British, or (the gods forbid) European...
The Irish are NOT British. It is called the United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland, and the only people who are actually referred to as British are those from Great Britain- a distinction people really should remember. 'The British Isles' refers to a region only; it has no political distinction and people inside them are not necessarily British.
BGK, please do not bring this political vein into this thread; that is not allowed here.
Originally posted by *Danii*
OK, Im Scottish, TECHNICLY I'm British -BUT- I don't like being called British because in America people take that to mean that youre ENGLISH. Which is why I've got my Location down as SCOTLAND and not BRITAIN.Does that make sense?. . . Basicly I don't want people to think I'm English.
hence the confusion...when i think british, i think of english almost exclusively...