[Clare~Bear]

I'd say the majority of british adults know the difference between England, GB the UK and the british isles but what about foreigners? Do most of them think that they're all the same thing? And the british isles! Although I don't hear of many things that apply to the whole British isles, so that phrase isn't mentioned much.

It'd be interesting to hear from any overseas TSRians and if you knew/know the difference. Is it the kind of thing they teach kids at school abroad? I learnt about it in year 5 geography.

[Student2806]

The Aussies certainly don't know the difference. I read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (a broadsheet) a couple of days ago that was going on about how badly the English are doing at the Olympics.

[Snagprophet]

'Majority of adults?'

Dear me, you've reminded my why I am embarrassed for my generation. Yeah, I've always known the difference.

The problem is most names the foreigners call British in their languages are actually English demonyms. I'd be happy, on this basis, for a dissolving of the UK just so us English are slapped with being the concentrated face of 'Britons'. It's just too unbalanced. 85% is English. Imagine a state in the USA which held 85% of their population and the rest was spaced out between three others? That's how it is.

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
'Majority of adults?'

Dear me, you've reminded my why I am embarrassed for my generation. Yeah, I've always known the difference.

The problem is most names the foreigners call British in their languages are actually English demonyms. I'd be happy, on this basis, for a dissolving of the UK just so us English are slapped with being the concentrated face of 'Britons'. It's just too unbalanced. 85% is English. Imagine a state in the USA which held 85% of their population and the rest was spaced out between three others? That's how it is.

My dad doesn't know! He was wondering why Ireland were competing separately to GB!!!!

[nightmare91]

I am German and I actually googled the difference between the UK and Great Britain yesterday. Everyone knows the difference between England and Great Britain but since the term 'Vereinigtes Königreich' (United Kingdom) is barely used here, no one really knows the difference.

[ckingalt]

I know the difference but only because I have visited England twice and one of my best mates is from Northern Ireland. I suspect most Americans think GB and the UK are the same thing (Scotland, England, Ireland with no distinction between South and North, and they don't even really know what Wales is).

To be fair it is not as simple as you Brits, I mean UK-ians think it is. How many of you can tell me the difference between a U.S. state, common wealth, city, county, or district?

[A level Az]

Well if any of these people want to educate themselves...

[TheWorldEndsWithMe]

Well, whenever I've been to America and been asked where I'm from (my cent seems to draw attention- Northern Irish), I say NI and then end up explaining that NI is part of the UK, not Ireland.
They then ask if I'm English. >.<
Most seem to acknowledge a difference between Scotland and England, and some know that they make up part of GB/UK, but as for Wales and Northern Ireland, forget about it.

I think it's partly to do with the size of the 'parts' - England and Scotland are much bigger than NI and Wales - and also because of football/'soccer'. The four parts compete separately, but England tend to do well, get more recognition and therefore that's the part that stocks in people's minds (if they're into football).

To be honest, I think the GB/UK distinction - including NI or not - makes it a little more confusing and most people in the country won't know he difference. I know a few people I would expect to know it but most people I know wouldn't.

Although, technically with the way 'team GB' is being used, surely it should be 'team UK'? Because people aren't saying 'team GB and NI', but that's me being picky.

[Tahooper]

(Original post by ckingalt)
I know the difference but only because I have visited England twice and one of my best mates is from Northern Ireland. I suspect most Americans think GB and the UK are the same thing (Scotland, England, Ireland with no distinction between South and North, and they don't even really know what Wales is).

To be fair it is not as simple as you Brits, I mean UK-ians think it is. How many of you can tell me the difference between a U.S. state, common wealth, city, county, or district?

U.S. State: Washington
Commonwealth: Puerto Rico
City: New York City
County: Orange County, California
District: Red Light District

[Snagprophet]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
My dad doesn't know! He was wondering why Ireland were competing separately to GB!!!!

That's because the Republic of Ireland are a separate country, as in sovereign state but I don't know why we're doing it as Great Britain, which is the island England, Scotland and Wales is on, as opposed to the UK, which is our sovereign state.


On the subject of the awareness of the difference between England and the UK globally, remember people call the Netherlands 'Holland' even though Holland is inside the Netherlands.

[Psyk]

To be honest, I don't think most foreigners know the difference. I'm not sure the majority of Brits really know the difference. Or at least many Brits (well, English people really) don't acknowledge the difference, even if they are actually aware of it. Also many Brits don't understand the political nature of the UK. They see it as a fairly loose collection of countries, where as to the rest of the world it is a single, unitary country (in a political sense) with some devolved regions.

(Original post by ckingalt)
To be fair it is not as simple as you Brits, I mean UK-ians think it is. How many of you can tell me the difference between a U.S. state, common wealth, city, county, or district?

Is there a difference between a state and a commonwealth? I thought they were actually the same thing, just some "states" have called themselves a commonwealth. Can't say I know the details of US local government though. Wouldn't they differ by state anyway?

In the UK we have cities, counties and districts (as well as many other things used for different purposes), but they details of how they're organised can be completely different in different places. I imagine it's the same in the USA.

[Psyk]

(Original post by A level Az)
Well if any of these people want to educate themselves...

That's a good video, but it does have some inaccuracies. It says that the 4 parts are "co-sovereign" which isn't really true. The UK as a whole is sovereign, there is no sharing of sovereignty between the different parts like there is in the USA where the states and the federal government share sovereignty.

Also the official name of the country the UK shares a land border with is "Ireland", not the "Republic of Ireland".

[Emaemmaemily]

One thing I find strange is that we are Team GB (Great Britain) in the Olympics, but we have Northern Irish on the team, and from crown dependencies. It really should be caled Team UK to be correct. It's no wonder people get confused with so many contradictions.

[Psyk]

(Original post by Emaemmaemily)
One thing I find strange is that we are Team GB (Great Britain) in the Olympics, but we have Northern Irish on the team, and from crown dependencies. It really should be caled Team UK to be correct. It's no wonder people get confused with so many contradictions.

But if it was team UK, that would still exclude people from the crown dependencies.

I didn't know Team GB included the crown dependencies. Considering some of the overseas territories have their own teams, then I figured they could have their own teams too.

[Emaemmaemily]

(Original post by Psyk)
But if it was team UK, that would still exclude people from the crown dependencies.

I didn't know Team GB included the crown dependencies. Considering some of the overseas territories have their own teams, then I figured they could have their own teams too.

Perhaps I'm wrong about the crown dependencies, but my comment on the Northern Irish is really my focus. The name Team GB doesn't include them, so it's no wonder than foreign people find it confusing.

[Psyk]

(Original post by Emaemmaemily)
Perhaps I'm wrong about the crown dependencies, but my comment on the Northern Irish is really my focus. The name Team GB doesn't include them, so it's no wonder than foreign people find it confusing.

Yeah, I agree that is strange. But I think people from Northern Ireland can compete for Ireland instead if they want to.

[PurpleEyes]

Recently, I was on a plane about to land back at Heathrow. As my homeland became visible through the clouds, I heard an American child in the row behind me say "Look, there's London! What language do they speak here?" after a rather painful pause, his mother replied "British".

[Emaemmaemily]

(Original post by PurpleEyes)
Recently, I was on a plane about to land back at Heathrow. As my homeland became visible through the clouds, I heard an American child in the row behind me say "Look, there's London! What language do they speak here?" after a rather painful pause, his mother replied "British".

lol, that one always makes me laugh.
If we were to get technical, the dialect we speak is British English, but yeah the language is obviously the same and it's really odd when people don't make the connection between "England" and "English".

[dgeorge]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
I'd say the majority of british adults know the difference between England, GB the UK and the british isles but what about foreigners? Do most of them think that they're all the same thing? And the british isles! Although I don't hear of many things that apply to the whole British isles, so that phrase isn't mentioned much.

It'd be interesting to hear from any overseas TSRians and if you knew/know the difference. Is it the kind of thing they teach kids at school abroad? I learnt about it in year 5 geography.

Sadly, no. You have no idea how many times I have to explain to people that "England" and "Wales" are two different places. Most people from overseas know of "England" and generally assume that England and Britain/UK are the same thing

[The_Great_One]

A US commonwealth is Jamestown isn't it?