h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've always understood Great Britain to mean England, Scotland & Wales, with United Kingdom being Great Britain & Northern Ireland. Have I always been wrong about this or is it a relatively recent thing that they've been interchangeable?

Deb

I recommend these - one old, one new:

Great Britain: A2027008
Ireland: A87862134

I've always preferred the simplest terms like England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. I know that a number of Researchers use "U.K." a lot, so when I'm posting responses to them, I might use that too, but I always feel a bit hazy about what exactly U.K. is.

I'm sure a lot of us have similar vagueness regarding bits of America/USA. I'm sure you have disputed, protected and autonomous regions too. Maybe someone could write the definitive guide in the style of the entries listed above?

You're completely right, Deb. Using "Great Britain" to mean the United Kingdom is wrong, but is and has always been common.

"Britain" seems to be the common term in news analyses.

but also wrong

I spend a lot of time saying "English and British are not necessarily the same thing" and then explaining just what Great Britain, UK and the rest actually mean.

The original Britons were the Celtic people who were displaced by the English (when they arrived from Germany), but survived in Wales, Cornwall and possibly Scotland. So British should be a term that people in Wales use proudly.

But it is so much associated with England that some Welsh nationalists insist they are not British.

'British' does sound like a claim on the islands.

Even English is sticky - we didn't call ourselves Norman after that later invasion.

Some of you did!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Wisdom

I was curious because of the whole Brexit thing. I was wondering what would happen to Northern Ireland if Great Britain (ie England, Scotland & Wales) voted to leave the EU.

I'm not sure I'm any less confused, but then I'm not sure I'm alone in that so it makes me feel better

Deb

The Brexit thing is for the whole of the UK to exit from the EU, not just Great Britain. So Northern Ireland would go too.

Which makes Brexit a meaningless & misleading term. It's a bit like giving a celebrity couple a jaunty nickname using one of their names and one of their other names - so instead of Brangelina we'd have Angelolie. or Britt.

I suspect it originates from bad journalism. There's a lot of it around these days.

Deb

I think UKexit sounds too much like You Kecks It, which I believe means "you throw your underwear at it". Not the image that Mr Farrage and his gang want to portray.

Did you know that the Channel Islands and Gibraltar aren't in the EU?

<BB<

Neither is the Isle of Man.

Whereas French Guiana in South America is. It's an 'overseas region' of France, so it counts as being a proper part of France and hence part of the European Union.

This is why the Euro notes have a map of Europe which include French Guiana and a few little French islands (Guadeloupe, Reunion and one other).

I've heard that St Pierre et Miquelon, the tiny islands off Canada, are also part of France, so part of the EU is in North America.

I thought Gibraltar was in the EU. Don't tell me we've had a Gixit?

Gibbet is more appropriate Icy

"I suspect it originates from bad journalism. There's a lot of it around these days." [Deb]

So much that if it weren't for bad journalism, there wouldn't be any journalism at all....