Rui
What's the difference between 'English' and 'British' ? Does English mean all the people in the UK ? What's the difference between Eglish and British? And 'the UK',England and Great Britain.Do they have the same meaning? Why there are so many names of one country? Which one should I choose? Hope you can help me. Thanks.
Jun 6, 2016 12:22 PM
Answers · 9
4
You already have your answer. You've received four accurate replies from four well-informed people, none of them either English or British, which is nice to see. I'd just like to add something from within, so to speak. One interesting issue that came up in last year's referendum about Scotland is that 'British' is largely a political distinction. It's our passport, our nationality, the Union Flag under which we sit, publicly, on the international stage. By contrast, being Scottish, Welsh or English ( or Northern Irish, if we're also talking about the UK) is more of a cultural issue. especially if you happen to be Scottish, Welsh or N. Irish. It's about ethnicity, history, values, attitudes, and way of life, what you look like and how you speak (language, dialect and accent). Scottish and Welsh people are very conscious, and rightly proud, of coming from a culture which different from that in England. By contrast, 'Englishness' is very hard to define, and even harder to separate from Britishness. In some ways, being English can feel like a default state, for the 50 million or so of us who are British, but not Scottish, Welsh or Irish.
June 6, 2016
2
This video by CGP Grey explains it quite well: The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained: https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10 *All his other videos are also interesting.
June 6, 2016
2
The United Kingdom (UK) contains Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Within Great Britain or just Britain, there are 3 countries, England, Scotland and Wales who are all British, but only the people from England are called English. The people from Scotland are Scottish and the people from Wales are Welsh. So English is specifically referring to England only, which is within Britain, but British could be referring to anyone from either England, Scotland or Wales
June 6, 2016
Thank you all for your quickly and kindly help. : )
June 6, 2016
Roughly: – Great Britain = England + Scotland + Wales – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland = Great Britain + Northern Ireland Maps and more information: http://brilliantmaps.com/eng-gb-uk/
June 6, 2016
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