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How do British people call their country?
What is the most common/popular name for the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" in the UK?
a) UK b) United Kingdom c) Great Britain d) Britain e) <other alternative names>
Depends, really. Many English people will say England when refering to home - even when they actually mean the whole of the UK.
How do Brits refer to their country? Well, basically, in one single, simple four letter word: Home
Seriously, as has been mentioned scores of times in this Forum, it's a very complicated situation here as the United Kingdom can, at times, be seen as the Disunited Kingdom, as we are made up of four strictly different component parts, each jealously guarding their own separate identities, with the Scots, the Welsh and the (Northern) Irish especially dedicated in this respect. The non English among us - the Brits generally - making sure that we are not included in the title "the English" and that we are most assuredly not part of England at all, even though England is by far the largest and most populous of the four Home Countries, as they are called. I don't think I can fully agree with Matt when he says that many English people use the word England to embrace the entire UK - I have never personally encountered this, but I know that many people abroad, especially the Americans, again, say England when they mean the UK. That is so irritating to us Non English Brits, but I daresay most Americans would think "Scotland" or "Scottish" if they were shown a picture of a hunky guy from the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders resplendent in full Caledonian kit and blowing into his pipes, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that they realise that Scotland is not part of England. The UK is the way most Brits refer to their country most of the time, and would only say Scotland, or England or Wales when they specifically wished to refer to those particular parts of this country, but when I am on the Continent I generally say "Scotland" when people ask me where I come from, rather than the UK, although many guess immediately the moment I open my gob, as the Scottish accent is pretty much well recognised in Europe. However, if we are discussing matters in general involving this country then I would refer to it as the UK. Blighty - this word as a name meaning the UK originated during WW1 and was invariably used by troops finding themselves on the battlefields of Continental Europe, and those much further afield, during that horrendous conflict, and the name has stuck ever since as a reference to the UK, and is still used by British forces engaged in present day military conflicts overseas. It is also widely used by British ex-pats living, or working, in other parts of the world, even those very much closer to the UK in Continental Europe. British soldiers fighting in the hellish trenches of the WW1 battlefields, or in hellholes elsewhere, would try and gain some comfort by hoping they would soon return to the green, green grass of Home by signing: Take me back to dear old Blighty, Put me on a train for London town! Send me over there, Drop me anywhere - Liverpool, Leeds or Birmingham - I just don't care!
It entirely depends on your political stance on the Kingdom.
Here's the sitution in Northern Ireland For example my neighbours would often say they are from the United Kingdom/Northern Ireland. However down the road in the catholic areas they often would say they are from Ireland or the Republic.
Oh yeah I forgot - the term "Britain" doesn't include Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.....that's what it says on my passport
The "Great" bit has nothing whatsoever to do with power, status or influence of any kind - whether, political, economic or militaristic. It simply relates to the physically largest island making up this archipelago of islands - of which Northern Ireland is not part, and neither are the offshore islands of the Isle of Man and the small collection of islands known as the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney and smaller islands contained within the group. However, all come under the jurisdiction of the British Crown. The French call it Grande Bretagne, presumably to distinguish it from their very own Bretagne - a region of North West France, facing England across La Manche, and known to us as Britanny. |