Flure Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Here's a thing. "Great Britain is the official collective name of of England, Scotland and Wales and their associated islands. It does not include Northern Ireland and therefore should never be used interchangeably with ‘UK’ – something you see all too often. Technically, if you lose the ‘Great,’ Britain only refers to England and Wales." Who says so? Ordnance Survey, that's who. http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2011/08/whats-the-difference-between-uk-britain-and-british-isles/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee- Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Was thinking along similar lines with regards to NI. very rarely do we hear GB& NI mentioned together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffer Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Didn't know that about Britain v Great Britain, very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stocky Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DrNu8XDBSn10&ei=VjKZVOvnO5GKaKfygsgJ&usg=AFQjCNHRSd9_CN1iEUsFrwXHq4TrvSnzOg&bvm=bv.82001339,d.d2s a really good wee video explaining it all... stick with it.. it is very informative The Orkney's, Shetlands and Hebridies are also not part of Great Britain,, Great Britain is the mainland, it is the name of the Island.. watch video and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Interesting stuff, especially the comments. Reminded me of the big Ireland game thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Bob Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 "Technically, if you lose the Great, Britain only refers to England and Wales" That's a distinction too far for me and I suspect most others. Would be good to know their reasoning. As far as I am aware, 'great' Britain was used by the French to distinguish us from the 'little' Britain of Brittany? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristolhibby Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Here's a thing. "Great Britain is the official collective name of of England, Scotland and Wales and their associated islands. It does not include Northern Ireland and therefore should never be used interchangeably with UK something you see all too often. Technically, if you lose the Great, Britain only refers to England and Wales." Who says so? Ordnance Survey, that's who. http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2011/08/whats-the-difference-between-uk-britain-and-british-isles/ Not sure OS are right. I've never heard that before and have no idea how that works. Why would you remove Scotland? Was there a legal entity of Britain? Wikis good for the ole explanation. The Team GB thing annoys me, especially in the Olympics. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_the_British_Isles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bzzzz Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 There's nothing "Great" about Britain. I think "it" is disgusting, I hate being called "british". It's a fkin embarrassment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Jim Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Didn't know that about Britain v Great Britain, very interesting. The OS cartographer explains that they've used the Roman province as their basis for that. However, the name goes back further than that. The Greek explorer Pytheas seems to have picked up the P-Celtic (Welsh) name of Ynys Prydein which means The Island of Britain and presumably meant the whole mainland before the Romans built the wall. Anyhoo, a cracking map here of the province from possibly the Chariot Association or the Imperial Chariot Club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antidote Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 My understanding is that Britain comes from the roman times (Briton) and it was used to describe England and Wales. When Scotland was forced into the union the title was great Britain, derived from greater Britain. Of course we have all seen how the NI part has been dropped and the great gets dropped so why don't they, establishment, just go the whole hog and call us all English. After all that is their ultimate goal. I like others dispute that I am British and make that abundantly clear to whoever accuses me of being a 'Brit' a word I truly detest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I hate being called "british". It's a fkin embarrassment. That's a shame. British Bzzzz rolls off the tongue quite nicely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Bob Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 That's weird, going by Britannia as the justification. I'm pretty sure that if the Romans had conquered Caledonia it would also have come under the name Britannia. Caledonia was just the bit of Britain the Romans couldn't rule. It's like Ireland and Northern Ireland. It's hard to imagine in 100 years, say, if Ireland is reunited, that the political and geographic entity would be called 'Great Ireland' rather than just Ireland... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainmac1 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Great Britain, Britain, UK, England. All the same thing to most of the world's population. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristolhibby Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 That's weird, going by Britannia as the justification. I'm pretty sure that if the Romans had conquered Caledonia it would also have come under the name Britannia. Caledonia was just the bit of Britain the Romans couldn't rule. It's like Ireland and Northern Ireland. It's hard to imagine in 100 years, say, if Ireland is reunited, that the political and geographic entity would be called 'Great Ireland' rather than just Ireland... Had to laugh at a big bronze frieze outside the Colloseum in Rome. Had a map of the Roman Empire, and had incorrectly shown Caledonia as part of the Empire. An oversight or the Italians delusions of total grandure? J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorbotnic Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Surely the 'Great' was added by the Normans, to distinguish the (larger) island of Britain from Brittany? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Bob Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Had to laugh at a big bronze frieze outside the Colloseum in Rome. Had a map of the Roman Empire, and had incorrectly shown Caledonia as part of the Empire. An oversight or the Italians delusions of total grandure? J A perfect example of what iainmac1 just mentioned in the post above... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 In geographical terms the names are much more straight forward and well defined. In terms of politics you could ask 12 different politicians and get 12 different answers. Jim Murphy himself, probably has loads of different answers to suit different situations. I would trust the Geographers over the politicians any day of the week. As far as citizenship is concerned, I would describe myself as a Scottish Citizen of the European Union. I would never describe myself as British. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alibi Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 My understanding is that Britain comes from the roman times (Briton) and it was used to describe England and Wales. When Scotland was forced into the union the title was great Britain, derived from greater Britain. Of course we have all seen how the NI part has been dropped and the great gets dropped so why don't they, establishment, just go the whole hog and call us all English. After all that is their ultimate goal. I like others dispute that I am British and make that abundantly clear to whoever accuses me of being a 'Brit' a word I truly detest. You and me both. As offensive to me as someone from Pakistan might find being called by an abbreviation of their country's name. Possibly even more so in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde1998 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Great Britain shouldn't include any of the islands of England, Scotland and Wales - as Great Britain itself is an island. Only when used in a political sense should the English, Scottish and Welsh islands be included. (At least, that's how I understand it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Bob Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Have you ever looked at a map of Scotland without the Hebrides? It looks weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stocky Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I remember reading once that the romans actually called the Island Priton, but some calligrapher read the P to be a B... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stocky Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Great Britain shouldn't include any of the islands of England, Scotland and Wales - as Great Britain itself is an island. Only when used in a political sense should the English, Scottish and Welsh islands be included. (At least, that's how I understand it) that's basically what the video says in the post I posted earlier... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 The term 'Great' actually came about with the accession of James V1 when the Union Jack was created. It was the whole island. Ireland was added to the UK in 1801. I've had to disabuse hundreds of foreign students who think England is a synonym for Britain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I remember reading once that the romans actually called the Island Priton, but some calligrapher read the P to be a B... Praton would make more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Liked this comment... "I am from Northern Ireland and I consider my self as neither british or Irish, I am Northern Irish. Just thought i would like to confuse the issue a bit more ;p So proud of our little country and its people Liam Neeson, Kenneth Branagh,C. S. Lewis,Van Morrison,Sam neill,James nesbitt,Joey Dunlop,Rory McIlroy,Darren Clarke,Christine Bleakley and the list goes on.." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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