When is it British and when is it English ?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by mapuc

This has confused me for quit a while, since I posted a comment in an old thread-it was about the Scottish referendum

In this comment I wrote England and was corrected "British thank you" followed with a ""

I was like !!??!! and I'll tell you why

Only a few days earlier I saw a political commentator on Danish TV saying
(First in Danish)

Cameron har lovet de engelske vælgere at de skal til afstemning om EU inden 2017.

In English
Cameron have promised the English voters there will be a referendum about EU before 2017.

And some minutes ago I saw another member writing England should build a wall in the Brexit-thread.

So you now you know why I'm confused

Markus

I may be wrong, but England, Scotland, Wales and a part of Ireland form a union called "United Kingdom" - or (Great) Britain. That alltogether is "British".

England is just one of these four entities forming Great Britian, and that is when you talk of "England, English".

Great Britian includes England, but England is not all Britain. Thats why they all have their own national teams as well, at least in football.

You can also differentiate the six "Celtic nations": Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Bretagne, and some small Isle that I now have forgotten. How "England" (which includes Cornwall and said Isle - Isle of Man, btw?) matches into this scheme, I do not know.

As I understand it, there is some - today light-handed - "animosity" between Englishmen and Scots, due to historic reasons (England oppressing Scotland for long time, "Braveheart" and all that stuff, and that was when it was much less light-handed an animosity ). Thats why you may have hit some nerve there, mapuc. As I see it, Scots are British - but NEVER ENGLISH. And if they leave the UK, they are not even that anymore.