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ESL forum >
Ask for help > A question to people from the UK
A question to people from the UK
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MartaZ
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A question to people from the UK
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Hi, I need your help and I �m sure you ca help me. It �s about nationalities.
�British � refers to the citizens of the UK in general, am I right?
Also, how would a person from Northern Ireland answer the question about their nationality, Northern Irish or British? I got really confused recently. So PLEASE help!
Marta
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25 Mar 2009
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kaz76
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You are right that British is a general term. But people from Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland are just as likely to answer that they are Northern Irish, Welsh, English or Scottish rather than British. |
25 Mar 2009
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mowells
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Hi
You are right about British. That covers people from Great Britain (Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England).
Individually each have their own nationality word. Ireland - Irish, Wales - Welsh, Scotland - Scottish, England - English.
Hope that helps.
Mo |
25 Mar 2009
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Logos
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This is a very emotive question to ask people from Britain. Technically, the United Kingdom is England Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. But it is not entirely united as there are different laws and assemblies governing each, neither is any of them a kingdom.
Great Britain refers to the countries on the mainland, ie. England, Scotland and Wales. Historically England has always seemed to dominate the three having the capital in London and ruling all three from London.
British, therefore, technically is anyone from the four areas, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and if each applied for a passport they would be issued a British Passport.
But in reality residents of each country are justifiably proud of their heritage and so to call someone from England British would not cause any offence, but from Scotland they would probably reply they are Scottish (or a Scot) and from Northern Ireland would be Irish. People from Wales would equally call themselves Welsh. |
25 Mar 2009
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kaz76
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Hi Mo
Great Britain only covers, England, Scotland and Wales.
The United Kingdom is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Kaz |
25 Mar 2009
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arkel
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As far as I know people from Northern Ireland can opt for a British or an Irish passport. |
25 Mar 2009
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MartaZ
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Thanks guys for all the answers!
I �m doing this project on the UK with my students at the moment.
One thing is still quite unclear to me: On the one hand there is the general term �British �. On the other there are the individual nationalities Welsh, Scottish, English and Northern Irish. All I wonder is which is/are more likely to be used. A person from Scotland would probably say �I �m Scottish �, from Wales � �I �m Welsh �, same with England, right? Is the same true for someone from Northern Ireland? Would he/she say I �m �Northern Irish � or just �Irish �, or perhaps �British � (as I read somewhere). I �m still not sure... :)
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25 Mar 2009
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yetigumboots
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speaking as a �Scot �.. The Scottish do not like to be British .. well most of them anyway.  If anyone asks me what nationality I am I would say Scottish.... I am not sure how the Irish feel about the same matter. |
25 Mar 2009
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yetigumboots
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Oh dear I just realised that might sound a bit nationalistic. Let me explain myself. I was born in Nottingham England so �technically � I am English. But I have lived all my life in Scotland so �feel � Scottish. If you want to go by the book.... We are all British... |
25 Mar 2009
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MartaZ
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It probably does sound nationalistic but that �s how you feel and that �s what I wanted to know.
Thanks a lot! You really helped me!!! 
Best,
Marta
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25 Mar 2009
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douglas
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I �m no expert on this--this is just the feeling I have gotten while traveling and working with variuous people from the UK.
Logos is 100% correct about UK vs GB (UK includes Ireland, GB doesn �t).
My experience is that Scots like to be called "Scots" (or "Scottish"), the Irish like to be called "Irish", the English are okay with both "English" and "British" (or Brit) and the Welsh I am not sure about, but my first impression is that they are okay with "British" but really prefer "Welsh".
My experience: Due to some past wars, most Scots don �t like to be called British. |
25 Mar 2009
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