Explaining The Difference Between United Kingdom, Great Britain and England

By Tuesday February 1, 2011




36 Comments
  1. Benjamin says:
    2/1/2011 at 3:35 am

    The creators of this video are more constructive than those who just call us stupid for not knowing this. I understand what is going on a lot more now. Thanks.

  2. steve says:
    2/1/2011 at 4:07 am

    outstanding,thanks

  3. Dan Barker says:
    2/1/2011 at 4:13 am

    The creators of this video should be heavily thanked. There’s nothing more annoying than people calling Britain England (because then the Scottish idiots (SNP) have a greater case for independence).

  4. Ben-in-the-woods says:
    2/1/2011 at 4:22 am

    That was quite good. One small correction, Catholics in Northern Ireland generally see themselves as “Irish” while Protestants see themselves as “British”.

    Benjamin: the stupid ones are the those that don’t want to know … ;-D (and you may be happy to know that for all that the British in particular like to mock American understanding of geography, British understanding of geography rarely goes beyond British holiday destination).

  5. gunny says:
    2/1/2011 at 4:38 am

    That was very well done. The only thing I didn’t know was that the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK.

  6. Fuddy Duddy says:
    2/1/2011 at 4:40 am

    Oh, man, is this gonna settle a lot of bar bets! God Save the Queen!!

  7. Tavon says:
    2/1/2011 at 4:43 am

    to clarify, Great Britain was formed in 1707 when Scotland signed the act of union, joining the crowns of England and Scotland. Wales was taken over by the English troops of King Edward I in 1283.

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1801, when Ireland signed the act of union.
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, when Ireland was split in to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

  8. Noel says:
    2/1/2011 at 5:28 am

    They can call their regional departments countries if they want to but they are not sovereign nations. It’s not really a country of countries so much as a country that calls its provinces countries.

  9. flyingroach says:
    2/1/2011 at 5:44 am

    http://www.wildlifeofyourbody.org/

    Bellybutton biodiversity…

  10. FormerDittoHead says:
    2/1/2011 at 5:59 am

    The guy talks faster than an auctioneer. It sounds ‘compressed’ with all the “natural” pauses removed.

    I was able to follow along, but there gets a point where talking as fast as a crank junkie after having a double espresso simply becomes annoying (Calling Cali Lewis! SLOW DOWN!)

  11. Dallas says:
    2/1/2011 at 6:18 am

    Agreed. Outstanding and awarded a five crown rating !
    I learned a lot from this.

    We need one for the Vatican but try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum.

  12. George says:
    2/1/2011 at 6:33 am

    Considering the most popular baby name in GB is Mohammed (or variation thereof), the name of the whole mess will one day be New Fallujah.

  13. Rufus Redneck says:
    2/1/2011 at 6:33 am

    I don’t care!

    I want my five minutes and fifteen seconds back now — or else.

  14. sargasso_c says:
    2/1/2011 at 7:17 am

    (Great Britain(United Kingdom(England+Wales+Scotland+Nth.Ireland)))

  15. fred says:
    2/1/2011 at 7:34 am

    #13 sargasso

    That’s wrong. You are just confusing everyone.

    It is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales.

    United Kingdom = (Great Britain + Northern Ireland)

    Great Britain = (England + Scotland + Wales)

  16. Ben-in-the-woods says:
    2/1/2011 at 7:41 am

    Noel “They can call their regional departments countries if they want to but they are not sovereign nations. It’s not really a country of countries so much as a country that calls its provinces countries.”

    They are all independent countries because the main internationally recognised legal criteria for being independent: they have their own rugby team.

    😀

  17. sbutton says:
    2/1/2011 at 7:58 am

    I’m English (and British) and I find that many people here still find this confusing.

    Quite often I say things like “I try to avoid some of the French Ski resorts, because they are full of English who think it’s great fun to keep everyone else up until 4 AM”. When really I mean full of British… and the Irish can be just as bad. (we think we need to drink lots and quickly due to pubs closing at 10PM in the 1970’s and even with 24hr opening we still try to keep the same pace)

    Also, English are more likely to refer to themselves as British whereas Welsh and Scots will always say Welsh or Scottish. And Irish, from north or south will just say Irish.

    And don’t even get started on sport, where we have team GB for althletics but England for football.

  18. Nobody says:
    2/1/2011 at 8:06 am

    #15 – after all some people name themselves and their country after the entire continent!

  19. nicktherat says:
    2/1/2011 at 8:21 am

    reddit? or my site? very good vid 🙂

  20. bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:
    2/1/2011 at 8:23 am

    I think of all the “confusion” available if the growth of the USA was as bound to history and custom as the UK model. Nomenclature and nothing else is the name of this game. Also very telling on how small “Great” can be. Rule Britannia, yes, Britain rules the waves–kinda like the internet of the day?

    Silly Customs.

  21. jescott418 says:
    2/1/2011 at 8:39 am

    Then their is China who is the Worlds loan shark and will eventually call everyone’s loans to pay up and they won’t be able to pay so China will own everything!

  22. Animby - just phoning it in says:
    2/1/2011 at 9:07 am

    I knew all that.
    I once, accidentally, referred to my Scottish future mother-in-law as English and she gave me the whole kit and caboodle. Just about as fast as this guy but with a lot more fire in her voice. All this while sitting in her back garden in the town of Lanark – home of William Wallace.

    I never made THAT mistake again.

  23. bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:
    2/1/2011 at 9:22 am

    A Nimby==much like red necked Southern white trash take offense at being called Yanks? Its not hard to see this tribalism in other cultures we deride for being backwards and primitive, yet it clearly exists in our own culture.

    We are all the same and different at the same time.

    Silly Hoomans, pinned by the dead hand of history.

  24. fred says:
    2/1/2011 at 9:48 am

    #20 bobbo

    “Also very telling on how small “Great” can be.”

    Just to be clear about it, the ‘Great’ in Great Britain has nothing to do with delusions of grandeur. 🙂

    Quoting from:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain#Derivation_of_.22Great.22

    Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major (“Greater Britain”), to distinguish it from Britannia minor (“Lesser Britain”), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany.

    Also, in case it helps, one can think of Great Britain as being the ‘eastern 3’ in the same way that you refer to the ‘lower 48’. That is the 3 contiguous countries on the same physical island.

  25. Gary says:
    2/1/2011 at 9:54 am

    Excellent video although you do not gain British Citizenship by being “born within the borders” Since 1982 you are guaranteed it if you mother was British, will almost certainly qualify if your father was British otherwise you need to go through the Naturalisation process.

  26. Animby - just phoning it in says:
    2/1/2011 at 10:54 am

    #23 Robbo – I don’t want to be preening in your birdbath but, I have traveled fairly widely and one thing I’ve noticed is similar wherever I go –
    The world is filled with silly hoomans.

    Hell, I’ve been once myself a couple of times.

  27. bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:
    2/1/2011 at 11:03 am

    Well there you go Animby, striking concordance with every post you make. So its preening we are? Seems a bit more vain than I would prefer, but when the truth fits, you gotta wear it, for as you say, we all have been/and continue to be ourselves, naught but

    Silly Hoomans.

  28. Rob Leather says:
    2/1/2011 at 2:01 pm

    @George and any other Daily Mail readers out there who think Mohammed is the top boys name in the UK etc.

    Office of National Statistic has the top boys name is Oliver. Female name is Olivia incidentally, not Fatima.

  29. deowll says:
    2/1/2011 at 6:00 pm

    Good video.

  30. Alphanumeric says:
    2/1/2011 at 6:13 pm

    All I know is don’t ask ANY of them who’ who and what’s what, they ALL get their panties in a bunch when you do.


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