This is somewhat associated with unicycling only because Roger D. was trying to explain it to me at UNICON.
What’s the difference between Great Britain, England and the United Kingdom?
Maybe if I had it in writing, I could follow it better.
Bruce the Fearless (unless I find the office coffee pot empty in the morning)
I’m going to take a crack at this and hope that rather confirming the ignorance of Americans in such matters, I can combat this perception.
ENGLAND is one among four political entities that constitute the UNITED KINGDOM (the other three being Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
GREAT BRITAIN is the island that is comprised of England, Scotland and Wales.
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
england is a geographical entity
it’s also one of the four bits to make up the political entity of the united kingdom
(scotland, wales and one or both bits of ireland (it depends on the wind - really) are the others)
kidding about the ireland thing, it’s northern ireland that’s still under english rule, the republic of ireland is something else
great britian is another (simmilar) concept that is about to become outdated as ALI G promised to change the name to ‘wicked britian’ if elected prime minister
but that’s the rub of it, a geographic concept vs a political concept
that was quick jjuggle!!
is there a word for being pipped to an answer on a message board?
Re: OK y’all across the pond, what’s the difference…
As I understand it, England sounds best when prefaced with ‘Marry Old’, United Kingdom is hosted by Marlin Perkins, and Great Britian, for some reason, invokes an image of an overstuffed pair of blue jeans with the Union Jack stitched to the back pockets.
Then again, they may have differnt -if not less significant- meanings in the ‘old world.’
-Christopher
England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom are the three smallest provinces of Canada, a large, unexplored country south of either France or Guatemala.
Re: OK y’all across the pond, what’s the difference…
“JJuggle” <JJuggle.9hi7z@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:JJuggle.9hi7z@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> I’m going to take a crack at this and hope that rather confirming the
> ignorance of Americans in such matters, I can combat this perception.
>
> ENGLAND is one among four political entities that constitute the UNITED
> KINGDOM (the other three being Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
>
> GREAT BRITAIN is the island that is comprised of England, Scotland and
> Wales.
And the BRITISH ISLES consist of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND (both The
Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland or EIRE).
Slatts
Re: OK y’all across the pond, what’s the difference…
yoopers wrote:
>
> What’s the difference between Great Britain, England and the United
> Kingdom?
There are 5 main areas involved:
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Southern Ireland = Eire = Republic of Ireland (ROI)
England, Scotland and Wales are on one island.
Northern and Southern Ireland are on a separate island to the west.
Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales, controlled by a central
government in London, with an additional government in Scotland and
an assembly in Wales with lesser powers.
UK = “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”,
which is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Anyone
born in any of these areas has nationality UK.
The UK is ‘effectively’ one country (technically England, Scotland,
etc are all countries, but the whole of the UK is run as one entity).
A comparison with America would be that England, Scotland, Wales, NI
are similar to states, whereas the UK is equivalent to the USA.
Eire is a completely separate entity, with some of the residents
wishing to re-unite with Northern Ireland.
“The British Isles” I think refers to all of the above, including
Eire, but I’d need to check.
It’s easier to visualise if you look at the areas on a map!
Hope that helps,
Re: OK y’all across the pond, what’s the difference…
On 16/8/02 4:22 pm, Richard Loxley posted:
>
> UK = “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”,
> which is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Anyone
> born in any of these areas has nationality UK.
>
I used to quote my nationality as “English”, until someone corrected me by
insisting that it was officially “British”.
However, as soon as Scotland and Wales voted to have their own
parliament/assembly, I immediately reverted to “English”.
–
Trevor Coultart
It’s very simple: when the Scots or Welsh are successful in sport, the English say how proud it makes them to be British. When the English fans behave badly in a football tournament, then the Scots and Welsh say how proud they are to be Scottish or Welsh.
Meanwhile, if the Republic of Ireland does well in the world cup, the English root for them because they’re part of the British Isles.
If England looses the world cup, thousands of idiots go out flipping+burning cars, and causing mayhem. If England wins the World Cup, thousands of idiots go out flipping+birning cars, and causing mayhem
What about The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands?
I hope this clarifies things.
PS Harper, your international knowledge impresses me. I don’t think I’ve ever met an American that can name four countires outside of the United States:D 
Dude, I don’t know how to break it to you, but- those are all States.
-Christopher
I’ve heard of New England (Although that isn’t a state) but I’m pretty sure Guatamala, Canada and France are countries and not states.
Re: OK y’all across the pond, what’s the difference…
On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 09:52:03 -0500, yoopers
<yoopers.9hh2b@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>What’s the difference between Great Britain, England and the United
>Kingdom?
May I add to all the answers with an observation about an analogy?
The UK is a country (although someone said it’s technically an
assembly of countries run as a single country). Where I live, that
country is often loosely referred to as England. Without wanting to
step on anyone’s toes I think that is because England is the core or
leading entity in the UK.
The Netherlands (Nederland) is a country too. That country is, by most
people in the world, loosely referred to as Holland. However, Holland
is just a part of the Netherlands, but again it may be seen as the
“leading” part. (I may be stepping on some more toes here…) So, the
country where I live is called The Netherlands - and I happen to live
in Holland but I tend to not emphasise that to foreigners.
People in The Netherlands outside Holland never use the two words
interchangeably. People from Holland sometimes do. Does something
similar hold for the UK versus England?
Klaas Bil (Netherlands)
Re: OK y’all across the pond, what’s the difference…
Hi Klaas,
> On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 09:52:03 -0500, yoopers
> <yoopers.9hh2b@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>
> >What’s the difference between Great Britain, England and the United
> >Kingdom?
> May I add to all the answers with an observation about an analogy?
>
> The UK is a country (although someone said it’s technically an
> assembly of countries run as a single country). Where I live, that
> country is often loosely referred to as England. Without wanting to
> step on anyone’s toes I think that is because England is the core or
> leading entity in the UK.
Actually I think Brussels is the leading entity of the UK. The decisions it
makes seems to have more noticeable effect where I live. But maybe that’s
because the island on which I live is populated by fishermen You’re
probably right though - England has the main parliament and the most people
of any of the constituent countries so it shouts loudest.
> The Netherlands (Nederland) is a country too. That country is, by most
> people in the world, loosely referred to as Holland. However, Holland
> is just a part of the Netherlands, but again it may be seen as the
> “leading” part. (I may be stepping on some more toes here…) So, the
> country where I live is called The Netherlands - and I happen to live
> in Holland but I tend to not emphasise that to foreigners.
>
> People in The Netherlands outside Holland never use the two words
> interchangeably. People from Holland sometimes do. Does something
> similar hold for the UK versus England?
You couldn’t be more right if you tried! Just you try telling me (or any
Scotsman, Welshman or Irishman) that I’m / they’re from England and you’ll
see
Cheers,
Neil “Och Aye” Dunlop
Ok Bruce here comes my effort:
The British Isles is purely a geographical, and convenient, description of the collection of islands of the north-west coast of Europe.
Great Britain (GB) is the largest island in the British Isles.
Ireland (Eire in Gaelic) is the second largest island in the British Isles.
Great Britain is historically and politically split into 3 countries; England, Scotland and Wales (Cymru in Welsh). England and Scotland have separate legal systems whereas English law also pertains in Wales and, since 1746, Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The islands of the coast of Great Britain are, as a general rule, under the laws and governed by the countries coast they are close to; Shetlands-Scotland, Isles of Scilly-England etc. excluding The Channel Islands and The Isle of Man.
The Channel Islands and The Isle of Man are both Crown Dependencies and govern themselves. The Isle of Man has the oldest continuous national Parliament in the world (Tynwald, 979 AD) and has never been part of the UK.
The Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland are the two parts of the island of Ireland.
The UK was first called The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 with the union of the two islands but is now known as The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is the political style of the island of Great Britain, its offshore islands and since the partition of Ireland, the six counties of Northern Ireland.
Well what does all this mean? For me it means I’m an English unicylist who lives on the island of Great Britain, which is Geographically located in the British Isles and politically in the UK and my passport says I’m British.
Does this make it any clearer Bruce, probably not 
Gary
Gary,
Let me just say that after all the input, it’s than before…
Thanks for your time and effort to educate members of the lost tribes.
Bruce
But my understanding is that the ‘great’ does not apply to the geographical magnitude (as in ‘Greater London’ or ‘Greater Manchester’) but refers to our fondly held but sadly outmoded belief that Britain is a great nation.
As for historically and politically split into 3… I am surprised that as a loyal subject of the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia, you should say so. If I recall correctly, England alone was divided into Wessex, Essex, Sussex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. These were all independent kingdoms, as was Cornwall. Some Cornish still claim independence, giving their nation the name of Kernow.
If you add it all up, I think you will find that historically, we have rather more states than the USA… ;0)