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Pedants' corner

I'm English

(62 Posts)
Direne3 Mon 02-May-16 16:10:53

Don't get me wrong I'm not banging any political drum and have absolutely no problem being a member of the United Kingdom but if I'm asked to give my country of birth England is the accepted answer. However, when I'm filling in a British based form on the net and it asks for my 'country' I object to having to scroll down a very long list to find UK or United Kingdom buried near the bottom (thank you Gransnet for giving us near top billing). I wonder how other Gransnetters feel about this, do members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland feel the same rather mild irritation or am I being unreasonably pedantic on this subject?

Badenkate Mon 02-May-16 16:15:43

Americans could feel even more aggrieved about scrolling down to find USA

Linsco56 Mon 02-May-16 16:21:05

I'm quite relaxed about the whole Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh thing but my DH is adamant he's Scottish! Was quite horrified when we took a coach trip from mainland Spain to Gibraltar and the coach guide requested to have a cursory glance at all passports and after looking at ours said "English OK". Of course I am and feel Scottish, after all that's where I was born and where I live but we are all part of the UK and are British. UK is always near the bottom of a list. I usually page down straight away. grin

Charleygirl Mon 02-May-16 16:28:56

I am definitely Scottish even although I have lived in England 40+ years.

gettingonabit Mon 02-May-16 16:30:21

I get what you mean. I'm Welsh but British iykwim and I've noticed that, on application forms, I have to delve very deeply for "white British".

Drives me crazy.

Alea Mon 02-May-16 16:31:39

You can hardly complain about alphabetical order, or can you Direne3??

phoenix Mon 02-May-16 16:35:26

I have noticed on some sites/forms it is listed as Great Britain, on others United Kingdomconfused

Jalima Mon 02-May-16 16:38:38

And therein lies the difference
United Kingdom, Great Britain and the British Isles are all different land areas:

www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-UK-Great-Britain-Whats-the-Difference/

Jalima Mon 02-May-16 16:42:24

1536 – Kingdom of England and Wales. A bill enacted by King Henry VIII which effectively made England and Wales the same country, governed by the same laws.

Well, that is very interesting.
The Tudor surname first appeared in the ancestry of Henry VII in the 1420s, when Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur ap Goronwy ap Tudur ap Goronwy ap Ednyfed Fychan abandoned the Welsh patronymic system and adopted a fixed surname. Had he, as was generally the custom, adopted his father’s name, the English throne would have been occupied for a century by the Maredudd dynasty. He opted instead for his grandfather’s name – a prescient choice, for Tudur or Tudor comes from the Brythonic tud (territory) and rhi (king).

thatbags Mon 02-May-16 16:46:40

It is a bit of a pain in the arse, as the saying goes, direne, all that scrolling down. I had to do it today while sorting a US visa waiver for Minibags. But it's just the way the cookie crumbles (sorry!). England is my country of birth, British is my nationality, and the UK is where I live (in the Scottish bit).

I guess it comes of having a complicated history.

I presume US citizens are that by birth, except when they were born somewhere else, like my brother, by nationality and by where they live, except when they live somewhere else. IYSWIM.

Jalima Mon 02-May-16 16:50:50

So what happens if you have to give 'country of birth' but you have dual nationality and it would be preferable to give your other nationality for some reason (which was not where you were born). hmm

Jalima Mon 02-May-16 16:52:08

Or preferable because your other nationality is very near the top of the list!

ffinnochio Mon 02-May-16 17:05:38

On these lists that one is supposed to scroll down, I have found that typing the first letter of the country you need to find takes you straight to that letter of the alphabet. Works for me with F and UK.

Anniebach Mon 02-May-16 17:10:19

I have to scrolled down further , can be irritating

Jalima Mon 02-May-16 17:12:15

well, I never knew that ffinnochio
thank you

thatbags Mon 02-May-16 18:05:50

Further than what, ab?

thatbags Mon 02-May-16 18:06:25

Ah, thanks, ffinn. I should have guessed that actually, but didn't.

Ana Mon 02-May-16 18:24:29

Further than U, obviously, dj, on those few forms that give Annie's preferred option.

granjura Mon 02-May-16 18:30:50

The truly annoying thing is that on some list you scroll for

UK

and for others it's

GB

and you never know which it's going to be on international listings.

And for my other country, sometimes I have to scroll for S and at other times for C (H) - how annoying is that!

thatbags Mon 02-May-16 18:37:37

'Twas I who asked, ana. I thought that would be the answer but was just checking because none of the lists I've seen that include UK have options for the countries that make up the UK.

Ana Mon 02-May-16 18:40:55

Sorry, so it was thatbags.

Anniebach Mon 02-May-16 18:49:17

Thatbags, try down loading from the genealogy site 'Legacy' as I did yesterday, you will see it

thatbags Mon 02-May-16 19:56:07

Ah. I've never looked at a genealogy site, ab. That would explain why I've missed what I think you are referring to. Not sure why you're being obtuse about it though. I hope it's a free site you're telling me to download.

thatbags Mon 02-May-16 19:59:58

OK. Seen it. That's the first time I've seen a list with the separate UK countries as well as UK in the same list. I didn't download.

Anniebach Mon 02-May-16 20:47:13

disappointed that bag ? grins]