I'm English

I was discussing something you raised on this public thread, ab (and on others if my memory serves me) as I and everyone else is entitled to do. I was not aware of any private conversation. It might be better to make your private conversations private and then there won't be a problem for people like me who don't always notice who is being addressed but assume, on a public forum, that it's everyone and that, in any case, what is being said is more important. I commented on what you said, which is what we are advised to do.

So, in conclusion, if I wish to take issue with an if, I shall. If you wish to get grumpy about that, that's up to you.

I'm going to practice telling people 'politely' to butt out. I may need to redefine politely first.

Thatbag, you are so into disagreements , I replied to KatyK , and may I politely add if I choose to say 'if' you just politely butt out

IF, ab? If? Why such a weird attitude? Boris is the child of English parents and he happened to be born in the US so, I think, he can also claim US citizenship as well as British.

My brother, for contrast, married an American but retained his British citizenship even though he lived from before his marriage in the US. He eventually applied for American citizenship but since he had not been born in the States (unlike Boris) he could not have dual nationality and had to renounce his British citizenship.

Do you have a problem with the dual citizenship of some people? If not, why the repeated oblique references to people like Boris Johnson, with your blimmin, 'ifs'?

I'm happy to be English, Irish or British

I was born in England but my father and his forebears were born in Wales, so. I usually claim to be British. Whether I support England or Wales at Rugby tends to depend on how well either team is doing in a given season.

If Boris can claim to be British you claim to being Irish

Well, KatyK I think it means you could play rugby for England and Ireland (apparently!)

I'm not sure what I am My parents were born and raised in Southern Ireland and were Southern Irish many generations back (if that makes sense) but I was born in England so I'm not sure if I am English or Irish. I think of myself as English but I have no English blood and am proud of my Irish heritage.

Surely the key difference is between nation-state (political entity) and country (geographical entity). It irritates me that UK (nation-state) is listed as a country - that's a category mistake.

Pedant - moi?

Boris Johnson is American ?

It'd be interesting to see, were it possible, if there are places in Britain where the the population is significantly less culturally diverse, even in purely 'white British' terms, than in others. I'm getting the feeling there might be.

I discovered recently that genetic markers of the Picts are most prevalent, even now, in certain eastern parts of Scotland. Angus, for instance. This makes it possible that my two elder DDs have some Pictish blood in their veins. I like that idea.

I'm English and if asked for my nationality give English. If narrowed down, I'm Norfolk. I do accept that I'm also British and come from the UK. I think I may have a bigger problem when/if I'm asked to tick European in the nationality box!

I have two Welsh sons in law and one English son in law, culturally different. I have four English cousins and fourteen Welsh cousins , again culturally different . We have always struggled to find any similarities between the four in Watford and us nineteen in Wales , we have all tried but failed

I am British and quite happy to scroll down to UK. (It quite often comes at the top anyway.) I would only ever put England if asked the place of birth.
I never address envelopes to Scotland, Wales etc I just put the county and post code. If sending from abroad I put UK.

I got very confused the other day when talking to someone at the DWP. Well they upset me so my confusion was even more that usual lol. He asked me what country I came from so I said, 'Great Britain'. He said that was wrong and what country did I come from so I said, 'the United Kingdom'. He said that was wrong. I began to panic and said that I didn't understand the question and could he give me a clue to what he actually wanted. He just kept repeating himself and I got more and more upset. Finally it dawned on me he wasn't asking my nationality but my regional country so I said, 'England'. Hurrah the right answer.

Hmm. Well, poshpaws, two of my daughters are part Scottish, part Irish and part English, one of my daughters is part Welsh, rathermore part Irish, and part English,
I am part English and part Irish and we are all culturally very similar.

Poshpaws having visited Scotland a number of times I'm curious that you find England so very culturally different - can you elaborate?

I always think of myself as British.

I never think of myself as British ,

My BF was Scottish and I don't think she was culturally any different from me (apart from a few linguistic quirks on both our parts).

I deeply resent being lumped into United Kingdom when I feel purely Scottish. I particularly hate it when I'm doing online surveys and they list Scotland as a "region" rather than a country in its own right.

I don't dislike the English per se - my son is half English - but having lived in England for a few years, I can vouch for the fact that culturally we're distinctly different.

Many foreigners think England refers to the UK and Britain refers to England. They also think if we are English we all live in London.

Always say I am English which I am. Some helpful sites list UK and USA at the top but at least having 2 U,s next to one another makes it easier to find.

Marmark1
not at all - it's usually me that is
(some of my family have dual nationality)

My passport says that I am a British Citizen

Thankyou for that Jalima,sorry for being so thick.

Nationality (on forms): British (and proud to be)
Country of birth: England
Nationality within the UK: English (and proud to be )