Re: A language by any other name
On Wed, 19 Sep 2001, Laurent de Segur wrote:
> Things are getting confusing. Great Britain used to be called Britain by the
> Romans (so if someone still does on this list, he must be very old.) Great
> was not just added to include other places. Great Britain is just the modern
> and correct way to call it. This or you can use UK, a synonym with Great
> Britain which includes England, Scotland and Wales as well as other smaller
> islands acquired by the Brits through historical battles and trades with the
> French and Europe. One I know about personally is the isle of Wight: great
> place for relaxing BTW.
Essentially, 'United Kingdom' is a political designation, 'Great Britain' is a
geographical one. Other than that, the distinctions between the two are
fairly minor... :) For my part, I don't consider Northern Ireland part of
Great Britain, but I do consider it part of the United Kingdom. <shrug>
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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