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Originally Posted by desertgrandma
I stand corrected. "United Kingdom" vs "Great Britain" ...
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Don't worry, you're not alone! I've lost count of the number of times I've explained all of this to other people. Nobody (except perhaps some older people) in the UK, uses the term
Great Britain any more, any more than they refer the
British Empire (except historically), it's passé.
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertgrandma
"Great Britain" is the island ...
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Well, you could think of it like that, if you like, but people in the UK don't refer to the island as
Great Britain, rather it is sometimes referred to as
mainland Britain, in order to distinguish it from the island of Ireland.
So, the island comprising England, Scotland and Wales is referred to as
Britain. For example, if you searched say, for natural history books, you would find probably books such as "Birds of Britain", "Butterflies of Britain", and so on. There are even books with titles such as "British Birds", but of course many of the same birds can be found in Ireland, and on the continent of Europe.
By the way, when British people refer to Europe, they often mean the continent of Europe, despite the the fact that the UK is a part of the European Union (EU).
I would also point out, when referring to the islands collectively, say for metereological or geographical purposes, they are are often referred to as the
British Isles. For example, the British Isles lie off the northern coast of the continent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertgrandma
... The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are British Crown Dependencies but are not part of the UK ...
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Correct.
