Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
Most Americans use the terms English and British interchangeably. They also think England, Great Britain, and United Kingdom are all names for the same country.
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Most British people have the same confusion, believe me. The problem is that some of these names refer to political entities, while others are geographic. "Great Britain", for example, is the name for the island that is the British mainland, and comprises most of England, Scotland, and Wales, while "UK" (or, more formally, "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland") includes Northern Ireland and all the other small islands, too. Many people who live in England use "England" interchangeably with "Britain" (which annoys people who live in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).
So Americans aren't alone in finding it confusing.