I was listening to the tennis hype yesterday and it got me thinking…
Why do they call them brits?
What is a brit? i always thought a brit was a person from england? (the middle bit)
The scottish are scots surely?
the irish are irish?
The welsh…
My better half says its because they are from the british isles…?
I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE SCOTS IRISH OR WELSH INCASE YOU THINK IM STARTING A RACIAL HATE THREAD!! :w00t:
guess they could be loosely referring to Great Britain…which would include Scotland, N. Ireland, Wales and us Brits.
I would agree with Viggen. Mind you we tend to clutch at straws when it comes to sport as to who is in fact British. I was watching the WSB and it seems that Jamie Hacking is a cross between an American and a Brit… his national flag next to his name can be both!!!
viggen’s right. otherwise they’d be called english (as they should do dammit)
Wouldn’t Britain be a more logical assumption? Unless I’m missing something…
As Michael Flanders said years ago,
"When someone does something good it’s ‘another triumph for Britain’, when someone does something bad it’s ‘England loses again’.
A brit is something that comes from Britain. Great Britain is England (English), Scotland (Scottish), Wales (Welsh) and Northern Ireland (Irish)
I for one is English, and hate being called British
read your history before i start going off on one…
and coming from Northern Ireland, your not just Irish, as that dicates thats your of catholic religion, usually nationalist views, detest the British establishment and want an all Ireland.
If you claim to be British, your usually Protestant, of Unionist views, and want Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK.
Hence why tarring anyone from Northern Ireland as “Irish” can be one of the biggest insults to some people…
Which is the bit where they grow the potatoes? 
the best bit of course is northern ireland, but if you want to grow potatoes, probably south of the border (no electric, no modern technology, so they have allot of time to concentrate on growing spuds 
)
Well done Steve, nothing like making this more than it is.:w00t:
‘British’ Is a geographical not national or ethnic description - the British Isles includes mainland Britain and Ireland.
What?
I’ve not looked, admittedly, but I’d be surprised to find a dictionary that didn’t list ‘Inhabitant or native of Great Britain’ as one of the definitions of ‘British’.
Yes it’s one of the definitions but surely the ultimate and most accurate definition is the generally agreed geographical definition - Great Britain was a term which only came into fashion in the Victorian era with nationalist and political connotations no?
Whereas British Isles is a more neutral geographical representation which does not concern itself with questions ofethnicity or political borders - but pure geography.
It means you can call a person who is Welsh, Scots, Irish or English British because they are inhabitants of a geographical region called the British Isles.
In the same way that you could call Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Chechens Caucasians because they come from the Caucasus geographical region.
On the other hand if you go into a Catholic pub in N.Ireland and call someone British you might get a punch in the face or worse.
It’s just a geographical catch all term - but people being people are going to argue about who and what they are forever.
Im simply telling it exactly how it is :Dto make sure theres no confusion over the matter Interestingly, also, if you look at a place like Gibralter, who would not generally come under the term of “Great Britain”, and theyre just as proud to be British as most people here are! I have personally, and regretfully taking a change in how i introduce my nationality. Unfortunately i no longer see any reason to be “Proud to be British” that i once did. Im certainly not “Irish”, so i now term myself “Northern Irish” or an “Ulsterman”. That way there can be no confusion as to how cool i am 
I would agree, what does religion have to do with it? Irish isn’t a religion!!! Nor is British…
I don’t quite understand why you would think British meant English?
Well. Being French, we are called Frenchies, or Kings of the world. Alternatively, ladies have been know to call us “oh my god that was good. Now I understand what the others were making such a fuss about” 
However, I think that being defined by where your from is very wrong. People are not where they are from and neither should they ever be or then I just need to know 1 person per country and I will be done and dusted with it.
And I know for a fact that not all women from the same place scream the same way…
And before you ask, I have no idea how “Brit” scream… Scots, Irish and Welsh; I do. Brits, No clue. Never been interested in the one that everyone else already had… :w00t:
Now that should start the racial battle… :hehe:
PS: For all of you that I just pissed off.
1- I was kidding
2- You are a tart and an idiot 
I do know that people who look at Northern Ireland perceive it as being a silly row about the british being there, and in most peoples narrow minded opinions they agree that the brits should be out, and give ireland back to the irish.
These i generally find are the very same people who have probably never been, or have grown up in a plastic paddy environment, and ineveitably only heard one side of the story.
Im not going to say that religion does not have a part to play in it, but over there its a case of not only your own identity, but generations of culture, history, identity, religion, pride and suspicion.
We do have a great sense of humour, hence why i tend to take the irish jibes with a pinch of salt, however when people start getting involved in more serious discussions, and indeed if people genuinly are interested in the subject, then id take a more serious view at something that is very close to me and my personal identity.
Im not even directing this message to this particular thread, im just saying generally, based on my experience living in England, there does seem to be little knowledge of why Northern Ireland is the way it is, and indeed little knowledge of ones own history, with regards to things such as the Battle of the Boyne between King William of Orange and King James, the implications of Henry the VIII forming the Church of England etc.
and to Poutywombat, i hope i havent taken your innocent post and used it as a verbal bashing, as its not intended that way, just giving my own defination from my own experiences
