The united kingdom, great britain and Britain are not the same thing?. And why so many names?

[Nick Bounty]

There are lot of ways to say 'the united kingdom' but I often find myself getting it all mixed up. For instance I know that England once used to mean not only England as a country but the enitre UK in its entirerity and sometime meant as the british empire itself, despite the fact that England is a single region. Anyway, I recently got confused when someone said that the UK and great britain are two different things, that they are both have differences in terms of countries within them but are by default part of the British isles. Confusing me more he said that Britain and great britain is not the same thing.

So now I want to get the record straight and please be patient while I try and get all this sorted out.

The united kingdom: consists of the regions, England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland

The British Isles: is the entirety of the British geographical area. Which means mainland UK, Ireland and all those tiny islands nearby.
Is this right for starters?. if so then,

Great Britain: refers to England, Scotland and Wales (excluding N.Ireland)

Britain: (this was really confusing) I always though Britain is a condensed form of Great Britain but apparently not. Is it true then that Britain means the regions of England and Scotland Wales only?.

I hope this is right because I want to sort out this confusion/bet once and for all.

 

[ICantBelieveItGoesBoom]

I'm pretty sure that Great Britain and Britain are the same thing.

Also The United Kingdom only applies to England, Scotland, Wales and NORTHERN Ireland not the whole of Ireland.

As long as nobody says Ireland is part of the UK, then I'm okay with it.

Actually, you just said the United Kingdom contains Ireland.

BURN IN HELL!

Yeah, that would be why you don't want to get that mixed up.

No offence of course Furburt.

 

[Urock]

WTS = Wikipedia That Shit
http://bit.ly/4sy6uc

It can be relative. Britain is sometimes used as a colloquialism for the British Empire.

And Northern Ireland IS part of the U.K. Ireland is not.

 

[FluffyNeurosis]

In my mind Wales counts as part of Britain and everything north of Hadrian's Wall is is filled with Mel Gibson!

 

[Player 2]

Britain= Island with England, Scotland and Wales on it.

Uk= The United kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland <=Official name of the country.

Southern Ireland is not included in the UK and is an independent country.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

The United Kingdom is the combination of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (not Ireland as the Irish take it to mean the Republic of Ireland). Take Northern Ireland out of the picture and you have Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). This is why the official name for the UK is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

Your British Isles description is accurate: it's the two nations (the UK and the Republic of Ireland) plus around 5000 smaller islands. Among them is the Isle of Man, which is another independent nation.

Also I think Britain is meant to be just England and Wales, not England and Scotland. It doesn't matter though, too many people use it nowadays as a short cut from Great Britain. And I can't blame them, it's shorter and sounds less pretentious than adding "Great" everywhere.

As for the name, I believe it has a Roman origin to it. They named the territory (excluding Scotland, because the Romans never got a stronghold there) "Britannia Major" to differentiate from "Brittany" - France.

 

[Donald L]

I hope this Wikipedia page helps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_the_British_Isles

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

There are lot of ways to say 'the united kingdom' but I often find myself getting it all mixed up. For instance I know that England once used to mean not only England as a country but the enitre UK in its entirerity and sometime meant as the british empire itself, despite the fact that England is a single region. Anyway, I recently got confused when someone said that the UK and great britain are two different things, that they are both have differences in terms of countries within them but are by default part of the British isles. Confusing me more he said that Britain and great britain is not the same thing.

So now I want to get the record straight and please be patient while I try and get all this sorted out.

The united kingdom: consists of the regions, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern[footnote]see what I did there with the colour as it has something to do with Ireland and the Irish flag[/footnote] Ireland

The British Isles: is the entirety of the British geographical area. Which means mainland UK, Ireland and all those tiny islands nearby.
Is this right for starters?. if so then,

Great Britain: refers to England, Scotland and Wales (excluding Ireland)

Britain: (this was really confusing) I always though Britain is a condensed form of Great Britain but apparently not. Is it true then that Britain means the regions of England and Scotland only?.

I hope this is right because I want to sort out this confusion/bet once and for all.

There I fixed that for you as Ireland is not part of England only the North is the Republic of Ireland(Eire) is not associated with Britain in anyway like this. I don't see why people find stuff like this confusign and mix up stuff like this.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I think Great Britain and Britain are the same. It's England, Scotland and Wales.
The British Isles are the 2 big islands and all the little ones around them. So Britain and Ireland.
The United Kingdom is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

And then there's the Commonwealth and the old Empire but no one ever seems to care about that...

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Ok, here, let me get it right.

UK: Great Britain (the island) Northern Ireland and the Isle Of Man.

All other places that it owns (Falklands, Gibraltar) are Overseas territories.

Great Britain: The Island: Scotland, England and Wales

England: England the country, excluding Wales and Scotland.

Ireland: Free forever more.

Éireann go Brách?

Also sorry, the Isle of Man is independent of the United Kingdom, just like your fair country. They have their own government and laws for pity's sake!. They will be none to pleased of this!.

 

[Tiny116]

There are lot of ways to say 'the united kingdom' but I often find myself getting it all mixed up. For instance I know that England once used to mean not only England as a country but the enitre UK in its entirerity and sometime meant as the british empire itself, despite the fact that England is a single region. Anyway, I recently got confused when someone said that the UK and great britain are two different things, that they are both have differences in terms of countries within them but are by default part of the British isles. Confusing me more he said that Britain and great britain is not the same thing.

So now I want to get the record straight and please be patient while I try and get all this sorted out.

The united kingdom: consists of the regions, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

The British Isles: is the entirety of the British geographical area. Which means mainland UK, Ireland and all those tiny islands nearby.
Is this right for starters?. if so then,

Great Britain: refers to England, Scotland and Wales (excluding Ireland)

Britain: (this was really confusing) I always though Britain is a condensed form of Great Britain but apparently not. Is it true then that Britain means the regions of England and Scotland only?.

I hope this is right because I want to sort out this confusion/bet once and for all.

There was a topic like this not long ago, alas I can't find the image.
Anyways I'm rusty on my history so I can't tell you WHY it is, but I would say mainly to do with the fact back in the day...WAY back England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were all Countries in the iles constantly at war with each other (Even England had different factions) Anyways;
England, Scotland and Wales form Britian or Great Britian (They are the same thing)
Add NORTHEN {Caps in place so as to not insult Furburt} Ireland (a very small chunk) Make the United Kingdoms. No idea what the history of that is but hey.
The republic of Ireland is indapendant of the UK and Britain after the fall of the British Empire.

In short:
Scotland, England, Wales, Republic Ireland and I suppose technically-ish Northen Ireland are countries of the Isles

Scotland, England and Wales make up Britain

Add Northen Ireland and You have the United Kingdom.

Confusing I know but not everyone in the world live on a small Island we need a good solid reason to "get along".

EDIT: Also each country has its own government and follows Policy from London differently. Think of it as a Primitive state/federal law. IT'S NOT as trying to impliment state and federal laws in the UK would ave a simular effect an atom bomb has on a country.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

*snip*

[HEADING=1]Beginners Guide to the United Kingdom and nomenclature[/HEADING]

Spoiler: Spoilered to save your internets

[small]Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales)[/small]​

___________________​

[small]United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)[/small]​

___________________​

[small]The British Isles[/small]​

Hope it helps you!.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Éireann go Brách?

Also sorry, the Isle of Man is independent of the United Kingdom, just like your fair country. They have their own government and laws for pity's sake!. They will be none to pleased of this!.

Not exactly independent, but you're right that they aren't part of the UK. They are a Self Governing Crown Dependency according to Wikipedia.

They are not independent under the clause of trade (since they are not an EU nation and use the UK as a trade nexus) and military protection. The House of Keys (parliament of the Isle of Man) however has total control of law and policies.