UK vs GB vs England - What's the Difference?

[jono]

Of course not. I now live in england, and my accent means I get constantly bombarded by wales-based humour, especially sheep related.

Fortunately my appearence means that I don't get a great deal of trouble with violence and stuff (many of my welsh friends who have left the "welsh nest" do).

I'm used to it. It's not so baaaaa-d.


Jonathan

 

[jimmy p]

lol that is ok then, wouldn't mean to offend, its just too easy. However it makes a change from the Irish being the brunt of jokes (englishman, irishman, scotsman) or 'Paddy n Murphy'. i like it when foreign people can accept a joke about their country cos that shows that SOME ppl in their country have a sense of humour instead of a strong desire to remove ur teeth with their shoe!

 

[Adrian Baker]

What I find annoying is meeting Americans descended originally from Great Britain. They love to claim to be 'Irish Americans' (no 1 choice), 'Scottish Americans' (no 2 choice) or occasionally 'Welsh Americans' (no 3 choice).

I have NEVER yet met an 'English American' just Greek, Jewish, Italian, Hispanic, Nordic etc... What is it with you guys? Do you need a bit of Celt or European heritage to feel special?

Has anyone ever met an 'English American'?


Rant over

 

[jimmy p]

Lol i agree. 'Gee u guys have so much history here in England for such a tiny island' well if they are so proud of our history why arent they proud to be 'english americans' instead of irish american or japanese american or russian american or whatever. and its only in america. u don't get indian-british or french-british people..or hispanic-brits... lol

Part 2 of rant oveer

 

[Monique]

Well.. maybe they are so proud of their own country that they don't emmigrate? Just a thought.. hehe

 

[jimmy p]

lol...why don't the others say they are british-american? after they protest about everything being 'english' n not british so we make the effort to make it british...they have their own parliament but are useless so rely on westminister to make the decisions..,FOOLS ILL CRUSH THEM! lol

 

[gnome]

Has anyone ever met an 'English American'?

Who'd ever admit to that?

 

[Adrian Baker]

Originally posted by gnome
Who'd ever admit to that?

It is true that the Americans I've met are very selective in 'choosing' their heritage. That many claim that they are directly descended from the 'founding fathers on the Mayflower' that it must have been bigger than the QE2! (and made three return journeys!)

 

[plus]

Originally posted by Adrian Baker
It is true that the Americans I've met are very selective in 'choosing' their heritage. That many claim that they are directly descended from the 'founding fathers on the Mayflower' that it must have been bigger than the QE2! (and made three return journeys!)

No. The Mayflower sailed over 23 generations ago. Even with an average 2 children per person starting with 10 people on that ship (and obviously others already there or came later for mating purposes), that gives over 80 million people descended from the people on that boat.

 

[Andy]

Whats the population of The U,S and have you taken into account how many of the descendants would have died already?

 

[Monique]

Population US: 290,342,554 (July 2003 est.)

 

[Njorl]

The reason for no "English Americans" is that few English people emigrated in the last 150 years. There were waves of Irish, German, Italian, Chinese and Poles, amongst others. After a few generations, you are generally just an "American". There are plenty of Irish, for example, who had all 4 grandparents born in the US, who don't consider themselves Irish Americans, except on March 17th.

Part of the identity of these immigrant groups is because they were violently rejected by society at large. In the 19th century, new immigrants generally didn't have access to the police, law courts or schools, and had to fend for themselves. The English never faced this exclusion.

Njorl

 

[selfAdjoint]

Originally posted by Adrian Baker
What I find annoying is meeting Americans descended originally from Great Britain. They love to claim to be 'Irish Americans' (no 1 choice), 'Scottish Americans' (no 2 choice) or occasionally 'Welsh Americans' (no 3 choice).

I have NEVER yet met an 'English American' just Greek, Jewish, Italian, Hispanic, Nordic etc... What is it with you guys? Do you need a bit of Celt or European heritage to feel special?

Has anyone ever met an 'English American'?


Rant over

Well, I am over half English descended, the rest being Scotch-Irish (no, not "Scots") and one Irishman. Scotch-Irish is a population of Scots who were settled in N.I. in the 17th century and took the first opportunity to sail to the Americas. They distinguish themselves carefully from both Scots and Irish and I'll bet if you did their genetics you'd find out they were basically Picts.

And don't forget that US caste WASP, for "white Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant" (I guess to distinguish from all those black, Jewish Anglo-Saxons).

 

[Monique]

I really wonder though, why is it so important to distinguish themselves to such great lengths? I mean.. 17th century.. If I were to immigrate to another country I would identify myself as Dutch, my children would identify themselves as having some Dutch heritage, but that is where it ends.

I mean, I have no clue what my family history is besides the fact that me and my parents grew up in Amsterdam, it wouldn't really matter :)

So yeah, maybe for the first and second generation there is a point, but the rest..