It totally is a confusing thing- I've lived here for more than a decade now and sometimes it makes me stop and think but I've had it drilled into me so often that I think I have it mostly straight.
Basically, the British Isles include the landmass that is England, Wales and Scotland, and Ireland. Obviously you know that southern Ireland is a completely separate country (which is more than 99% of the world it seems!) but the rest- England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland constitute the UK, which is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which means they're all British citizens. By law, N.Irish people are both British and Irish citizens and generally choose which one to identify themselves by, but they are British.
The simplest explanation is if you're born or naturalised to England, Scotland, Wales or N.Ireland you're a British citizen, but you're also English or Scottish or Welsh or Irish. Apart from England, they have their own separate parliaments, but are all represented in Westminster as part of the UK. I guess, in American terms it's like, you're American. But you're also from whichever-state-you-were-born-in, if that makes sense?
The thing I find important to remember is that if you refer to Ewan McGreggor as Scottish and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Welsh and James Nesbitt as Irish, you need to refer to Joseph Fiennes as English (when often English people get just called British which makes them frown a lot), but collectively you can call thenm British (unless they've stated they solely see themselves as X nationality).
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Date: 2010-01-29 01:14 pm (UTC)Basically, the British Isles include the landmass that is England, Wales and Scotland, and Ireland. Obviously you know that southern Ireland is a completely separate country (which is more than 99% of the world it seems!) but the rest- England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland constitute the UK, which is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which means they're all British citizens. By law, N.Irish people are both British and Irish citizens and generally choose which one to identify themselves by, but they are British.
The simplest explanation is if you're born or naturalised to England, Scotland, Wales or N.Ireland you're a British citizen, but you're also English or Scottish or Welsh or Irish. Apart from England, they have their own separate parliaments, but are all represented in Westminster as part of the UK. I guess, in American terms it's like, you're American. But you're also from whichever-state-you-were-born-in, if that makes sense?
The thing I find important to remember is that if you refer to Ewan McGreggor as Scottish and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Welsh and James Nesbitt as Irish, you need to refer to Joseph Fiennes as English (when often English people get just called British which makes them frown a lot), but collectively you can call thenm British (unless they've stated they solely see themselves as X nationality).