Quote Originally Posted by Conrad
Quote Originally Posted by Mikkel_K
Quote Originally Posted by Fire
who is concidered british just english, or english/scottish could someone explain that situation to me...
As I have lived in England and generally tend to follow English media a fair bit, I declare myself fit to answer this question. A Brit, according to the English press, is someone from Wales or Scotland who happens to be winning at the moment. Joe Calzaghe therefore is a British champion and Andy Murray a British tennis player. Ricky Hatton on the other hand is English, Scott Harrison Scottish and the Welsh rugby team most definitely Welsh.

Whilst this is true, in a take the piss type of way - because us English do tend to be Bristish when it's a Welshman or Scotsman winning at a sport.

But officially; England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland form Britain (now United Kingdom). Although we all fight side by side for the British military, have the same currency and have the same governement (well kind of - aside from Scotland??) - we are actually seperate countries.
I was, obviously, taking the piss, but these things (identity, nationalism etc) actually intrigue me quite a bit, so with the risk of learning something new, I have a question for you (or other persons from those Isles):

I wrote Wales and Scotland and left out Northern Ireland on purpose. Was this wrong? Would you, as an Englishman, refer to or think of a person from Northern Ireland as 'British'? And would this characteristic vary according to said person's background (i.e. considering John Duddy not-British, but Brian Magee or David Healy British)?