Finally moved all my books into one area and have found the reference I was looking for months ago.
The 1973 Official Stationary Office Guidebook to Britain states quite clearly that the Government had made the decision to use Great Britain to mean England Wales and Scotland, and Britain to mean the UK- strange but true.
I suppose it accords with usage of Brits- which includes people from NI as demonstrated by Ali G’s brilliant interview with the Ulster Unionist Politician in Northern Ireland
Ali G: Is you British then?
Politician: Of course I am
Ali G: Is you here on holiday (Trans.: vacation) then?
Anyway, its just nice to know that I can continue to use Britain as meaning the UK and have the HMSO publication on my side to ward off pedants ;).
Even more bizarrely, “Great Britain” is also used as the name of the island that London, Edinburgh, etc sit on, so that Orkney, the Isle of Wight, Lewis etc etc are not included. This means that in some contexts Great Britain covers less land than Great Britain covers.
A few years back it was reported that the minister on Gigha (approx 6 miles by 3) asked his congregation to pray for the inhabitants of Gigha “and of our neighbouring island, Great Britain.” This is a quote from memory; I think the original was funnier.
Great Britain (in the larger sense) and the island(s) of Ireland make up the British Isles, but some Irish people do not like this use of “British”, since the Republic of Ireland is not part of Britain.
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make up the United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
England does not “possess” Scotland or Northern Ireland (I don’t know enough about Wales to comment). Within the Union, Scotland has the same constitutional status as England (in the same way that California and Wisconsin have the same constitutional status). This applied even before Scotland got its parliament back in 1997. The reason this is all so complicated and hard to explain / understand is that the UK is not a proper federation like the US. Our constitution has been improvised over the centuries with one bit being changed without considering any overall perspective.
Actually, in one respect Wales and Scotland (and until the suspension, Northern Ireland) have one up on England: England doesn’t have its own regional assembly.
Sports teams from this part of the world are interesting.
There are 5 football teams: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.
Ok, how many Rugby teams would you expect?
There are 4: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
OK, how many Athletics teams?
There are 2: UK and Ireland.
And in case you knew that lot - what is the Governing body for chess in Scotland?
The Scottish Chess Federation.
what is the Governing body for chess in Wales?
The Welsh Chess Federation.
what is the Governing body for chess in England?
The British Chess Federation.
That link is very informative, but did not mention the capital of Ireland, which, BTW, is a very rich nation. “Very rich,” you say. “How so?” Well, it’s capital is always Dublin.
