# (Great) Britain becoming the UK **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2023, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157 "2023-12-26T11:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/1 "2023-12-26T11:17:32Z")
I feel I’ve noticed a trend of the term “(Great) Britain”, or the corresponding adjective, being increasingly replaced by “UK” in British usage. Yes, I know, strictly speaking Great Britain is only the island on which England, Scotland and Wales are located, whereas the UK includes Northern Ireland; but in the past, it was not at all uncommon to hear the entire country referred to as “(Great) Britain”, and to my knowledge the usage of the adjective “British” (as in “British citizen”) for the entire country is even official and statutory. But nowadays I hear a lot of instances of phrases like “UK government” where, in the past, “British” would have been perfectly fine. So my question, especially (but not exclusively) to British dopers, is: Do you agree that this trend is going on? If so, why - is it perhaps a result of the increasing focus on Northern Ireland during the negotiations about the relationship between the UK and the EU post-Brexit? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/2 "2023-12-26T11:18:42Z")
(As a side note: The Olympic team is still “Team GB” - but I think that’s because the IOC assigns official country abbreviations to teams, and the one for the UK is GBR.) ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/3 "2023-12-26T11:49:46Z")
I’m fine with UK. More inclusive. ‘Great’ Britain sounds like boasting, and that’s generally Not Done. The term United Kingdom, however, does kind of imply that we are going to remain a kingdom, and that is neither certain nor necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/4 "2023-12-26T12:02:00Z")
Yeah, I think there has been a shift. Some of it, I think, might come from backlash fatigue online. Mention Great Britain and you’re likely to have to deal with assorted critics and trolls asking ‘what’s so great about it?’, or otherwise assuming it’s some statement of worldly greatness, possibly related to the former British Empire. Whilst the term UK is not _technically_ interchangeable, in nearly all practical aspects, for the vast majority of the population, it is, because Great Britain is a subset of the UK, so if you _were_ formerly saying you were from Great Britain, it _is_ true that you are from the UK. There is also an increasing tendency for English people to identify themselves as ‘British’ ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/5 "2023-12-26T13:48:32Z")
As a brit, I normally use UK these days. Shorter to type than Great Britain, and immediately recognisable, while ‘GB’ isn’t unambiguous… might refer to Gigabytes, for example… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/6 "2023-12-26T13:52:47Z")
UK is more accurate in most cases. It’s rare that the speaker is trying to exclude Northern Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/7 "2023-12-26T14:12:40Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > (As a side note: The Olympic team is still “Team GB” - but I think that’s because the IOC assigns official country abbreviations to teams, and the one for the UK is GBR.) That’s complicated by the fact that Northern Irish athletes can compete on the “Ireland” team. Though I’m pretty sure that they can also compete on the Great Britain team, despite Northern Ireland unambiguously not being part of Great Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/8 "2023-12-26T14:46:07Z")
Do people from Northern Ireland refer to themselves as British? ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/9 "2023-12-26T14:55:14Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > UK is more accurate in most cases. Weirdly enough, UK is the ISO code for the Ukrainian language (but UA is the code for the country of Ukraine), so I always find it strange when I see that something is translated to UK. I do wonder if “they” are trying to distance the UK from the Brexit issue. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/10 "2023-12-26T14:59:57Z")
I learned it as Great Britain refers to the island so England, Wales and Scotland. The United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/11 "2023-12-26T15:06:35Z")
Not the Channel Islands; they’re a lien held by the British monarch, but in a different capacity, and while the UK takes care of the foreign affairs of the islands, they’re not part of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/12 "2023-12-26T15:24:44Z")
I am morally certain that the two main reasons we allow this nonsense to continue are a) pub quizzes and b) annoying foreigners. I also think UK is becoming more common. Part of that might be that we are now a bit more alive to the existence, importance of, and complications of Northern Ireland and a bit more sensitive to the implications of confusing GB and UK. Recent Brexit intricacies have made this a bit more of a live issue. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/13 "2023-12-26T16:06:56Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > The term United Kingdom, however, does kind of imply that we are going to remain a kingdom, and that is neither certain nor necessary. The ‘United’ part is not as unequivocal as it used to be, either. The Scottish independence referundum might have passed… And even Wales is a lot more devolved than it was when I was young. Not a trend I am personally in favour of. Nothing against preserving cultural traditions, but is every pocket-handkerchief-sized piece of land on the face of the Earth to become its own “country”? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/14 "2023-12-26T16:11:57Z")
More wokeism. You can’t even say Great Britain any more! (joke) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/15 "2023-12-26T17:10:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Do people from Northern Ireland refer to themselves as British? It depends on what their politics are. Nationalists will seldom if ever do so. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/16 "2023-12-26T19:07:09Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > More wokeism. You can’t even say Great Britain any more! > > (joke) Well, yeah. If it be Great Britain then where is Rennes? [Pissant Britain](https://www.straightdope.com/21342262/why-does-the-uk-call-itself-great-britain-what-s-so-great-about-it)? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/17 "2023-12-26T19:27:05Z")
And what about the Isle of Man, the Shettlands and the Orney Islands? Are they part of the UK? > [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Weirdly enough, UK is the ISO code for the Ukrainian language (but UA is the code for the country of Ukraine) That always confuses me too: When I see the Ukranian flag on the number plate of lorries – there are lots of them on the Autobahn – I expect to read UK, then I see UA. > [@Mijin](#): > > More wokeism. You can’t even say Great Britain any more! You can say “¡hijos de la Gran Bretaña!” in Spanish, and everyone will know what you mean. Bretaña is a perfect stand in for a word that starts with “pu” and ends with “ta”, in case you were wondering. Does not work with el Reino Unido, I hope this fad does not catch on. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/18 "2023-12-26T19:28:37Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > As a brit, I normally use UK these days. > Shorter to type than Great Britain, and immediately recognisable, while ‘GB’ isn’t unambiguous… might refer to Gigabytes, for example… I recently did a double take on “UK” here, I think it’s the first time in my life I have ever seen it stand for anything else. [Omnibus Stupid MFers in the news thread - #9769 by Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread/931945/9769) > A Kentucky helicopter pilot has pleaded guilty to flying an air ambulance while drunk…The patient was transferred to a ground ambulance for the trip to the UK hospital… ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/19 "2023-12-26T19:35:08Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > More wokeism. You can’t even say Great Britain any more! You ain’t seen nothing yet. Soon we won’t be allowed to call ourselves humans any more. We’re just “differently abled Primates”… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157/20 "2023-12-26T19:42:26Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Well, yeah. If it be Great Britain then where is Rennes? Damn, we British used to own Bordeaux! How did we let such great wine country slip away? Jolly bad political strategy, if you ask me! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-britain-becoming-the-uk/995157.md?page=2)