# "Imported from Britain" means what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077 "2012-04-26T23:19:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/1 "2012-04-26T23:19:48Z")
So, I’m drinking a Boddington’s Pub Ale. Not bad. But the can brags, “Imported from Britain”. Why? I’ve see things labeled “Made in England”, “Made in The UK”, even , “Great Britain”. Is their use of “Britain” some sorta political statement? Smooth, creamy, and you gotta love the widget.😃 ---
**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:** [April 26, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/2 "2012-04-26T23:28:08Z")
There’s more than one brewery producing the stuff - one in England and another in Wales. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/3 "2012-04-26T23:43:28Z")
^That’s all? Oh well. Luton, England. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/4 "2012-04-27T00:14:06Z")
I know it’s not the case with Boddingtons, but I wonder if “imported from Britain” could mean “Made in the People’s Republic of Shitbeeristan then shipped in to Britain and exported from there”? Or would it have to be made in the exporting country? Quite a lot of products are made in one country and packaged in another, after being shipped in bulk. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/5 "2012-04-27T00:32:56Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I know it’s not the case with Boddingtons, but I wonder if “imported from Britain” could mean “Made in the People’s Republic of Shitbeeristan then shipped in to Britain and exported from there”? Or would it have to be made in the exporting country? Quite a lot of products are made in one country and packaged in another, after being shipped in bulk. Smooth and creamy? Don’t think that would come from Shitbeerstan. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/6 "2012-04-27T00:35:35Z")
I was not happy when my know-it-all (yet still wrong almost all the time) cousin informed me that Bass Ale was now being brewed in the USA, but for once in his life, he was 100% correct… It’s still priced at nearly $16 per six pack here in the good ol’ People’s Republic Of Zion… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/7 "2012-04-27T00:52:36Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Smooth and creamy? Don’t think that would come from Shitbeerstan. I did say I know it’s not the case with Boddingtons. I haven’t had Boddies for ages, now I come to think of it. It used to be my beer of choice as a teenager. They had good [TV](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsmvTkaGODg) [adverts](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfXkK1FD3s) back then, too. 🙂 (They had to stop calling it “the cream of Manchester” when they closed the brewery in the city…) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/8 "2012-04-27T02:15:36Z")
Britain = England. Right? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/9 "2012-04-27T02:19:29Z")
It could mean Wales or Scotland also, because they are on the island of Great Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/10 "2012-04-27T04:25:16Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Britain = England. Right? There’s no such discrete entity as “[Britain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain)” per se; it should be taken as shorthand for\*\* Great Britain\*\* or **The British Isles** , neither of which are [the same as England](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venn_of_UK.png). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/11 "2012-04-27T05:15:05Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > There’s no such discrete entity as “[Britain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain)” per se; it should be taken as shorthand for\*\* Great Britain\*\* or **The British Isles** , neither of which are [the same as England](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venn_of_UK.png). Or the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ---
**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:** [April 27, 2012, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/12 "2012-04-27T06:26:39Z")
We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune ---
**Author:** ![nudgenudge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@nudgenudge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nudgenudge)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/13 "2012-04-27T09:00:06Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > There’s no such discrete entity as “[Britain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain)” per se; it should be taken as shorthand for\*\* Great Britain\*\* or **The British Isles** , neither of which are [the same as England](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venn_of_UK.png). Nitpick: “Britain” is not used to refer to the British Isles (a term that has slightly fallen out of favour itself), since the British Isles includes the country of Ireland (as well as other territory that is not technically part of the UK). “Britain” is just another term for the UK (even though the UK includes some territory that is not actually on the island of Great Britain, as others have mentioned). “Great Britain” is also very often used to refer to the country as a whole and not just the island of that name. In other words, all these would mean essentially the same thing: Imported from Britain Imported from Great Britain Imported from the UK ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/14 "2012-04-27T10:05:09Z")
> [@nudgenudge](#): > > “Great Britain” is also very often used to refer to the country as a whole and not just the island of that name. Indeed the [ISO 3166 country code](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ISO_3166-1) for the UK is, rather confusingly, GB, not UK (although the top-level internet domain is .uk). This leads to the rather odd situation that cars in Northern Ireland are identified abroad by “GB” stickers (or on [the side of the plate itself](http://www.olavsplates.com/foto_g/gb_ybz9501.jpg)) even though they’re not from “Great Britain” itself. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/15 "2012-04-27T10:18:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune You’re fooling yourself. We’re living in a dictatorship, a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes are exploited by an establishment hanging onto outdated imperialist dogma, which perpetuates the social and economic differences in our society. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/16 "2012-04-27T10:19:31Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > (They had to stop calling it “the cream of Manchester” when they closed the brewery in the city…) “Boddingtons, the cream of Manchester” is an anagram of “Boddington’s stomach ache fermenter”. ---
**Author:** ![nudgenudge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@nudgenudge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nudgenudge)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/17 "2012-04-27T10:21:39Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Indeed the [ISO 3166 country code](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ISO_3166-1) for the UK is, rather confusingly, GB, not UK (although the top-level internet domain is .uk). This leads to the rather odd situation that cars in Northern Ireland are identified abroad by “GB” stickers (or on [the side of the plate itself](http://www.olavsplates.com/foto_g/gb_ybz9501.jpg)) even though they’re not from “Great Britain” itself. I suppose “GB” translates better than “UK” - Grand Bretagne, Großbritannien vs. Royaume Uni, Vereinigtes Königreich etc. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/18 "2012-04-27T12:41:05Z")
> [@nudgenudge](#): > > I suppose “GB” translates better than “UK” - Grand Bretagne, Großbritannien vs. Royaume Uni, Vereinigtes Königreich etc. Also used by [Team GB](http://www.teamgb.com/), the UKish olympic team. Just an accident of history, really, we do like hanging on to our old stuff.. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/19 "2012-04-27T12:49:32Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Is their use of “Britain” some sorta political statement No, nothing political, just a shorthand reference for the United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. No different from calling the US ‘America’. Politicians use the word ‘Britain’ all the time, and they’re more politically correct than anyone else. [Handy](http://www.stoves.co.uk/made-in-britain/) for [campaign](http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/business/markets/premiers-back-britain-blast-from-the-past-is-bang-on-target-7681579.html)[slogans.](http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/Campaigns/Default.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077/20 "2012-04-27T16:20:57Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > You’re fooling yourself. We’re living in a dictatorship, a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes are exploited by an establishment hanging onto outdated imperialist dogma, which perpetuates the social and economic differences in our society. Oh, there you go, bringing class into it again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imported-from-britain-means-what/620077.md?page=2)