# What do you call someone from the UK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517 "2006-02-28T20:59:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/21 "2006-03-01T01:43:01Z")
Yes. _POS_es, that’s what we’re known as. I was so worried about getting the bolding coding sorted I didn’t look at which letters. I of course meant **P** risoner **O** f her **M** ajesties’ empire/service Better get it right this time. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/22 "2006-03-01T01:44:48Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Malcolm McDowell: Hello. I’m a British person. > > In context, this has always cracked me up. Heck, out of context, it’s pretty funny. But I agree, it’s hilarious to see Malcolm McDowell on South Park like it was Masterpiece Theater. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/23 "2006-03-01T03:49:25Z")
Yooker? Yookie? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/24 "2006-03-01T04:07:34Z")
> [@pretend my name is witty](#): > > On the subject, what’s the history behind Aussies calling us ‘poms’. I was told the other day that we originally called them poms, standing for **P** risoner **O** f her majesties’ **S** ervice, and they for some reason now call us it. It doesn’t sound too true to me, but I kind of like it anyway.So…what’s the real reason? We like our apples, but that’s hardly something we’re known for. ‘Pom’ is a contraction of ‘pommy’ which is a contraction of ‘pomegranite’, which is itself rhyming slang for ‘immigrant’. Convoluted though true. English immigrants to Australia were initially referred to as Pomegranites or (Jimmy Grants) in accordance with standard rhyming slang (never mind that pomegranite is a real stretch as a rhyme for immigrant, it sounds much closer in Strine drawl). Pomegranite was later shortened to pommy then to pom. The POHM story is, like almost any other acronym etymology, completely fictitious. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/25 "2006-03-01T08:39:43Z")
Anyone notice you never hear “Britisher” any more? That word always sounded like it was too long. Is it obsolete now? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/26 "2006-03-01T09:10:58Z")
Ukulele? Our german friends call us “_Inselaffen_” - island monkeys ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/27 "2006-03-01T09:39:42Z")
Ali G interviewing a NI Unionist politician: Is you Irish? No, I’m British! What you doin’ here then. You on holiday? Sums up the whole situation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/28 "2006-03-01T10:28:21Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > And because until 1998 the Republic didn’t recognise the border (the now amended Article 2 of the Irish constitution), it would - and still does - issue Irish passports to anyone born anywhere on the island of Ireland who wants one. Isn’t that part of a wider issue whereby anyone who can prove their parents (or grandparents) were Irish nationals can apply for Irish citizenry? And to the OP, a UK citizen is technically British, they can have a British passport but not an English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish passport (but can have a Northern Irish drivers license) In law, English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish are viewed as “races” when it comes to racism cases that I’ve read about, but not Northern Irish. And, finally, in our university classes where we were taught how to “communicate”, we were taught we could put British, British-Irish, Irish-British, Irish as our nationality on CVs and other application forms. > [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > > [@jjimm](#): > > > > Furthermore, I hope by “either” you weren’t referring to the people from the Republic as being “from the UK” - they’re most decidedly not, and fought a war not to be so > > No, I wasn’t, I just meant that whatever part of Ireland you’re from, you are Irish If you’re a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, you’re Irish. If you’re a citizen of the UK, you’re British. Whatever you may consider yourself to be from ancestry is up to yourself. To refer to the country of Ireland is to refer to the Republic of Ireland, _not_ part of the UK for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/29 "2006-03-01T10:49:02Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Indeed, but that definition isn’t ever used. Plus, I dare you to tell _them_ that. That definition is used geographically all the time. Geographically it’s the British Isles. People, however, rarely name themselves in purely geographical terms. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/30 "2006-03-01T10:51:47Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Isn’t that part of a wider issue whereby anyone who can prove their parents (or grandparents) were Irish nationals can apply for Irish citizenry? Similarly, anyone born in Ireland before about 1948 can claim British citizenship! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/31 "2006-03-01T11:12:37Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > Similarly, anyone born in Ireland before about 1948 can claim British citizenship! I didn’t realise the reverse worked as well, but then between partition of Ireland and 1948, Ireland was a Dominion with the King as head of state so it makes sense 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/32 "2006-03-01T13:37:21Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Would it be wrong to call them European? To many of us that would be completely wrong. So utterly and totally wrong. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/33 "2006-03-01T14:16:49Z")
The provision for automatic entitlement of anyone born North or South of the border to claim Irish citizenship was a measure designed to appease Nationalists and Republicans when Article 2 was removed from the Constitution. I finally got my Irish passport (waiting for the wedding so I could get one in my married name) and am an Irish-British dual national…woohoo! Being able to have a passport for a neutral country might come in useful in the future, while having access to the greater powers of a British foreign embassy may be useful in other circumstances. **Pushkin** , people born in Ireland before 1948 are also entitiled to vote in British general elections. You don’t call Irish people “British” (meaning from the British Isles) in the same way you don’t call Canadian people “Americans” (meaning from the continent of America). It might be geographically correct, but you’d be cruising for a bruising. Don’t call anyone from Northern Ireland “Irish” unless you’re sure they won’t be offended. “Northern Irish” or “Ulsterman/Ulsterwoman ( as long as you don’t define what you mean by “Ulster”)” are about as neutral as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/34 "2006-03-01T14:24:53Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > **Pushkin** , people born in Ireland before 1948 are also entitiled to vote in British general elections. Even stranger- all Irish citizens (of whatever age) resident in the UK have full voting rights! They refused to join the Commonwealth, so we forced its benefits on them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/35 "2006-03-01T14:27:08Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > “Americans” (meaning from the continent of America) Uh, no. That statement makes no sense two ways: [ul] [li]‘American’ means from the United States of America.[/li][li]There is no continent called America. There are two continents, one called North America and one called South America, you might be interested in.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/36 "2006-03-01T14:30:34Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > You don’t call Irish people “British” (meaning from the British Isles) in the same way you don’t call Canadian people “Americans” (meaning from the continent of America). It might be geographically correct, but you’d be cruising for a bruising. But of course, historically, the Irish (as well as the Scots, Welsh and Cornish) are more likely to be of Britonic stock than your average Englishman. The English are far more likely to be of more Germanic (Anglo-saxon) stock and less celtic- who were the original Britons. :eek: [http://www.britannia.com/wales/whist1a.html](http://www.britannia.com/wales/whist1a.html) “The ever-increasing number of Germanic newcomers spread westward like a slow moving flood, were eventually contained. By the end of the sixth century, Britain had more or less sorted itself out into three distinct areas: the Teutonic East, the Britonic West and the Britonic-Pictish North soon to be invaded and settled by the Scotti, from Ireland, who brought their Gaelic language with them.” I still wouldn’t call a dublinner a Brit in any circumstances though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/37 "2006-03-01T14:37:51Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > But of course, historically, the Irish (as well as the Scots, Welsh and Cornish) are more likely to be of Britonic stock than your average Englishman. - nods \* It’s not uncommon in literary work of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to see “British” used where we’d put “Celtic”, as a word _contrasted_ with “English”. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/38 "2006-03-01T14:46:02Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > I finally got my Irish passport (waiting for the wedding so I could get one in my married name) and am an Irish-British dual national…woohoo! > Being able to have a passport for a neutral country might come in useful in the future, while having access to the greater powers of a British foreign embassy may be useful in other circumstances I thought of those reasons (you can avoid being beheaded but still ask the Army to lift you out in a Chinook 😉 ) but the new ID card legislation may make it too pricey to go for both. Thanks Tony! > [@irishgirl](#): > > **Pushkin** , people born in Ireland before 1948 are also entitiled to vote in British general elections Isn’t there additional legislation that means the Irish can vote for the British PMs and British can vote for the Irish PMs, or something similar? > [@irishgirl](#): > > Don’t call anyone from Northern Ireland “Irish” unless you’re sure they won’t be offended. “Northern Irish” or “Ulsterman/Ulsterwoman ( as long as you don’t define what you mean by “Ulster”)” are about as neutral as it gets. I’d still be wary of calling someone an Ulsterperson, more so than Northern Irish. Northern Irish would result it would seem in a discussion over the merits of different nations, whereas Ulsterperson an arguement about the same. > [@Derleth](#): > > Uh, no. That statement makes no sense two ways: > [ul] > [li]‘American’ means from the United States of America.[/li][/ul] That was the point Irishgirl was making, it would be incorrect to say someone was American purely because of their geographic location. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/39 "2006-03-01T15:20:29Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > I thought of those reasons (you can avoid being beheaded but still ask the Army to lift you out in a Chinook 😉 ) but the new ID card legislation may make it too pricey to go for both. Thanks Tony! IIRC the original proposal on ID cards had a specific exception for Norn Iron because many nationalist and republicans held Irish passports, no British passports and would be affronted at having to apply for what amounted to a sign of British citizenship. i will google it when I have time, but I think that the compromise was going to be that any Irish passport holder would be exempt from having to possess an ID card, even though other EU nationals would have to apply for one after a certain length of residence. With our recent joint history and the fact that one of the government’s pseudo-arguments for it is that it is for anti-‘terrorist’ protection, it struck me as amusing that they were jumping through a hoop that would allow the greatest recent source of 'terrorists/‘freedom-fighters’ to escape through an exemption clause. 😃 > [@Pushkin](#): > > Isn’t there additional legislation that means the Irish can vote for the British PMs and British can vote for the Irish PMs, or something similar? No legislation that I know of on the UK side. I think that it is a typical piece of British pragmatism- they were British, being Irish doesn’t make them not British, we’ll go on treating them as if nothing has happenned. It is not just electoral representation either. Other EU citizens who come to the UK to work and become destitute cease to receive benefits after a period of time; this does not apply to Irish citizens. Similarly, IIRC, there are no restrictions on Irish citizens joining the UK armed forces, even though this is not open to other EU citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517/40 "2006-03-01T15:53:02Z")
Pjen, I meant the stipulation that British passport applicants (and perhaps those wishing to renew their passports) would _also_ have to opt in for an ID card. IIRC its something opponents of the measure are trying to stop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-someone-from-the-uk/346517.md?page=3)