# Why is Great Britain so Great? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991 "2004-05-19T16:51:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PorkChop47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e68b1a/32.png) [@PorkChop47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorkChop47)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/1 "2004-05-19T16:51:51Z")
Seriously why is Great Britiain so Great? Also is it United Kingdom, or is it Great Britain. What is the corrct name for the British Isles? I am yet to find something great about the place. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/2 "2004-05-19T16:57:23Z")
[This link has info on the origin of the nomenclature of Great Britain.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/3 "2004-05-19T17:06:51Z")
For the record, the political entity is the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). The large island is Great Britain (as distinct from Britanny in France, a.k.a. _Britannia minor_.) Great Britain + Ireland are the British Isles. ---
**Author:** ![PorkChop47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e68b1a/32.png) [@PorkChop47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorkChop47)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/4 "2004-05-19T17:23:35Z")
thanks for the information. Still I don’t see it’s greatness. It may have been great once apon a time. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/5 "2004-05-19T17:29:00Z")
Did you not bother to read **Dragwyr** ’s link? > [@](#): > > There are in fact two Britains: the island of Britain in the British Isles and the land of Britain in France. In French these are known as Grande Bretagne and Bretagne, in English as Great Britain and Brittany. The word “Great” in this context has its old meaning of “ **big** ” as in “she was **great** with child” or “Greater London”. ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/6 "2004-05-19T17:29:46Z")
> [@PorkChop47](#): > > thanks for the information. Still I don’t see it’s greatness. It may have been great once apon a time. It’s Great meaning ‘big’, not Great meaning ‘good’, it’s to seperate Great Britain from Brittany in Northern France. For example, near to where I live there are villagesa called Great Ryburgh, Little Ryburgh, Great Walsingham, Little Walsingham, etc. They’re called Great \_\_\_\_\_ because they’re bigger (or were when they were named) than Little \_\_\_\_\_. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/7 "2004-05-19T17:35:15Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Great Britain + Ireland …+ the Isle of Man + the Channel Islands + Rockall (arguably) > [@](#): > > are the British Isles. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/8 "2004-05-19T20:15:33Z")
> [@PorkChop47](#): > > thanks for the information. Still I don’t see it’s greatness. It may have been great once apon a time. And thus do we see the continuing need for the SD’s crusade. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/9 "2004-05-19T22:52:41Z")
> [@PorkChop47](#): > > thanks for the information. Still I don’t see it’s greatness. It may have been great once apon a time. Just out of interest, and quite aside from your obvious confusion about the name, do you live in the UK? If not, how many times have you visited? ---
**Author:** ![PorkChop47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e68b1a/32.png) [@PorkChop47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorkChop47)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/10 "2004-05-19T22:59:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Just out of interest, and quite aside from your obvious confusion about the name, do you live in the UK? If not, how many times have you visited? I currently reside in Saint Paul, MN, United States I lived in the United Kingdom for 6 years. I lived in greater London, just outside the M-25 in Harrow. I was in school in the UK and I worked at London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 3. I have a fair ammount of knowledge about the UK. Which is why I ask the question “Why is Britain so Great?”. I don’t see it’s present day greatness in 21st Century. I mean they won 1 gold medal in the olympics. They’re yesterdays jive if you ask me. Each to their own I suppose. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/11 "2004-05-19T23:07:58Z")
OK, thanks; now that your question about the origin of the name has been answered, did you want this thread to turn into a ‘what do people like about the UK?’ sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/12 "2004-05-20T08:14:07Z")
> [@](#): > > I lived in greater London Greater then what? ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/13 "2004-05-20T09:51:32Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > Greater then what? Cardiff 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/14 "2004-05-20T10:09:16Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > …+ the Isle of Man + the Channel Islands + Rockall (arguably) Rockall is definately part of the British Isles. The Rockall Times even made a policy announcement on it [here](http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/policy/denmark-rockall.html)\* 😉 \*And yes, for the humour impaired, that site is satirical ---
**Author:** ![Kymodoce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8797f3/32.png) [@Kymodoce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kymodoce)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/15 "2004-05-20T10:20:12Z")
> [@PorkChop47](#): > > I currently reside in Saint Paul, MN, United States > > I lived in the United Kingdom for 6 years. I lived in greater London, just outside the M-25 in Harrow. I was in school in the UK and I worked at London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 3. > > I have a fair ammount of knowledge about the UK. Which is why I ask the question “Why is Britain so Great?”. I don’t see it’s present day greatness in 21st Century. I mean they won **1 gold medal** in the olympics. They’re yesterdays jive if you ask me. Each to their own I suppose. Bolding mine. Just a minor nitpick… I think you are out of date. At the last Olympics in Sydney Britain won 11 golds, 10 silvers and 7 bronzes. And this is an interesting table [http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/spo\_oly\_med\_syd\_200\_cap](http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/spo_oly_med_syd_200_cap) listing the medal performance on a per capita basis… note the UK is at 34th… now, where was the US again… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/16 "2004-05-20T10:26:32Z")
Rockall is Irish. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/17 "2004-05-20T10:31:35Z")
and it will never fall 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/18 "2004-05-20T10:35:27Z")
> [@TwistofFate](#): > > Rockall is Irish. And Ireland’s part of the British Isles. QED. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/19 "2004-05-20T10:45:31Z")
Just you wait, it’s be the Irish Arcapelago soon enough 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/20 "2004-05-20T11:02:30Z")
> [@Kymodoce](#): > > Just a minor nitpick… I think you are out of date. At the last Olympics in Sydney Britain won 11 golds, 10 silvers and 7 bronzes. > > And this is an interesting table > > [http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/spo\_oly\_med\_syd\_200\_cap](http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/spo_oly_med_syd_200_cap) > > listing the medal performance on a per capita basis… note the UK is at 34th… now, where was the US again… > 😃 Interesting link, thanks **Kymodose**. Some very surprising results there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991.md?page=2)