# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/21 "2004-05-20T11:32:27Z")
> [@jastu](#): > > Interesting link, thanks **Kymodose**. Some very surprising results there. Go Australia second Greatest Olympic nation! Damn you Bahamas! ---
**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, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/22 "2004-05-20T11:47:53Z")
> [@Jervoise](#): > > Go Australia second Greatest Olympic nation! Damn you Bahamas! Just goes to show, you can prove anything you care to with careful use of statistics! ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/23 "2004-05-20T12:02:29Z")
> [@PorkChop47](#): > > . . . I don’t see it’s present day greatness in 21st Century. . . I’ll tell you what’s so “great” about Great Britain if you’ll tell me what so “new” about New York. On a more-related note, what, where, or who is “England”? ---
**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, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/24 "2004-05-20T12:07:23Z")
Time for me to roll this out again. [For the geographically challenged](http://www.crowaptok.com/images/british_isles.gif). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/25 "2004-05-20T12:11:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ll tell you what’s so “great” about Great Britain if you’ll tell me what so “new” about New York. And while you’re at it, tell me why Rhode Island isn’t an island. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/26 "2004-05-20T12:12:05Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Time for me to roll this out again. [For the geographically challenged](http://www.crowaptok.com/images/british_isles.gif). Good link, apart from the Isle of Man being incorrectly coloured twice ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/27 "2004-05-20T12:13:42Z")
> [@Genghis Bob](#): > > On a more-related note, what, where, or who is “England”? It’s the land where the Engs come from, of course You know, the Fins come from Finland, the Greens are from Greenland, Scots come from Scotland, Hols are from Holland and the Ires come from Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/28 "2004-05-20T12:14:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And while you’re at it, tell me why Rhode Island isn’t an island. 😃 “…the official name is the “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” Providence Plantations referring to the mainland portion of the state which was originally all part of the town of Providence and “Rhode Island” referring to Aquidneck Island on which Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth are located.” > **[Rhode Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island)** > > Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}41°42′N 71°30′W / 41.7°N 71.5°W / 41.7; -71.5 (State of Rhode Island) > Rhode Island (/ˌroʊd -/ (listen), like road), officially the State of Rhode Island, is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the ... ---
**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, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/29 "2004-05-20T12:15:45Z")
**GorillaMan** … Looking at your location… who’d have thought it, two dopers from Suffolk. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/30 "2004-05-20T12:16:39Z")
> [@Genghis Bob](#): > > On a more-related note, what, where, or who is “England”? It’s named after the Angles, one of the groups of post-Roman settlers from present day Germany - there’s also region on the east coast called East Anglia. ---
**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, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/31 "2004-05-20T12:20:54Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Good link, apart from the Isle of Man being incorrectly coloured twice Fixed. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/32 "2004-05-20T12:23:01Z")
Wow, that was fat, **jjimm**!! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/33 "2004-05-20T12:24:12Z")
accck, dang fingers, “that was FAST”!!! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/34 "2004-05-20T12:25:18Z")
Thanks, **Gorilla**. I’ve read that before, either in an SD column (which I can’t find) or on this board. But I figured I’d get too many replies if I said something about the Holy Roman Empire being neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/35 "2004-05-20T13:20:51Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > It’s named after the Angles, one of the groups of post-Roman settlers from present day Germany - there’s also region on the east coast called East Anglia. Nice try, but the actual reason is that Britain used to be 2 dimensional. Quite literally it was the land of the “angles” = Angleland = England . The classic boot [“Flatland” by the Victorian theologist Edwin A. Abbott](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/048627263X/103-7031015-3323854?v=glance) brought the concept of three dimensional space to the British and they have been fully volumetric ever since. ---
**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 20, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/36 "2004-05-20T13:33:28Z")
> [@Genghis Bob](#): > > On a more-related note, what, where, or who is “England”? England is one of the four countries that make up the UK, along with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Island. It occupies the southern part of Great Britain (minus Wales). ---
**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, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/37 "2004-05-20T13:38:49Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > accck, dang fingers, “that was FAST”!!! I thought you meant ‘phat’. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/38 "2004-05-20T14:22:10Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > England is one of the four countries that make up the UK, along with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Island. It occupies the southern part of Great Britain (minus Wales). If England is a country then so is Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/39 "2004-05-20T14:30:00Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > If England is a country then so is Nebraska. No. England IS a nation. Fact. Wales is a nation. Scotland is a nation. ---
**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, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991/40 "2004-05-20T15:28:40Z")
Actually, to confuse thing further, Wales is usually referred to as a _principality_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-great-britain-so-great/245991.md?page=3)