I'm still British - are you?

Question

On holiday we met a Turkish family. They wondered what had happened to the word 'British'. Is there no pride anymore? People say they are Scottish, English etc but not often British. Is it because of this devolution malarky? I'm still British are you?

Answer 1

I'm British.

I technically am English, but I have some Irish Blood. I feel that I am British by birth, and am from the same nation as a Scotsman, a Welshman and a Northern Irishman. We are four Countries united into one Nation. I bear a Union Flag with pride from my window and on my clothes (in fact, wherever I can), I don't own a St George's Flag.

I am a serving member of the RAF and have very good friends from all walks of life and from all of the Countries that make up Great Britain. I am a patriot and am proud of my British roots.

Answer 2

Joedi certainly has a point - when I was a kid, I was told "If someone asks your nationality, NEVER say British! ANYONE can be British - they can get off the boat from god-knows where, and they're British straight away! YOU should say 'English', because it makes it clear that you were not only born here, but your ancestors were too!"

That doesn't influence many people now though, Britain IS multi-cultural, and despite the efforts of certain low-lifes and (so-called) politicians to create apartheid in the UK most people don't think twice about accepting people as PEOPLE - rather than an ethnicity.

The current insistence of people who say 'I'm ENGLISH, not British!' is caused indirectly by the Scottish and Welsh insistence that they have their own rights, and their own nationalities - which of course is TRUE! But, while the Scottish and Welsh were getting increasing independence from England they were also getting an increasing say in English affairs! Yes, they were invaded. No, the English had no right to do that, or to force them to live under English rule. But this is NOW, and if they're gradually getting more rights it's simply not logical to reverse the coin and force England to live under Welsh and Scottish rule! WE - the current English people - did NOTHING wrong! So we are joining the Welsh and the Scottish and shouting for our OWN rights, and the legal right to state our nationality as ENGLISH - which legally doesn't exist BTW. There are 'officially' no English people in Britain, just Welsh, Scottish, British, and various others from around the world.

I have no objection to being 'British' - as long as I can be legally defined as British + ENGLISH! If I was Welsh, I'd be British and Welsh ... so why treat English people as non-humans with no rights?

THAT is why so many people don't call themselves 'British' these days - they're all too busy insisting that they're Welsh, or Scottish, or English!

One day, someone will come up to you on holiday and say "Why don't people give their nationality as 'European' anymore? Is there no pride??? People say they're French, German, Hungarian, Irish, etc., but not European...!"

Answer 3

I always say i am Welsh .... never really thought about it before ... i just get annoyed when ppl from all over the world call us Brits English all the time .... I would rather be called British than English .... as i am sure others wud too ... Nothing against the English or anything we are all part of Britain , but am sure they wouldn't like to be called Welsh , Scottish , Irish all the time !

Answer 4

Good question, Jackie. Me, i've always thought of myself as English, European, and (if it's not too 'hippy'), a citizen of the world. But British? Great Britain? Hmmmm... all a bit fake, don't ya think? It's not devolution, the embarrassment over the old 'empire' thing.... And are we really that 'Great'? What other country has such an inferiority complex that it has to call itself 'Great'?

Answer 5

I am British, (even though i am a 1/3 Scottish 1/3 Irish and 1/3 english) and i am proud of it,

Answer 6

Yes I am British, they where wondering why people are not proud anymore, what is to be proud of, this is not Great Britain any more, there is no solidarity, Britain has become separated by different cultures, religions, ethnic difference's, this country has let too many people into this country who don't even like us, no sorry, not proud to be British, not any more, this government has sold us down the river.

Answer 7

My ancestors came from Britain in the 1800's and I'm so muddled with other nationalities that it's just hypocritical to call myself British. My last name is Scottish for crying out loud!

Answer 8

'British' is a word with several meanings.

I am a British Citizen, purely by accident of having been born on the islands governed by the political entity called: 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland', usually abbreviated 'GB'.

My mother was a British Subject, under the colonial system -- in her case the Raj, in India. After obtaining independence from the government of GB, many former colonies chose to remain part of the British Commonwealth, which means that the reigning British Monarch is their Head of State. This is true of Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and... well, all the Commonwealth countries. Their Citizens are technically British Subjects (Subjects of HRM), but that has to do with the Monarchy, not the British Government.

All of the countries in GB are also part of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom, however, encompasses a much broader scope of lands and peoples than just the countries in the British Isles.

It is confusing, because the 'British' Parliament meets in England, yet Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and so forth, all have independent governing bodies, as well as representation in the 'British' Parliament. ONLY England does NOT have its own Government.

Furthermore, in the 'British Isles', there are five dominant NATIVE languages: English, Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Welsh and French (Jersey and Guernsey -- the Channel Islands), and thousands of dialects so removed from 'English' as to be languages in their own right, like Scouse (Liverpool), or from 'Gaelic', like Manx, and some of the tongues spoken in the Orkneys.

Add to this, the fact that the British countries, England in particular, have enormous immigrant populations, from former colonies and elsewhere, and you have to add Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic, at least, to the dominant languages of Great Britain.

Anthropologically, most of the native 'Britons' -- who were a Gaelic people -- were pushed Westward, by conquering Anglo-Saxons (meaning Angles, Saxons, Goths, Visigoths, Mercians, and Danes, among others), and have been IRISH for several thousand years. The word 'Briton', now, means 'person whose political nationality is associated with the political entity that is Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. It's unlikely that a Scottish person would identify him/herself a 'Briton', however. 'Briton' really equivalent to 'English' -- particularly Southern English (excluding the Cornish, who are, of course, Cornish).

Come to that, people tend to self-identify with their little linguistic/ethnic/historic corner of the street in this tiny archipelago. Fights will break out if you mistake a Geordie for a Brummy, unless you are from the USA, in which case you're all alike and can't be expected to understand. (Only partly joking; I lived in the States for 40 years. I know how the US is perceived, here, and it's piteous.)

Then, there is the Old 'British' Myth, complete with white man's burden, efficient bureaucrats, honourable politicians, decent, hard-working folk -- unionised to the teeth and proud of it -- who started the Industrial Revolution, whose farms turned out magnificent food, who manufactured some of the most coveted cars on Earth (Jaguar, Bentley, Rolls-Royce), the best steel-goods in the world, and led the world in research and science, who had a superb rail system, criss-crossing the countryside, and clean beaches for holiday-making families from the middle classes. Police never carried firearms, and neither did anyone else. People were safe in their communities and homes, and had neighbours of different skin colours, without a thought. This 'Britain' brought health and hope to her people, and to the world. The Pound Sterling -- the old, incomprehensible, non-decimalised one -- stood for REAL money.

I was born right about when that myth flickered out, in 1961. My parents believed it, and since I lived most of my life abroad, so did I. I was always proud of being 'British'.

Then I moved back here. It was... disillusioning. No wonder the Welsh, Scots, Irish, and so forth are distancing themselves as much as possible from a land where the people have been sold out by the governments for a generation. The NHS used to be a model, now, it's a mockery. The Labour Party are right of the Tories? The manufacturing economy has been gutted, the working poor are poorer than people on the Dole, race-hatred has become the British National way, violence erupts regularly, and this time, it's because of injustice, poverty, and hollow promises... Sounds like Watts. (Google 'The Watts Riots').

Though that myth of 'Britain' is well and truly dead, I was born in this country, when it was still mostly true. So yes, I guess I am proud to be British. Even after 40 years abroad, and total disillusionment.

Uma D Devidatta
now that's a proper British name, wouldn't you say? ROFL

Answer 9

I'm sad to say that I don't like the word English because it reminds me of an Empire built on conquest, slavery and plundering. Also holiday lager louts, zenophobic-racists and self-important politicians who meddle in other countries affairs. I sincerely apologise to all those offended by that, but it's how I feel.

I hate the phrase "Brit", because it reminds me of a nation of Sun readers.

I like British though, because it makes me feel inclusive of all nations/people in our beautiful Isles and the fact that the first people living here were in fact Britons.

Answer 10

Hi. I am not British, but I think that is a wonderful word. It describes an ancient heritage that goes back to the earliest levels of culture in your island. I would be proud of that fact.