England puts the GREAT in great Britain?

Answer 1

true enough, the great engineers, generals,inventors and fathers of the industrial revolution are all english.
Sometimes I hear scots banging on about the odd inventor that came from scotland, usually they are incorrect(john logie baird-inventor of television).
There are no scots responsible for anything that made britain great,even those that have achieved anything, did so with english education and funding.

one saving grace , Scottish soldiers have never let britain down throughout history.although they never really produce decent officer staff, I would be content with a scottish squaddie watching my back.

Answer 2

Well, as Great Britain means all Britain United, it wouldn't be 'great' without the Scots or Welsh either.
That said, with more than 83% of the population and much more than that of the wealth and power, I think it's fair to say England is the greatest.
Someone earlier said the Scots only come out with the odd inventor, whereas we English have shed-loads. A Scot then angrily answered, claiming that they invented the Raincoat. Says it all.

To Skippy, well that's just racist. Who really cares is the proportion of Muslims and Indians is higher in England than Scotland; you wonder why, if Scotland is so great, they don't bugger up your way. Of course, we know the answer.

To Zen Man, I disagree with everything in that there answer of yours. The Empire probably could have existed without Scotland. It contributed less than a tenth of the English population; most of the stuff , economic activity, etc going on happened in England anyway; moreover, the British Empire was already long in existence at the time that the Scottish Jacobite's were still rebelling against the English, and generally getting on everyones nerves.
Of course, in the war Britain was obviously much stronger united, but again the battle of Britain didn't have much to do with Scotland, it being up there out of the way in the North, and we probably could have won that, at least. With the Americans the rest of the war would have come too.

Excuse me, obviously you're not English, because we do have a very strong identity of our own. The only reason the Scots and Welsh seems stronger is partly because it is different and thus more noticeable, in contrast to the English identity which is much more widespread and considered the norm; and because of their rallying hatred of the English, which isn't really national identity anyway.
If the Union broke up we English wouldn't lose any of our identity, most us think ourselves English rather than British now anyway. The ones who would lose out would be the Scots with their England reliant economy.

Northy, if England is so rubbish, please explain why the Scots and Welsh populations are falling, whereas the Engish is rising. It is because, while many Englishmen are retiring to the sun, huge amounts of celts are moving in to the more economically developed area that is England.



I don't think the union should break up, but it seems the Scots have a real chip on their shoulder about us. I don't dislike Scotland and most people here never have, but recently their unprovoked arrogance and hatred has really strick a nerve here, and is beggining to be repaid.

Answer 3

Politically, Great Britain describes the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales. It includes outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland, but does not include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

Over the centuries, Great Britain has evolved politically from several independent countries (England, Scotland, and Wales) through two kingdoms with a shared monarch (England and Scotland) with the union of the Crowns in 1603, a single all-island Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707, to the situation following 1801 in which Great Britain together with the island of Ireland constituted the larger United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK). The UK became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 1920s (1922) following the independence of five-sixths of Ireland as first the Irish Free State, a Dominion of the then British Commonwealth, and then later as an independent republic outside the British Common wealth as the Republic of Ireland.

Answer 4

First the British Empire would have never existed without the Union of Scotland, England , Northern Ireland and Wales.
Therefore a large majority of soldiers did not "just" come from England but also Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, who all have the share of the honours or dishonour (depending on your political view point).
It was not England that made the British Empire, without the Union of the British Isles, English people would now be speaking either French or German.
Being English doesn't qualify as being solely British, English is just one of many regional identities.
We must also not forget the common wealth soldiers from India, South Africa etc etc who fought and died for this Country.
The difference between being British and being merely English is that the British are Patriots and have never been that obsessive about purity of race, while some of the English are nationalists, tinged with a racialist jingoism .
If you look upon the Miltary records in India, you will see lots of Scottish, welsh and Irish surnames.
The truly sad thing about today, is the rising of nationalism in this country, we won't have to worry about muslim fundamentalist destroying our country when the nationalistic bigots seem to be doing a good enough job of it themselves.
So the question should be, without the Scots, welsh, Irish and Cornish and the common wealth countries where would the English be.
Believe me if the Union ever crumbles, the English will have more to lose than the Scots, Irish and Welsh, who have a very strong regional identity of their own .
Secondly the Great Britain moniker came from the Romans who needed to distinguish the same Gaelic tribes in Northern France (Brittany) from the larger population in the British Isles.

Answer 5

The Great in Britain means Big not important. Larger area that Britain. Great Britain - the British Isles which is again larger.

Answer 6

Listen to the scots prattling on about how much they have contributed to helping England make Britain Great!
Look at the facts today,
Scotland has the highest number of claimants of Incapacity Benefit. The figures for Paisley alone are probably greater than the whole of Northern Ireland.
Scotland has the highest rate of alcoholism (blame that on the English?)
Scotland has the highest heart disease rate in Europe and is famously noted for being the most toothless nation in Europe (nothing to do with political power, nay teeth!)
Perhaps you were too busy helping us poor helpless English to look after your wee selves!

Answer 7

the only reason britain was great was back in the day we had conquered a lot of other countries. hence the name great britain. but we aint so great now are we, just have to look at the state of the country to see that

Answer 8

How? It was the following SCOTSMEN that made Britain GREAT!
1765: James Watt the steam engine.
1800: James Loudon McAdam the Macadam used on our highways.
1824: Charles Macintosh inventor of raincoats.

Answer 9

no England ,Scotland,& wales, puts the great in britain,
no i did not forget the terorists over the water we should of called it a war & shot the lot of them

Answer 10

If Typhoo hadn't put the tea in Britain we would all be living in Brian