tell me difference between British, English? etc....?

Question

if u born in england - is you english or british? both? why do people in US call everybody in English - british? my friend from UK tell me that is wrong term to use. also they speak any foreign language? or they just talk English like us? if we both speakin english why they have accents then?

* correction: why people in US call everybody in England, british?

Answer 1

To expand on the first answer: People in England tend to be more comfortable calling themselves British, but people in Scotland and Wales usually define themselves as Scottish and Welsh, although legally they are still British.

In recent years English people have increasingly begun to define themselves more as English than as British, purely as a social definition, as legally everyone from the UK is still British whether they choose to define themselves as such or not.

Northern Ireland is more touchy... it depends where you are and what religion you are etc whether you define yourself as British or not in Northern Ireland. It's a very political issue.

Just to clarify something; Britain is actually just England Scotland and Wales (and some other Islands), it is the UK that includes Northern Ireland, not Britain. The full version of "UK" is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The name explains it all quite well.

Having said that, there is no term for people of the UK (United Kingdomians?) so people of the UK are British, even though Great Britain itself doesn't include Northern Ireland.

Answer 2

Britain is the Island that Wales, Scotland and England are on UK includes Britain and Northern Ireland British Isles includes UK and Ireland Scottish, Welsh and Northern Iirsh are all British, but prefer to be called Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish. While English call themselves British and English

Answer 3

If you are English, you are a part of Britain, therefore you are British.
Britain consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
There are tensions between the English and the others, so your friend probably just wanted to make a distinction about where he/she was from.
They speak English, though they all have their local dialects.

Answer 4

We Americans use the term "British" because we SPEAK English, but we are NOT English. So we use a different term for them. The British speak English, just like us, although they have a slightly different dialect. We prefer to use the term "English" to refer to our common language only, but "British" and "American" to denote our citizenship.
Back in 1989 I took a trip to London. I rode the ferry from Oostende, Belgium, to Dover. On the boat, I met two women who both spoke English, but one woman was from London, I was from the U.S., and the other woman was from New Zealand. So although we all spoke English, we all had completely different accents. It was weird, but funny.

Answer 5

here is my definition.

I am English by the grace of God.
British by nationality
European by an accident of geography.

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island are 4 semi-ish independent countries in a political union (somewhat shaky) called Great Britain and Northen ireland.

Britain itself is an island, excluding Ireland.

Hope that helps.

Sorry - typo - Northern Ireland

Answer 6

I was born in England but since I have not lived there from the time of my infancy I don't consider myself British.