Do you ever feel offended when they ask you if your White British, Irish or other White?

Question

I got a letter today asking me this question and i find this quite offensive! My nationlity is English, and I always state "English and proud" because thats what I am. I'm not British, British is a name for a collection of Islands but no specific place, because each bit of island has its own identity, which is gradually being pulled away from us!. Is it only The Irish who are allowed to state there nationality, why not call them white european? Because there not, there Irish! Also on this form under Asian or Asian British it has Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi!! Wheres the box for Iraqi which was once apart of the British empire, Omani, Yemenite, Jordanian, Syrian.
I think everyman and women has the basic right to show there own respective nationality... and to be proud whether its Northern Irish or Burmese, Its one thing were all born with and why should we be grouped with people who aren't what we are???

Cheers for the ansrews. I found it very interesting that some people like the sense of belonging to a certain heritage, even for example, the Welsh and Scottish. Also i was quite suprised that some people have no sense of belonging, or even a sense of belonging to Europe! I feel to say that the United Kingdom is a place, is a bit daft, cause its actually a colelction of places. All i can say is if i was to be charged with being obsessed with people nationality - I'm guilty as charged!!! not only is it interesting to know but you can learn!!! Thanks for your time folks

Answer 1

Yes, it is offensive, I am finding this on job applications as well. I am Scottish and proud of it, I'm not British.

Answer 2

The statement in the question referring to "British is a name for a collection of Islands but no specific place" is not true. It depends if you are referring to the British Isles, which is a geographical description to all the islands including and around Great Britain and Ireland (although the term is not always used in Ireland). Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom refers to Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

So the form asking about "White British, Irish or other White?" makes sense, as it is determining you're from Britain (England/Scotland/Wales), Ireland or white from elsewhere.

The form perhaps could use the term "White British Isles" although this would not differentiate Ireland which is politically seperate from the rest of the British Isles.

Unfortunately Northern Ireland's option on the form would maybe be ambiguous as it does not specify either "White Northern Ireland" or "White UK".

Of course we're all members of the EU so perhaps "White EU" would be much simpler!

Answer 3

I understand the points above- when you start getting specific, how specific should you go? I think the groupings should be as broad as possible (if they should even be asking the question!I'm always suspicious about the intent & reluctant to answer) But being born in England to Scottish born parents and a Northern Irish Grandfather I find British sums me up neatly!

Answer 4

Often this questions is not compulsory.

You may choose not to answer it.

If the form does not state that it is optional whether or not you answer this question you would be within your right to state "I prefer not to answer this question"

The idea behind the question is just to get an idea on ethnic origin, ie black, white, Asian etc. Sometimes nationality comes into it to indicate place of birth.

Of course if you are applying for a passport or other official / legal document and you do not answer this question chances are you will hold up your application.

Answer 5

Frankly, I've only ever had one person ask me this question. I wasn't offended by it. You sound awfullly preoccupied with people's nationalities. It's this kind of thinking that promotes prejudice, bias, and inequality. Most of those surveys have 'other' as an option, and you can usually write in specifically which nationality you have. Frankly, outside of research studies (where breaking participants down into nationalities helps the surveyors learn about their focus groups and who is in them, which CAN have some important impacts on certain important research), race and nationality shouldn't even be that much of an issue.

Answer 6

I'm from Northern Ireland so it's always a difficult decision for me since there is no Northern Irish box to tick! I usually end up ticking British since it's the most accurate answer to the question

Answer 7

I get very very annoyed when someone asks where I am from and when I say the UK the usual reply is 'oh your english'!!
It is sometimes quite difficult to explain to some people that no I am not english I just like in the UK which is made up with Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales....... Some people just don't get it!

Answer 8

Im Irish and I think it could just be an honest mistake sometimes and I dont generally care but I know a lot of people(lads mostly!) who would be very offended to be called English! (because of the history between our countries)
Its just the type of people we are I suppoze!

Answer 9

you are right but what do you expect them to do give a list of over 1000 nationalities. Most professional letters give other and ask you to write the nationality if you tick other. they put bangladesh etc rather than jordanian because most these are the nationalities that are most prominent in our society. i think you are just nitpicking (or whatever that word is) at things wrong with our society. there are worst things in our society that are causing us to lose our national identity.

Answer 10

I agree with you completely, and always fill out forms like this with English under 'Other'.

We should all be proud of our heritage, our culture and our roots.

It is wonderful that we all live closely together, but we need to remember who we are and where we came from, we shouldn't loose the things that are important to our histories.

We need to celebrate our differences as well as our similarities.

Answer 11

I like to call myself Welsh on these forms yet I am denied the right. I like to call myself Welsh abroad as most foreigners have never heard of the place and therefore cannot judge me on the basis of where I come from.