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0 pointsWaterluvian8y ago0 comments

Apologies but I'm trying to learn the hierarchy so I stop insulting my British colleagues.

Being British but not English would make you... Welsh or Irish?

Edit: no! Welsh or Scottish. Ireland is part of the British Isles but but Great Britain.

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> Being British but not English would make you...

Or an ethnic minority, for example Mo Farah or Archie Panjabi. As far as I can make out, minorities preferred "British-x" (e.g. British-Asian) as a label rather than English even if they were born in England, although there have been calls for that to change [1].

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/23/englis...

WaterluvianOP8y ago

Interesting. I never even considered those as ethnicities. Just places you live and what your demonym is.

Nexxxeh8y ago

Right, and calling someone English when they're Welsh or Scottish may rather annoy them.

There's an animosity towards the English from the Welsh. I believe the Scottish generally feel the same way towards them. England are like family that we love, but we don't really like very much.

Northern Ireland is a bit of a tricky one because people from Northern Ireland generally consider themselves "Northern Irish", "British" or "Irish".

I don't know if anyone would take offence at "Northern Irish", but you don't want to incorrectly guess either of the others!

WaterluvianOP8y ago

Thanks. I imagine it would be like confusing an Australian and a New Zealander. Or a Canadian and an American. We're just so darn similar that it's so important to us to be considered distinct.

Also makes me think about Quebec. Canada would not be Canada without Quebec. But there's always been some sibling rivalry with the province.

Finally, while this isn't Reddit and I have to learn to be more metered about my silliness, I just can't help but include this, as it's quite relevant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2q0T7QXETs

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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signal118y ago

> Being British but not English would make you...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/23/englis...

WaterluvianOP8y ago

Interesting. I never even considered those as ethnicities. Just places you live and what your demonym is.

Nexxxeh8y ago

Right, and calling someone English when they're Welsh or Scottish may rather annoy them.

There's an animosity towards the English from the Welsh. I believe the Scottish generally feel the same way towards them. England are like family that we love, but we don't really like very much.

Northern Ireland is a bit of a tricky one because people from Northern Ireland generally consider themselves "Northern Irish", "British" or "Irish".

I don't know if anyone would take offence at "Northern Irish", but you don't want to incorrectly guess either of the others!

WaterluvianOP8y ago

Thanks. I imagine it would be like confusing an Australian and a New Zealander. Or a Canadian and an American. We're just so darn similar that it's so important to us to be considered distinct.

Also makes me think about Quebec. Canada would not be Canada without Quebec. But there's always been some sibling rivalry with the province.

Finally, while this isn't Reddit and I have to learn to be more metered about my silliness, I just can't help but include this, as it's quite relevant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2q0T7QXETs

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse