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It seems that the United Kingdom has been the official name for the British state since the Act of Union in 1707, but can anybody tell me when it was that UK replaced Great Britain in the vernacular as a name for the country? It seems that well into the 20th century that Great Britain was more commonly used.
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"Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes." -
I'm not sure of dates or usages but they mean different things. The United Kingdom incorporates Great Britain and Northern Island. Great Britain refers only to the island of Britain.In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.
Leibniz -
I generally use - and personally prefer - "Great Britain" when referring to the UK, though it's obviously not correct.“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”Comment
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While doing informal writing, like here, many of us type UK for convenience. Similarly, we type US for convenience.Comment
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I think the incongruity of the word "great" became "too great" and UK came in more common use after Britain lost the empire.
It was called great because it had a great empire.There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t..Comment
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According to Wiki:Originally posted by WhamBam View Post
Derivation of "Great"
After the Old English period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany. The term "Great Britain" was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee." It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I, in a deliberate attempt to impose a term which would unite his double inheritance of the kingdoms of Scotland and England, proclaimed his assumption of the throne in the style "King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland ..."[15]"Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."Comment
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OK. I agree that I was mistaken here. Technically "Great Britain" referred to the real estate with no reference to the achievements of the country.
I had read something to the effect that I mentioned earlier quite a while back and it stuck. Thanks for pointing it out.There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t..Comment
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This has been debated before on here.
Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom.
In 1801 an Act of Union between Great and Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK), later to become The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK).
Nothing to do with Empires and World domination I'm afraid
It became known as Britain because it was settled by Bretons.Comment
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That's exactly what I'm thinking of/referring to when I say "Great Britain".Originally posted by Chaobam Armour View Post“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”Comment
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I must admit, it does confuss a lot of people, I bet Half the population of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and Northern Ireland would even know the answer. I believe they don't even teach it in History now, or the First or Second World Wars or our Kings and Queens etc. Sad day at the office.Comment
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Funny thing is in German, they always seem to be one step behind the times. When the UK's been common: Größbrittanien. When Great Britain was common (my guess) World War 2 and before: England."Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."Comment
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I'm afraid not Iron Duke. You wouldn't say to a Scotsman, a Welshman or an Irishman "Oh, you're from England".Originally posted by Ironduke View PostComment
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I'm afraid so. ;) If you read the transcripts of the discussions of the Nazi leaders of WWII Germany, GB/UK is almost always referred to as "England". Much more common than the Soviet Union being referred to as "Russia", which was extremely common in the West. And I believe the UK is still more commonly referred to as England throughout, at the very least, northern Europe.Originally posted by Chaobam Armour View Post
Besides, what you or I would say has no bearing on the colloquial terms the Germans would use to refer to the UK.
People from other countries / regions tend to conflate peoples. For awhile, the Japanese had no distinct words in their language for an American or Englishman - they used the same word."Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."Comment
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For awhile, the Japanese had no distinct words in their language for an American or Englishman - they used the same word.
God forbid.Comment
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Case in point - a German map of the frontlines in the war.
Look in the red box, notice what it says, and where it's situated. Right off the northwestern coast of Scotland."Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."Comment
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