A few days ago my Californian friend posted a link to a video produced by an American which claimed to explain the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England (and a whole lot more). Well, on the whole he (the producer) got it right - although there was a bit he missed out. The Commonwealth did get a mention as "the Commonwealth Realm". Now that - "Commonwealth Realm" - is a description which is new to me. If by "Commonwealth Realm" he meant "British Commonwealth" (more correctly known as "the Commonwealth of Nations") then I'm sorry to say he got it slightly wrong. The British monarch is the head of this collection of 54 independent states. All but two of these countries were formerly parts of the British Empire but there are two members that have never been ruled by the British - Mozambique and Rwanda. And not all these countries recognise the Crown as the head of state. There are several republics among them, such as India and South Africa.
I would quibble over one other minor inaccuracy. At least, I think it is. The author claims that people from Northern Ireland (sometimes referred to as Ulster) call themselves Northern Irish. I don't think they do: all those I have met have said that they are simply Irish.
While thinking of nationalities, let us get one thing straight. The nationality of people from Scotland is Scottish, not Scotch. The only time the word Scotch is used is as an adjective describing eggs and, importantly, whisky. In the latter case the word Scotch is also used as a noun (ie without the word whisky). And by the way, Scotch whisky is spelled without an E, Irish whiskey is spelled with one.
I suspect that fewer than one in a hundred Britons (that is the correct word, not Brits) know all that about Crown dependencies and so on. This is not something that is taught in schools and people are expected to absorb this knowledge, along with knowledge about the Union flag and the laws of cricket, by some form of osmosis. Needless to say, it doesn't happen.
I'm glad you pointed out that about "Scottish" and "scotch", as that drives me round the bend whenever I hear someone use the incorrect term for those people (such as some of my ancestors) from Scotland.
ReplyDeleteHappy to be of service.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Scotch was a brand name for adhesive tape?
ReplyDeleteI heard a story once, that the Irish were the ones who taught the Scots how to distill whiskey. Of course, on the way back to Scotland the Scots managed to lose the "e" and the lid for the still. That's why Scotch is so smoky, acquires a bit of flavor from whatever fire is under it, and why Irish whiskey is smooth.
"I always thought Scotch was a brand name for adhesive tape?"
ReplyDeleteThere's always one, isn't there? ;-)