• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain, UK

Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

To everyone else we say "Scotch is whisky". The English have much better words for us, if irritation is the objective. 'Scotch' tends to be used by non-British people.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Except that the Hammer & Sickle was in use for less than a century, while the St Andrews Cross (Saltire) is reputed to be one of the oldest national flags in existence.

I was kidding, but in this case, the United Kingdom is a member of Stargate's fictional International Oversight Advisory, not Scotland on its own - along with other nations such as Canada, China, France, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic. The IOA is the organisation that is in overall charge of the Atlantis Expedition in the show.

The UK provided soliders as well and a number of them have been seen wearing the Union Jack on their sleeves.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

One depressing thing I've seen a lot of Americans do is assume the Great in Great Britian is "great" as in "brilliant" :rolleyes:
btw, "Great" can also refer to mass! As in the main landmass of England, Scotland and Wales is greater than any of the outer islands or Northern Ireland
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

^Hey, I've seen Americans asked what our currency is and answer "I don't know, the Dollar ?" before.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

I would like to thank Miss Chicken for causing me to spend 30 minutes on Wikipedia looking up the Isle of Man. :lol: That was very educational.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

We have a current US president who called Greeks "Grecians" when he first assumed office, so shows you how much the average American -- let alone our highest ranking public official -- who has gone though its public school system knows. :rolleyes:

The Greeks are Grecians. From the American Heritage Dictonary of the English Language:
Grecian
adj. Greek.
n. A native or inhabitant of Greece.
[From Latin Graecia, Greece, from Graecus, Greek. See Greek.]
The plural form of this is Grecians.

The noun "Grecian" is archaic. Nobody uses it anymore. Using "Grecians" instead of "Greeks" is equivalent to using "Scotch" instead of "Scottish".

What's more, citing a dictionary to "prove" that that the President's gaffe was somehow not incorrect reflects a false theory of language.

Usages are not correct because they're cited in the dictionary. They're cited in the dictionary because they're correct.

In this case, the dictionary needs updating. I note that the American Heritage Dictionary also defines "Scotch" as "the people of Scotland," even though, once again, nobody uses it that way anymore.

The situations are different. Scotch was an English contraction of Scottish which has either always been or became considered offensive in Scotland. In the United States, however, the term does endure, particularly to describe persons of Scottish extraction in North America (my maternal relatives consider themselves Scotch-Irish, rather than Scotts-Irish, which has begun to gain in prevalence).

Grecian, meanwhile, is of Latin origin - as one might guess from its structure (this is why the Greek/Grecian pair is also reflected in German as Grieche/Griechin) - which garnered it a position of slight prestige as the more educated name for persons from Greece (because Latin was the primary language of educated European discourse until relaltively recently), rather than one of offense as Scotch gained in Scotland. It is probably helped by the fact that the Greeks call themselves Hellenes, rather than either Grecian or the Greek, both of which are derived from a pre-Hellenic name for the Greeks (from the name of one of Hellen's sons, mythologically, rather than from Hellen). Grecian remains in use in English, but is typically confined to circles more classically educated or specifically educated in the history of Greece. Oddly, this does include President Bush.

You overestimate the intelligence of my fellow Americans, my good man! :D

Well, on top of that, he did blather on all the time about Scotland. Either that or his wee turtles or his dear old mother.

Perhaps they could have gone the whole hog and put the old Czechoslovakian flag on Zelenka's arm. (Let's see if anyone gets this one ;) )

;)
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Alright.

So here's the deal:


This is an EXCELLENT post. I'm Irish (I live in Northern Ireland, but, like many people here consider myself Irish, not British :devil:) and I have to say although I've a fairly good grasp of history, this was a brilliant synopsis. I assume that you're a history lecturer or somesuch? I have to commend you on your clarity.

The House of Lords is the upper house of the UK Parliament. It used to consist of the noblemen, and its members remain known as Peers. In the early 60s, though, inherited Peerages were abolished, and today Peers are created by the Queen upon recommendation from the Prime Minister (meaning that the PM actually picks Peers).



Just one nitpick about Hereditary peers, if I may. They weren't abolished in the 60s. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to a seat in House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to sit, although this is subject to legal challenge. Tony Blair promised reform of the house of lords, but bottled out/was stymied because it would've needed to come up with a written consitution which the UK famously doesn't have.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Except that the Hammer & Sickle was in use for less than a century, while the St Andrews Cross (Saltire) is reputed to be one of the oldest national flags in existence.

I was kidding, but in this case, the United Kingdom is a member of Stargate's fictional International Oversight Advisory, not Scotland on its own - along with other nations such as Canada, China, France, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic. The IOA is the organisation that is in overall charge of the Atlantis Expedition in the show.

The UK provided soliders as well and a number of them have been seen wearing the Union Jack on their sleeves.

Perhaps in the Stargate Universe, the Scottish Nationalist Party got its wish and Scotland became the Republic of Scotland?

Alright.

So here's the deal:


This is an EXCELLENT post. I'm Irish (I live in Northern Ireland, but, like many people here consider myself Irish, not British :devil:) and I have to say although I've a fairly good grasp of history, this was a brilliant synopsis. I assume that you're a history lecturer or somesuch? I have to commend you on your clarity.

Thank you very kindly. I'm not a history lecturer, just a poli sci college kid who dicks around on Wikipedia too much, but thankee. :)

The House of Lords is the upper house of the UK Parliament. It used to consist of the noblemen, and its members remain known as Peers. In the early 60s, though, inherited Peerages were abolished, and today Peers are created by the Queen upon recommendation from the Prime Minister (meaning that the PM actually picks Peers).

Just one nitpick about Hereditary peers, if I may. They weren't abolished in the 60s. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to a seat in House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to sit, although this is subject to legal challenge. Tony Blair promised reform of the house of lords, but bottled out/was stymied because it would've needed to come up with a written consitution which the UK famously doesn't have.

Hmm. I may have been mis-remembering -- perhaps it was the creation of new hereditary peerships that was abolished in the early 60s? I don't have time to look it up at the moment...
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Perhaps in the Stargate Universe, the Scottish Nationalist Party got its wish and Scotland became the Republic of Scotland?

Really not likely. :)
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Perhaps in the Stargate Universe, the Scottish Nationalist Party got its wish and Scotland became the Republic of Scotland?

Really not likely. :)

Well, not likely in OUR world, maybe, but who's to say it's not possible in the SGU?
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

You wouldn't believe how many Stargate fans I've encountered who were surprised when he talks with his real voice.

I would be too if I didn't know his background. A lot of Scots I've known who've worked in the US always end up hamming up their accent, often because they're told to.

Drew McIntyre, who currently works for WWE, sounds nothing like he did before he left. I was really annoyed with him when he hammed up the accent when we filmed one of his last interviews in Scotland.


Oh, they love being called Scotch! A Scotch-Person giving you a roasting for calling them Scotch is just their way of saying they love you. It's all rather sweet, really.

I haven't known anyone to love it, but it's better than 'jock'. ;)


One depressing thing I've seen a lot of Americans do is assume the Great in Great Britian is "great" as in "brilliant" :rolleyes:

I can see where they get that, it is pretty darn sweet to live in ;)
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Drew McIntyre, who currently works for WWE, sounds nothing like he did before he left. I was really annoyed with him when he hammed up the accent when we filmed one of his last interviews in Scotland.

I haven't seen McIntyre in ages. Though comedy accents aren't limited in WWE to Scots - see Katie Lea (Burchill), Layla El, and Santino Marella, for starters.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

One depressing thing I've seen a lot of Americans do is assume the Great in Great Britian is "great" as in "brilliant" :rolleyes:

I can see where they get that, it is pretty darn sweet to live in ;)

"So, Great Britain is part of Europeia, and just across the British Channel, you've got Great France and Great Germany?"

"No, no, it's just France and Germany. Only Britain is Great."

- Mister Cooper and the Doctor, "Voyage of the Damned"
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

Drew McIntyre, who currently works for WWE, sounds nothing like he did before he left. I was really annoyed with him when he hammed up the accent when we filmed one of his last interviews in Scotland.

I haven't seen McIntyre in ages. Though comedy accents aren't limited in WWE to Scots - see Katie Lea (Burchill), Layla El, and Santino Marella, for starters.

I haven't seen Drew since his leaving party... and in fainess I drank so much I didn't really see much at all that night...

I haven't seen Katie Lea that much, she was always too good an athlete to be dumped into the 'Diva' scene. I think WWE's a bit of an odd place though, even touring as an international company but filled with racial stereotypes.

It does make me wonder sometimes if other nations, particularly Americans, are aware of the regional accents/dialects in Scotland (as well as England and Ireland) as we are of theirs. Saying that makes me sound as if I stereotype the Americans as an ignorant people, which isn't true... for the most part ;)

Lost was another weird one for me with Desmond, but thats another mixed accent kicking in... and John Barrowmans switching between accents in interviews.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

^Katie Lea's not getting a fair run, really. Her on-screen brother has disappeared, largely because they've restricted the moves he's allowed to do in the ring. Everything I've read about his OVW days suggests he was a lot more adventurous. WWE has this approach where people with a certain look aren't allowed to use styles that don't suit that look.

Then, they used Jillian Hall in the Raw Survivor Series team rather than Katie which did not make sense to me at all.
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

^Katie Lea's not getting a fair run, really. Her on-screen brother has disappeared, largely because they've restricted the moves he's allowed to do in the ring. Everything I've read about his OVW days suggests he was a lot more adventurous. WWE has this approach where people with a certain look aren't allowed to use styles that don't suit that look.

It's an approach I agree with to an extent, but I think a more cooperative bond between performer and promoter should be established to make compromises instead of just saying 'No, go back to school and learn how we do things'

You have to stand out and be noticed, and throwing in a few exta moves helps. But I've seen too many guys go down the wrong path - such as wanting to be known as a 'hard man' then flying around the ring too much.

I could go on, bt I'd rant and it'd detract from the thread more than it has :lol:
 
Re: Curious - what are the distinctions between England, Great Britain

the thing that always irritates me is when Americans (and some other foreigners) always assume that English people all sound like the Queen or Dick Van bloody Dyke. like England's accents consist of RP and Cockernee and nothing else.

thank Christ for British films like Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and The Full Monty crossing the Atlantic (and what'sername in Frasier) and showing there's more than 2 English accents.

(mine is some what similar to Danny Butterman's in Hot Fuzz for the record. and despite what my high school classmates would have you believe, nowhere near as bad as the farmer's)
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top