23 Apr 05
Originally posted by GalaxyShieldActually if you ask what countries are part of the UK, you are asking the wrong question, because the UK is a country, while England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are only part of a country. But I understand your confusion very well, because people often talk about England as if it were a country, or they talk about Great Britain meaning the UK etc. Besides that, I totally agree with you - it's impossible to know everything, and it's natural that one knows more about one's own country than about foreign countries, and more about one's own continent than other continents. Europeans often laugh about Americans who know extremely little about Europe, but if you'd ask an average European about, say, African countries, the result might be equally shocking. And many people don't even know basic facts about their own country.
Talk about exaduration. I simply am unclear about what countries are part of the UK, is that so incredibly terrible that you have to say things like we don't think you drive cars??? And I know England is a part of Europe, and how many people do you actually think that you're part of Australia? There was no need for that accusation of idiocy, maybe I' ...[text shortened]... ow much do you know about Wisconsin? Probably quite a bit just thought I'd ask.
Josh
23 Apr 05
Originally posted by PeakiteI stand corrected. I confused "country" and "state". For anyone else who is confused, I found out that the Wikipedia has a good article on "country", including a comparison with some similar, but not identical terms like "state" or "nation": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country
A country does not have to be an independent state.
23 Apr 05
Originally posted by PeakiteI think you can call the UK one country or several depending on your definition.
A country does not have to be an independent state.
Whether it's a nation however is another matter - I get the impression that the majority of the 'indigenous' population of the UK at least thinks of itself as English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish first (though Protestants in Northern Ireland might be an exception to that), but this is by no means universal, and in fact has changed a lot over time, particularly in England. Also, English, Scottish and Welsh are often felt to exclude immigrants and their descendants, even several generations down the line, in a way British does not.
Contrary to popular belief, the UK is not the only state with these hangups. For example, Spain also gets stressed out over what it means to be Spanish, to the point where the principal language is sometimes called 'espanol' and other times called 'castellano'. Perhaps we need to look out for Catalonian players, for instance, and count them as a separate country?
23 Apr 05
2 edits
Ok, there's no need for more dicussion about whether to count the UK as a whole or not, I'm just going to put it up for a vote as I'm updating the list tomorrow (may be good to start a thread about it in the debate forum though).
1. Should the countries of England, Britain, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland be counted as seperate countries?
2. Should all of these countries be counted as a whole in the listings of Country of Player Representation?
Please vote either 1 or 2 with any comments you might have.
This vote will end tomorrow afternoon when I start to update the list.
Josh
23 Apr 05
Isn't the complete correct definition "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"?
And isn't Great Britain the combination of England, Wales and Scotland? (I think there are some islands included in there too.)
I checked it out a couple of years ago when a thread much like this one came up. I think the topic of the thread was something to do with the different flags represented on the 'Union Jack'.
So with this post, I have either shed some light or shown more American ignorance. 🙂
regards, Marc
23 Apr 05
Originally posted by GalaxyShieldI vote for 2, but only *Northern* Ireland should be counted in, as the Republic of Ireland is an own state and doesn't belong to the UK.
1. Should the countries of England, Britain, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland be counted as seperate countries?
2. Should all of these countries be counted as a whole in the listings of Country of Player Representation?
24 Apr 05
Originally posted by PeachyI understand in light of your run-ins with some of the more ignorant of us . Yes there are a lot of us . My theaory however , is that there are an equal proportion of stupid people everywhere ; Americans are just more likely to open their mouths and prove it . (I had one comment about a trip I took to the U.S. state of "New Mexico". He said he knew how hard it was to travel abroad . Another , when my brother took a trip to Europe asked if he flew or took the train .) Just remember , we're not all stupid . Some things we are ignorant about , and the explainations are somewhat obtuse if we've not been steeped in the history , customs , etc . So we ask . Sorry back at you if I appear dense or insensitive in my inquiries .
GalaxyShield & Moldy Crow let me explain..
I WAS asked if we have TV's by a guy from the US. I was told "oh how weird it is that English language comes from the UK tho it should be called the American language" I interacted with people that even wondered if the British drive cars or still on horse back!!!!!
Now after i read all the threads i turned a ...[text shortened]... w. Look it up!
I repeat my apologies if i sounded on the defensive side or offended anyone.
24 Apr 05
Well, I wanted to see which country had the most high rated players (top 5 pages for now). So, here are your top 5 (6, there's a tie) countries.The USA doesnt know that yet, apparrently they still think the UK is part of China
1. Netherlands-13 players
1. U.S.A.-13 players
2. England-8 players
3. United Kingdom-7 players
4. Belgium-5 players
5. Poland-4 players
__________________________________________________________________
Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Isn't England part of the UK?
24 Apr 05
Originally posted by GalaxyShieldthis is getting silly now.
Ok, there's no need for more dicussion about whether to count the UK as a whole or not, I'm just going to put it up for a vote as I'm updating the list tomorrow (may be good to start a thread about it in the debate forum though).
1. Should the countries of England, Britain, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland be counted as seperate countries?
2. Shoul ...[text shortened]... ight have.
This vote will end tomorrow afternoon when I start to update the list.
Josh
i can assure you scotland is a country. england is a country, northern ireland and wales also are countries.
together we make up the "united" kingdom
best course of action is to publish your results purely by flag and those who want to lump scotland england ireland and wales together can do so. problem solved
but remember to leave out the isle of man players as, although it is a crowm dependancy it isnt strictly part of the "United" Kingdom
got that?
24 Apr 05
Originally posted by RagnorakI'm afraid there very much is such a thing as Great Britain. The British Isles are made up of a number of islands. The biggest one (upon which most of England, Wales and Scotland are located) is called Great Britain.
There's no such thing as "Great" Britain outside of history books.
Britain and the UK are the same to me.
D
The United Kingdom's full name is 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Thus 'UK' and 'GB' should not be used synonymously, although they clearly are.
For the pruposes of calculating country representation on RHP, I would suggest aggregating all the following flags together as the UK:
- United Kingdon
- England
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- Wales