What is the United Kingdom?

Elmer_Dudd

I recall some Guardian type book critic referring to Wales as the 'Albania of the UK'-typical Saxon who has forgot that the Welsh (British)once had a kingdom that stretched from Lands End to Dundee including most points between. If in doubt just try checking out old place names.
Cheers
Elmer:cool:

MothballsWallet

moonrakerz wrote: »

The "proper" name is the Union Flag, although Union Jack is commonly (mis)used.

The Union Jack is flown from the Jack Staff of a ship (hence Union Jack) NOT the bowsprit ! The bowsprit is a spar extending forward from the stem (bow) of a ship to which the stays of the foremast were attached.

Sorry to be pedantic !

My dad's an ex Merchant Navy man (about 48 years, man and boy), and he stated what you said in reply to some news person (I think on ITV/ITN) calling the flag the Union Jack...

Although he said something more specific - it can only be called a Union Jack when flown by a Royal Navy ship.

My wife's going to lose points if her citizenship test asks her what the name of the flag is - most people still say the Union Jack. I bet the Home Office will mark anyone who says Union Flag as being wrong.... Bar stewards!

dld2s

For some reason Americans seem to think people from Glasgow are Australian, myself and several friends have been on different occassions been asked if we were Australian because of our accent, certainly has me puzzled

candygirl

dld2s wrote: »

For some reason Americans seem to think people from Glasgow are Australian, myself and several friends have been on different occassions been asked if we were Australian because of our accent, certainly has me puzzled

!!!!!!!!:eek: :eek: They need hearing aids then..lol:rotfl: :rotfl:

moonrakerz

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Although he said something more specific - it can only be called a Union Jack when flown by a Royal Navy ship.

Strictly speaking, I suppose that is true, but I don't think I have ever seen a Merchantman flying anything other than the Company flag from the jack staff - if anything at all !
RN ships only ever fly the Union Flag when alongside or at anchor, underway at sea they just fly a white ensign from a halyard on the foremast..
(I'm ex RN)

Dave_Brooker

mikewebs wrote: »

Hi there

am fed up with businesses, companies etc saying they are going to 'do a tour of the United Kingdom' and then fail to cross the Severn Bridge into Wales!

It does cost quite a lot to cross the bridge...

RadoJo

When I was in Canada last year I was astonished that the Canadians seemed surprised that we were commenting on how sunny it was. After a bit of gentle probing, it turned out that constant reports of hose-pipe bans in the UK had lead them to believe that the UK was a drought ridden country with baking sun and barely any rainfall! And to be honest, it was hard to explain just how wrong that perception is without making ourselves sound like idiots! So clearly, there are some perceptions held in North America which are based on information which just doesn't make sense to them, so they interpret it the best they can.

However, I think the attitude of the Brits towards American ignorance of our country is a little bit rich - how much do people here know about the UK? I recently worked with a girl who believed Liverpool was in London, and one who complained that Berkshire was 'too small' to find on a map (this was an A2 map by the way - about 2 foot by four!). My geography is not bad, but if my homeland geography had to encompass an area as large as the US, I probably wouldn't be too interested in the intricacies of UK geography either!

HelzBelz

Fruitcake wrote: »

I try and educate them everytime I visit the USA, espescially about their own(brief) history. Comment from one lady after I told her that the war of independance was actually a British civil war and the homeland forces only lost because we sent the A Team to the Windies, and the French bailed out the colonials. "Typical Brit, you think you know everything about our country."
"Well," I replied, "we did use to own it."
You Only Listen To Me When I'm Wrong

I like you;) trying to expain to best friend hubby that the USA are the 18C unemployable europe really hits a brick wall:T

dazza32

i reckon england and wales should be fully separated if you ask me :beer:
as lets be honest the welsh really dont like the english and the english feel the same ...........:j lol lol lol

dagrowler

i used to live in america and i got so fed up with silly questions (do they have burgers in england, do they have stars in england, have you ever been to Europe, isnt it near paris?) that one day when someone asked me if i knew the queen, i asked if they knew the president, the response was "no, do you know the queen?"