What's the difference between being British & English?

[Sonak]

I've know people to say they are British and some say they are English. What's the difference?

[funkymoped]

i think its the swaztiker tattoo on my forehead.
failing that it could be the shiney DM`s with red laces.
or is it the little black moustache i sport ???
maybe its deeper than that...
maybe its because im English !!!!
:-)

[unrulyjulie]

hmmmm, me thinks thats a cop out newdesk! lol :-)

[Shirl]

Just reading through all this and I cant see where funkymoped was racist either.

[unrulyjulie]

no, you didnt call me a racist so dont go there now trying to say im calling myself one.
I just get annoyed that this word is thrown around with such ease.
Drives me mad that we cant say we are proud of what we are without having this word misused against us.
I cannot see any point in funkymopeds post that gives call for him to be labelled racist, just my view, i asked why you called him that for stating facts, you cant seem to give me a straight answer so i shall assume you actually dont have one!

[Shirl]

Newsdesk.

Think it was you

[Sonak]

I think Newsdesk was refering to funkeymoped's comment sounding racist but I think the correct word is patriotic.

Newsdesk - I can understand why you may have said it sounds racist as I have known people in the past being patriotic & having racist views but as long they don't make out that they are superior to any race, religion & they don't except other nationality's coming/living in the country, then that does not make them a racist. Do u see what I'm saying?

[jno]

nobody's really answered the question, have they... How do people feel about being British/English? Is there a difference?

(Sorry Sonak if that wasn't what you meant at all)

[Sonak]

What I meant was, on what grounds do people classify that they are British or English? i.e. is it geographical, from their parents etc

[unrulyjulie]

well i wasnt offended or upset by it. Found it ignorant and was just baffled by your motivation to use it newdesk. I know im not a racist and i dont think what funkymoped said was at all racist either. Just one of those words that is bandied about way way too easily today! That is what annoys me..

[Sonak]

Good of you to say that Newsdesk

[unrulyjulie]

sonak, agreed,!

there is a world apart between being patriotic and being racist!

[funkymoped]

Sonak. sorry to have ripped your thread apart !!!
Julie... thanks for being there.
Newsdesk !! no worries. some days i like a challenge, others i react !
:-)

[Ethel]

Indigineous people of the UK don't call themselves British normailly - they say Scottish, English, Welsh and so on.

People who originated from the British Overseas Territorities and their descendants usually refer to themselves as British, as do immigrants from other countries who have chosen to settle here.

[funkymoped]

Shirl, thanks to you too !
:-)

[JockSporran]

I am Scottish. Scotland is (at the moment) part of the UK.
Therefore I was born in the UK, so that makes me a British citizen. But I am not English. I was born in Scotland, not England, and my parents were Scottish, not English.

As Angela Levy (Black English writer of Jamaican ancestry) puts it: 'Britain is the state - Scotland, Wales and England are different countries without a doubt'.