BBC National News: Presentation

Except they say 'France Economy' or China Economy' all the time in the story astons. If you look at the top-lines on the straps there's often just a loosely connected collection of words. 'Iran Nuclear' is one you see all the time. What does 'Iran Nuclear' actually mean? I suppose you sort of understand what the story's about, and maybe that's enough to justify it, but it makes no sense grammatically.

We've had 'Honduras Coup' recently. Shouldn't it be 'Honduran Coup' or 'Coup in Honduras'? That would make more sense. You see it all the time and it annoys me no end - in a petty, pedantic sort of way.

I can forgive their grammatical ignorance when it comes to astons, as they have to try and fit a lot of information in to a short space.

I have a problem with this in particular though because not only do you see it in the graphics, but the newsreaders and reporters actually say it as well. In the last week alone, we've had:

UK troops
UK servicemen
UK high street
UK constitution
UK sites
UK units
UK citizens
UK government
UK woodlands.

Apart from the fact that using it as an adjective doesn't make any grammatical sense whatsoever, I think the two letters 'UK' just look ugly.

Don't worry about it, I think those channels are all being rebranded soon.

Perhaps the problem is just that there isn't an adjective for UK, but using it removes having to explain the ambiguity of the term British.

'British' is acceptable to most as meaning 'of Great Britain', but that could upset the Northern Irish who are excluded. If they meant 'British' as in British Isles, then they would upset those in the Republic of Ireland who are most definately not part of the UK. As they lose either way it's better to avoid the term.

Demonym is the word.
US American could be used for the USA, but that's a little clumsy. That's how English has always worked - if a rule is too complicated, we ignore it. You just have to see some of the archaic rules we used to adhere to to see why they were ignored.

I'm sure it did zoom in quite regularly... just not on air. The logo wasn't on air for all of the time, they used to put a still in a box over it

Is it just me or is the opening shot after the titles now different? It now seems to cross the studio including the desk

I'm sure people living in Northern Ireland wouldn't really mind being referred to as British. The people of Gibraltor call themselves British and they live miles away.

In any case the OED, which I'm sure you're familiar with, says the word 'British' is, "an adjective relating to Great Britain or the United Kingdom." So the word is inclusive of those in Northern Ireland.

Personally I resent being referred to as a 'UK Citizen' - it sounds incredibly impersonal.

On the 10? I noticed that last night too. I thought it looked better.

I think it looks better too.

Didn't 3,500 die between 1969 and 1998 at least in part precisely because so many people in Northern Ireland did mind being called British?

"British" is a loaded and inaccurate term. UK is more accurate.

There is the whole argument about the Northern Irish.

Then there are other economies that aren't part of the UK but are still British. The Crown Dependencies (Channel Island and Isle of Man) are British but they are not actually in the UK. They don't contribute directly to national income or GDP in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland because they have their own fiscal systems.

God Chie, sometimes you do sound like Margo Leadbetter.

"I am not a citizen, I am a resident".