It's amusing really. We as a nation/group of nations/whatever can't decide, so what chance has the rest of the world? No wonder the Americans call us all English.
Well yes and no. The Republic of Ireland is its own independent country, but it's situated on a landmass which, together with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is known as the British Isles.
Although technically the British Isles are a collection of islands on the continental shelf in North West Europe (rather than a 'landmass', the largest being the island of Great Britain, second largest being the island of Ireland.
At school (I'm a geography teacher) I tend to use the phrase you can live 'on Great Britain' as an island rather than live 'in the United Kingdom' as a country.
Doesn't help clarify the Team GB rather than UK issue though which confuses lots of people in the UK as well as around the world. The ISO code for the United Kingdom is GB with UK reserved at the request of the UK Government which adds to the confusion I'm sure.
I heard (a long time ago so I can't remember where) that "GB" is the official international geographical name that refers to us, the "UK" is more of a term we made up to refer to ourselves.
I seem to remember using the same logic, our internet domains, following the internationally name should be .co.gb, but we broke the rules and decided on .co.uk!
That said, I think most of the time we use GB instead of UK is so that we aren't mistaken for the Ukraine which would have a very similar acronym.
Team GB is just a brand, a marketing term to describe the team.
The British Olympic Association represents all of the UK, the Crown Deps and Overseas Territories. I think, although this is a contentious issue, that many Northern Irish people have dual citizenship, so could represent either nation.
I don't think it's got anything to do with dual nationality. The Good Friday agreement included the clause allowing NI athletes to compete for either country
It does make you wonder why they didn't go for Team UK which would sound a touch more inclusive (only missing out CI/Isle of Man as opposed to Northern Ireland).
Because they are not part of the UK whereas Northern Ireland is...
Well yes and no. The Republic of Ireland is its own independent country, but it's situated on a landmass which, together with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is known as the British Isles.
Although technically the British Isles are a collection of islands on the continental shelf in North West Europe (rather than a 'landmass', the largest being the island of Great Britain, second largest being the island of Ireland.
At school (I'm a geography teacher) I tend to use the phrase you can live 'on Great Britain' as an island rather than live 'in the United Kingdom' as a country.
Doesn't help clarify the Team GB rather than UK issue though which confuses lots of people in the UK as well as around the world. The ISO code for the United Kingdom is GB with UK reserved at the request of the UK Government which adds to the confusion I'm sure.
Gareth
Bit puzzling yes, but the correct name is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Team UK would be wrong because it is not one single nation.
The British Olympic Association represents all of the UK, the Crown Deps and Overseas Territories. I think, although this is a contentious issue, that many Northern Irish people have dual citizenship, so could represent either nation. At these games, Northern Irish rowers won a silver and a bronze for Team GB in the men's fours and single sculls..
There are several Northern Ireland athletes competing for Team Ireland too at these games - Sycerica McMahon, Melanie Nocher, Alison Morrisson etc. The BBC actually did a quite nice gallery of the Northern Ireland athletes competing for both Team GB and Team Ireland, they are quite evenly split between the two. Its worth noting that most sports in NI aside from football are usually governed as part of the Irish rather than UK set up. On a practical level it can be quite easier for Northern Irish athletes to get noticed and/or qualify for the Olympics in the usually smaller Ireland set up than in the GB set up where they are competing with athletes from England, Scotland and Wales.
I heard (a long time ago so I can't remember where) that "GB" is the official international geographical name that refers to us, the "UK" is more of a term we made up to refer to ourselves.
I seem to remember using the same logic, our internet domains, following the internationally name should be .co.gb, but we broke the rules and decided on .co.uk!
Not quite that simple, it was more due to the fact we had considerable traction with .uk thanks to the existing JANET naming system (which actually was the other way round, UK.AC.MAN rather than man.ac.uk) and despite original plans to get the UK to use .gb (for it is our ISO country code) there was simply too much existing infrastructure. This is why there are also some odd quirks in our system such as bl.uk and nhs.uk
There were a few .gb domains in the olden days however: gov.uk's equiv was actually hmg.gb (Her Majesty's Government) but they all transferred over to .uk and use of .gb petered out and died.
Well yes and no. The Republic of Ireland is its own independent country, but it's situated on a landmass which, together with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is known as the British Isles.
Although technically the British Isles are a collection of islands on the continental shelf in North West Europe (rather than a 'landmass', the largest being the island of Great Britain, second largest being the island of Ireland.
At school (I'm a geography teacher) I tend to use the phrase you can live 'on Great Britain' as an island rather than live 'in the United Kingdom' as a country.
Doesn't help clarify the Team GB rather than UK issue though which confuses lots of people in the UK as well as around the world. The ISO code for the United Kingdom is GB with UK reserved at the request of the UK Government which adds to the confusion I'm sure.
Gareth
Bit puzzling yes, but the correct name is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Team UK would be wrong because it is not one single nation.
Well yes and no. The Republic of Ireland is its own independent country, but it's situated on a landmass which, together with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is known as the British Isles.
Although technically the British Isles are a collection of islands on the continental shelf in North West Europe (rather than a 'landmass', the largest being the island of Great Britain, second largest being the island of Ireland.
At school (I'm a geography teacher) I tend to use the phrase you can live 'on Great Britain' as an island rather than live 'in the United Kingdom' as a country.
Doesn't help clarify the Team GB rather than UK issue though which confuses lots of people in the UK as well as around the world. The ISO code for the United Kingdom is GB with UK reserved at the request of the UK Government which adds to the confusion I'm sure.
Gareth
Bit puzzling yes, but the correct name is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Team UK would be wrong because it is not one single nation.
The UK is one single nation.
No its not! It's a union of Great Britain (which is in fact a further union of 3 nations) and Northern Ireland.
Otherwise by your reasoning then the European Union is just a single nation!!!
Otherwise by your reasoning then the European Union is just a single nation!!!
Nations states remain sovereign within the EU. Within the UK, Westminster is sovereign and that sovereignty overrides that of the constituent parts. The Scottish Government could be removed with just a bit of paper from Westminster.
However - the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a complicated and nuanced set-up - and there isn't a perfect answer to any question regarding it that will satsify everyone.
You can't describe yourself as UK-ish i the same way as you can use British can you?
