British? English? Scottish? Irish?

[Taffeta]

Ugh, don't get me started ranting about the mythical "British" accent...*groan*

[Whippycorn]

Ugh, don't get me started ranting about the mythical "British" accent...*groan*

One thing I do love about Britain is that on such a small island we have such a diversity of accents! We don't all sound like Colin Firth, do we? 

It's interesting about Americans elaborating on their origins like that. I tend to do that because having grown up abroad I don't consider where I was born in England to be where I am from at all...

I mean, what actually makes a place 'where you're from'? Is it where your parents are from? where you were born? where you grew up? where you have lived longest? For more and more people these days those places are different.

[DemureGirl]

Hey, what about Wales?

I don't think I've ever referred to myself as British, if anyone asks I am Welsh. that being said I don't have much experience outside of the UK so it has never really come up in question much... aside from online that is.

[Archer]

I know most people i know prefer to be called by whatever country we live in. I much prefer English over being British. I think calling those of us in the UK British tends to be something mostly done by people from other countries. From my experience most people within the UK prefer to be called either English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish rather than british lol

[hathorcat]

I always think its so interesting that each corner of the country does seem to want to refer to itself as English, Welsh, Irish or Scottish first and holds to it strongly. It does make you think we really are a union hanging on by our fingers. Its like a 4 way marriage that has lost the love and is just there for convenience now and because divorce is going to be waaaay too expensive

[Galactica]

Ugh, don't get me started ranting about the mythical "British" accent...*groan*

One thing I do love about Britain is that on such a small island we have such a diversity of accents! We don't all sound like Colin Firth, do we? 

It's interesting about Americans elaborating on their origins like that. I tend to do that because having grown up abroad I don't consider where I was born in England to be where I am from at all...

I mean, what actually makes a place 'where you're from'? Is it where your parents are from? where you were born? where you grew up? where you have lived longest? For more and more people these days those places are different.

In the US- "What ARE you" usually means - where is your family from other than the US.  Can even be many generations back- like your cultural heritage.  It may be because the US is too "new" to have much of a cultural heritage. 

Post Merge: April 06, 2015, 09:30:00 AM

I always think its so interesting that each corner of the country does seem to want to refer to itself as English, Welsh, Irish or Scottish first and holds to it strongly. It does make you think we really are a union hanging on by our fingers. Its like a 4 way marriage that has lost the love and is just there for convenience now and because divorce is going to be waaaay too expensive

It does make you wonder- and the fall of the Euro is concerning too. It used to be SO expensive compared to the US dollar and now it's very close to the same-

[ringwraith10]

On school/medical forms we'll usually have to identify as 'Causasian' which I always think is wierd since we really aren't.

I take all things literally. On purpose. I have no time for misinformation. So if I'm filling out a form that only has "Caucasian" as an option I will always choose "Other" instead. I didn't come from anywhere even close to the Caucasus Mountain Region.

I've always been very interested in what people from the UK call themselves. As we can see here in this thread, it seems that every individual person has a different self-identifier. I'm from the US (yes, I usually say US or USA because, again, I'm very literal), so all I know is what I've heard from UK friends.

What about people from Wales, though? Do they usually call themselves Welsh?

Post Merge: April 08, 2015, 02:17:52 PM

Yes I am American and we love telling people what countries we originated from!
For me at least I know where in Scotland my family lived (what clan we were) so I feel like I can at least lay claim to that. I know my family was in Northern Italy, and who knows where in France, Poland, and England. But it feels good to identify with a culture besides American, especially when I don't always love my country. I never say I'm an American unless I'm outside the US. Everyone had to come from somewhere besides here (unless you're a native American) and it makes for an interesting conversation.

I'm a third generation Norwegian, so I can actually pinpoint on a map exactly where my family came from (well, actually, our last name shows up on Google maps because our name came from the name of the family farm). But I've never been to Norway. I barely speak the language. I don't even think my dad can really speak Norwegian (and my mom is a second generation Swede, making me also a third generation Swede on her side, but she and I only know the phrases that my grandmother used to repeat all the time). So I tell people in America that I'm Scandinavian, but that's only really sort of true.

[Whippycorn]

My BF is Welsh. He says if he had to choose between Welsh and British he would say he was British. But he rather considers himself a citizen of the world. 

[Stormness_1]

I'm Australian! Just to throw a spanner in everyone's works, lol...

Australia, despite being very new, has a super strong international identity. We're all 'aussies', regardless of where we come from, but looking at me, most people can guess my heritage, as I'm only a first generation Australian citizen on my mother's side, and second on dad's I believe. I often get confused for english or scottish when I travel, and the light on people's faces when I correct them is really nice - I love being Australian! There are many sub-cultures here though that don't identify as australian, and I think that's sad - if you live somewhere you should like it enough to call it your home!

[ghouldilocks]

Many of my mother's family generally call themselves British, mainly because although the family "came from" Scotland and Ireland, many live in England currently. My grandad, however, will proudly call himself a Scot and nothing else. My mother refers to herself as British mainly because while she was born and mostly raised in Scotland, they moved to New Zealand when she was about 12 or so...she never changed her citizenship, so she's "officially" always been British, but she also came to identify strongly as a Kiwi.

I think the reason people from the US just refer to ourselves and the country as "Americans" and "America" is because the full name is a little bit of a mouthful...The United States of America? There's not much else to intuitively shorten it to for reference to as a nationality.

[icecreamgirl]

I call myself English or Cornish which refers to the county I'm from Cornwall. I am a Cornish girl, generations that go way back on both sides of the family, if anyone had been watching Poldark I'm related to those miners and fishermen 

[SourdoughStomper]

A slight off topic comment, but when people ask me "where I'm from,"  I always answer them literally by telling them which city I was born in/lived in for my childhood. I think they usually mean to ask where I live currently. But since those are two different answers and I feel more of a connection for my home town and home country, that's why I answer the way I do.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I'm 1/4 Welsh and have some Scottish ancestry as well as English. I went to university in Scotland and lived there for 4 years. I consider myself British.

[Jo-Anne]

I'm Canadian grew up in a small town in southern Ontario. presently reside just outside of Ottawa Ontario, I have my Irish citizenship and consider myself Canadian/Irish

[moonflower]

I'm probably more inclined to say British, but then my Mom's Dad was Scottish and my Mom's Mom was half Irish. I am proud to be English, but also proud of my heritage.