Help here - are we british?

Nalz

Argument arose here in work. Simple really, our boss reckons we are British because we are part of the British Isles. He claims - We are not part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, yet because we are part of the British Isles (which we are) we are british.

Views on this pleaaaze

melekalikimaka

we aren't part of the british isles are we?

miamee

Geographically he is right but in any other context...no, we're not British.

That'd be my view on it anyway!

We are I think.

I suppose anyone who wanders onto the irish sea must be irish, then

danniemcq

go hit your boss for bein so stupid for me please and thank you

technically we are part of the british isles but nobody ever says it (well unionists etc sometimes do) but are e fcuk british.

or did i just dream the whole war thing

delly

The Irish government recently stated that it didn't recognise the term 'British Isles'. Its really only a name that has no actual meaning. For instance we don't own the Irish sea, its just a name.

xabi

NO, dont be so silly.

X.

connundrum

Done Done Done.

And no, we aren't.

Nalz

Miamee wrote:

Geographically he is right but in any other context...no, we're not British. That'd be my view on it anyway!

why thank you C F

danniemcq wrote:

go hit your boss for bein so stupid for me please and thank you

Oh Id love ta ! His argument is backed up:rolleyes: by using the Canaries as an example

Ruu_Old

Yay, yet another british isles thread to bring out the barstool IRA.
More here, here, here and here. See how those ended.

What miamee said is correct imo.

danniemcq

Trilla wrote:

Oh Id love ta ! His argument is backed up:rolleyes: by using the Canaries as an example

http://www.goyk.com/flash.asp?path=1529

Red Hand

Of course we're British! We ear black puddings and go to the pub, don't we?:)

Unpossible

our boss reckons we are British

On the BBC a few years ago they went looking for "pure blooded" britons*, they used swab tests from people on the street. Apparently the people with undiluted (or the least diluted) british blood lived in Ireland.


*britons = the people living in england before the saxons and vikings came along.

Marksie

as ruu said..here we go again.
I watched the other thread on the british isles with amused interest.
As the wannabees came out of the woodwork.
Bottom line:
British isles is a geographic term, which is bing altered i believe.
NO you are Irish Not British, thats cultural..

Wonder how long it will be before they come out again.. a bit like barnacles at high tide LMAO

Nalz

Ruu wrote:

Yay, yet another british isles thread to bring out the barstool IRA.

okay I just wanted some nifty comments to throw back at my "i am always right" boss. I think "so the isle of man is in the Irish sea therefore its Irish, as the british isles is merely an archipelago" would do

gandalf

Oh god wait till the chuckie brigade see this one !!!! Cue 100+ post thread with 700 years etc etc..........

Britian is part of the Irish Isles, there thats sorted!!!

connundrum

gandalf wrote:

Britian is part of the Irish Isles, there thats sorted!!!

Ching!

Gizzle

Trilla wrote:

why thank you C F



Oh Id love ta ! His argument is backed up:rolleyes: by using the Canaries as an example

Reminds me of the time my mate almost got his food spat in by a waiter for wearing a Spanish jersey in Tenerife.

His exact words were;

"Espana...is...SH1T!! *flicks crest on mates jersey and makes spitting noise*
Tenerife...good...yes?"

shane86

delly wrote:

The Irish government recently stated that it didn't recognise the term 'British Isles'. Its really only a name that has no actual meaning. For instance we don't own the Irish sea, its just a name.

Exactly. Its a meaningless geographical term like Eurasia, Iberia, the Sahel etc.

brianthebard

Trilla wrote:

okay I just wanted some nifty comments to throw back at my "i am always right" boss. I think "so the isle of man is in the Irish sea therefore its Irish, as the british isles is merely an archipelago" would do

The non political term would be Atlantic archipelagos.

robinph

Unpossible wrote:

On the BBC a few years ago they went looking for "pure blooded" britons*, they used swab tests from people on the street. Apparently the people with undiluted (or the least diluted) british blood lived in Ireland.

*britons = the people living in england before the saxons and vikings came along.

I had heard that those living in Wales were the more genetically Briton people before as they had got driven west by various invasions, but I guess their gene pool has still got a bit more diluted from the rest of the island of Britain than happened in Ireland as there was the extra bit of water to navigate across first.

Terry

Ruu wrote:

Yay, yet another british isles thread to bring out the barstool IRA.

hold on a second.
disagreeing with being called british does not make you a "barstool IRA" type of person.
people who want to forget our past sicken me as much as those who support the IRA. there is a middle ground. we can remember our past without hating british people or disliking being compared to the british. Germany is beside France. doesn't make the Frenbch people more German though.

godtabh

bluewolf wrote:

We are I think.

I suppose anyone who wanders onto the irish sea must be irish, then

Ah but you'd have to born at see to come to be Irish

mike65

I am not a Nationality I am a Free Mna er Man!

Mike.

neacy69

i aint no brit....
just cause were part of the british isles dosen't mean were british....as a wise man once said- just cause a bus has "Smarties (or any other brand name)" on it dosent mean its going there

monkeyfudge

We're all just filthy Earthers!

Victor

Trilla wrote:

Oh Id love ta ! His argument is backed up:rolleyes: by using the Canaries as an example

Is he suggesting that Los Islas Canarias are owned by a bunch of small, multi-coloured birds?

robinph wrote:

I had heard that those living in Wales were the more genetically Briton people before as they had got driven west by various invasions

Thats the sheep content.

Guy:Incognito

julep wrote:

hold on a second.
disagreeing with being called british does not make you a "barstool IRA" type of person.
people who want to forget our past sicken me as much as those who support the IRA. there is a middle ground. we can remember our past without hating british people or disliking being compared to the british. Germany is beside France. doesn't make the Frenbch people more German though.

People being ups in arms because the term British isles has the word british in it and is used to describe the group of Islands we happen to belong to. If the term had been "celtic Islands" ( thats K-eltic kids not the football team) no-one in this country would have had a problem. It's the usual attitude of the Brit hating Irish. Noboday (execpt the op's boss, called us british)

We all learned about the Iberian penisula in school. I havent heard of any national campaigns about that one.

Unpossible

Britian is part of the Irish Isles, there thats sorted!!!

Brilliant

Terry

Stekelly wrote:

People being ups in arms because the term British isles has the word british in it and is used to describe the group of Islands we happen to belong to. If the term had been "celtic Islands" ( thats K-eltic kids not the football team) no-one in this country would have had a problem. It's the usual attitude of the Brit hating Irish. Noboday (execpt the op's boss, called us british)

We all learned about the Iberian penisula in school. I havent heard of any national campaigns about that one.

I haven't heard of Spanish or Portugese people ever referred to as "Iberian". Ever.
The term "British" in reference to this country is outdated and is one that was imposed upon us by the british government of 1801.
This is the island of reland. simple as that.


basque.

Guy:Incognito

julep wrote:

I haven't heard of Spanish or Portugese people ever referred to as "Iberian". Ever.
The term "British" in reference to this country is outdated and is one that was imposed upon us by the british government of 1801.
This is the island of reland. simple as that.


basque.

No one is refering to Iriah people as being british either . The british Isles is/was a Geographical term for the group of islands we belond to. ie the physical land making up the islands is/was the british isles, the people on the southern part of the island of ireland are not called british people.

cant make it clearer than that.

julep wrote:

This is the island of reland. simple as that.

The people in the north are British.

Terry

Stekelly wrote:

No one is refering to Iriah people as being british either . The british Isles is/was a Geographical term for the group of islands we belond to. ie the physical land making up the islands is/was the british isles, the people on the southern part of the island of ireland are not called british people.

cant make it clearer than that.

apart from the OP's boss.

The people in the north are British.

but are entitled to Irish citizenship and quite a lot of them, on both sides, use an Irish passport. those crazy kidnapper types in foreign countries tend to leave Irish people alone don't you know.

Feral Mutant

No. I'm British but that's due to being born in England, my (born and living in Ireland) family are not British. I don't want to descend into an argument about the British Isles, not that it matters. To be British, you must be from Britain. Being born in the British Isles (not commenting on whether or not Ireland is part) does not make you British any more than being born in a garage makes you a car.

Ruu_Old

julep wrote:

hold on a second.
disagreeing with being called british does not make you a "barstool IRA" type of person.
people who want to forget our past sicken me as much as those who support the IRA. there is a middle ground. we can remember our past without hating british people or disliking being compared to the british. Germany is beside France. doesn't make the Frenbch people more German though.

No but it brings in those sort of people onto the thread, you know it and I know it.

Terry

well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. i've no problem with "those people", as long as they word their arguements correctly.
otherwise i'll ban their asses.

Mr. Presentable

Stekelly wrote:

The people in the north are British.

The people in the North are NOT British. They are part of the UK. Not the same thing.

Dr_Teeth

We're no more British citizens for living in the British Isles than a Canadian is a U.S. citizen for living in North America.

Dave!

Yeah, we're British, God Save the Queen and so on... julep, join in!

Ruu I think it would be wise to close this... It's a duplicate thread for starters, but also, my head hurts from the head-banging orgy that was the last thread... I'm afraid the wall will collapse if this thread continues!

Mossy Monk

Trilla wrote:

Views on this pleaaaze

your boss is a stupid bastard

Ponster

nipplenuts wrote:

The people in the North are NOT British. They are part of the UK. Not the same thing.

Doesn't matter. It still makes them British should they choose to be so.


British
Adjective referring to Britain, or its inhabitants or citizens. Taken to mean 'of the United Kingdom', rather than 'of Great Britain'.

JaysusMacfeck

And the Polish are all Nazis. Your boss doesn't deserve his Irish passport.

Talliesin

We're not British, because we aren't in Britain. Q.E.D.

We are Pretanic with them though, since we're in the second largest of the Pretanic isles.

mike65

Oh noes! The Pretanic Isles argument.

Mike.

peasant

You're wrong ...all of you !

We all are Caucasians !!

(except for those among us with Afro-Hibernian or any other possible Dash Hibernian roots that is)



Does it really matter ?

Mossy Monk

Ponster wrote:

Doesn't matter. It still makes them British should they choose to be so.


British
Adjective referring to Britain, or its inhabitants or citizens. Taken to mean 'of the United Kingdom', rather than 'of Great Britain'.

actually they're not British. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Terry

great britain?
that would make us one of the lesser british isles.
**** that. i'm not a lesser anything.

well, i'm not lesser british anyway.

gurramok

People in the north are British and Irish depending of their passport choice imho.

And no, we are not part of British Isles, even the state does not recognise the term, we are an Irish Isle.
Pretanic sounds a nice name though, what is that ?

Ponster

Mossy Monk wrote:

actually they're not British. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

haha, Ok then. You try going up there and telling them that they aren't British.

If you're born in the North then you have a choice between being British or Irish or both at the same time. Being British doesn't mean being born in Britain but born in the UK.
Yeah, I know it doesn't make any sense but that's just the way it is.

Dave!

julep wrote:

great britain?
that would make us one of the lesser british isles.
**** that. i'm not a lesser anything.

well, i'm not lesser british anyway.

Oh dear, here comes that inferiority complex again

Somebody please close this before my head spins off my shoulders!

admiralofthefleet

another are we/arent we thread, we are not british [subjects] we are irish [citizens]. there is no such thing as the british isles, dermot ahern announced a while ago that the term carries no official status and is not used by the government, i find the term very offensive and use the terms island of ireland and island of britian.
go tell your boss to go back to school and study geography better this time round

Terry

DaveMcG wrote:

Oh dear, here comes that inferiority complex again

Somebody please close this before my head spins off my shoulders!

terribly sorry, but we don't seem to have a tongue in cheek emoticon*









*to be read in a 50's ealing movie posh english accent.