Is Great Britain really as great as they think they are?

Daegerty

Countries that make some claim in their name usually don't live up to it.

For example the Democratic People's Republic of Korea should really be "Kim Jong-il's undemocratic dictatorship of Korea". Does the same hold true for Great Britain?

You're right, of course. 'Republic' of Ireland. Some republic that turned out to be.*











*Pedantic note: constitutionally, it's just Ireland or Éire.

upandcumming

Very insightful thread.

swarm.of.bees

No

admiralofthefleet

its 'great' as in size, like 'greater dublin'

Captain Darling

Would Average Britain be any better? Mediocre Britain??

Offy

Would Beefy Britain be more to your liking?

El Horseboxo

Greenland and Iceland. The fella must have been locked when naming both of them.

Wolfe Tone

Its been a while since there was a bash the Brits thread.

Offy

What about Bashy Britain?

Daegerty

Captain Darling wrote: »

Would Average Britain be any better? Mediocre Britain??

I'd be inclined to go for Mediocre Britain myself

Saila

ask al murray... from a distance

mikemac

Geographic term

There was a Minor Britain too.
Normandy and Brittany

darrcow

it should be Brilliant/ Great Britain ( God save the Queen)

Lapin

Blame the French.

The name comes from the old translation Grande Bretnge.

To disinguish it from Bretange.

Modern day Britanny.


Loads of spelling mistakes there but I'm in a hurry.

El_Dangeroso

And STILL no one answers my question about the deliciousness of cheese

It's a f'ucking disgrace.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

When you ask "is Great Britain as great as they [sic] think they are" you should really define how great they think they are before seeking answers...!

dj jarvis

El Horseboxo wrote: »

Greenland and Iceland. The fella must have been locked when naming both of them.

the fella naming them done it on purpose
the vikings named greenland because they wanted 2 attract rivals 2 it ,
they called iceland for the opposite reason - they wanted 2 keep them away


or all of the above could be rubbish - cant remember good anymore

EarlERizer

Daegerty wrote: »

Countries that make some claim in their name usually don't live up to it.

For example the Democratic People's Republic of Korea should really be "Kim Jong-il's undemocratic dictatorship of Korea". Does the same hold true for Great Britain?

Eh,Great Britian is not a country.....it's a collective of England,Scotland,Wales & the 6 counties aka United Kingdom....I think the "Great" in the name relates to area covered.

As for England,yep it's a great place! I love going there.All those I've encountered are lovely people.

ancapailldorcha

When it comes to managing money, yes.

mike65

Is Great Britain really as great as they think they are?

Thats got to be wrong.

Is Great Britain really as great as it thinks it is ?

reads better

El Horseboxo

dj jarvis wrote: »

the fella naming them done it on purpose
the vikings named greenland because they wanted 2 attract rivals 2 it ,
they called iceland for the opposite reason - they wanted 2 keep them away


or all of the above could be rubbish - cant remember good anymore

True about Greenland. Eric the red wanted to attract visitors. But Iceland was to do with a shelf of floating ice off the coast or something like that as far as i remember.

mike65

wiki says

The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Brittania or Brittānia, the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, авBreteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond). Brittania was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of the ancient Greek Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far North as Thule (probably Iceland).

The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοι, Priteni or Pretani.[27] Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic speaking inhabitants of Ireland.[28] The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans.


Derivation of "Great"

After the Old English period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany. The term "Great Britain" was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee." It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I, in a deliberate attempt to impose a term which would unite his double inheritance of the kingdoms of Scotland and England, proclaimed his assumption of the throne in the style "King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland ..."

parker kent

mike65 wrote: »

Thats got to be wrong.

Is Great Britain really as great as it thinks it is ?

reads better

You ended your sentence with a preposition. Grammar Nazi fail....

Should Great Britain believe that it is great?

admiralofthefleet's comment really should have ended this thread in post 5.

mike65

Fair point

Is Great Britain really as great as it thinks

is the correct sentence.

theboss80

Ah for feck sake , heres me all the time looking for Boozed up Britain on the Ryanair website and couldnt find it.

Fratton Fred

According to Daragh O'Briain, Britain is about sixth.

KeithAFC

Truly great. Amazing history.

Micky Dolenz

Really? do people want this? PM me for clarification .