USPS and strange Great Britain labeling

This is probably going to sound ridiculous, but when I went to mail something to the UK the postal clerk INSISTED that I write Great Britain in big letters at the bottom of the address instead of United Kingdom. Now the people gave me their address as UK and Paypal lists their address as UK also.

Do people in the UK or England still use the term Great Britain?

I understand the USPS is privately owned.

I am interested in other peoples thoughts on this topic.

*side note: when you mail to Canada you are supposed to use middle initials for sender and recipient or write "NMI", no middle initial. WTH?

Our international registration letters our GB.

I would wager the guy asked you do to this because Ukraine tends to use UK, and as the country has emerged in recent years there is more postal interaction with it, and thus more potential for problems.

For the record, I live in England, which is a country within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Originally posted by neformore
Our international registration letters our GB.

I would wager the guy asked you do to this because Ukraine tends to use UK, and as the country has emerged in recent years there is more postal interaction with it, and thus more potential for problems.

For the record, I live in England, which is a country within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

AH HA!! That makes alot of sense! Thank you for solving a "conspiracy" in one post. I thought it was some sort of subliminal praise for Britain they were demanding.


How about Wales and Scotland are they now part of England or the Great Britain?

[edit on 31-3-2008 by stikkinikki]

I doubt it's anything to do with the international recognition symbols. Ukraine didn't even emerge as a sovereign state until recently.

I'd wager it's historic pettiness.

Some individuals in the US, of Irish descent, insist on the use of Great Britain rather than United Kingdom ... because the term UK includes Northern Ireland plus Great Britain ... and some folks don't believe Northern Ireland is British.

I remember when Margaret Thatcher was to address a joint session of Congress & Speaker Tip O'Neill introduced her as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain .... and conveniently forgot Northern Ireland. Miaow. I can remember her pained expression to this day.

Wonder who made this policy decision in the USPS ?

As to how Brits describe themselves, virtually no-one uses the Great in Great Britain any more. It's just Britain. And increasingly the Scots are Scots, the Welsh are Welsh and the Northern Irish, well they're a law unto themselves.

The English describe themselves as English if it's a good attribute ... a kindly Englishman rescuing a kitten from a tree ... but if the same Englishmen later on gets drunk and vomits up all over pub the barmaid he suddenly becomes a British yob. Britain and Britishness gets all the bum deals.

Don't worry about it. You'll never understand the complexities of The British Isles. We don't. Why should you ?