Originally posted by zerbot565
but why so many terms for the same thing if its not even a same thing ,

i mean english . scots, whales and irish people have their own passports , own elections . drivers licenses, their own team during football season to name a but few things

so why all the terms for unity if they are on their own in a way ?

just perplexed ,

It's not really any different from having separate terms for Texans and Californians and New Yorkers, who are also Americans at the same time. Then you have the Hawaiians, who are not part of the continental United States, and the Alaskans, who are not part of the contiguous United States.

All four of the British "nations" voted in the recent General election, although the Wesh, Scots, and Irish have their own local assmblies as well.

As for football, when the game first got going, there were no other nations playing it -so they could not play "international" games except with each tother.

Originally posted by zerbot565

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but why so many terms for the same thing if its not even a same thing ,

i mean english . scots, whales and irish people have their own passports , own elections . drivers licenses, their own team during football season to name a but few things

so why all the terms for unity if they are on their own in a way ?

just perplexed ,

Hi Zerbot,
I'm from the UK, and I realise how confusing it must be!
I think that all of the terms you're referring to, mean slightly different things - if that helps?

A short, simplified summary (YES I KNOW IT'S INCOMPLETE before someone FLAMES me!!) would be as follows:

Mainland Britain is the biggest island of the British Isles.
The Northern part of the British Isles is the country (or Nation state of) Scotland.
The Southern part, is mostly England, with Wales jutting out from the western side of it.

The UK (United Kingdom) is the union of the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

To complicate things further - there is also a "Commonwealth" of the UK which includes very many other countries, spread throughout the world. They are members of the UK commonwealth, because they were governed by the UK when the British Empire was the dominant world power.

The history behind how this all came to be... is VERY complex and would be almost impossible to summarise quickly.

The easiest description is probably that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all individual countries, which form a Union of nations under the one monarch and one (main) united government - The United Kingdom.
They are still seperate nations, with their own unique national identities, but found strength and peace by uniting together.

The Scots, N.Irish and Welsh do now have their own governments/assemblies which can pass laws on issues which only pertain specifically to their own countries. But they are still governed in the true sense from London, England, which is still the capital and centre of government of the UK.

The UK is also a member of the European Union (EU), which makes me, Scottish, British, a citizen of the UK, AND European!

(Try thinking of it like this:
Someone from Texas... is a Texan, an American, a resident of North America, and is from the continent of The Americas.
and you'll have a closer idea of how it might seem complicated, at first glance, but with all of terms meaning slightly different things, it does actually make sense eventually?)

I think I've just confused myself now!!

Anyway, I hope this helps?

G