Hi, UK is the United Kingdom, which is the name of the political entity consisting of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so you must turn the UK domain name into 'United Kingdom', however much like Middle Earth that may seem.
Strictly speaking, England, Scotland and Wales do not exist as countries. Wales was annexed into England in the 13th or 14th century. England and Scotland became the United Kingdom of Great Britain through the Act of Union of 1701 (?). Later it became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and following the creation of Eire in 1920 (?) it became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In recent years the Welsh, Scottish and Irish have had devolved regional parliaments, with limited powers. If you use the word England to refer to the whole of the UK you will tend to upset a lot of the Welsh, Scots and Irish. So unless you specifically mean England without Scotland, Wales or Ireland, stick to United Kingdom (UK) or Great Britain (GB). -- Cheers, Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 26 November 2005 14:50 > To: [email protected] > Subject: OT: Language - Britian, England, or United Kingdom? > > This is very OT, but it's an international list, so maybe > someone can clarify something for me. > > I've never been sure when one is supposed to use the word > England or the word Britain. > > Let's say I have a list in a software program (I am writing), > and it has countries listed by URL. So it has US, CA, JP, FR, > DE, UK. But I want to turn those URL abbreviations into > country names so it's very clear to the user. Both will be > listed, BTW. > > US United States > CA Canada > JP Japan > FR France > DE Germany > > UK = ??? > So... > > UK Britain? > > UK England? > > Which is appropriate, i.e. which fits the list? > > I mean, I don't think people literally turn that UK into > United Kingdom > (which I think some USers wouldn't automatically get anyway.) > It's got to be > clearer than that. And when is United Kingdom used anyway? > Other than as a URL? To me it sort of sounds like Middle > Earth or some fantasy place. I don't think it is universally > recognizable, but maybe that's me. > > Like I said, I've never really understood when one is > supposed to use England or Britain. So which should it be? > > And I don't think United Kingdom is very clear, so I would > prefer either one or the other and not it. Unless people feel > it really SHOULD be United Kingdom. But if so, I would want > one of the others in parenthesis after it to be totally clear. > > Any clarification would be helpful. Even if my question isn't > as clear as the answer I would like. :-) > > Thanks, Marnie aka Doe > > > >
