To point out yet again to the geographically challenged of Britain....

[AnnabelleLee]

THAT northern Ireland is in the UK. Ireland is an entirely separate country. Like,properly different,with its own currency and culture and laws and all that.
FFS.

Oh okay, so she IS actually American. So confusing. Well being good with accents seems to be an important talent to have for people wanting to be professional actors
And badtime I have no clue to answer your question.

Gillian Anderson is American as far as I know, but I think she has lived in the UK and happens to be talented at accents.

Although I haven't heard her version of a N Ireland accent, and it seems to be a particularly difficult one for an 'outsider' to master!

X Posted there!

I do not use and accept race, as to me there is just one race - the human race

I agree. For me, there was no difference between Protestants and Catholics because I didn't live somewhere it mattered and we were all pasty white kids.

But when it did matter, it really did.

At my secondary school some people took me as Jewish, not because I look ethnically Jewish but because I had lots of Jewish friends and was a nerd about food laws and traditions. More nerdy than them, actually.

Significantly the real Jews always sniffed me out, not that I was trying to pass

Greenland is part of Denmark but is autonomous, like the Faroe Islands. There's a big separation between Greenlandic/Danish origin people though, my friend who is of Greenlandic Inuit origin doesn't identify with/consider herself to be Danish.

Well I've never in my life heard of "the Western European Islands".

I get mildly irritated by commentators (The Guardian is one of the worst offenders) not realising there is a different legal and education system in Scotland, or if they do then automatically assuming everything in Scotland is better (it always amuses me every time there is a hint of abolishing the right to demand a jury trial in England that no one ever picks up it's the Crown in Scotland who decide if it will be a jury trial. Which is actually one reason our Criminal law system is better as we don't have the huge delays caused by trivial matters going to a jury trial)

So far as "education in the UK" if the topic is educational stnandards or achievement then I really don't see the problem

I vote we go back to Hibernia just for fun.

Is anyone really offended at being called a Brit? Really If so , then grow up. The amount of importance you attach to whichever little corner you come from/live in in the UK will not be shared by anyone outside the UK.

As for getting upset by being told you have a British accent? Do you distinguish between the countless "American""French or "Germany etc, etc accents?

And why is everyone taught about oxbow lakes?

Janine it might well change again, as it has before. But that has no bearing on my actual point, which is what it actually IS, now.

But Greenland is far bigger than Denmark, isn't it islenka? I've no idea what its principle exports are like you're always supposed to learn at school .

For me it's a large land mass you fly over en route from London to New York but I imagine they have happening things going on there. I've just never been there.

I went to the Ice Hotel in the Swedish Arctic Circle (luxurious) and have trekked and fished in Mongolia, British Columbia and Alaska. I realise that might be crass to say to you, because you know what you're talking about, but the tourism aspects for me are interesting.

Never been to Iceland.

Is anyone really offended at being called a Brit?

Sometimes. In some circumstances. Is that so hard to understand?

You are all the 51st state

Can I throw a possible spanner in the works and pint out the country is NOT called Southern Ireland. It's called Ireland, though I understand why people call it ROI. Not Eire, please.

When i talk about going to Dublin or posting something there, calling it Southern Ireland is about as accurate as callin England "Southern Britain" or Southern UK". And yes, I have had this conversation several times at the post office in the UK.

And yes, Brit can totally be an offensive term. It was definitely used as such by some Irish and N Irish friends about my then english bf (now DH).

Sorry- that was meant to say "friends" used it at university.

Yes, Southern Ireland really grates. What, like Cork?

You can use Eire if you can speak Irish. But if you use it in English you sound like that tool who says "Barthelona" or "Espania" and such like.

I am of Maltese birth, I wonder if this means I am a Malteser as well as a Brit and a Yank.

And yes, I have too many nationalities.

I have tried to point that out Annabelle, and to explain that Dublin isn't in the south of Ireland, but rather the east coast. Cue blank looks from post office staff. Aaaagh.

I call the whole island Ireland. And all of its inhabitants Irish. So there.

In my opinion, Ireland is fine. Calling all the inhabitants Irish is fine, as long as you're aware that some people in NI might not like it, as they may consider themselves N Irish or British.

So, clear as mud then.

but changebags do you do it fully in the knowledge that there is a significant number of people in N Ireland who find it very offensive to be called Irish? I'm not actually one of them, but I know many who do.

Because if you don't, then it's best to be aware of it. And if you do, but you do it anyway then, well, that's a bit cruel.

Well, did you really think the Troubles/whole
NI question/issue of Irish identity were going to be straightforward?!!!

If in doubt, I'd call someone from NI, N Irish- as far as I'm aware, it's not pejorative to any community and people can re categorise themselves if they wish.

I don't consider myself British, I am British

I think Greenland mainly deals with shrimp. I've only been a few times for work, but it is amazing. It feels like a whole other world.