What’s the furthest north in the UK you’ve been? Where do you think the north starts?

[BarrelOfOtters]

Prompted by a friend who has never been north of Birmingham and thinks of that as North.

orkney for me.

John O'Groats and Nottingham.

If we took the Midlands out the equation and just had North/South then I'd class Birmingham/Leicester below as South and Derby/Nottingham and above as North

For me, as a Scot, the north starts in Inverness. When I think of the north in England I think of Manchester upwards.

Furthest north - Orkney.
As a Scot, “up North” to me is north of Perth. “Down south” is anything below Dumfries, including all of England and Wales.

Why not change perspective and ask where the South starts?

Furthest north is Edinburgh but it's given me the bug to explore more of Scotland.

My London family regards anywhere north of Watford Herts to be NORTH. I am from the East Midlands and regard anywhere north of Derby to be NORTH.

Absolutely 😄

Inverness. The north officially starts at Watford Gap, doesn't it? 😂

@LuluBlakey1 , the term 'Midlands' refers to the Midlands of England.
When I posted 'there is no UK Midlands' I meant that the middle part of the UK is not called 'Midlands'.

@DownNative , I'm not English, I'm British. I am well aware that England and the UK are not interchangeable.

Not officially, but it's still correct to refer to the UK having a midland aka middle land as per definition 1 and 4 in the dictionary previously provided.

And I was speaking in general with the whole thread where an England centric view is so persistent it disregards the United Kingdom in the actual question....

@DownNative , but there isn't one, so you are just pushing your own idea. if you say 'UK midlands' chances are few people will know what you mean, and will think you mean the Midlands.
I'd refer to what you call 'the midlands' by naming the regions or saying 'central and north of England'.
You are derailing the thread by insisting that you are right.

1. The UK has a middle. It doesn't have a "Midlands".

2. The question in the original post doesn't ask about people's perception of the north of the UK. It asks about people's perception of "the north". Different people in different parts of the UK have different perceptions of what "the north" is. That's the whole point.

This is a good question.

Oxford.

North of England starts around Sheffield, south starts around Oxford.

Not officially, but it's still correct to refer to the UK having a midland aka middle land as per definition 1 and 4 in the dictionary previously provided.

The purpose of language is mutual communication. So I don't think it's 'correct' to use a term in way that's almost always going to be interpreted differently. Turning around your phrase above, the 'middle land' of the U.K. is simply not 'aka the midland of the U.K.'

Indeed:

The Midlands is the central part of England, bordered by Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the North Sea. The Midlands were important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries and are split into the West Midlands and East Midlands. The biggest city, Birmingham, is the second-largest in the United Kingdom. Other important cities include Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester.

The terminology and definition is in dictionaries and well within bounds.

The problem is England centric people who cannot seem to differentiate between The Midlands (region of England) and the term midland (middle part of a country).

To spare these people, I suppose we can always substitute "midland" for "central". But it is still not incorrect to refer to the central area of the UK as midland.

You can also see that Midland refers to a dialect spoken there and in USA. See point 2 and 3.

Context makes clear I'm not talking about England's Midlands area since the discussion is literally about the United Kingdom. 🤦‍♂️

Some find nuance difficult to grasp. I do not.

I'm from daaahhn saaaaaaaaf and as far as we're concerned "the north" starts at Watford.

@DownNative , nobody is agreeing with you.
The problem is England centric people who cannot seem to differentiate between The Midlands (region of England) and the term midland (middle part of a country).
The problem is you.

Inverness is the furthest north I've been
I consider the north to start at the lake district. everything just seems to be middle England until you suddenly reach the open road and hills.

Dornoch.

Betty Hill. The north starts near Leeds

Some find nuance difficult to grasp. I do not.

I think some of us with different views to you think exactly the same!

In terms of this thread, I agree with a lot of what @DownNative has said.

I'm just not invested enough in this thread enough to add my voice when it has been said pretty eloquently already.

I'm clearly failing on the eloquence test as I don't think I said 'enough' enough...