Will people stop confusing the EU and Europe!

[Bookaboo]

Sheila Hancock on ch4 Paxman debate tonight:

"If I wake up on Friday to find I am no longer European I will be extremely upset"

She was doing alright up until that point.

I'm with you Bookable, Every time someone tells me they want to leave Europe I feel like offering to pack their bag for them..

Yes I agree!

I think they're just using it as shorthand, easier than saying no longer a member of the EU.

But I agree it doesn't help

It can be unhelpful to confuse the two in some circumstances but as long as the meaning is clear, does it matter?

"Europe" as a word has different connotations depending on context. Clearly in this context she's not talking about "Europe" in its geographical sense.

It's a bit like some people saying that if Scotland had won its independence, the Scots would no longer be British.

Scotland would still be part of the geographical entity "Britain" (and even "Great Britain") but over the years we've got used to conflating the term "British" with "UKish". It's telling that there isn't actually an adjective for "belonging to the UK" even if some people think that that adjective is English