Great Britain – Back To Basics

Recently I realized that I have made a lot of assumptions about my readers and their knowledge of Great Britain. I took it for granted that some things are just known and don’t need to be explained but after spending some time chatting with Britons and Americans online, I realized that there are still a lot of misconceptions out there. Since this blog is about Great Britain, it might stand to reason that I would use this platform to set the record straight and present the basics about Great Britain, in order to foster a greater understanding between cultures.

If you are a new Britophile, this is need to know information to avoid embarrassing yourself when conversing with Britons or other Britophiles online. It’s certainly information you should know if a trip to Britain is in your future. I’m not including everything here, just some of the basics and there are plenty of good books listed on my Books page that can provide you with everything you need to know.

1. Great Britain is made up of three countries: England, Scotland and Wales.  These three countries are located on the same island together, which is the eighth largest island in the world and the third most populated island on earth with around 60 million people. Some people mistakenly believe that England, Scotland and Wales occupy their own islands and don’t realize all three are located on the same one (really!).
2.  The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain along with Northern Ireland. Some people  inaccurately refer to Great Britain as the United Kingdom, when in fact they include different territories. So this is why you will never read posts on my blog about Northern Ireland, otherwise I would have to rename my blog Smitten by the United Kingdom, which doesn’t have the same ring to it really.
3. Great Britain is surrounded by thousands of islands and inlets and some of these islands are included in the political definition of Great Britain like the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the Orkney and Shetland islands. 
4. There is no such thing as a “British” accent, just like there isn’t one “American” accent and it is incorrect to say “She has a British accent”. It is more correct to say a person has an English accent, Scottish accent or Welsh accent. Even still, there are different accents and dialects within each country and you would have to recognize these in order to make a more accurate statement. But until you do, it’s acceptable to simply refer to someone’s accent as either English, Scottish or Welsh.
5. As I mentioned above, there are many different accents and dialects within England, Scotland and Wales, which are determined by region. These dialects can all have their own unique words or euphemisms that aren’t heard anywhere else in the country and accents sometimes differ greatly even within the same region. In fact, Great Britain has the largest variety of dialects and accents than any other English speaking country in the world. This is one of the many things that fascinates me about Britain and some time in the future I’ll post what I’m sure will be a measly attempt to describe some of these to you.

Well, I think this is enough for now. I don’t want to overload you with information and frankly I’ve given myself a headache from playing professor (sorry). But there will surely be more in the future and to be fair, I will include a post about the misconceptions Britons have about America and Americans. I’m looking forward to hearing what all of you have to say and if any of my British friends have something to add to this post or feel that I have misrepresented information here, please share your comments below.

Remember, the intention behind this post is to help you avoid doing something stupid like this: