Talk:Terminology of the British Isles

'Britain' as shorthand for 'United Kingdom' or 'Great Britain' - UK Government usage
The article currently states that the UK Government prefers to read 'Britain' as shorthand for 'Great Britain' rather than 'the United Kingdom'. I would suggest that doesn't fit with what the UK Government style guide says: "Use UK and United Kingdom in preference to Britain and British (UK business, UK foreign policy, ambassador and high commissioner). But British embassy, not UK embassy." It says of Great Britain: "Refers only to England, Scotland and Wales and does not include Northern Ireland." Stating a preference between two terms is not the same as labelling one incorrect, and the language for 'Great Britain' is, by contrast, unambiguous. Taking them together, if anything I would say the correct reading is that the UK Government sees 'Britain' as shorthand for 'the UK' (though not its preferred term). An admittedly far from comprehensive search through Google results for 'Britain' on GOV.UK suggests that 'Britain', where used, refers to the whole state and not to Great Britain alone, which is written out in full.

Official UK toponymic guidelines don't give an answer (rather remarkably) and leave the modern scope of 'Britain' ambiguous: "As an adjective, therefore, the term British is frequently inclusive of Northern Ireland; it is only the one specific nominal term “Great Britain”, which invariably excludes Northern Ireland." Overall, I think a fairer summary of the position would be something like: "The UK Government style guide recommends 'the UK' in preference to 'Britain', but ministers and officials periodically use both."

Euler Diagram
Diagram shows England, Scotland and Wales as being entirely contained within the Geographical Feature of Great Britain. But, aren't there English (e.g. Isle of Wight), Welsh (e.g. Anglesey) and Scottish (e.g. Skype) islands that are in the United Kingdom (and, moreover, with one of the 3 countries) but not actually in Great Britain? 150.143.239.255 (talk) 16:16, 29 January 2024 (UTC)


 * "Great Britain" is listed under both "geographical terms" ("the largest island of the archipelago") and "political terms" ("the countries of England, Wales and Scotland, considered as a unit"). The two usages are (helpfully) not identical, and it is the political usage which seems to have been used in the diagram (which does at least make clear that it is merely an "overview" and so not comprehensive). It is, of course, that political usage which features in the full name of the United Kingdom: it is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, not the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Various Small Islands. I'd argue that it's actually the more common of the usages, in fact, just as "Ireland" would normally be taken to include the islands surrounding it rather than being limited to the mainland. Proteus (Talk) 17:26, 29 January 2024 (UTC)