Oh it’s that time of the week again, and this one contains a rant, just to prepare you… ;o)
1. The UK. Okay, so I was reading a post the other day where the author was wondering why sometimes links to blog posts had, for example, .co.au or .co.uk at the end rather than .com (that’s a whole other explanation, let me know if you want the boring details…) Several commenters had come back and said ‘Oh yeah, .uk is Great Britain. No, no it’s not, it’s the UK! Here’s a little geography lesson for the uninitiated:
The above is a map of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Ireland is the orange bit, that’s not part of the UK. Great Britain is the big island, made up of England (yellow), Scotland (pink) and Wales (green). The United Kingdom’s full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland’s the purple bit. So UK and Great Britain are not interchangeable, losing an entire country is not cool people (especially when you’re losing the country I was born in!). I’m going to take a flier on the fact that we’re called British because UK-ish just doesn’t trip off the tongue nicely ;o) And for those of you referring to the entire place as England? I have no words…
2. Lightening things up a bit, did you know that in Westminster there are some 9″ long double yellow lines? I have a certain admiration for the person that managed to paint such a short line, have you seen how big and unwieldy those machines can be?
3. Did you know that if you live in Vasif Talibov, a remote region of Azerbaijan, civil servants can’t wear patterned tights? But they’re so fun!
4. Have you ever been caught playing games on your phone in a meeting? Personally, I have a work phone that is just, err, a phone, but apparently Senator John McCain got busted for playing poker recently during a senate meeting. I just doodle quilting patterns ;o)
5. Have you ever come across Sad Patterns? This anonymously authored site takes a look at the pattern horrors in the back catalogues of the big hitters, along with some rather interesting independent designers. It’s mostly for clothing patterns, but this particular post gave me a giggle from a quilting point of view – bet you would never have connected cathedral windows with the Pittsburgh Steelers…
Now you have to follow along after that ;o)
Linking up, as ever, with my fellow Randomeers:
Whaaaaat? no traffic issues?!!
thank you for the much needed geography lesson. I know what you mean, I originally come from Slovakia and people seem to never understand that we speak Slovak language, not Czech, Polish, or anything similar to that. Go figure!
Geography lessons are always great! (I´m just getting a lesson about the Commonwealth right now because I asked the man of the house.)
Svetlana , I understand you. I am from Austria and have been asked by fellow students from France and Spain (other Europeans!) if we all speak hungarian here. You know, because we are all still in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy… O_o
TBH I've never thought that much about the differences between UK and Great Britain. I think people can be forgiven for not being picky about it. Especially because of the whole 'British' name tag for everyone 🙂
Hooray for the UK contingent from Norn Iron (that's Northern Ireland for those of you not used to our desperate accents)! Rant on, my lovely. Your random facts make me laugh and are actually very interesting!
I've ranted about that very thing myself – mostly to people who actually live here and should know better. Foreigners? I forgive them since it is a stupid political entity in the first place (and that's not me getting political – I just honestly think it's stupid.)
I've also totally just mentally said "Norn Iron" in a really bad Belfast accent. *g* I love how it sounds. And blue!
I'm coming back to add that I don't think NI and GB is stupid – but having UK and GB is all sorts of confusing. *tip toes away from potential minefield*
I think some of the confusion arises because people from Great Britain are collectively British, and people from the United Kingdom are also referred to collectively as British as there isn't an equivalent for "United Kingdomish". However the whole thing is not helped by the media – including the BBC I might add – who often use England / Britain / United Kingdom interchangeably. #lazyjournalism
At least when it comes to the UK flag, Northern Ireland gets a slight look in – poor old Wales is nowhere to be seen! I think the Welsh Assembly should vote to photoshop a dragon in the middle of the Union Jack…
I want to see that flag with the dragon!!LOL!
I agree!! Funny though, my lovely friends and neighbours here in Wales don't consider the Union flag to be for us too, they consider it to be English and won't be caught displaying it, dragons all the way!
I enjoyed the above comments almost as much as your post itself 🙂 how's your poor wee inner ears?
I love that .uk could mean Great Britain – the clue is in the f'ing letters!!
Off to sort my stripy tights for the morning then, it's the only perk UK Civil Servants have!
Ok Im guilty as charged – I always lump poor old Ireland in with The UK…Sorry Ireland – I wont do it again.
I dont play games on my phone in meetings but I do hand sew…pretty hard to hide that!
As an Englishwoman, living with a Welshman in Wales ( and having a Scottish mother)I know where you are coming from!
A lot of information that I must say I knew.
Hugs
Kay
Ha! I once had a Welsh roommate (while studying abroad in Ireland)and I learned very quickly that she was not English! British was ok, but Welsh was best!
I'm from the US (not America).
Awesome, easy geography! Thanks, I needed that! I've got it now! 🙂
I'm moving to Azerbijan…
its just apain to select united kingdom from a drop down box countries when im orderingonline!
Oh I do like a Katy rant, sort of sets me up for the day!
Save the Whales!!
thank you: i learned something this morning (already)
Thanks for making me laugh!!
YES, YES and YES again. Well said!
Funny how it's only the non English of the UK citizens that are hung up on this differentiation, I couldn't give a rats arse *runs and hides, v. quickly*.
As usual you Randomness reigns supreme, always puts a smile on my face :o)
I didn't really care either til I moved to Wales and now I get quite sensitive about Wales being called England. Especially when you say you're from Wales, you know, in the UK, and people say, oh, in England is it? *facepalm*
Hehe Sheila has it right as usual!
Thanks for some lovely random again! Though politically sensitive, in a geographical sense the "British Isles" include the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, and the smaller islands which surround them, though not for the "Quilter's Guild of the British Isles"….
And referring to Ireland as part of the British Isles is always one of my favourite ways of winding up my Irish pals. It is like a red rag to a bull as they say
Love it! I live in the US but whenever I post a link to my blog on FB it comes up with a .au link so go figure 🙂
Ooh, so you were born in Ireland but live in Scotland now? I love both those accentssss! 😀
I'm sad to say that I totally needed your geography lesson. I hope it sticks in my head! hehehe
so glad you explained the geography class, I am from N Ireland and people never seem to quite grasp the UK-GB thing, we tend to get forgotten about!
ps I really enjoy your blog.
Nine inch? That's almost as funny as when they lifted a car, painted yellow lines under it and then stuck a parking ticket on it!
That other thing you mentioned? I'm Welsh so don't get me started;-)
Related to the first point, what really bugs me is when people (mainly from a rather large country across the pond) say someone has a "British accent". What the hell is one of those then? English accents are very different from Scottish accents, Welsh accents and Northern Irish accents. I think it's maybe when they're struggling not to call Great Britain or the UK "England" but it just doesn't work!
Being from that other big country across the pond I appreciate the geography lesson.
Once again, I think you win for the most random. I'm off to study my UK and Great Britain lessons now
Well, at least no one calls you a Kiwi. You're lucky ;))
Umm, guilty as charged! I didn't know that Great Britain was the name of the island. And my family has prided itself on bringing up all us Aussie descendants with a full and thorough knowledge of our UK heritage. We are Scots who first moved to Manchester then Australia in about 1910(my Great Grandmother came with her family when she was 8). So sorry to the Northern Irish who I've missed out when I've said Great Britain before.