I’ve received several emails pointing out Don Burleson’s apology for calling me British instead of Scottish that was on his website (but has been removed now). I asked Don to take it down for a few reasons :-
- I was born and remain British.
- I was born and remain Scottish.
- The two are compatible.
- I hadn’t asked Don to apologise for accidentally calling me British at any time.
- Some of my best friends are British! (Well, they were still my friends, last time I checked.)
- Now, calling me *English* is another matter, because I’m not. It’s a common mistake for Americans to think that English and British are the same thing and it is mildly irritating. Not something that would keep me awake at night, though!
So thanks for taking it down, Don.
I’m still waiting to work out which comment I made that Don picked up on, but I think I was poking fun at his inability to nail me down to one nationality. The fact I can only vaguely remember it should be an indication of its importance to me.
Here’s a true story. When we were kids my dad was in the Royal Air Force. In those days, the national anthem would be played at the end of the television schedule. At which point, if we were awake, we would all get out of our chairs and stand to attention. (Sadly, the anthem would also appear before sporting events earlier in the day when there were far more likely to be witnesses.) Now, this might be normal behaviour in some countries, but rarely round here (particularly with all that stuff about crushing rebellious Scots) but it shows that you can be a fiercely patriotic Scot (he loved his country and despised many English things – football players, mainly) but be prepared to stand together with other Brits to defend our shared values. (Oh, and for those of you who might be interested, I don’t do it any more! I’ve had time to develop my own opinions on that sort of thing …)
So, I apologise unreservedly. If you’re British, you have no reason to feel ashamed of it (well, apart from the worst excesses of British imperialism; being miserable; Tabloid newspapers; – actually I’d better not get started).
I promise that I won’t demean your nationality in future.
Thanks,
Doug
I thought British meant English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. Am I right?
You are correct about English, Scottish and Welsh. Irish is a little more complicated ….
“Itâs a common mistake for Americans to think that English and British are the same thing”
I think you should apologise to Americans for that generalisation. 🙂
(I’m sure the Americans aren’t the only ones that make that mistake, no?)
I’m going to have to change this to apologydoug.blogspot.com if this carries on!
Nah, sorry, but I’ve lost count of the number of Americans who get the two confused, moreso than other nationalities in my experience. I’m not saying all of them, … 😉
And in this case, I was speaking of one individual who made the common mistake and is American, so it seemed to make sense to mention that (he says, disappearing up his own posterior)
Doug said
Irish is a little more complicated …
where complicated is a synonym for political.
Technically, British doesn’t include Irish (even in the Northern Irish) sense. The country is the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” so Brits are english, welsh or scots. The Irish are Irish.
Practically I’d also always describe Irishmen as Irishmen rather than British because:
I’ve never met an Irishman who preferred to be called British over Irish (even if they considered themselves both British and Irish).
I’ve met plenty of Irishmen who’d hate you for calling them British – its the colonial power thing.
Also Irish is and always will be cool for no good reason whereas British er, isn’t. English is worse obviously.
Then there is the problem that The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is neither united, great, a kingdom, british ….
Niall
oh yeah, proud of my Irish heritage – from an english father and a mother who’d never set foot in Ireland when I was born.
consider yourself one of the lucky few that have ever gotten an apology…
“Practically I’d also always describe Irishmen as Irishmen rather than British because:
I’ve never met an Irishman who preferred to be called British over Irish”
I am glad one culture/group of people do not impose their thoughts/ideas on a less powerful group in the name of territorial integrity, nationalism, religion, fighting terrorism, or whatever. It is good a minority group is allowed their own identity. I think that should be the case all over the world. Once the minorities feel that their identities are secure they will probably come together to join hands with the bigger powers.
But that is another humongous topic in itself, let us stick to Oracle.