The Republic of Northern Ireland is classified as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain *inserts what it says on my passport* and Northern Ireland. Says it right there in black and white, and I'm not one to argue with Her Majesty (or her men with big hats and loaded guns)... schwimmerin is right though that the whole of Ireland was part of the UK before the 20's (then a bunch of people shot another load of people and everyone was stil hung up on the potato thing), but as for saying that Wilde was "British", well I don't say I'm "British" either. I'm Scottish, just as someone from Ireland, regardless of whether they are from the north would 99% of the time introduce themselves as "Irish". Same goes for English and Welsh BTW, I don't know a single English person who call themselves "British" - that would be stating the obvious so is therefore pointless. Perhaps the only people who would consider themselves British would be people down in the south of England, but you won't ever catch a Scot, Irish or Welsh person addressing themselves as British or "Of Britain" unless it's on pain of death.
It's all terribly confusing and sad and we should just have one big lovin' X3
That's the first time I've ever seen Wilde referred to as "British" and I found it weird.
Here in Italy we tend to call all people who come from Great Britain "English" because, hey, you speak English, you're English. But my English teacher in secondary school made it very clear: "Don't you ever call a Scot or a Welsh "English", unless you want to die a slow, painful death". XD
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Date: 2009-07-31 05:24 pm (UTC)It's all terribly confusing and sad and we should just have one big lovin' X3
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Date: 2009-07-31 07:52 pm (UTC)Here in Italy we tend to call all people who come from Great Britain "English" because, hey, you speak English, you're English. But my English teacher in secondary school made it very clear: "Don't you ever call a Scot or a Welsh "English", unless you want to die a slow, painful death". XD