Is it only English people who identify themselves as 'British'?

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Interesting :
someone here says that anyone born in the UK calls themselves British.
I have never heard a Scotsman call themselves British,always Scottish, this also goes for the Irish and the Welsh.
I have also never heard an Indian born in the UK call themselves British or the Pakistanis, so on and so on they call themselves Indian,and so on, despite the fact they may have been born in the UK
for the true British whom had ancestors who fort in the war are now third rate citizens.

Beardo

I think most English people would not think of themselves as British, either.

It is mainly those who have moved to the UK who would describe themselves as British.

The Pink Airplane

People from the UK primarily identify themselves as either English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish (and those who are Irish will probably mention that they are from Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK).

Think of it this way: if you were in a foreign country and someone asked you to identify your nationality, would you say, "North American" or "American"? You'd probably be more specific to your country instead of the continent it's located on. It's sort of the same way for those who live in Britain; they identify themselves by the specific part of the UK they reside in.

I hope that wasn't too confusing.

Pip

British people include Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish.
I think the Scots and Welsh would consider themselves British last and Scottish and Welsh first.But God bless us all.

Cap'n Pugwash

Nowadays "British" only describes anybody holding a UK passport but who wasn't born here.

In Gordon Brown speak "British" includes anyone from any EU member state.

capitalgentleman

They do.

Unfortunately, many see British, and English as the same thing. However, while the English are British, the British are most decidedly not English!

The English, Welsh, Scots, Northern Irish, Manx, and (arguably!) the Channel Islanders are all British.

webby652

I agree with much of what has been said, except for, Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain. It is however part of the United Kingdom, which are two different entities. As it's full title is 'The United Kingdoms of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland'

Just do it

The british people are people from england, scotland, wales and northen ireland

english rosethorn

The British Isles geographically covers the whole area and every country including Eire.

The passport business is covered by the United Kingdom or Eire.

Brits are ex-pats abroad.

Other than that I would say that it is correct, when abroad and one is asked where they come from to say the country. Nothing wrong with saying 'I am Welsh but live in England' or which ever country as appropriate either.

Twin1-BroOke x

English prefer English before British too :)!
scottish accents are amazing<3.

sdrawkcabruoy

Just thought I would clear things up.
Great Britain = England, Wales and Scotland.
United Kingdom = England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Ireland is not part of The UK or GB.

As for your question not many people call themselves british when they live here, they will say either English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish.
I think because the majority of British people are from England you are more likely to meet an English person, who may or may not call themselves British.

"England more or less constantly makes up 84% of the total population, Wales around 5%, Scotland roughly 8.5 %, and Northern Ireland (since 1921) less than 3%."

It may also depend who is asking. An English person asking a Scottish person what they were, the Scottish person would say they were Scottish.
If an American asked the same Scottish person he might say he was British instead.
This is just an alternative to others' comments.

Info Sponge

Technically, Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland.

But yes, in my experience it's very rare to find someone from Wales, Scotland or Ireland to refer to themselves as British. Just English folk.

dcdd1_07

N/Ireland,scotland wales and england MAKE UP THE BRITISH

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