What is so "Great" about Britain?

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Raz

Harry Potter

simonp

Just to clarify, if you mean why is it called Great Britain, it's because of its size. Great Britain is actually the name of the physical island. (have a look at this picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/LocationIslandGreatBritain.png)

When the Romans came over and conquered the land, they called the island 'Britannia'. A lot of the native Britons fled Roman rule, and ended up in the very North-West of France. This was named after the Britons, and became known as Bretagne (Brittany, in English).

Skip forward almost a millennium, and the Normans conquered in 1066. Given that they spoke French and knew of Bretagne, they called the island 'Grande (meaning large) Bretagne', which was translated into English as Great Britain.

So, why is the country called Great Britain? Well, its full name is 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Most people shorten this to the United Kingdom, or UK. However, the ISO code for the United Kingdom is 'GB' - that's what we put on the back of our car when abroad, and what we use in the Olympics, for example. Both the United Kingdom and Ukraine wanted the short code 'uk' when they were being allocated, so rather than fight we were given GB and they got UA. The fact that we're .uk on the internet is actually a mistake! So Great Britain is often used as our short name.

Laggan_Stuart

Nothing that Independence for the individual countries won't solve.

Pontac

Historically to distinguish us from little Britain -- i.e. Brittany -- in France.

Nowadays the Great part is often used to mean the main island plus all the outlying islands, wheres Britain on its one is used to mean just the main island.

dvjani2003

most disciplined and lion hearted country.

Wizzy Woman

Freedom of speech
Being able to be free to do what we want
Tony Blair (YAY) - he really isn't so bad!
Red buses
London
The Queen
The 2012 Olympic Games
Arsenal Football Club
Friendly People
Chips (to you Yanks, French Fries)
Indian Curries - Yum Yum

.....just about everything really!

hotclaws

fish and chips

fiona_webby

Scotlands there!

?Master

Liverpool and it's people.
Capitol of culture 2008.
Come and visit with us and receive a warm welcome and the finest hospitality from a port that was once the largest in the British Empire.
Welcome all!

kessi

Well, you've been filled in on the historical reasons ... and I'd like to add to them -

"Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles,
Sean Connery, Harry Potter, David Beckham's right foot.
David Beckham's left foot, come to that."

Hehe, seriously though - we are a small but great country. America likes to see itself as the land of opportunity but i think that GB is. We have a FREE health service, ok, it's not perfect but we forget how priviliged we are sometimes, we have a fantastic education system for those who want to learn, we afford opportunities to people from all over the world, we have a diverse, multi cultural society, we live in a democracy, we have real freedom of speech, we have a monarchy, love or loathe it, we have an immense, glorious, shameful, wonderous history, we have fish and chips, we survived TWO world wars, we are forward thinking and more tolerant than maybe any other country on the planet, we're some of the friendliest people you will ever meet, our land is beautiful .... if you asked me to write down all the reasons I think Great Britian isn't so great I could probably write more but Britian is my country, my home and although it is not perfect I doubt anywhere is and I will not hear a bad word said about my home xxx

dot&carryone.

Nothing really - it only refers to the largest island of the British Isles that includes Scotland, Wales and England - hence The United Kingdom.

bunny1405

Its where we live, we get social security, housing benefit, we take people from other countries and give them the same, let them have houses and furnish them. We have a queen and load of country side. So its GREAT.

Id love to live in Spain !!!!

manslayer

we have lots of damn immigrants.... a tosser for a prime minister, and a crappy NHS system, remind me again why this place is great!?

Great "Weather"!

badger_shaman

Thousands of years of history, a rich cultural heritage and a vibrant mix of ethnicities and cultures that make up our modern nation..and that these islands were the last stronghold of Celtic culture.Oh..and Irn-Bru!

Yetty

Bangers and mash

chimkychink

the title Great was adopted during our empire, when we ruled over a third of the world. it just kinda stuck from there.
not many people call it great britain anymore, its all UK

alldouk

GOLF

florence

It is really multicultural. It has heaps of history. It is very pretty. The people are really nice.

sardanmb

100 Great Britons
Alfred the Great, Julie Andrews, King Arthur, David Attenborough, Jane Austen
B
Charles Babbage, Lord Baden Powell, Douglas Bader, David Beckham, Alexander Graham Bell, Tony Benn, Tim Berners Lee, Aneurin Bevan, Tony Blair, William Blake, William Booth, Boudicca, David Bowie, Richard Branson, Robert the Bruce, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Richard Burton
C
Donald Campbell, William Caxton, Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Leonard Cheshire, Winston Churchill, James Connolly, Captain James Cook, Michael Crawford, Oliver Cromwell, Aleister Crowley
D
Charles Darwin, Diana, Princess of Wales, Charles Dickens, Francis Drake
E
King Edward I, Edward Elgar, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
F
Michael Faraday, Guy Fawkes, Alexander Fleming
G
Bob Geldof, Owain Glyndwr
H
George Harrison, John Harrison, Stephen Hawking, King Henry II, King Henry V, King Henry VIII, Paul Hewson (Bono)
J
Edward Jenner
L
T E Lawrence, John Lennon, David Livingstone, David Lloyd George, John Logie Baird, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten)
M
James Clerk Maxwell, Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, Bobby Moore, Thomas More, Eric Morecambe
N
Admiral Horatio Nelson, Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale
O
George O'Dowd (Boy George)
P
Thomas Paine, Emmeline Pankhurst, John Peel, Enoch Powell
R
Walter Raleigh, Steve Redgrave, King Richard III, Cliff Richard, J K Rowling
S
Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, William Shakespeare, George Stephenson, Marie Stopes
T
Margaret Thatcher, William Tindale, J R R Tolkien, Alan Turing
U
Unknown soldier
V
Queen Victoria
W
William Wallace, Barnes Wallis, James Watt, Duke of Wellington, John Wesley, Frank Whittle, William Wilberforce, Robbie Williams

That's why.

somekindsupastar

For starters Bob Geldof and Bono are Irish! And me hears The BNP are rising in popularity So it ant the multicultral with open arms are they!Plus the Unknown soldier could have been Irish and the English were brought to there knee's By the mighty Michael Collins!!

Xequ

Its history. We once built an empie which covered most of the world.

David R

Geographically speaking Great Britain is Scotland England and Wales. The British Isles is the whole lot including Ireland. Politically, leave that for another question

The great British people.

God save the Queen.

Mike10613

Because England is part of Britain. Britain being England, Scotland and Wales. The UK includes Northern Ireland. Why so great - we once started an industrial revolution - sold guns to to world so they could shoot each other. Made ships and discovered America (that may have been a mistake). Discovered Australia and New Zealand - without which people wouldn't have barbecues. But the overwhelming reason is I'm English and I bloody live here. I was born here. Now give me top answer and 10 points and don't ask questions with such plainly obvious answers......

Sarah_D

Everything. the fact that we have a proper language with proper spelling, the food - fish and chips (yum!!!!!)the people - who needs friendly when you can have downright rude!!, the fact that the US needed us to help in Iraq, the fact that most people are quite liberal with their views and dont just believe something cos we're told it(George Bush, weapons of mass destruction - it must be true!!)and the fact that we can have all this horrible weather, a stupid prime minister, and all the other bad stuff and still be quite cheerful. Imagine if the Americans had to put up with all our ****, OMG!!!!!

Anand S

it is one of the most commercial places in the world

sling it bird

Scollops from the chippy,all of the different accents,football,our sense of humour,yorkshire puddin.

Not the nhs,weather,chavs etc

It's all much of a muchness, everywhere has it's good & bad points.

Quintessential Winston

It used to be "great" in the time of the British Empire (at least, in terms of wealth and size). Whether it still is great is another matter. The name just sticks because what's the point in changing it? Besides which, can you imagine the outcry there would be if the government proposed dropping the "great"?

Shining Star

That it used to be spread all over the world geographically

malcy

What Language did you use to ask this Question?
Well that's whats so great about it.

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