Great Britain and the United Kingdom
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OriginalGriff wrote:
And isn't the Netherlands part of Spain?
How old were you again? We ditched Spain over 300 years ago ;) Our National Anthem goes a little like... "Wilhemus van Naussau am I of German blood, something something, I have always honored the king of Spain." And then a whole lot more verses that most people don't know. For some reason we usually sing the first and sixth verses from a total of fifteen. I'm not all that chauvinistic though. Last time I sang that anthem was on Queensday back in elementary school.
Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
William of Nassau,
I am of Germanic blood,
Dedicate undying
Faith to this land of mine.
A prince I am, undaunted,
Of Orange, ever free,
To the king of Spain I've granted
A lifelong loyaltyVerse 1 IIRC :laugh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I'm trying to fix an issue with conflicting country designations. Specifically, country codes. We use the country code "UK" internally to mean "United Kingdom". However, ISO 3166 uses the country code "GB", short for "Great Britain". Sort of. Great Britain is an island comprising England, Scotland and Wales, plus some other bits. The United Kingdom, more correctly called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contains the Island of Great Britain plus Northern Island, plus some other bits. i.e. it's bigger than Great Britain. The country code for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, aka United Kingdom, is GB. GB is short for Great Britain. Except Great Britain doesn't mean the United Kingdom. Britain was used interchangeably with "United Kingdom", but not so much anymore. Following so far? To recap: Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 3 other countries (except they are independent nations, not actual countries) and some other bits. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB". My head hurts just thinking that through. You guys are complicated. [Edit: Updated to correct the bits I got wrong. Other bits I've got wrong have not yet been updated]
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
GB is short for Great Britain.
No, it isn't. That's where you're making the error. It's not an abbreviation or an acronym. It is, as you rightly state elsewhere a code. Moreover it is a code for autonomous or semi-autonomous regions not necessarily full sovereign states. The code for Antigua and Barbuda is AG but presumably you wouldn't suggest that that means that Barbuda is excluded? The Aland Islands is AX which includes a letter that's not even in the name and is actually a Finnish region albeit autonomous.
Chris Maunder wrote:
Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 other countries. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB".
No, it isn't. It's a group of islands made up of three previously independent nations and a number of autonomous territories such as the Isle of Man. Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain though it is part of the United Kingdom and for the purposes of some sports is included in Great Britain teams. Really I can't understand why you have a problem with this! ;) If you want a real puzzle, try working out why Rule Brittania praises the upstanding virtues of Britons when any true Britons now live only in remotest parts of Wales and, as you might expect, Brittany, having long ago been chased away by Celts, Saxons, and then Normans many centuries ago!
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Long live the Empire!
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Yeah - but...which bit?
cheers Chris Maunder
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Chris Maunder wrote:
GB is short for Great Britain.
No, it isn't. That's where you're making the error. It's not an abbreviation or an acronym. It is, as you rightly state elsewhere a code. Moreover it is a code for autonomous or semi-autonomous regions not necessarily full sovereign states. The code for Antigua and Barbuda is AG but presumably you wouldn't suggest that that means that Barbuda is excluded? The Aland Islands is AX which includes a letter that's not even in the name and is actually a Finnish region albeit autonomous.
Chris Maunder wrote:
Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 other countries. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB".
No, it isn't. It's a group of islands made up of three previously independent nations and a number of autonomous territories such as the Isle of Man. Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain though it is part of the United Kingdom and for the purposes of some sports is included in Great Britain teams. Really I can't understand why you have a problem with this! ;) If you want a real puzzle, try working out why Rule Brittania praises the upstanding virtues of Britons when any true Britons now live only in remotest parts of Wales and, as you might expect, Brittany, having long ago been chased away by Celts, Saxons, and then Normans many centuries ago!
Member 9082365 wrote:
Moreover it is a code for autonomous or semi-autonomous regions not necessarily full sovereign states
I get that. However, I would bet that GB, at some point, derived from Great Britain.
Member 9082365 wrote:
No, it isn't. It's a group of islands made up of three previously independent nations
Sorry - you're correct. 3, not 4, and yes, I should have mentioned the other bits. Did I mention that it's a fair chunk to get your head around?
cheers Chris Maunder
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Member 9082365 wrote:
Moreover it is a code for autonomous or semi-autonomous regions not necessarily full sovereign states
I get that. However, I would bet that GB, at some point, derived from Great Britain.
Member 9082365 wrote:
No, it isn't. It's a group of islands made up of three previously independent nations
Sorry - you're correct. 3, not 4, and yes, I should have mentioned the other bits. Did I mention that it's a fair chunk to get your head around?
cheers Chris Maunder
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I'm trying to fix an issue with conflicting country designations. Specifically, country codes. We use the country code "UK" internally to mean "United Kingdom". However, ISO 3166 uses the country code "GB", short for "Great Britain". Sort of. Great Britain is an island comprising England, Scotland and Wales, plus some other bits. The United Kingdom, more correctly called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contains the Island of Great Britain plus Northern Island, plus some other bits. i.e. it's bigger than Great Britain. The country code for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, aka United Kingdom, is GB. GB is short for Great Britain. Except Great Britain doesn't mean the United Kingdom. Britain was used interchangeably with "United Kingdom", but not so much anymore. Following so far? To recap: Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 3 other countries (except they are independent nations, not actual countries) and some other bits. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB". My head hurts just thinking that through. You guys are complicated. [Edit: Updated to correct the bits I got wrong. Other bits I've got wrong have not yet been updated]
cheers Chris Maunder
Island? Should that be Ireland?
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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And isn't the Netherlands part of Spain? Or at least the National Anthem pledges allegiance to the King of Spain IIRC
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
That presumably dates from when one of the Hapsburg's - AKA Habsburg - ruled both Spain and the Low Countries.
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I'm trying to fix an issue with conflicting country designations. Specifically, country codes. We use the country code "UK" internally to mean "United Kingdom". However, ISO 3166 uses the country code "GB", short for "Great Britain". Sort of. Great Britain is an island comprising England, Scotland and Wales, plus some other bits. The United Kingdom, more correctly called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contains the Island of Great Britain plus Northern Island, plus some other bits. i.e. it's bigger than Great Britain. The country code for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, aka United Kingdom, is GB. GB is short for Great Britain. Except Great Britain doesn't mean the United Kingdom. Britain was used interchangeably with "United Kingdom", but not so much anymore. Following so far? To recap: Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 3 other countries (except they are independent nations, not actual countries) and some other bits. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB". My head hurts just thinking that through. You guys are complicated. [Edit: Updated to correct the bits I got wrong. Other bits I've got wrong have not yet been updated]
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
Great Britain and the United Kingdom
Oh dear, those are two different things?! Who knew? :rolleyes:
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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I'm trying to fix an issue with conflicting country designations. Specifically, country codes. We use the country code "UK" internally to mean "United Kingdom". However, ISO 3166 uses the country code "GB", short for "Great Britain". Sort of. Great Britain is an island comprising England, Scotland and Wales, plus some other bits. The United Kingdom, more correctly called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contains the Island of Great Britain plus Northern Island, plus some other bits. i.e. it's bigger than Great Britain. The country code for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, aka United Kingdom, is GB. GB is short for Great Britain. Except Great Britain doesn't mean the United Kingdom. Britain was used interchangeably with "United Kingdom", but not so much anymore. Following so far? To recap: Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 3 other countries (except they are independent nations, not actual countries) and some other bits. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB". My head hurts just thinking that through. You guys are complicated. [Edit: Updated to correct the bits I got wrong. Other bits I've got wrong have not yet been updated]
cheers Chris Maunder
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Not since I played Pirates. First I looted that place and then I chased the governor away and got a fat reward for getting a new one from Spain. Arrrr!
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This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
Breathe. Well, just as the U.S. isn't America. America is two continents and several associated islands, comprising a great many countries. The U.S. is a sizable chunk -- make that two sizable chunks -- of North America, but also includes some islands that are nowhere near America. The United States of North America, Western Canada, and Hawaii :jig: (Plus Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands... ) But, yeah, at least the code isn't NA.
Some years ago I worked (in England) for a US company. We were setting up a new issue reporting system, and the US team were doing most of the design. One of their ideas was to use three letter country codes rather than the internationally agreed two letter ones. Guess what they chose for US based addresses? NOR! Round about that time I really lost interest.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Great Britain and the United Kingdom
Oh dear, those are two different things?! Who knew? :rolleyes:
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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I'm trying to fix an issue with conflicting country designations. Specifically, country codes. We use the country code "UK" internally to mean "United Kingdom". However, ISO 3166 uses the country code "GB", short for "Great Britain". Sort of. Great Britain is an island comprising England, Scotland and Wales, plus some other bits. The United Kingdom, more correctly called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contains the Island of Great Britain plus Northern Island, plus some other bits. i.e. it's bigger than Great Britain. The country code for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, aka United Kingdom, is GB. GB is short for Great Britain. Except Great Britain doesn't mean the United Kingdom. Britain was used interchangeably with "United Kingdom", but not so much anymore. Following so far? To recap: Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 3 other countries (except they are independent nations, not actual countries) and some other bits. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB". My head hurts just thinking that through. You guys are complicated. [Edit: Updated to correct the bits I got wrong. Other bits I've got wrong have not yet been updated]
cheers Chris Maunder
The Channel islands are even more bizarre. Part of the British isles, not part of Great Britain, not part of the UK, but has the Queen as their head, and yet Jersey and Guernsey have different statuses and different currency. We like quaint stuff in Britain, it doesn't matter how ridiculous it is, the more the better in fact, provided it is rooted in ancient history (and confusing to foreigners). :) The term Britain stems from the Brythonic tribe of Celts, who inhabited what is today England and Wales. When the Saxons invaded, creating eventually England, many of these Celts went to France, and set up a new country call little Britain, Brittany, and speak Breton. However Big Britain went on to speak English, and then called, as an ultimate insult, the original Britons, 'foreigners', or 'wealah' in Saxon, the 'welsh' today. :) Of course whether or not the Goedelic celts in Scotland should be part of Britain or not is questionable, but they ended up being included anyway. And the other Goedelic Celtic land, Ireland, is also called part of the British Isles, which the southern Irish hate, since they hate the English. England takes its name from Angeln, in Denmark by the way. East Anglia in the eats of England shows the link more obviously. Anyway, so that's why the Bretons and Welsh speak the same language, and we have the geographical/political mess we have today! :)
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The Channel islands are even more bizarre. Part of the British isles, not part of Great Britain, not part of the UK, but has the Queen as their head, and yet Jersey and Guernsey have different statuses and different currency. We like quaint stuff in Britain, it doesn't matter how ridiculous it is, the more the better in fact, provided it is rooted in ancient history (and confusing to foreigners). :) The term Britain stems from the Brythonic tribe of Celts, who inhabited what is today England and Wales. When the Saxons invaded, creating eventually England, many of these Celts went to France, and set up a new country call little Britain, Brittany, and speak Breton. However Big Britain went on to speak English, and then called, as an ultimate insult, the original Britons, 'foreigners', or 'wealah' in Saxon, the 'welsh' today. :) Of course whether or not the Goedelic celts in Scotland should be part of Britain or not is questionable, but they ended up being included anyway. And the other Goedelic Celtic land, Ireland, is also called part of the British Isles, which the southern Irish hate, since they hate the English. England takes its name from Angeln, in Denmark by the way. East Anglia in the eats of England shows the link more obviously. Anyway, so that's why the Bretons and Welsh speak the same language, and we have the geographical/political mess we have today! :)
Of course many places have the queen as the head of state. And why does Hawaii have the Union Flag [don't forget the same flag has 2 different names depending on where it is flown] on it's own flag. Last time I was in the USA I was asked about a city in England called Glasgow. Oh well.
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I think no one ever really thinks about it. Other than when the English refer to themselves as British and everyone else as English but everyone else refers to themselves as Scottish, Welsh, etc Except for the address when sent from overseas: then mostly always use UK. Other than if you live in the Channel Islands; then you need to use Jersey, Guernsey, etc. Or Isle of Man. Or the Shetland Islands. Or London which is really its own country these days and is everything inside the M25. :-)
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Of course many places have the queen as the head of state. And why does Hawaii have the Union Flag [don't forget the same flag has 2 different names depending on where it is flown] on it's own flag. Last time I was in the USA I was asked about a city in England called Glasgow. Oh well.
Wastedtalent wrote:
Of course many places have the queen as the head of state.
But not because they are the territory of the Duke of Normandy. :)
Wastedtalent wrote:
don't forget the same flag has 2 different names depending on where it is flown
Does it? Union Flag is its only name as far as I know.
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Wastedtalent wrote:
Of course many places have the queen as the head of state.
But not because they are the territory of the Duke of Normandy. :)
Wastedtalent wrote:
don't forget the same flag has 2 different names depending on where it is flown
Does it? Union Flag is its only name as far as I know.
Munchies_Matt wrote:
Does it? Union Flag is its only name as far as I know.
AKA the Union Jack, maybe they can be used interchangeably, maybe only the Union Jack when flown at sea, who knows, there's many conflicting reports on this so depends who you believe.
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Munchies_Matt wrote:
Does it? Union Flag is its only name as far as I know.
AKA the Union Jack, maybe they can be used interchangeably, maybe only the Union Jack when flown at sea, who knows, there's many conflicting reports on this so depends who you believe.
Union Flag is a slang name, the official one is Union Flag.
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I'm trying to fix an issue with conflicting country designations. Specifically, country codes. We use the country code "UK" internally to mean "United Kingdom". However, ISO 3166 uses the country code "GB", short for "Great Britain". Sort of. Great Britain is an island comprising England, Scotland and Wales, plus some other bits. The United Kingdom, more correctly called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contains the Island of Great Britain plus Northern Island, plus some other bits. i.e. it's bigger than Great Britain. The country code for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, aka United Kingdom, is GB. GB is short for Great Britain. Except Great Britain doesn't mean the United Kingdom. Britain was used interchangeably with "United Kingdom", but not so much anymore. Following so far? To recap: Great Britain is an island, not a country. Except that it's made up of 4 3 other countries (except they are independent nations, not actual countries) and some other bits. It doesn't have a country code. The United Kingdom is a Sovereign State and has a country code "GB". My head hurts just thinking that through. You guys are complicated. [Edit: Updated to correct the bits I got wrong. Other bits I've got wrong have not yet been updated]
cheers Chris Maunder
What does the postal service use? I would go with that.
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It's Northern Ireland NOT Island! You will certainly attract some Irish ire with that mistake!
:doh: and :-O I can't believe I wrote that. Bad typo of the year.
cheers Chris Maunder
