Bannerman
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2017
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- #91
You know that Great Britain and the British Isles aren’t the same thing right? Ireland isn’t part of Great Britain but it is part of the British Isles. Like you say, that doesn’t make Irish people British as they don’t live in Britain, but they do live in the British Isles!
Consult Blade_in_Sydney’s excellent Venn diagram ;-)
They only live in the ' British Isles ' according to some British people. As I pointed out in a previous post naming something that you do not have possession of does not make the name correct, only in your view.
The Irish sea does not belong to the Irish and the English channel does not belong to England, the French refer to it as La Manche ( the sleeve ) and are amused by the English habit of naming things as though they own them.
Again, as pointed out previously Prince Charles had the good manners on his last official visit to Ireland to refer to " These Atlantic Isles ".
Carry on calling them the 'British Isles ' if you wish, but as friendly as the Irish are in general if you are ever over there it may be sensible to refrain from using the possesive adjective just in case you have the misfortune to be in the company of one of the rare less than friendly ones