Question about adjective for people of UK

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Loy

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When describing a citizen of the United Kingdom, does one refer to the person as “British”? Or does one use “British” only with regard to a person who is from England, while referring to citizens from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as “Scots”, “Welsh”, and “Irish” respectively?
 
“British” is normally used to cover the whole UK. Someone from England (like me) is English, though I would normally tell people I’m British because I’m talking about my citizenship. If I want to specify what part of the UK I come from, I’d probably say I’m from London.

In Northern Ireland, you’ll hear the expression “GB” (short for Great Britain) when they want to refer to the rest of the UK excluding Northern Ireland. But that expression is in local use only. I don’t think anyone else would use it in everyday conversation.
 
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Thanks! The only times I ever see the term GB is either in the Olympics (it’s odd seeing one team from Great Britain, and another from Scotland!), or on those oval nation stickers they put on the back of autos.
 
Technicality, British can refer to both the entirety of the British Isles, although that’s rarely ever how it’s used, and the island of Great Britain, how it’s more commonly used. Unfortunately, where I live in the United States, we tend to think Great Britain just means English. Which, is a bit weird, given the word Brit is a Celtic word and not a Germanic one. I had a professor that is from Scotland, she refers to herself mostly as Scottish, but was not offended by being called British, and said that when she lived in France they drove the point that she was British home. She often does call herself British, and says she’s very British. I’ve seen some Scottish nationalist that don’t like being called British, but again I don’t understand that, because Great Britain is still the name of the island either way. That said, I can completely understand why you shouldn’t call Scottish and Welsh people English.
 
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