Steve_

Not entirely sure why you're so wound up about this but I would expect Americans to have a better understanding of the nuances of America than someone who is not American, so not really a valid basis for comparison.

Speaking as someone who lived in the US a long time, I'm sure I was just as confused about certain bits of American geography and nationality as Americans are about UK geography and nationality.

Does Puerto Rico even have a rugby team?

MarylandNed

You're completely missing the point. And I'm not sure why you're only talking about Americans. I've met people from many different countries who have been confused about the various terms used to describe the various parts of the British Isles. The thing that you seem to be missing is that it's not just the multiple terms - it's also the fact that a SINGLE term can be used to mean different things by different people at different times. I even heard the same person use the same term for different meanings at different times! For example, what does "Britain" mean? Sometimes it is used to mean the UK. Sometimes it is used to mean Great Britain. Sometimes it is used to mean the British Isles. This are all different entities.

This is why we have a YouTube video trying to explain away the confusion and it has nearly 4.5 million views! And even then I spotted at least one mistake.

What you're talking about is something different. Of course there will always be some people who have a misunderstanding of the geography or nationality issues of any country. I've never encountered the same level of confusion about any other country that the UK seems to create. And here's the kicker - even after spending a significant amount of time explaining it, people still have a hard time REMEMBERING it later.

Steve_

Yes. Yes I am. I couldn't possibly understand it, I'm just not that smart.

But oddly smart enough to wind people up without them realizing it...

So... it's EXACTLY the same thing.

Possibly because you're from there? So people ask you the question??

These sort of questions come up all over the place. With Caribbean jurisdictions that are part of France, or are they part of the Netherlands, and what is New Caledonia anyway? And if you're French why can you live there but if you're from the EU you can't, but you can live in France? But if they're part of France and they have representation in the National Assembly how is it that you can't live there unless you're French? And are you French or are you Guadeloupese, etc.

These are the sorts of conversations on this forum EVERY DAY. Including this one.

But you speak English, you're from the UK and you live in America, so... that is the perspective you see it from, Americans asking you about the UK and what is all that Britain and Queen nonsense about anyway?

If you were Danish and you lived in Germany, then people might possibly be asking you about Greenland and the Faroe Islands. And what does the Queen of Denmark do anyway?

MarylandNed

Calm down! I think you're the one getting wound up!

Again you're missing the point. I said the concept of the UK was confusing...and that it causes more widespread confusion than the concept of any other country. I didn't say that there weren't people confused about other topics. However, if the concept of France is more confusing, show me a YouTube video explaining the concept of France that has more than 4.4 million views.

BristolUK

The next time there's a debate in the Guardian with people arguing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland shouldn't have separate football teams but not entertaining the idea that there are similar 'irregularities' elsewhere, I'm going to call on you.

Steve_

By the way, this guy has also done a similar video about the US and Canada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkYlIA7mgw

Steve_

Because clearly that's the metric to use. How many times someone has clicked on a hyperlink. And the one I posted above has 3 million views.