They used to call (England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland) the collective "Great Britain".

Now they just call it Britain or UK. When did they stop being great?

__________________
Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

When they stopped using Lucas Refrigerators.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

When British Leyland was formed.

I was watching Top Gear last night and Jeremy said Great Britain. So it was GB up until at least Season 20 of Top Gear.

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

I read up on this topic prior to a recent-ish trip across the pond. The goal was to not appear to be an ignorant American, though I don't think it was achieved.

Great Britain is the name of the island on which the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales reside. The United Kingdom is a sovereign state comprised of these countries plus Northern Ireland and many smaller islands. So GB refers to geography and UK to the political organization. That said, people tend to use GB or just Britain to refer to the government as well. So the context in which the term is used is important.

my guess is they stopped being great when the Beatles broke up.

According to Woody Harrelson, the only 2 good things that came out of there was America and The Beatles. I am inclined to agree.

__________________
Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Once in a while I get cornered by a bitter and twisted resentful Dutch person demanding "what's so great" about Britain.

My initial response is "what's so great about your understanding of English"?

So many people think that the word "great" in this context is some kind of arrogance. It isn't. It doesn't mean "we're so ****ing great and you're not"...

...the word great has several meanings =>

great - definition of great in English from the Oxford dictionary

In the context of a land mass great just means large or the larger part of - see definition 1.3 in the link above.

At the moment GB (the abbreviation of Great Britain) is used on every "euro" number plate. It is still in common use although because a large part of the non native English speaking population on planet earth thinks we're being arrogant, in our use of the word great, often the misnomer "united" is used.

We're not united and there's very little kingdom left!

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Us americans mostly like to have ONE definition for a word, you don't mind. Keeps things simple like.

__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
__________________________________
84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Webster == American right?

Great | Definition of Great by Webster's Online Dictionary

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Out here we got a name for things,

For rain and wind and fire.

The rain is Tess, the fire is Joe,

And we call the wind..... Maria.

The United Kingdom (or U.K.) is the country, Great Britain is the island, and England is one of the U.K.'s four administrative regions.

The difference between England, Britain and the UK

Mariah.

__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
__________________________________
84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

wait for it, I have an early copy of Idle's response which is coming soon!

"no actually in the first version which I co wrote with myself and other notables including Me and I, the original name was Maria. Mariah was just a factor of Lee Marvins speech impediment impacting Alan Lerners (my assumed name) writing during filming where I was the director as well. Later on Lee gave birth to Mariah Carey, who I also know intimately. "

__________________
This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Nope, It's "Maria", might be pronounced as "Mariah" but the spelling is "Maria". Shucks, and we thought it was only those crazy Brits who pronounced words funny!

__________________
“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales
GB or Britain is short for Great Britain
United Kingdom is short for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
UK is short for United Kingdom

__________________
With best regards

Al