I can't believe I'm asking this, but is the UK a country?

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

The UK consists of, Wales, NI , Scotland and mainland England. And collectively we are Britain's

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

Yes, I'm aware. Does that mean that the UK isn't a country?

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

The UK is a united kingdom, of islands.. .. So not technically one of anything. But a reference to a place. And what's with the snotty, " Yes I am aware"

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

Fuck me, everyone is so touchy. With that attitude, you'd fit in well on TikTok.

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

WOW, you are such a pleasure to converse with

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

Thanks for reporting my comments. Although I don't really care about being alive anymore, I'm not planning on offing myself just yet. Thanks for the concern though x

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

Could you re explain this into a context that I will understand. TIA

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

Just had the automated "Someone reported your comment, here's the suicide helpline" message.

I know I'm a cunt, but no need for that 🤣

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

I haven't reported any comments about you

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

Never mind. Sorry for any offence caused.

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

I am sorry that someone has taken it upon themselves to report your comments. I am quite shocked as you have been exceptionally mild in your replies. T.C

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B179LT@reddit

Good luck getting a Welsh passport, applying to the Northern Irish navy, or voting in the English parliament.

A country of countries - is purely semantic.

And simply function as states/provinces/regions when compared to other nations.

No one today says - Germany is made up of two countries (which actually where distinct entities within the live times of anyone over 35).

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

Germany is made up of two countries

Because it's not. It's not because Germany chooses not to handle the merger/union like that and draws no distinction.

The UK has a different history, and handled things differently

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GXWT@reddit

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are countries.

Also, the United Kingdom is a country.

Us humans are naturally complex and a bit weird, sometimes not everything (needs to) follow perfect rules and make perfect sense.

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ggssmm1@reddit

Playing devil’s advocate: If England is a country, why do people born in England often refer to themselves as British and rarely say they’re English?

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

There seems to be a rule, in that English people , have to say that they are British. Where as a person from Scotland, can say that they are Scottish.

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RevolutionaryPace167@reddit

I have this bug bear all of the time. As in it is acceptable to say that you are Welsh, Scottish, Irish. But being English we are forced to say that we are British

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Living-Pea-8857@reddit

Absolutely no one is forcing you. You can say you're English if you want. Some people just better identify with a Britain wide nationality ie. British.

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PeaceDuck@reddit

No one’s forcing you, it’s perfectly fine to be a proud Englishman/woman

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You could use either interchangeably and they’d be correct. But the answer is the same reason you see (more often) Scottish flags in Scotland but no or union jacks in England: the English flag unfortunately carries a little bit of EDL connotations.

That, and I think in general someone from England identifies more with a, quite literally, a United Kingdom more so than someone from the other countries do - see Scottish independence attempts, etc

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Pedantichrist@reddit

And Great Britain. It is superb.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

Is Great Britain a country? Not sure about that one. The UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland certainly are all countries. I'm not sure GB can reasonably be considered one though.

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ChefPaula81@reddit

GB isn’t but Uk is

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GXWT@reddit

You’re right in that it’s not really a country. But again it’s slightly enough in the grey area where I wouldn’t care or correct someone if they called it a country.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

Oh, I can understand why somebody might make the mistake. It's complicated. Also, a lot of people just flat out forget the existence of Northern Ireland as part of the UK. Can't remember which politician it was a couple of years ago who said the UK is an island with no borders!

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GXWT@reddit

Possibly a mistake we are human after all, but also got to remember that intelligence isn’t a prerequisite for being a politician

It’s an easy mistake to make confusing GB. If you ask where I’m from, I’d say either the UK, Britain or that I’m British. The fact it’s represented with Ireland in the olympics too definitely implies it might be a country

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jaa101@reddit

The Kingdom of Great Britain was a sovereign state from (from memory) 1707 until, in 1801, it united with the Kingdom of Ireland to become ... the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. So Great Britain is no longer a sovereign state and no longer a country.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

Exactly.

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markhewitt1978@reddit

Great Britain is the name usually given to the main island in the British Isles.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

I know. I'm pointing out I'm unsure it fits any definition of a country.

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StrongDorothy@reddit

Great Britain isn’t a country. It’s the landmass consisting of England, Scotland, and Wales.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

Precisely.

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GXWT@reddit

How great!

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Qyro@reddit

Great Britain is not a country, it’s the island we live on.

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G30fff@reddit

The definition of 'country' is not sufficiently precise to distinguish between the various political units that are in play within the UK. The UK is a country, so is Wales, England, even Britain and Northern Ireland separately. The 'debate' here is really a debate about the definition of word which is, in other words, a semantic debate. It's rarely worth arguing about semantics and people who insist on the primacy of their own personal interpretation above all others are as misguided as they are numerous.

You're right, they are wrong.

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markhewitt1978@reddit

It's also down to history and conventions. The we call them countries. We could equally call them states. Australia calls its subdivisions states, it could call them countries, if it wanted to; but doesn't by history and convention.

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Motraned@reddit

it could call them countries, if it wanted to; but doesn't by history and convention.

It can't because historically they are not countries, nor are they treated like countries. Both are true for the UK.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

It can't because historically they are not countries

Neither is Northern Ireland, it was historically part of Ireland, not a country in its own right.

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Motraned@reddit

Northern Ireland isn't a country, nor is Wales, Scotland and England are countries, N.I. is a province and Wales is a principality.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

NI is usually considered a province formally, though is admittedly called a country a lot

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

And Wales was never a country, it just about managed a principality perhaps.

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G30fff@reddit

For sure - although there is of course a historical reason for the difference between Wales and New South Wales in terms of how those political units came about but that doesn't change your argument. And arguably 'state' and 'country' are synonymous anyway. Arguably they aren't but that's semantics for you!

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markhewitt1978@reddit

Well yeah. When you talk about the UN and EU you talk about Member States.

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Gecko_xt@reddit

The UK is a country made up of constituent nations. People often confuse, sometimes deliberately, the nuance between a nation and a country but it is there.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

There's no nuance or confusion - they're countries.

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

Define country, because the biggest feature is going to be sovereignty and they don't have it.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

There is no singular definition and nor does there need to be. They're countries because of a combination of history and that we all agree they are - it's that simple.

Which magical worldwide conclusive definition do you have and are working to?

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Gecko_xt@reddit

I’m afraid this very thread defeats your main argument - we don’t all agree. And the EU certainly referred to Scotland as a region, not a country. Virtually no international organisation does.

You could change your argument and say there are different ‘types’ of country. Scotland is one type, and the UK another. But ultimately, when you start looking at the characteristics of the type of country England, Scotland and Wales are it seems to me you’re actually defining a nation.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

I’m afraid this very thread defeats your main argument - we don’t all agree.

It was "we" as in the UK and it's governance, I wasn't trying to imply literally every person in the world agrees. Which I think was pretty obvious.

Again, which magical international standard do you refer to when you keep making your claims?

You could change your argument and say there are different ‘types’ of country. Scotland is one type, and the UK another.

There are, one is a sovereign nation state - that's fine, nobody is pretending they are "equal"

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Gecko_xt@reddit

I had no doubt you thought everyone agreed. Unfortunately, not even the UK agrees. Look at Scotland - half think Scotland is a country, half don’t.

The magical standard definition of a country I use is sovereignty. Simply put, you can’t be a country and not have sovereignty. You’re a nation.

Like I said, there’s nuance and many people confuse the two. You’ve just added more evidence to my argument.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

The magical standard definition of a country I use is sovereignty. Simply put, you can’t be a country and not have sovereignty. You’re a nation.

Well that's your own, incorrect, definition. Simple as.

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Gecko_xt@reddit

Your entire argument is Scotland and Wales are countries so that’s proof that they are countries. In philosophy we’d say you’re begging the question.

You admitted that they are different types of country, and this is where the nuance lies. I admit people use the word country flippantly without thinking of its true meaning, but that doesn’t mean they’re correct. Even the UN, FIFA or whatever other example you care to throw at me.

If we all decided to call the sky green, so your argument goes, it would be green. Fair enough, I agree to a point. But then what about the grass? That would have to be blue. Otherwise, green would mean two things. How would I know which car was yours if we can’t agree on language? Words have meanings and become useless without them. Analytic philosophy has something to say here.

For you, country can mean multiple things. It can be a territory with sovereignty or a territory without sovereignty. It can mean being able to issue passports which grant rights, or not. It can mean securing a border, or not. When you start to think about it, your definition of country (which you strangely never gave) is so wide and all-encompassing it starts to lose meaning. Why isn’t Yorkshire a country? It seems to meet whatever loose definition you have. You might argue that it isn’t a country because ‘we’ don’t call it a country (a logical fallacy) but we could start calling it a country. We could start calling every town and village in the UK a country and I assume you’d be ok with that. That is the essence of your argument.

I wouldn’t. For me, words have meanings. Language matters. It makes no sense to use the word country so liberally. How can we communicate effectively if we can’t agree on something so seemingly simple. Therefore, rather than a ‘bizarre and incorrect’ definition of the word country I’m actually making life and the English language easier by sticking to easily understood definitions and concepts. Country and nation.

I fully expect the vast majority of people to not do this, you included. That doesn’t make it right. There’s no epistemological merit in the power of numbers. People are wrong all the time. Popper would say that’s a good thing, as long as we correct ourselves. Most people aren’t like Sir Karl however, and continue in getting things wrong. I suspect you will continue to as well but at least you’ll now know why you’re wrong.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

Just literally lol. Is this your first time realising languages aren't centred around pure logic?

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Gecko_xt@reddit

It’s ok, you don’t have to understand what I meant

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

Language doesn't work unless people agree definitions, and frankly your point comes across as waffle to avoid a definition that you know wouldn't work for the UK setup

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Throwaway_6543867@reddit

Nobody going to mention the elephant in the room that Wales is a principality and not a country. Hence why it is always lumped together as England and Wales.

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GradeAffectionate157@reddit

Wrong and has been wrong for 500 years

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Alundra828@reddit

Yes, the UK is a country.

It's composed of 3 countries, England, Scotland, and Wales that are in a union with one another.

The reason the UK is a single country is because while England, Scotland, and Wales have their own parliaments, they ultimately defer decisions on a national level to a single parliament in Westminster. Therefore, ultimate authority for all 3 countries are handled by 1 parliament, hence the UK is a single country, made of many countries.

The UK is also not the only country in the world that does this.

The Netherlands is made of 4 constituent countries. Namely, the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten. There is also Bosnia and Herzegovina, composed of two entities and one district. And if you get a bit more technical with it, you can also sort of claim that Switzerland, and Russia are similar in that they have cantons and federal subjects which could be countries but sort of aren't.

There is also lots of historical precedence for this too. The Soviet Union was composed of 15 Soviet republics, all ostensibly their own countries, yet deferred to Moscow. Yugoslavia was 6 republics that all deferred to Belgrade, the Austro-Hungarian empire was two kingdoms in a union together deferring power to Vienna. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a single country born of a union between the kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, wherein power was deferred to Krakow. The Kalmar Union was a union between Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, all three countries deferred power to the king who lived in Kalmar.

So yes, a country of countries is a recognised, and established thing that can happen. And the UK is one such example.

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jaa101@reddit

Aren't you forgetting Northern Ireland?

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Alundra828@reddit

Northern Ireland is arguably not a country, but a "region" or "province".

People sometimes refer to it as a country, and argue that it is. But regardless of whether it is, it's clearly not a state in the sense that England, Scotland, and Wales are. Northern Ireland has no parliament, and instead has an "assembly", which is basically just a go between from the executive in Northern Ireland to Westminster. So it has very little say in what it can actually do.

It varies on who you ask. And if there is that much ambiguity behind it, I'd personally say it's not a country.

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GradeAffectionate157@reddit

Just to add, parliament and assembly are the same thing. The French have an assembly

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

The same for Wales.

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jaa101@reddit

Even apart from whether NI is a country, you can't just say that the UK is made up of 3 countries and leave it at that.

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ExpensiveTree7823@reddit

"some of the comments from fellow Brits"

It's mainly people from the UK but not England saying that. As a way of coping with the fact they're not real countries anymore (neither is England). Even if we call them countries it doesn't mean it's true. If Saskatchewan wanted to be called a country in Canada we wouldn't all act like Saskatchewan is a country in the same way Germany is.

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

Lots of them were people from England. It's a scary app.

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ExpensiveTree7823@reddit

Ive mainly heard this from Scottish people. If you want to see them explode just say Scotland isn't a real country it's just a region of the UK, a country.

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JBEqualizer@reddit

I honestly wouldn't give a second thought to what people on twat tok have to say. Especially if every single one of these people don't understand what a country is.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

Especially if every single one of these people don't understand what a country is.

Define country in a way that includes everything which is a country, and excludes everything which isn't?

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

Funny how nobody is forthcoming with these magical definitions that categorically prove Scotland isn't a country, isn't it.

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Theremingtonfuzzaway@reddit

When the cleansing happens, it will be easier to identify those to be made into soylent green.

I'm sure it's in the tiktok terms and conditions.

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gridlockmain1@reddit

Some people get upset about the idea that their “country” within the UK isn’t a “proper country” but they’re not. The UK is a country made up of nations that are given the label “country” but are not afforded the status of an actually country by the international system at all.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

There's no rule that a country has to be a sovereign/nation state, just like there's no rule that they have to have passports.

They're countries, that's what they are. Scotland didn't cease to be a country when it joined the Union, for example.

You're seeking a definition that simply doesn't exist - there's no controversy or complexity here. They're countries, but they're not nation/soverign states.

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

Their definition is closer to the international one than yours. If you don't have sovereignty then you really aren't a country.

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

Who says? ISO disagree, and that's literally the "International Standards Organisation".

There is no "international definition of a country" that disagree that Wales and Scotland are countries.

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NotAProperAccount3@reddit

Unless that international system is FIFA, just to further confuse things.

(I'm on your side, but I do think that is one of the main sources of confusion).

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Mop_Jockey@reddit

The UK is a country, it's also a sovereign state made of constituent countries.

It can be both.

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massdebate159@reddit (OP)

That's what I keep saying, but I kept getting shut down 🤣

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Ok_Zucchini3149@reddit

Don’t argue with idiots, they’ve had years of practice

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PoutineRoutine46@reddit

The 'country' of which you speak it the simple admin agreement for all 4 to become one in global politics.

It used to be a medieval royalty agreement but now its just admin in reality.

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

It'll be regional nationalist idiots.

We use country for internal regions instead of state or department or province. They aren't actual countries as they aren't sovereign and two of them never were.

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Intruder313@reddit

It’s actually the entity that’s most like a country as the 4 bits can’t act independently internationally

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beingthehunt@reddit

It's just that the word country has multiple definitions. People just use whichever one aligns best with their political view. It's like if people argued whether a mac is a computer or a rain coat. A pointless argument.

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ChefPaula81@reddit

It’s a computer designed to keep the rain off you

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Plastic-Function-244@reddit

I wouldn't worry too much what people on tiktok think.

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ChefPaula81@reddit

Bold to assume that anyone on TikTok thinks

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Global-Chart-3925@reddit

‘People on TikTok think’ is the most contentious thing I’ve read all day.

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No_Blackberry_9712@reddit

most would not even know what contentious even means 😂

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strawbebbymilkshake@reddit

You won’t find the brightest sparks in TikTok comments sections, it’s the equivalent of trying to educate someone’s dad on Facebook.

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StatisticianOwn9953@reddit

I could understand and even largely agree if someone said the UK is a state comprised of nations. Whether or not you want to call that a country feels a hit irrelevant imo.

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Mop_Jockey@reddit

I was close to getting sucked into that debate on here so I think I'll just quit.

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StrongDorothy@reddit

Relevant CGP Grey

https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10

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Cultural-Plum-9007@reddit

The UK is totally a country; it’s like saying the US isn’t a country just because it’s made up of states.

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StrongDorothy@reddit

Except the states aren’t countries.

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PoutineRoutine46@reddit

He's almost right apart from being completely wrong!

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Competitive_Alps_514@reddit

And neither are our regions as they aren't sovereign, we just use that word. Hell two of the four were never sovereign and two ceased to be long before the modern era.

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Mop_Jockey@reddit

Hawaii used to be an independent kingdom and both California and Texas were sovereign republics. State is often synonymous with country, like the UK has state benefits and a state pension etc.

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StrongDorothy@reddit

Used to be. They aren’t countries now.

A country is a state. A state isn’t a country.

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Mop_Jockey@reddit

They aren't now because people just agreed to stop referring to them as such, there is no hard and fast rule. Plenty of people refer to the UK as country.

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markhewitt1978@reddit

Only by convention. They could be countries if the government and people wished it.

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StrongDorothy@reddit

Yes. But they aren’t.

The UK consists of four countries. The USA consists of 50 states.

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PoutineRoutine46@reddit

No it's not.

Wrong and misleading.

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PoutineRoutine46@reddit

Its a fake admin country. Nothing more. Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland are countries in their own right, but are classed as 'constituents' and as long as they are part of the union. They are tied to this simple admin agreement.

This still means the UK is a country but its only for administration.

The rest of the world needed a way to incorporate The United Kingdom into the global system and it has no way of doing this unless there is an administration classification for the 4 separate country nations to be umbrella'd over.

Its unique in the Western World in its formation. This is why people get confused about this.

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Next_Complex_9640@reddit

What's tik tok?

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glasgowgeg@reddit

What's Google?

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Round-Spite-8119@reddit

It's a country of countries, and that really is all to it.

One of them, the United Kingdom, is a nation state - and is comprised of other countries.

The unique nature of it seems to cause people real issues - there's no rule that "countries" have to be nation states, have to have passports, have to be independently recognised by the UN or whatever.

We're unique in our history and our make up and that's fine.

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MidnightRambler87@reddit

Your biggest error is watching the shite on that platform, let along engaging in it.

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robinbg88@reddit

Yes. It is also a sovereign State made up of 4 countries.

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Candid-Bike-9165@reddit

The way I see it is the uk is a country for legal trade and political perpose

The four countries within are for historical societal social and traditional purposes and are closer to what we traditionally think of as a country

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Fractalien@reddit

You stumbled into a thread of multiple thick people.

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Scarred_fish@reddit

The United Kingdom is a collection of four separate countries. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. That's it.

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IpromithiusI@reddit

The United Kingdom is a sovereign state, which is about the highest level of recognition you can get. It's a country of countries. It's not mutually exclusive.

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J1m1983@reddit

Isn't that effectively what the USA is too? I mean they're states, right?

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Motraned@reddit

No. The US is a federal system.

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Mop_Jockey@reddit

And federations are just political unions of states, thats it.

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Party_Broccoli_702@reddit

The word “United” suggests it is a Union of countries, and is a recognised state internationally, with a head of state in the King. So a state made of countries.

But the US is a country made of states.

And the EU is made of countries, but is mot a state.

Trying to make sense of it is a waste of time.

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DeifniteProfessional@reddit

It is indeed. And what's also funny, is the City of London is a city inside London. Which makes the City of London a city within a city within a country within a country

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sudden-arboreal-stop@reddit

What happens if you add a Man City fan?

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tmstms@reddit

C'mon. We know Man City fans are a myth.

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Garfie489@reddit

To be fair, you are at least more likely to find Man City fans in London than you are in Manchester

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_IyesI_@reddit

The confusion comes from us calling the UK a country as well as England, Scotland, Wales and NI* countries.

The UK is the only one that’s a sovereign state, like the US or Germany. England would be more similar to state like New York or Bavaria. It’s just we don’t use the word state, we call ours countries.

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Motraned@reddit

It’s just we don’t use the word state, we call ours countries.

Not in the slightest. There isn't a modern comparison to the United Kingdom, because it's a unique case that will never really exist again because of how precedence works.

The Holy Roman Empire was probably a closer comparison than a modern federal country like Germany or the US.

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Otherwise_Mud_4594@reddit

It's a shithole.

There is a difference.

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handsome_vulpine@reddit

It's complicated.

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BlakeC16@reddit

That's weird. I can understand people having arguments about whether or not the constituent countries are really countries, I would say they are but can see the logic either way. But the UK is clearly and obviously a country, so it's absolutely absurd that anyone would have a debate about it.

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Ojohnnydee222@reddit

Can you get a Passport issued by the country of Scotland? No.

Can you get a Driving Licence issued by Wales? No.

Can you get a TV Licence for the country of Northern Ireland? No.

These are examples of 'nations' that make up, with the dominant nation, England, the United Kingdom of Great Britain* & Northern Ireland.

So the UK is a union of 4 nations. Yes, it's stretching the meaning of the word 'nation', but countries do this all the time. Guadalupe is part of the nation of France, despite being in a different part of the world. Guernsey, despite being very close to France, isn't French in any way.

*Great Britain is the island that contains England, Wales and Scotland, plus 'some' offshore islands like The Orkneys & The Shetlands, but not the Isle Of Man or the Channel Islands. GB excludes Northern Ireland, but the UK includes it. It helps to be looking at a map when reading this.

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Ojohnnydee222@reddit

Foreign policy - the making of Treaties, declaring war, opening embassies etc - is in the hands of the UK government.

If the English nation had a parliament to handle devolved things like education, health and benefits, like Wales, Scotland & N.I. do, it would be less confusing. There are times when a Scottish mp voting on say HS2 has a say in something that has no impact on Scotland, ditto Wales. All England-only affairs are conducted in the UK Parliament. How about that?

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ucardiologist@reddit

No it’s not a country it’s a union of countries just like the EU But most of those members speak English sort of thing.

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Basic-Pangolin553@reddit

It is a state, comprising countries which theselves are not sovereign states, unlike other countries which are sovereign states. Could equally call them provinces or something (although people would be upset)

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IneptusMechanicus@reddit

The confusion is that 'country' doesn't really mean anything. However, assuming you mean state then eys, the UK is a unitary state formed of several former states that formally dissolved and were re-incorporated as a single state.

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HengeHopper@reddit

How many countries? - map men

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nB688xBYdY

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StrongDorothy@reddit

CGP Grey also

https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10

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AerodynamicHandshake@reddit

It's four countries in a union.

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First-Lengthiness-16@reddit

The union is a country itself

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AerodynamicHandshake@reddit

Exactly, a union of four countries that makes a larger country.

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Chunderdragon86@reddit

Itsabinchofcountriesunitedtogethertoformonekingdom

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scorpius69@reddit

What about northern Ireland. Is that part of the UK? Or is it classed the same as Gibraltar

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Absentmined42@reddit

NI is part of the UK - it’s the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’.

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory, so the UK has ultimate authority over it and King Charles is the head of state, but its parliament is devolved.

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Sidebottle@reddit

Depends how you define country.

Most people in the world will define country interchangeably with sovereign state, a seat at the UN etc.

In that definition the UK is a country.

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specialdelivery88@reddit

We are a sovereign country made up of four countries. This is what causes confusion!

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OtherManner7569@reddit

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country yes, it is recognised as such by the UN, EU, nato and all other nations. It has everything a country has, citizenship, a military, a currency, a foreign policy, a central bank. Anyone who claims it’s not a country is pretty stupid to he honest.

The UK has a unique constitutional setup as it is made up of 4 smaller countries and came about as a result of union between them, wales and England in the 1500s, kingdom of Scotland and kingdom of England (including wales) in 1707, and Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, now only Northern Ireland.

So the UK is a country but also its constituent parts are also country’s, though the UK is sovereign not its constituent countries. In practical sense the devolved nations are de facto sovereign over their own internal affairs but obviously not over the UK as a whole.

The whole idea the UK is “not a country” is commonly found among hardcore Scottish and Welsh nationalists as a justification for unilateral separation. Its not true no matter now much they pretend it is.

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Educational_Tell_213@reddit

I always thought it wasn’t but u guess I was wrong

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Next_Sort_7473@reddit

Simple answer: yes the UK is a country. One currency, one border, one army, one passport....list goes on.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

It's a union of countries but which functions as a single entity for most purposes.

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KingStevoI@reddit

No. The uk is a constituent of 4 countries, one of which is not attached to the rest. Britain is as it's the name of the island given by the romans (Britannia).

However, the UK countries have a joint government so they are politically locked, which is why the constituency is often referred to as a country itself, most likely.

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imtheorangeycenter@reddit

I was taught at school (I vividly remember it) that we were four provinces in one country.

Only when I got to 40 did I find that was, um, incorrect.

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solomanbones@reddit

Great explanation by CPG Grey here:-

https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10?si=4bbOjhNElItV1OXa

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Gauntlets28@reddit

Of course it's a country. The only reason we also call the subdivisions "countries" is because our political system predates the more popular term "state". Which when you think about it is also a confusing term, because state can also mean both a sovereign state and a sub-division of a sovereign state. And that only came to mean that because the US started out as a loose confederation of states, and later evolved into a more unified federal one over time.

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NVision92@reddit

https://youtu.be/tFpOLltUnnQ?si=PEAUHeu4s2I2Omsg

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HardAtWorkISwear@reddit

This topic, much like the language, is needlessly complex due to our history and therefore difficult to learn.

I'll be honest, I don't know. I know Great Britain isn't a country, but the name of the island that is inhabited by England, Scotland & Wales.

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MttRss85@reddit

Ask these luminaries on tik tok if usa is not a country since it’s also, by name, a union of states

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Ok-Condition1144@reddit

It’s a single country comprised of a union of ex-countries.

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-Blue_Bull-@reddit

Most people on the internet just like arguing semantics. We call it arguing the toss in the UK. It literally means, arguing for the point of arguing, as opposed to disagreeing and coming up with a resolution. I'm sure the American equivalent is trolling.

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blacklig@reddit

I have a box. In that box I put four other boxes. None of these boxes are more or less of a box as a result.

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Willeth@reddit

As always, there is a very instructive Map Men video about this: https://youtu.be/3nB688xBYdY

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markhewitt1978@reddit

It's both. It can be a sovereign state that is a member of a UK or it can be a more general term in terms of a defined land area with a defined population. And the countries of the UK also fit this definition.

The part people often struggle with is that words can have more than one meaning even when applied to similar areas. So the UK and England are both countries, just not in the same way.

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MountainMuffin1980@reddit

"The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain,[m] is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland.[21][22] It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland".

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