| Comment | English ≠ British: "Oops, SORRY. I'm always confusing all these different terms. Thanks for correcting!"
Here's a handy way of remembering...
When Germany became Germany in 1871, Prussia was rather at the forefront and if I remember rightly Prussia's capital became Germany's capital.
Imagine if all the other countries around the world, already used to dealing with Prussia as an entity, simply kept the old name. In other words, the new country that now reached to the Alps in the south and the Low Countries in the west was seen as an expanded Prussia. The name Germany doesn't catch on abroad, we all simply call the new, post-1871 nation Prussia.
And to this day, Bavarians, Hessians, Rhinelanders et al were having to explain that while they were German, they were not Prussian... That's what it's like, for Scots, Northern Irish, Welsh etc.
The *island* was named Britannia by the Romans. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes later came from what is now Germany and settled on about half of the island. This part was named England after the Angles (from Angeln). The Celts kept the other half, and later it was divided into Scotland and Wales.
It's all pretty messed up. Officially the country is called 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. But our cars either have GB or NI on them. And we have four football teams in international competitions. |
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