What do you call a citizen of the United Kingdom?

Nick Gammon's question got me wondering. What is the proper reference term for a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly called the United Kingdom, or simply the UK? The most common term I have heard is "Brit", referring to Great Britain. But like "American", this is not an accurate geographical term, as it omits the people of Northern Ireland, who are members of the UK, but not Great Britain. So what would be the proper term?

Don't know - but finding the right country at USPS for shipping there is always a challenge!

Briton

Pete

I've been using British but I know no better term to use. What if they're from Northern Ireland? I used to use GB for the country but since changed to UK, thanks to USPS. One of my colleagues great-great-(ish) grandfather even got his last name made up by USPS. It's all powerful.

Does that cover Wales & Scotland too?

My Chambers 20th Century Dictionary (yeah, it's getting old), defines Briton as:
a native or citizen of Great Britain or of any of the associated states.

I've seen the BBC website use it.

Pete

My passport is from The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and says that I'm a British Citizen. So it seems that "British" is the official term, even for those from NI.

I always think of it as shown here..

That's absolutely correct Riva, but doesn't answer the question of what you call someone from the UKoGBaNI. I'm going with "British" simply because that's what my passport says I am.

Hm, since the acronym for the "UK" is Ukogbani, how about Ukogbanian?

JimboZA:
That's absolutely correct Riva, but doesn't answer the question of what you call someone from the UKoGBaNI. I'm going with "British" simply because that's what my passport says I am.

My mistake, I was trying to answer Crossroads question. Should have quoted him to make it clearer.

As to the original question, I suppose the polite way would to say British until you know what country they were born in then maybe refer to there countries name. For me it would be British/English, for the wife it would be British/Scottish (despite the fact she is not living in Scotland).

We call them lots of things, but that is probably not what you meant...

Well I'll start off with Redcoats. :wink:

Redcoats.. talk about the opposite of camouflage, especially with the big white X screaming "Shoot me!"

JimboZA:
Redcoats.. talk about the opposite of camouflage, especially with the big white X screaming "Shoot me!"

They stopped wearing red coats after the first Boer war!
Made them really easy to hit from 1000 yards away!

Here in Australia we call them "poms" or "whinging poms"

Find the video of the folks who just got rescued in Antarctica!
The difference between the Aussies and Poms is pretty funny and speaks for itself!

Australians are inherintly racist to the English.

In the 12 years I've lived here (Australia) I've seen more casual rasists than anywhere else.... just from every day language which they think is fine...

Pom is racist, refering to color of skin .

cjdelphi:
Australians are inherintly racist to the English.

In the 12 years I've lived here (Australia) I've seen more casual rasists than anywhere else.... just from every day language which they think is fine...

Pom is racist, refering to color of skin .

Rubbish!
It's an affectionate term!

Besides they need a little "push", now that they can't bat, bowl or field!!

btw, I'm WAY paler than the average ten dollar pom!

Besides they need a little "push", now that they can't bat, bowl or field!!

Maybe there's a consulting job for the newly retired Kallis, who's shit-hot at all of that.

cjdelphi:
Australians are inherently racist to the English.

Which is interesting, because prior to the re-introduction of "transportation" schemes in the 1950s, the vast majority of Australians were of recent British descent.

Classic Python