America is a continent, not a country

Posted Mar 19, 2020 22:07 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304)
In reply to: America is a continent, not a country by jkingweb
Parent article: Bringing encryption restrictions in through the back door

The UK has the same problem, saved by the fact that 'Briton' refers to *almost* the same people -- and unsaved by the fact that, to a first approximation, nobody uses the word 'Briton' other than newspapers.

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Mar 20, 2020 13:05 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

Not helped by the fact that "Briton", in modern British usage, means someone who was here before the Anglo-Saxons arrived ... :-)

Cheers,
Wol

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 14, 2024 22:30 UTC (Wed) by neilbrown (subscriber, #359) [Link] (4 responses)

We don't say "Briton", we say "British", which is an adjective just like "American" is.

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 16, 2024 22:55 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (3 responses)

Bear in mind also, that Briton and Breton are (historically) the same word.

Nowadays the distinction is that Britons come from Grand Bretagne, while Bretons come from Petit Bretagne.

Nationality is complicated ... and usually rooted in myth, not fact, to boot ...

Cheers,
Wol

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 19, 2024 7:53 UTC (Mon) by laarmen (subscriber, #63948) [Link] (2 responses)

Since we're wading into linguistic pedantry, that'd be Grande-Bretagne (Great Britain) vs Bretagne (Brittany). Brittany is culturally divided into Lower and Upper Brittany, so as a Breton I would probably wonder if you're talking about Lower Brittany if you say "Petite Bretagne".

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 20, 2024 14:50 UTC (Tue) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (1 responses)

I did say it was complicated ... :-) and more myth than fact :-)

But I've always understood Grand- and Petit- Bretagne to be a matching pair, as in "the land of the Br(e/i)tons" before the Romans, so Petit-Bretagne to me is all of Brittany. I didn't know that was divided into "Upper" and "Lower".

Cheers,
Wol

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 20, 2024 23:45 UTC (Tue) by jkingweb (subscriber, #113039) [Link]

Just by the way, Bretagne is feminine. La Grande-Bretagne est au nord de la plus petite Bretagne.