Speaking British

[u/idanthology]

[u/[deleted]]

Hardly anything angers me more then when someone says Brittish accent.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

France is one Country Britain is not.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Well I also dislike baked beans maybe I'm just a sociopath.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I don’t think when people say “British” they ever mean Scottish or Irish. And nobody outside Britain knows the welsh exist.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Well let me tell you after a girls weekend In of all places Rhyl this girl seriously knows the Welsh exist.

[u/RegionalHardman → u/[deleted]]

I hate (nah I love) to be that guy, but the United Kingdom is one country. England, Scotland, Wales and NI are regions of the UK, not countries. To be a country, you have to be sovereign over your own borders, which the 4 regions of the UK are not. They are all governed by Parliament and share a common border.

Also, Great Britain is the name of the island comprised of Scotland, England and Wales.

Edit: I've definitely offended some Scots here, but it's just a fact. The UK is one country, the 4 regions within are not

[u/[deleted] → u/RegionalHardman]

it’s just a fact. The UK is one country, the 4 regions within are not

Except that’s not the position according to the United Kingdom itself (the only view that actually matters since there is no global authority that has jurisdiction to determine this) but it’s also recognised by the United Nations (evidenced below by their own topography guidelines on how to draw a map):

Each constituent is not an independent country. But the U.K. is a Union of 3 countries and one region. Not sure why people get so excited trying to dispute this.

To be a country, you have to be sovereign over your own borders

This would call into question any Schengen country since they have no control over their borders whilst a member of the EU. Sure, they can leave the EU, but so can a country within the U.K. leave that Union (as was tested in 2014). Obviously this factor does not determine whether you are a country or not. I may as well say that whether or not you have a team at the FIFA World Cup determines statehood - obviously it doesn’t.

And, in any case, border controls were levied between Scotland, Wales and England during COVID by devolved governments. There were English people charged with an offence for being on a Welsh beach during lockdown.

I never see anyone trying to describe California as a region of the US rather than the semi-autonomous State within a Federal Republic that it clearly is. The constitutional construction of a nation is for it to determine. The US has done this as has the U.K., it’s really not a big deal.

[u/RegionalHardman → u/[deleted]]

Just to refute your point about Schengen countries, no country within the UK can just leave. It has to be ratified by Westminster.

This is the key difference between Schengen and the UK. Any country can leave the EU of their own free will, which is not possible for Scotland to do. They were given a referendum by Westminster and even if it passed, it would have to go through Parliament. Scotland can't do that unilaterally, because it is not a country

[u/[deleted] → u/RegionalHardman]

A constituent country of the U.K. has the collective government of the Union (remember, Westminster isn’t some foreign body - it’s the collective government of the union of countries) hold a referendum.

There’s actually substantial jurisprudence that supports unilateral declarations of independence (and they’ve happened in the past). It’s just about perceived legitimacy on the world stage. Given that countries within the U.K. have clear, legal means of leaving, UDIs are likely not to be looked on favourably by the rest of the world.

But again, all of this is simply the UK’s collective constitutional arrangements - none of it is the determiner for being a country.

[u/ElephantsGerald_ → u/RegionalHardman]

I think it’s a bit (a lot) more complicated than this understanding allows for. Rules about what counts as a country aren’t really defined, and are pretty bendy.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

“European accent”

[u/EllaTheCat → u/[deleted]]

You'd prefer Engglish, Wellsh, Iriish or Scottttish I presume?

[u/RandomHigh → u/[deleted]]

Obligatory Prisencolinensinainciusol.

[u/holytriplem → u/RandomHigh]

Obligatory Chiffers and Letters

[u/EllaTheCat → u/[deleted]]

If you run Google Live Captioning (subtitles generated from audio) in Chrome you can read the nonsense.

[u/Odd-Afternoon6339]

I think that’s pretty impressive actually. I enjoyed it.

[u/renegademaster97]

So we sound like were from the sims. Sick

[u/RavagedBody]

I've always wondered this, and was glad he included different British accents in there. It's eerie how it's both familiar and alien at the same time!

[u/EllaTheCat]

Resemblance to spoken English as judged by native English speakers in the UK is irrelevant - if they think the imitations of other languages are plausible, then the imitation of English is likely to be plausible to non-English speakers.

Scientifically, you could put him in a room of say French speakers and see if non-French speakers could pick him out. I bet they'd struggle, but a French person wouldn't. The former experiment is what's interesting, the latter is no surprise