Re: CHAT National toponyms (was: OT Caution!! IRA funding)

On Thu, Sep 16, 2004 at 07:24:26PM +0200, Philip Newton wrote:
> "England" = "Great Britain" or "UK" in some contexts
In what contexts is that?  Speech by the uninformed? :)

Admittedly, many, perhaps most, of us Americans conflate the
terms, but I believe it is always a mistake to do so.
The motivation for such conflation, however, does not seem mysterious to
me - not only was England historically the dominant power of
that area, it is also the location of the nation's capital city.

Still, I feel the name England should be reserved to refer only to the .
. . what is it, technically, a state? . . . of England, which is located
on the island of Great Britain (why the adjective, btw?  Is or was there
a Not-so-great Britain?), which is part of the nation called the United
Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

-Marcos

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