Q1 National Name: England?United Kingdom? Or Great Britain?
United Kingdom is not a single country, but “a Country of Countries.” It contains four co-equal, and sovereign nations. England is often confused with the United Kingdom as a whole because it’s the largest and the most populous of the nations and contains the de facto capital city, London. To the north is Scotland and the west is Wales and Northern Ireland.
Each country has a local term for the population. While you can call them all “British,” it is not recommended as the four countries generally don’t like each other. The Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh regard the English as slave-driving, colonial masters and the English generally regard the rest as rural, yokels who spend too much time with their sheep. Yet they are all British citizens of the United Kingdom whose full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Q2 Accents: How to differentiate British, Irish, and Scottish accents?
Great Britain is a geographical rather than a political term. Within the term “Great Britain” is often used to refer to England, Scotland and Wales alone with the intentional exclusion of Northern Ireland. The second biggest island in the British Isles is Ireland. It’s worth noting that Ireland is not a country. Like Great Britain, it’s a geographical term. The Island of Ireland contains two countries: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Since the United Kingdom is basically formed by four countries, each country has their own particularculture and ways of living. Their accents of speaking English, for instance, are one of the clues that could help people recognizing one’s hometown or originality. (It is hard to express the differences with words, but if you want, you may search some clips from YouTube or type in the list of links provided in the 3rd page).
Q3 Tea Culture: Why tea, not coffee?
It is a universal truth that British people are obsessed with tea, almost the same tendency as the Americans are crazy about Starbucks. One of the first things you will be asked by most Brits is “Would you like a cup of tea?” It’s actually there go to solution for almost any scenario. Want an excuse to gossip with your friends? Invite them over for a cup of tea! Do you have a builder doing some works on your house? It would be offensive not to offer him a “cuppa.” Going through a personal drama? Yep, a cup of tea will make everyone feel better. It’s hardly surprising that the U.K. race through 165 million cups of tea every day!
Here are a few moments in history that helped make tea a quite essentially British affair.
1. East Indian Company
The love of tea goes back to the mid-1600s when the British East Indian Company dominated the tea and imported to Britain. They had a constant and growing supply of tea which was convenient as they had been excluded from the coffee exporting Mediterranean during their wars with France and Spain at the time.
2. Afternoon Tea
Also known as “Low Tea” due to the low tables it was served on, came about in around 1841. Anna Russell, the Duchess of Bretford, took social convention into her own hands and began enjoying a pot of tea and a light snack to satisfy that sinking feeling in the late afternoon. Queen Victoria, friend of the Duchess, formalized afternoon tea with her Buckingham Palace Tea Receptions.
Today afternoon tea is enjoyed around four o’clock in the afternoon and is made of a selection of finger sandwiches, scones, pastries and homemade cakes. Cream tea is a simpler version with scones clotted cream, jam and a pot of tea.
Q5 British Manners: How to recognize British people?
Sign 1: Love to talk about weather and blames about it
Sign 2: Love to say “Sorry” (They are NOT being polite)
Sign 3: Uncomfortable about compliments
Sign 4: Don’t really mean what they say… (Just being polite)
Sign 5: Sarcasm
References
National Name:
The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explainedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10
Accents:
Mostly, people are more familiar with “Received Pronunciation” as most of the presenters do on BBC television shows. Just think of the two great detectives from Sherlock Holmes Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
l Benedict Cumberbatchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtEUySDDg-I
If you want to know Irish accents, actors such as Colin Farrell, Pierce Brosnan (aka 007) and Michael Fassbender (young Magneto) are all from Ireland. Or you may search for a Youtube gamer called “Jacksepticeye”
l Jacksepticeyehttps://www.youtube.com/user/jacksepticeye
l How to speak Irish English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2PHch4IPPQ
If you want to know Scottish accents, actors such as Ewan McGregor, James McAvoy (young Prof. Xavier), and Sean Connery are from Scotland. You may search for interviews of them on Youtube.
l Scottish Accenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3AgxhGU4JU
l James McAvoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HepWgbh4GhY
Tea Culture:
Why are Brits obsessed with tea?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BigKlKrY0B4
How to make a British cuppa? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jZDBz0qVtM
Manners:
Things British people dohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogiwIVFERc4
Top 10 Signs of British Peoplehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em2EcIEtRxQ
Recommended Youtube Channel:
Anglophenia
Marcus Butler
Thatcher Joe
Zoella
Pointlessblog