Next time you're confused

[andrewducker]

Comments

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

I demand a single word for Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, and the Faroe Islands.

[andrewducker]

"Cold"

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

Surely that would also include Svalbard. Hmm.

[rgovrebo.livejournal.com]

"Old Norwegian colonies"

[natural20.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Thank you. And not a mention of Eire either, I'm amazed! Where did you get this?

[andrewducker]

Sorry, I meant to link to that.
http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/598973231/i-use-this-when-my-uk-friends-bitch-about
Linked to by http://www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/2010/06/18/a-diagram-describing-the-british-isles/

[natural20.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I may link it elsewhere, for it is very cool.

[andrewducker]

Question - is chilperic's comment below correct?

[ias.livejournal.com]

There is an instinctive dislike of the term British Isles in the Republic of Ireland and on the whole people prefer to say the UK and Ireland if wanting to refer to the two countries and their territories.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Except of course the Bailiwick of Guernsey also includes Alderney, Sark, Herm and Jethou...

The damn thing's fractal, Cap'n!

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

It's elephants all the way down! And they are all standing on the Principality of Sealand!

[fearmeforiampink]

Indeed. I know at least one person that'd be spitting rivets over the lack of Alderney on there...

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

And me, I'm wondering about why they've left out Les Ecrehous and Les Minquiers (not to mention the Paternosters...).

[fearmeforiampink]

Aye. I can see why ones like Herm and Jethou aren't on there, as they don't have their own governance, but Alderney and Sark do have their own, so really they should be there.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Actually, I can see why they're not there, as administratively, despite Sark and Alderney having their own local governance, they're part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey - sort of super-Parishes really! So they use Guernsey stamps and coinage, and have Guernsey passports.

[fearmeforiampink]

Aye, but still... if you're trying to list all the things within things that are the British Isles, then I can accept not listing stuff that's 20 people, not listing stuff that doesn't in any way run itself. But I'd put anything with it's own governance on there.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Are they all Channel Islands though? It's clear from the diagram that the category is not exhausted by the 'Jersey' and 'Guernsey' bubbles...

[fearmeforiampink]

According to Wikipedia, yes.

Guernsey and Jersey are the two Ballywicks, but there's the other stuff within them, some of which (Sark'n'Alderney) has its own government too.

[chilperic.livejournal.com]

This diagram does NOT work well in Ireland, where many people would repudiate the idea that Ireland was part of the "British Isles": that is very much a concept born on the mainland of Britain... Whoever drew it up should think again!

[andrewducker]

How do the Irish refer to the whole ensemble?

[natural20.livejournal.com]

I'd disagree actually. I'm not a huge fan of the term 'British Isles', but there is no alternative that's generally accepted and nobody seems to want to adopt my 'Western European Isles' or 'Eastern Atlantic Isles'! But yeah, I would say mostly people don't have an issue with it. Now, if someone said that the island of the Britain was the 'mainland' of Ireland (and I'm not saying you are, of course!) then I would get very angry indeed.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's great. But given the argument my venn diagram of stoke-on-trent produced, I'm not sure I would have risked trying to post an authoritative diagram with Ireland in :)

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

oh! wonderful. Something set me off on my old blog about 6 years ago and made me make this explanation, but this is a lot nicer.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

I've just found my old Guide To North East England too

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, the British Islands bubble is incorrect. It should only be around the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as it's really only a passport designation for those crown dependencies in the British Isles...