(G)B

[Beverly Flanigan]

That was my perception, exactly.  But one designation I'm less sure of is
"the British Isles":  I've always assumed it means Great Britain (one isle)
plus the "Irish" isle (and the little extra ones too) -- but would
residents of both isles include the Republic of Ireland in that term, since
it shares an island with No. Ireland?   (Maybe we shouldn't go down that
aisle!)

At 10:30 AM 12/8/99 -0400, you wrote:
>At 2:43 PM -0500 12/6/99, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
> >At 12:13 PM 12/6/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >>Given that my name does*n't* sound like the name of the rather more famous
> >>David Bowie,[1] i've learned to take my name being mispronounced in stride.
> >>
> >>Still doesn't explain multiple telemarketers calling and asking for what
> >>sounds to me like "David Botha", though.
> >>
> >>[1] FTR, his last name is [bo.i], mine is [bu.i]. To drag this back
> on-topic
> >>for the list, i've been told that there's a north-south difference on the
> >>island containing Scotland and England (is there a name for that
> island) for
> >>my last name, where in the north it's [bu.i] and in the south it's [bo.i],
> >>but i haven't been able to verify this.
> >
> >It's Great Britain!
> >
>or Britain (tout court).  Here's the OED on "Britain":
>
>[1]a. The proper name of the whole island containing England, Wales, and
>Scotland, with their dependencies; more fully called Great Britain; now also
>used for the British state or empire as a whole.
>
>After the OE. period, Britain was used only as a historical term, until
>about the time of Henry VIII and Edward VI, when it came again into
>practical
>politics in connexion with the efforts made to unite England and Scotland;
>in 1604 James I was proclaimed `King of Great Britain'; and this name was
>adopted for the United Kingdom, at the Union in 1707. After that event,
>South Britain and North Britain are frequent in Acts of Parl. for England
>and Scotland respectively: the latter is still in occasional (chiefly
>postal) use. (So West Britain, humorously or polemically for `Ireland'.)
>Greater
>Britain is a modern rhetorical phrase for `Great Britain and the colonies',
>`the British Empire', brought into vogue in 1868.
>=======================
>
>although Britain may also refer (or may have once) to...
>
>"2.  The duchy of Brittany or Bretagne in France; also called Little
>Britain, Britain the less. Obs."
>
>Presumably the problem with both "Britain" and "Great Britain" as a
>geographical label for that once-sceptered isle comes from the confusion
>with the political designation "United Kingdom", but since that's short (I
>think) for "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", this
>would confirm Beverly's observation.
>
>larry