True Story: Britishman

[serenitylala]

At an international business conference, the main hall was crowded with over 500 people in stadium style seating.

A well-dressed British gentleman walks up to the podium to begin the first seminar and says: "i was born a British man. I am a British man and I will die a British man."

A Scottish man bellows from the back of the conference hall: "Ach man, don't you have any ambition?!"


True story. God bless the Scottish for always finding a way to break the ice.

[bdkilted]

My sentiments exactly.

[Peter Crowe]

I heard that story about the comment directed by a rather dry older Scottish Herd (shepherd) in his 60's who is reputed to have said "Aye man, hae ye nae ambition?" to a rather pompous middle-aged Englishman in a bar in a Moffat Hotel about 25 years ago. However the butt of the joke was an Englishman (and a bumptious one to boot) not a Britishman (an expression I have never heard before).

[ctbuchanan]

Pretty funny but as we know not all Britishmen (Englishmen?) are the same. My Da was a Yorkshireman and the match for any Scot.

[Piper]

Pretty funny but as we know not all Britishmen (Englishmen?) are the same. My Da was a Yorkshireman and the match for any Scot.

Some time ago, I heard someone praise a Yorkshireman as someone who "could buy from a Jew and sell to a Scotsman, and still make a profit."

[serenitylala]

I heard that story about the comment directed by a rather dry older Scottish Herd (shepherd) in his 60's who is reputed to have said "Aye man, hae ye nae ambition?" to a rather pompous middle-aged Englishman in a bar in a Moffat Hotel about 25 years ago. However the butt of the joke was an Englishman (and a bumptious one to boot) not a Britishman (an expression I have never heard before).

I'm beginning to think the Scottish guy that yelled it out from the back of the hall must have known that pub joke... and possibly quoted it. I don't know but it was entertaining to watch the whole thing.

I kind of feel bad for the British guy. His face turned beet red and the audience had a good laugh.


Yet, it did break the ice and the British presenter, names will be kept anonymous, did an amazing job on his presentation afterwards.

[Peter Crowe]

I'm beginning to think the Scottish guy that yelled it out from the back of the hall must have known that pub joke... and possibly quoted it. I don't know but it was entertaining to watch the whole thing.

I kind of feel bad for the British guy. His face turned beet red and the audience had a good laugh.


Yet, it did break the ice and the British presenter, names will be kept anonymous, did an amazing job on his presentation afterwards.

Yes but why do you keep referring to the British for what I assume you mean the English. We Scots are British until and if we become independent from the United Kingdom, at which point Britishness as a legal identity would cease to exist in any meaningful historically contingent way.

Scotland + England + Wales = Great Britain (Since 1707)
Great Britain (Scotland, England, and Wales)+ Northern Ireland = The United Kingdom (Since 1801, modified by the creation of the then Irish Free State in 1921).

[serenitylala]

Yes but why do you keep referring to the British for what I assume you mean the English. We Scots are British until and if we become independent from the United Kingdom, at which point Britishness as a legal identity would cease to exist in any meaningful historically contingent way.

Scotland + England + Wales = Great Britain (Since 1707)
Great Britain (Scotland, England, and Wales)+ Northern Ireland = The United Kingdom (Since 1801, modified by the creation of the then Irish Free State in 1921).

The man referred to himself as a British man and the Scottish guy teased him for it, but that was in 2004 and the speaker was elderly.

I was just considering that any man that is from any country that has English as the national language is an Englishman.

While my "English" (British) friends do refer to themselves as British and have an amazingly strong class system based on local dialect... which carries with it a number of names to describe themselves that are surprising.

On the other hand, a lot of my Scottish friends (that have moved here as teenagers from the UK) have told me that they hate being called part of the British isles or even being referred to as British... So I honestly didn't know.

Granted, they have moved to the US when they were in their late teens and early twenties... so maybe there's the difference. But they have mentioned, hating being referred to as British or to having been part of the British Isles.

And don't get me started on what my Irish friends say about the word "British"... ...there are some things that one just doesn't quote.



As for me, I just would like to know what everyone prefers to be called.

[Father Bill]

As for me, I just would like to know what everyone prefers to be called.

Mostly just "Bill" or "Padre / Father"

[Peter Crowe]

The man referred to himself as a British man and the Scottish guy teased him for it, but that was in 2004 and the speaker was elderly.

I was just considering that any man that is from any country that has English as the national language is an Englishman.

While my "English" (British) friends do refer to themselves as British and have an amazingly strong class system based on local dialect... which carries with it a number of names to describe themselves that are surprising.

On the other hand, a lot of my Scottish friends (that have moved here as teenagers from the UK) have told me that they hate being called part of the British isles or even being referred to as British... So I honestly didn't know.

Granted, they have moved to the US when they were in their late teens and early twenties... so maybe there's the difference. But they have mentioned, hating being referred to as British or to having been part of the British Isles.

And don't get me started on what my Irish friends say about the word "British"... ...there are some things that one just doesn't quote.



As for me, I just would like to know what everyone prefers to be called.

No worries, I can understand why you might be unsure Just gets a bit irritating when people refer to Scotland and the Scots as being ruled by the British. When Scotland along with England is/was a Mother country of the former British Empire now Commonwealth. Some Scots undoubtedly dislike being referred to as British (I personally have no problem with it although I self-identify more strongly as a Scot than anything else), but that dislike has to do with the erroneous assumption made by the English and many others that the terms British and English are coterminous.