TERMINOLOGY

Do you know your England from your U.K.? What exactly is 'Ireland'? These, and common misunderstandings arising thereof, are illuminated in the table below.

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Term	Correct definition
Black Country	Small heavily industrialized area just west of - but definitely not including - Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Major towns are Oldbury, Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge. Named for its industrial heritage.
Britain	Largest of the British Isles. Common term for the U.K.
Celtic Fringe	Scotland, Ireland, Cumberland, Isle of Man, Wales and Cornwall. Sometimes extends to include Brittany (France) and Galicia (Spain).
Channel Islands	Small islands off the French north coast that are a Crown Dependency (not a part of the U.K.). Divided into two bailiwicks, Jersey and Guernsey.
Cornwall	Western county of England, last outpost of the Celts in the south-west. Has own flag, language (very rare) and culture, and very proud of it.
East Anglia	Large bit that juts out north of London, comprised of Norfolk and Suffolk
Eire	The 26 counties of the Irish Republic, sometimes still called Southern Ireland
Emerald Isle	Ireland
Emerald Isles (rare)	The British Isles, the 1000+ islands off the north-west coast of Europe. Rarely used.
Erin	Traditional name for the island of Ireland
Fens	Flatlands around the Wash Estuary, reclaimed from the sea.
Great Britain	England, Scotland and Wales.
Hebrides	Most of the islands off the west coast of Scotland.
Highlands	Most of Scotland north of the Fort William-Inverness line, although many areas south of it also claim membership. Famous for clans.
Home Counties	The counties adjoining the London conurbation.
Ireland	The island of Ireland, traditionally divided into the ancient kingdoms of Ulster, Munster, Connaught, Leinster and sometimes Meath.
Isle of Man	Island in the Irish Sea, another Crown Dependency (not a part of the U.K.). Has its own parliament and flag with three-legged symbol.
Lake District	Far corner of north-west England, renowned for its beautiful lakes (mostly man-made) and countryside (mostly God-made)
(The) Marches (rare)	Border areas either side of England's borders with Scotland and Wales
Monmouthshire	Traditional border county between England and Wales. Its status was ambiguous until the British government gave it to Wales in the seventies in an attempt to stop the Welsh voting for their own parliament.
Northern Ireland	Part of the U.K., six of the nine counties of ancient Ulster. The original inhabitants, the Scotti, crossed the North Channel and conquered the land there, naming it after themselves. 'Scots' is a rather derogatory term used for Ulster Protestants.
(The) Principality	Wales. Originally the western counties of same except Pembrokeshire. This area was under Direct Rule after England conquered Wales in 1284
(The) Potteries	Area around the city of Stoke-on-Trent. Guess what they made there....
(The) Province (rare)	Northern Ireland
Ulster	Northern Ireland plus the Donegal, Cavan and Louth counties of Eire
United Kingdom	Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Wales	Wales. The Welsh name for Wales is Cymru (pronounced 'goomri').
West Country	The south-western counties of England; Cornwall, Devonshire and Somerset, and parts of Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
Western Isles (also Outer Hebrides)	The islands of Lewis-Harris, Benbecula, the Uists and Barra, lying west of Scotland. A strong outpost of the Gaelic language.

These rules apply to the adjectives from these nouns. The only exception is that when talking of relations between the U.K. and other countries, for some reason the English prefix Anglo- rather than Brito- is used.

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