Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-choice><british-english>
Title: What should I call the English spoken in UK?
Question: I have read that saying British English is too specific, and that I should say English English. Is that true? When I say British English, what do people think I am referring to?

Answers:
sents: text: There is no standard term to describe the English spoken throughout the United Kingdom, because the English spoken in Northern Ireland is so different from the English spoken in Great Britain that it is usually included with Irish English (or Hiberno-English ).
text: The term British English is generally used to refer to the English spoken in Great Britain, including Scotland, England, and Wales.
text: Welsh English and Scottish English are the terms for the specific dialects spoken in those countries, and the term English English is used sometimes to describe the English specifically spoken in England.
text: Often British English is used to refer to English English in contrast to Scottish, Welsh or other varieties of English.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/39/nohat
score: 8
sents: text: I think most English speakers would understand the term "British English" and know that you don't mean the dialect spoken primarily in America.
text: No English speaker would use "English English" to denote that dialect.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/151/mipadi
score: 2
sents: text: I have read that saying British English is too specific, British English is less specific than English-English (I've never come across this before).
text: Even inside England there are regional dialects, so where would you stop?
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/357/Paul Michaels
score: 2
sents: text: As an Englishman I think it should be just 'English'.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 2
sents: text: "British English" is only too specific if you're trying to speak of "English as spoken by everyone except Americans and Canadians."
text: I might call that "Commonwealth English" but I'm not sure.
text: I think that "English English" is the term that's too specific, since it leaves out the Scots and the Welsh.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/58/J.T. Grimes
score: 1
sents: text: British English is perfectly fine and is mainly used to mean "not American English".
text: It is only used when you actually need to differentiate between the two.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/1778/ukayer
score: 1
sents: text: I would take 'British English' to refer to the varieties of English spoken in Great Britain, i.e., English, Welsh, and Scottish English, primarily.
text: (I'm not clear on edge cases like the Isle of Man and Isle of Wight).
text: More loosely, it would also cover the English of Northern Ireland.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/488/vanden
score: 0
sents: text: I have read that saying British English is too specific, and that I should say English English.
text: Is that true?
text: Hum, well, what do you mean by "British English" here?
text: The question is a bit too vague to really answer.
text: The traditional term for the form of English pronunciation used in the south-east of England and the middle or upper classes was "received pronunciation".
text: In the recent editions of the Cambridge pronunciation dictionary (was originally Daniel Jones's dictionary)
text: this is now called BBC English.
text: What do people understand when I refer to British English?
text: I would guess that you were talking about spelling differences.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 0
sents: text: British English is misleading as a term.
text: It gives the impression that there is somehow, just one form of English that is spoken exactly the same, all over the UK.
text: It's really more of a collective term for the different forms of the language, within the UK.
text: Covering what is literally English (the language used in England) and the other, non-English British forms.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/19290/Tristan
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
There is no standard term used to describe the English spoken throughout the UK, although the term "British English" is generally used to refer to the English spoken in Great Britain. The term "English English" would definitely not be used by an English speaker.
The term is not precise but "British English" usually means the forms of English other than the dialect spoken primarily in America.
There is no standard term used to describe the English spoken throughout the UK, although the term "British English" is generally used to refer to the English spoken in Great Britain. The term "English English" would definitely not be used by an English speaker.
British English  would  mainly be used to mean "not American English".  But, British English is misleading as a term as there is no standard term to describe the English spoken throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh English  and  Scottish English  are the terms for the specific dialects spoken in those countries, and the term  English English  is used sometimes to describe the English specifically spoken in England. Most English speakers would understand the term "British English" and know that you don't mean the dialect spoken primarily in America, but no English speaker would use "English English" to denote that dialect. British English  would  mainly be used to mean "not American English".  
Most English speakers would understand the term "British English". The term  British English  is generally used to refer to the English spoken in Great Britain, including Scotland, England, and Wales.  No English speaker would use "English English".
It is generally agreed that "British English" is not "too specific" and is a perfectly acceptable term to refer to the English spoken in the United Kingdom. However, the precise term you may wish to use may depend on exactly where you are in the British Isles and for this reason, British English may be a misleading term.