GB vs UK - What happened? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 10:52:33 pm
content: Since I was a kid ('60s), cars from the "Islands" (except Eire) always had an oval "GB" sticker on them.Nowadays, "UK" seems to be the norm. I see it all the time on the European continent.What happened? Is it some Brexit thing?

author: SteveThackery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:09:07 pm
content: I don't know the answer, but it seems to me that "GB" was actually wrong.Britain = England and WalesGreat Britain = England, Wales and ScotlandUnited Kingdom* = England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland* "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"I realise this doesn't answer your question!

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:16:06 pm
content: Quote from: SteveThackery on May 26, 2025, 11:09:07 pmThanks for the clarification. I've always been confused about the terms, so your post was very helpful.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:17:30 pm
content: The Encyclopedia Britannica (published in Chicago) considers the large island comprising England, Scotland, and Wales to be "Great Britain" (geographic term).Great Britain plus the island Ireland (and some miscellaneous islands) make up (most of) the British Isles (another geographic term).The United Kingdom (a political entity) comprises Great Britain and Northern Ireland (and some miscellaneous islands).

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:30:48 pm
content: Wait til you see how the flag is made!

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:40:02 pm
content: One problem with the Union Jack is that it is difficult (not impossible) to tell if it is being flown inverted as a distress signal.(Of course, flags in the same format as the French tricolor are impossible to fly inverted.)

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:47:16 pm
content: They just decided to change it. No actual technical or legal reason.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2025, 11:48:57 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 26, 2025, 11:40:02 pmVery US-centric viewpoint. I know of no other country in the world where an upside-down flag signals distress. I hope it was a joke.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 12:00:53 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on May 26, 2025, 11:47:16 pmPerhaps. After researching a bit further, the change was made 2021, one year after Brexit. I suspect the Northern Ireland situation played a big role.In hindsight, the timing couldn't have been worse. 2022 Russia attacked Ukrainia, with refugees coming et al. And then people see posh cars with "UK" stickers driving across the continent, resulting in rightwing/conspiracy nuts having a field day, claiming they're Ukrainian.Just for reference: the Ukrainian car sticker is "UA", and no, we don't see any of those here.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 12:07:22 am
content: Quote from: Benta on May 26, 2025, 11:48:57 pmIndonesian vessel in distress or Polish vessel ?

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 12:33:13 am
content: How about an Aussie vessel? Or are you already upside-down?

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 12:37:34 am
content: Quote from: Benta on May 27, 2025, 12:00:53 amThat's a shame, would have been great to see some cars with "NI"! on them.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 12:44:21 am
content: Quote from: Someone on May 27, 2025, 12:07:22 amCanada, Mexico, Ireland, Russia. Tricolor flags are boring.However, an inverted ensign is not formally recognized as such anymore, probably because of the tricolor fraternity.There’s an inverted Union Jack in Graham Greene’sThe Honorary Consul, but it’s an error that annoys a pedant.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 01:04:51 am
content: Quote from: Benta on May 27, 2025, 12:00:53 am"Ukrainia"Quaint how you Yurpeens want to make every country name end in "-ia": Hungaria, Germania, Czechia, etc.Is that how you call these countries domestically?(I suppose the actual transliteration of what Ukrainians call their country (Україна) would be "Ukraina", not "Ukrainia".)

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 02:27:04 am
content: English names for some countries:Australia, Bosnia, Austria (Oesterreich), Bulgaria, Romania, etc.Germania is Latin for Deutschland, from Tacitus.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 02:44:06 am
content: Yes, but not Hungaria (Magyarország), Francia, etc.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 02:58:37 am
content: In France, they write "France".In Hungary, they write "Magyarország"."Francia" is an obsolete (Latin) term used by the Merovingians in the Dark Ages for a predecessor to the Holy Roman Empire.The German word "Frankreich" for France comes from "Francia".

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 04:22:55 am
content: Nobodyknows what Suomi, the Finnish name for Finland, actually means. There are lots of theories flying about from bog-land (suomaa) to fish-scale (suomu), but nothing really conclusive. Fenni/Finni is believed to be from Ptolemy and Tacitus.I have my own theories that has a prehistorical basis oncomb-ceramic culturebeing a "trade federation", a coalition of independent villages/tribes tied together with a common language and trade, dating of archaic loan words, archeological findings from Finland and Sweden including genetic comparisons of bog bodies dating back to 3000 BCE to current populations, the oldest known descriptions of this region by Ptolemy, Tacitus, etc., and the old Norwegian and Orkney island sagas describing events around 800 – 950 CE. Unfortunately, it is politically sensitive, and utterly rejected by current Finnish historians, who prefer to rely on linguistic theories instead, completely ignoring any archaeological findings or bog-body DNA evidence. Even though I base mytheoryon existing research andevidence(and didn't start it myself; my dad did, half a century ago), it is very likely to be consideredhate speechhere, which is why I'm not willing to publicly describe it in any detail.If you consider that cowardice or paranoid delusions, do note that Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Democrat member of parliament and one of the biggest proponent of said laws a couple of decades ago, is now in court for the fourth time (I think)for publicly quoting the Bible. I'm a pagan (agnostic) myself, but that is the reality of speech here in Finland.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:05:29 am
content: As someone who dislikes 99.9% of YouTube videos, this one is information dense and worth watching.It is slightly out of date w.r.t. the B.I.O.T.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:34:08 am
content: English CommonwealthSun never sets on the Impérial Empire....NIX the EUj

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:55:59 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on May 27, 2025, 01:04:51 amWell, it is officiallyCzechianow (though AP style guide considers either ok and the Czechs aren't too bothered about which you use.)https://mzv.gov.cz/jnp/cz/udalosti_a_media/archiv_zprav/rok_2016/tiskove_zpravy/x_2016_05_02_vlada_schvalila_czechia.html(Czech only but translate gets the jist)https://x.com/APStylebook/status/1542946302761336836

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 07:03:02 am
content: OK. I'm still saying ixnay to "Hungaria" (I heard some Yurpeens using that term when I was over there some years ago, and it just sounded wrong. They were also talking about "Europa".)

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 07:16:38 am
content: Quote from: Benta on May 27, 2025, 12:00:53 amNot as common as in the year after the russian invasion, but I still see them on the road. I think the granted insurance exception has expired and most refugees have now registered their cars with german plates.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 08:04:32 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on May 27, 2025, 01:04:51 amyes

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 02:23:57 pm
content: I have never seen “Hungaria”, which spell-check tried to change to “Hungarian” just now.“ia” endings come from Latin, as in “Italia”.Meanwhile, we have the American States Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and California (Latinate names).

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 04:59:53 pm
content: I was born in Deutschland then after the age of 11 moved to my mothers ancestral homeland of Cymru, but I now live in England.Just call places what the locals want them to be called and not worry about what the world police consider correct, easy to pronounce, or quaint.~~~~Cars that are driven within the EU that are from the UK now have to display that origin marker on their numberplates. The change from GB was mandated late September 2021.X

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 05:07:33 pm
content: A British coworker (in Illinois) objected to local pronunciations, such as Devon Avenue in Chicago (pronounced deh-vaughn). I asked him if he came from Londres.There are some egregious local pronunciations here: especially Goethe Street and Mozart Street. AI thinks we pronounce the former approximately Germanically, but where’s the sport in that?

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 05:26:36 pm
content: Seems a reasonable pronouciation to me... if it is a place in Chicago, the locals should pronounce it how they like!Mostly when in Devon, UK I have heard Deh–Vun or as written Deh–Von.X

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:36:46 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 27, 2025, 05:07:33 pmWhen I was a kid I used to take the 155 bus which ran down Devon Ave. (dƏ-von') every Wednesday to my violin lesson at Devon & California.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:39:47 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 27, 2025, 02:27:04 amDon't forgetMacedonia.Oh-oh, we're not allowed to call it that (because Philip's ancient kingdom is disputed between Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria).Instead we're required to call it the "FYROM", the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.Sheesh. Some squabbles are never settled ...

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:44:17 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 27, 2025, 05:07:33 pmI know about Mozart St. (mo'-zart), and I've heard of Goethe St. but have never heard it pronounced. How do the locals say that? (I'll bet there are several interesting variations.)It's like Gough St. in San Francisco, which has many pronunciations, and nobody has any idea which one is "correct".

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 07:27:10 pm
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on May 27, 2025, 06:44:17 pmThe egregious local pronunciation is goh-eeth-ee, but it is frowned upon.A local high school near me is named after the Prussian officer in the American War of Independence, Friedrich von Steuben.Google's AI summary gives the following useless result:'The correct pronunciation of "Von Steuben High School" is "von STYE-ben". The "v" is silent, the "o" is pronounced like the "o" in "go", the "n" is silent, and "Steuben" is pronounced like the "u" in "blue".'

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 09:20:23 pm
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on May 27, 2025, 01:04:51 amFunny how my one spelling error sparked a discussion.Nice trolling, you got what you wanted. Attention.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 09:48:19 pm
content: Quote from: Benta on May 27, 2025, 09:20:23 pmWell, in fairness, I didn't realize it was an error; I thought it was your intended spelling.No big deal either way, hopefully.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 10:25:25 pm
content: Sorry, but pouncing on off-topic details like that is defined as trolling.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 10:28:40 pm
content: Quote from: Benta on May 27, 2025, 10:25:25 pmFine. They by your definition I was trolling.Happy?

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 11:14:39 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 26, 2025, 11:40:02 pmSome don't know the flag isn't symmetrical and will often fly it upside down as a result.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 11:24:00 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on May 27, 2025, 11:14:39 pmYou have to examine it very closely: Brits are subtle.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 11:54:30 pm
content: UK instead of GB?Maybe you need to Make Britain Great Again.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 12:11:54 am
content: QuoteOr know what your looking at.A previous workplace flew the union flag and would get a phone call if it was upside down,the call came from the office opposite ,a measure on google maps says about 250ft away,plus they were at ground level and the flag pole was on the roof 4 floors up.

author: rdenney
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 04:52:11 pm
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on May 27, 2025, 06:44:17 pmThis true basically everywhere in the U.S., where mother tongues have mostly been absorbed and the people living in an area weren't the people that named the places, who were immigrants from some other place. How do Detroiters pronounce Gratiot Street? (Your most vulgar guess--as in a colorless excrement--is what I usually am told, but have never been sure my leg wasn't being pulled.)Even when the language of the placename is still commonly spoken in an area, local pronunciations degenerate into silliness.I grew up in Texas, where examples abound.Anahuac--a town near Houston that was the site of the first battle for the Republic of Texas. It was named by French explorers for the local native tribes, who described themselves as something like ann-wack. The same tribe in areas of British immigration would have been transliterated as Annawack. But the locals in that town pronounce it ANN-you-ack. If you pronounce it the way they pronounce it, they will know you are mocking them and will take offense.Manchaca, near Austin--Spanish is probably spoken nearly as much as English as a native language. But Manchaca--in Spanish as mahn-CHAH-cah--is MAN-chack ("a" as in American a$$) to the (non-Hispanic) locals. Manor, which in any language resembling English is "MANner", is "MAYnor" to the locals. And Llano, which is "YAH-no" in Spanish, is "LAN-no" (pronounced as if one was rejecting a local area network) to the locals. Even the local gringo-mouths know Spanish pronunciation well enough to laugh about it, but it persists. And the differences between Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish, and what in Mexico is termed "Espanol del Norte" (aka, Tex-Mex) is the subject of much derision among Spanish speakers in the area.And then there's the little down of Mexia, halfway between Dallas and College Station (home of Texas A&M). The old joke goes that two old Ags were traveling back to Dallas from a visit to A&M and stopped at the fast-food joint in Mexia for lunch. Wanting to resolve the pronunciation issue for good, they asked the waitress, "Please tell us the name of this place, and say it really slow so that we can get it right." Her response, "Daaaaaaaaireeeeee Queeeeeeeeen."(The town is correctly pronounced ma-HAY-ah, but in Spanish it would be more like "meh-HEE-ah.")Back to topic. For me, the car tags from the British Isles should read "UKoGBaNI". That would sort it out.Rick "nothing to see here; move along" Denney

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 05:00:19 pm
content: In the US Midwest, many place names are from the French, including French transcription of native languages, which change to modern pronunciations of the State of Illinois and its towns:Marseilles (location of important weather radar for Chicago area),Des Plaines (suburb of Chicago)Near Illinois:Des Moines (Capital of Iowa)Prairie du Chien (River town in Wisconsin).In a bar at O'Hare Airport, I encountered some French businessmen changing planes for Minneapolis and warned them about such pronunciations.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 05:20:01 pm
content: To think,if it weren't for the french the yanks would still be speaking english.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 05:24:08 pm
content: Remember that certain isolated regions of the United States, reading only the King James Bible and Shakespeare, continued to speak proper English while the British Empire degraded the language over a few centuries...

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 05:55:33 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 28, 2025, 05:24:08 pm'tis okay America. You'll catch up one day. You are but young.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 06:00:28 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on May 28, 2025, 05:55:33 pmThe King James translation and Shakespeare areEarly Modern English, butBeowulfisOld English.Chaucer isMiddle English.Once, a high school English teacher bragged that he taught Shakespeare to his students in Old English. That would have required scholarly work at the level of J R R Tolkien.

author: SteveThackery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 07:36:44 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on May 28, 2025, 05:55:33 pmWhich reminds me of a saying:"An Englishman is someone who thinks a hundred miles is a long way. An American is someone who thinks a hundred years is a long time."

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2025, 11:47:38 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 28, 2025, 05:24:08 pmInteresting that the word brethren survived while it’s counterpart, the word sistren, did not.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 03:07:40 am
content: Quote from: rdenney on May 28, 2025, 04:52:11 pmAh, Spanish/Spanglish and all that:In the San Francisco Beige Area, which contains a lot of Spanish-named places (cities and even streets, like El Camino Real), there are two somewhat egregious mispronunciations for a place that seems to pride itself on "correct" pronunciation:1. The city of Vallejo. As a proper Spanish name, thisshouldbe pronounced vay-yay-ho (because of the double l), but it's not:It's va-lay-ho. Everyone gets it only halfway right. (At least they don't say "valley-Joe" like they might in Texas.)2. A main street in "the city" (San Francisco, natch) is Portolá. Owing to the accent at the end, this should be pronounced por-to-la, but no: most people say por-toe-la, while others saypor-to-la, both of which miss the mark.And then there's one of my favorite place-names in the area, which is a street parallel to and west of El Camino called Alameda de las Pulgas: "Oh, my, what a romantic-sounding name!". Well, no: pulga is Spanish for "flea", because some of the first explorers in the area came upon swarms of the critters as they moved up the Peninsula. (There's also a Pulgas Ave. in East Palo Alto.) At least most people don't make the really stupid mistake of calling it "the El Camino". Oh wait: yes they do. (Even some of those Silicon Valley techies, as this major thoroughfare goes all the way down the Peninsula through Cupertino and San Jose.)

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 08:16:22 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on May 29, 2025, 03:07:40 amPerhaps they, they, they're, just st, st ,stuttering bilingually?Off topic, (a bit).I have some English (born), friends who often stay in LA, (actually most often Pasadena).They like the area! (someone has to?), so when their firstborn arrived they decided to use "Dena" as a second name for the little girl... (I think that's where they got jiggy and conceived the child).The decision having already been made to name the little girl after one of the family progenitors, a woman called "Rose".That was funny on so many levels to me... I guess for a start neither parent spoke any Spanish, (Rose Rose?), or considered that in slack jawed parts of the UK her name sounds like "Roast Dinner".Funny? Maybe just me?As you were...

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 02:26:36 pm
content: Quote from: Benta on May 27, 2025, 10:25:25 pmNo, it's not. Only if done in a way to be inflammatory or degrading to the target. Merely correcting or commenting upon what someone has written in a reasonable way does not count as trolling, even if you don't like it.

author: eutectique
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2025, 01:02:56 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 26, 2025, 11:40:02 pmOr as an insult to the Crown.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2025, 10:08:15 am
content: Honestly I didn't notice the sticker thing.The reality is that in Northern Ireland itself most people don't understand the difference. Probably less understand on the "mainland". The annoying irony and how I solve 99% of arguments on the topic is, "You are so British, check your British passport, front cover: "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.", it's written in bold gold letters on the front of everyone of them.The crunch reality of Northern Ireland right now is we are a 3rd state. Not quite in the UK/EU and not quite out of it.So what right?Well, it means that basically all shipping to and from Northern Ireland is "special". Even stuff from England and Scotland have to jump through "paper work hoops".The net result is that a large number of smaller mainland retailers now have a "No paddies or Northern Irish" sign on their website. Those who are a little less confrontational about it just let you go ahead and order but then try and charge you a £20 shipping surcharge.The worse ones however are the ones who just don't know the can of worms they opened. So you order, pay normal shipping and then you get the email that you order is cancelled or you need to pay pal them £20 for shipping and additional admin costs.Certain things which are "registered" or "controlled" in the EU are restricted for import. This is due to the land border with the EU. It's surprisingly simple things like "Plants, including seeds". If you go to a seed seller on Amazon you will find the red text, "This item cannot be shipping to your address". You are better off ordering from some ebay seller who hasn't got a clue and just pops them in the post.EDIT: To flip it around to the positive. There are some companies that absorb this to the extreme. I paid £20 for "premium delivery" of a sofa. Didn't it turn up on the day they said it would in a private van. I was late to meet them and they said, "It's fine, our boat back to the mainland isn't for 3 hours anyway.". They had literally taken the 4am ferry in a van from North England to deliver a sofa. £20. That must have cost in the region of £300.