My boss, a chap from (London)Derry says I'm British as I like London Pride, support England rugby/football/cricket team, eat fish and chips, dislike the French and drink Scotch instead of Jamesons. As much as I can laugh at this (he considers himself Irish and definitely not British), I wonder: when do you become British? Is it the passport? Is it the residency? Is it watching American comedies and being bored? Or is it Hope stickers with the Union Jack? What's the STW's verdict on this?

country of birth determines it.
some people may not like it……….but shit happens.

Its what you feel in your heart and where feels like home.

it's about fitting in at your local boozer… oh.. only it's not any more is it.

I think I'm getting this thread confused with another one

Ton, I wish it was true, really. It'd be much simpler for everybody.
TJ, I like it.
Yunki, what if you fit in at any boozer, wherever you are? 😉

If you drink too much, work over long hours, expect your national teams to do crap in any major sporting event and fully expect to be fleeced by the government every time the budget rolls around, and hate the French, you are probably British…or am I just a cynic?

wot tj said

It's a pity that you see xenophobia as part of being British.
You may be right but it's still a pity.

Its the only definition I can find that makes any sense. If it feels like home its where you are from.

One cannot 'become' British. Either one is or one isn't.

I've lived here for 16 years, wife's English, kids were born here, I'm happily settled, country's been really good to me workwise, no longer any connections to the Antipodean 'scene', but there's no way I'd consider myself British or English- even if I were to get a passport.

Do you support the Queen, look longingly back at the time when the map was coloured pink and the savages (brown, green, and tartan) knew their place?… If so you're British!
I'm not.

it's about fitting in at your local boozer

that makes me foreign then

wot tootall said………….

My parents did it for me.

>(he considers himself Irish and definitely not British)

Does he hold Irish nationality or is he a UK national and therefore British ? 🙂

Does he hold Irish nationality or is he a UK national and therefore British ?

I was under the impression that anyone from Ulster was dual national.

I am entitled to an Irish Passport but having been there once in my life i would never call myself Irish. Mind you if the cost of a british passport keeps on rising i might get an irish one instead.

My friend from South Africa had to do a Britishness test. We all took the on-line practice test and failed. The questions were really bizarre.

The questions were really bizarre.

1) My hovercraft is full of eels. Discuss.

Does he hold Irish nationality or is he a UK national and therefore British ?

As most Irish I've met are notorious story-tellers it is exceedingly difficult to establish the truth when it comes to his details.
He says he's Irish as he's a catholic. But he supports "the best [list]soccer[/list] team in England – Leeds" 😀

The questions were really bizarre.

1) My hovercraft is full of eels. Discuss.
LOL!

If you feel outraged about something and decide to riot and burn some sheep then you're probably French.

If you feel outraged about something and decide to write a strongly worded letter to the papers then you're probably British.

Do you feel an inexplicable rage whenever you see the countryside being uglified by giant faceless corporations and bureaucrats? Do you find yourself shouting at the radio when Tony Blair comes on? Do your summer holidays involve sitting in the car in a small seaside town, watching the rain swishing past the windscreen while eating fish and slightly warm chips (and of course curry sauce)? Would a pint of actual proper beer (no, not lager) somehow make the world seem slightly more bearable?

Would a pint of actual proper beer (no, not lager) somehow make the world seem slightly more bearable?

no, much worse!

I consider myself Scottish or European (do not want to be lumped in with Fat Les types that the rest of the world associate with Britain)
I also like the French

country of birth determines it

Speaking as someone working on software for the IPS, that's not true 🙂

Dam I would have checked all the boxes except I can't hate the French-they cook so well and the ladies…

I consider myself Scottish or European

Personally I consider myself both Scottish and British in equal measure.

I do like the French too, even though I make loads of jokes about them. Any country that cooks that well can't be bad really.

soccer? if you call it soccer, you're not British.

I'm born & bred Leeds, support Leeds Utd but couldn't give a rat's arse about England, the national team representing the country of my birth. Does that make me not-British? Or not-English anyway?

no, it's an accident of birth

and as far as I remember, my passport says "United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland". So if your friend has a UK passport, I'd say that makes him (a) Irish and (b) a UK citizen; if he has an Irish passport then he'd be just Irish.
To be British, would one have to be English, Welsh or Scottish, under that definition?

i'm Brirish

british when it suits me, irish when it suits me, will have both passports soon

from ulster, supposedly the orange side, but always identified more with the fenians

have always felt at home wherever I am

Its what you feel in your heart and where feels like home.

TJ's bang on with that one, althouch I'm ENGLISH, not British. Stuff what it says on the passport.
(No offence intended to the Celts out there, it's just a fact. 🙂 )

???
You cannot just say "I like england/scotland etc, therefore I'm english/scotish".
Utter bollocks, you are what you are which is determined by place of birth and nationality of parents.

Big Dave – Member
If you drink too much, work over long hours, expect your national teams to do crap in any major sporting event and fully expect to be fleeced by the government every time the budget rolls around, and hate the French, you are probably British…or am I just a cynic?

That would also make you Spanish.

Personally, I'm English, and European. I've got a British passport, but that's only because I'm legally obliged to have one.

You cannot just say "I like england/scotland etc, therefore I'm english/scotish".
Utter bollocks, you are what you are which is determined by place of birth and nationality of parents.

Yes you can. And I have. It's not b****x at all.
Using your logic: I was born in ENGLAND. My parents are both ENGLISH. Therefore I am ENGLISH. 😛

If you don't like it, shove it where the sun don't shine! (Scotland? 😉 )

That's absurd.
And yes PP you are english, using any logic.
You may live elsewhere but the will locals all see you as english wether they say so or not.
I wouldn't be a yorkshireman if I moved to yorkshire would I?

Thanks Backhander. 🙂
It's not a dig at anybody: I'd expect a Scotsman to say he was Scottish too, etc, and Wales, Ireland and Scotland are great places with great people. I'm just English. 🙂

I'm Polish by birth and descent, so quite neatly sidestep all the above stereotypes hurrah etc.

I'm British, my family are Scottish, I was born in England but lived all over the place.

Since Blair sent us back 300 yrs by splitting the island into bits again only immigrants seem to aspire to being "British".

Funny he reunites one Island (Ireland) and splits up another (Britain).

I'd say it's where you were brought up.

cynic-al – Member

I'd say it's where you were brought up.

I am Playgroundish then!