Hey Brooklyn! United KINGDOM Upset You, Does It?

by Englishman 9 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Englishman

  I was just browsing through some of the official sites statistics here:http://www.watchtower.org/statistics/worldwide_report.htm

  I wanted to see how the dubbies were doing on my home patch, so I scrolled down to where I expected to find "United Kingdom".

  Nothing.

  Hmm. I guess we must be under Great Britain.

  Nope.

  England maybe?

  Nothing!

  Most peculiar. Maybe there aren't any dubs left in the UK! Wait a minute though..surely they haven't..They have! Yes, they refer to us as "Britain". Where the hell is Britain?

  A quick perusal of some official WT letters shows them in residence at Mill Hill, London, as The Watchtower Society of..Britain.

  So what's going on here, I wonder? Why not "United Kingdom of...."?

  I'll tell you what I think. I think that in their wisdom, the GB has decreed that there is only one Kingdom and that is the Kingdom essential to their beliefs, the "Good news of the Kingdom" kingdom. So the Kingdom, especially a United one, is anathema to the dubby mindset if it is not God's Kingdom.

  It would also seem to be apparent that the "Great" should only be applied to Jesus or Jehovah, and as a consequence even "Great Britain" is not acceptable. Of course, their error is that the "Great" is used as an adjective to describe an area that is larger than first implied, just as we say "Greater London" or "Greater Manchester" to show that we are including all the surrounding bits as well as the city itself.

  As to whether or not the WT is geographically correct or not, maybe a peek at the CIA's own site will show what the correct definitions of our country are:

  So there we have it. Not only does the WTBTS split up families, interfere with their adherents personal lives and mess up people's heads generally, they are now re-writing the map of the world to suit themselves.

  Maybe theywill now start on countries whose name begins with "United...."?

  Englishman.
• 

  blondie

  Englishman, here's one explanation:

  What is the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England?

  The United Kingdom is a country that consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In fact, the official name of the country is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

  Great Britain is the name of the island northwest of France and east of Ireland that consists of three somewhat autonomous regions: England, Wales and Scotland.

  Therefore, England is part of Great Britain, which is part of the United Kingdom. The U.K. includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are not countries but the United Kingdom is. The remaining portion of the island of Ireland (that which is not the U.K.'s Northern Ireland) is an independent country called the Republic of Ireland (Eire).

  I suspect that Northern Ireland is administered by the JW branch in the Republic of Ireland thus the use of the GB designation rather than UK.

  Interestingly, the US branch does not administer Alaska or Hawaii which are separate branches.

  Here's another source:

  What is the difference between the United Kingdom and Great Britain?

  E-mail this page Print Version

  The United Kingdom is made up of the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain, on the other hand, comprises only England, Scotland and Wales. The term ‘Britain’ is used informally to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom was created by an Act of Parliament in 1801. In the Middle Ages, Wales was made up of several small kingdoms or principalities which, by 1300, had come largely under English control. Yet Wales was formally incorporated into England only by Parliamentary legislation that began in 1536. Scotland and England had separate monarchies until 1603, when King James VI of Scotland succeeded Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne. A full merger of the two countries, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain, followed in 1707. Ireland had come under varying degrees of English influence from the 12th century onward, but was not united to Great Britain until 1801. In 1922, southern Ireland withdrew from the union.

  http://www.britainusa.com/faq/xq/asp/SID.273/qx/showfaq.htm
• 

  Matty

  I suppose if you want to be particularly pedantic, just "Britain" on its own may be confused with "Bretagne" or "Brittany" which is in the north west part of France. The English describe the area as "Brittany", but other languages just say "Britain". However, "Great Britain" or "Grande-Bretagne" saves this confusion.
• 

  Pleasuredome

  Transnational Issues

  United Kingdom

  Top of Page

  Illicit drugs:	gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering the European market; major consumer of synthetic drugs, producer of limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering center

  LMAO! amazing the CIA tells us the truth for once!
• 

  Englishman

  Blondie,

  I have to take issue with your link that suggests that the United Kingdom is a country in itself. It's not. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are contries with a United Kingdom. Great Britain is a geographical term. There is no reason for the term "Britain" to be used at all excepting as informally, certainly it is unacceptable as anything else.

  Regards,

  Englishman.
• 

  blondie

  Englishman, at the bottom of that website it says:

  This website is maintained by the British Information Services (BIS), the New York based Press and Public Affairs Office of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

  So if it is incorrect, I would let them know.

  Blondie

  http://www.britainusa.com/faq/xq/asp/SID.273/qx/showfaq.htm
• 

  Hamas

  Clutching at straws, but a good attempt.
• 

  Englishman

  Hi Blondie,

  The site that claims that the United Kingdom is a country in itself is this one below, not the one that you cite:

  Englishman.
• 

  ballistic

  The way I see it is... it would be the same as them listing the USA as the "States". I don't think the issue is really about what the different terms for this region actually refer to.
• 

  manon