captain_spalding said:

party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

I see.

I quote from the Font of All Knowledge:

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) list of countries. However, the ISO list of the subdivisions of the United Kingdom, compiled by British Standards and the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics, uses “country” to describe England, Scotland and Wales.

So, they’re not countries, unless it suits the purposes of the British to have them considered as ‘countries’.

They were once countries, I guess. Just that they never got around to making up some other word for them after the acts of union. they still call them by the old word even though that word is technically no longer applicable.

The word state is another one that has a muddied meaning. In political theory it means a first tier independent and sovereign entity. But in places like Australia and USAlia it is used to describe the second tier regional or provincial sub-dividsions.

Now ask a Scot if Scotland is, or is not, a country in its own right.

Why ask a Scot when you can ask the ISO?