ChaunceyK: To folks in the UK, England, and Great Britain...
What's the difference between the UK, England, and Great Britain? Best as I can tell, the UK is made up of England, Wales, and one (or both) of the Irelands (all of which are individual countries, I think). And if its only one of the Irelands, why isn't the other one part of it, and when did it succeed from the UK? And how does Great Britain fit into it all?
Yes, I'm very confused on this. As I'm sure many non-US citizens would be in relation to our 50 states being part of the US, as well as Puerto Rico, Samoa, and Guam.
England is self-explanatory, Great Britain is just the biggest island (England + Scotland + Wales), the UK is the actual country (the one that has a seat in the UN for instance) and includes Northern Ireland and possibly some other small isles like Jersey.