Re: The clocks: GMT vs. BST

Lüko Willms wrote:
I am working thru a backlog of old messages...

Am Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:56:30 UTC, schrieb "R.C. Payne" <rcp27@xxxxxxxxxxxx> auf uk.railway :

Is there a country called 'America'? I was always taught that it was called the United States of America.

There is a country called "America" just as much as there is one called "France", "Germany" or "the United Kingdom". They are all abreviated forms of the proper names ("United States of America", "French Republic", "Federal Republic of Germany", "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" respectively)

Not really, "Federal Republic of Germany" is the designation of a state which came into existence in 1949 resp 1990. The name of the country is "Germany", and that existed centuries before that particular state plagueing us today came into existence. Same for "French Republic". The state is not the same as the country. USA and UK of etc designate states governing countries which do not have a proper name by themselves.

In particular discussion about nationalism and political movements, I can see the use of the distinction you are attempting to draw, however that distinction is not one that should be read into any of my previous statements. I have been going by the common usage that gives "nation", "state" and "country" essentially identical meanings:

From the OED:

nation, n. A people or group of peoples; a political state.
state, n. the body politic as organized for supreme civil rule and government; the political organization which is the basis of civil government (either generally and abstractly, or in a particular country); hence, the supreme civil power and government vested in a country or nation. (though there are many slight variations, amonst the 40 or so definitions given, this seemed closest to me)
country The territory or land of a nation; usually an independent state, or a region once independent and still distinct in race, language, institutions, or historical memories, as England, Scotland, and Ireland, in the United Kingdom, etc.

You will notice that each definition gives at least one of the other two as a synonym.

Robin
.

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