Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 08:39:32 +0100 From: "Clive D.W. Feather" <clive@demon.net>
-GB Britain (UK) +GB Britain
What's the justification for this change,
I vaguely recall that someone complained about the "(UK)" a while back. Sorry, I don't remember the details. Perhaps it was because of the undesirable similarity to "Virgin Islands (UK)" in that list? Anyway, I don't feel that strongly about the "UK" one way or another so if you like I can put it back in.
or indeed for this entry?
The list is designed to aid unambiguous selection by an English reader from a list of regions. To aid selection, it uses common names, not official ones. My impression is that "Britain" is more commonly used than the official name "United Kingdom", just as "Vatican City" is more common than "Holy See", and "Libya" is more common than "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya". For example, I just checked the front web page of the Economist (a London newspaper) and it mentioned "Britain" twice (e.g., "Jack Straw, Britain's foreign secretary"), while never mentioning "United Kingdom". Names are often a delicate political issue, I'm afraid. There's no satisfying everybody.