Britain is an island made of three very separate countries. The English are not Scottish, the Scottish are not Welsh, and God forbid you call the Welsh or Scottish English. This is the rule of thumb when talking to anyone in Great Britain. I attend school in Wales. There are English and Scottish students here, but most are obviously Welsh. Even calling a Welsh person British is an insult. Every country-section of Britain defines themselves differently. They have unique cultures, accents, and even different languages. People who speak the Welsh language are a dying breed, and Gaelic is almost all but forgotten. Less than 40 percent of the Welsh population can speak their native language. Lately, there has been a push in Wales to bring back the Welsh language. All the street and shop signs have both English and Welsh words. When students get forms from the University of Wales Swansea they are printed in both languages. They even have elementary schools that teach only in Welsh. The Welsh and Scots get on great. There is some kind of unity between them: they both dislike the English. There is resentment toward the English because Parliament and the monarchy control them. The Welsh and Scots stereotype the English as snobs who have drowned their culture and heritage. My flatmates told me the English have no sense of culture like the rest of Britain has. It goes both ways, though. The English do not fancy the Welsh or the Scots too much, either. They stereotype Scottish people as kilt-wearing, whiskey drinkers. They make jokes about how tight the Scots are with money, their red hair and their choice of food. Scotland is known for making haggis. Maybe you have seen “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” and know what haggis is, or have at least seen what it looks like. It is made of a large stomach bag of a sheep, filled with goodies: lungs, liver and heart mixed with beef, suet, oatmeal and onions. Pepper and salt to taste. Yum! The Welsh are stereotyped as heavy drinkers. Not that I, as an underage American student, would know anything about the Welsh heavy drinking culture. It is just some information passed about. The English think when the Welsh get drunk, they tend to be quite loud singers. They don’t need karaoke music to carry on a tune. Singing at pubs is somewhat standard for stag (bachelor) or hen (bachelorette) parties. A favorite song for the stag parties tends to be “Delilah.” The English look down upon the Welsh as poor, blue-collar workers. This dates back to when Wales was a large coal provider for Britain. The English exploited the miners and the land, and now the coal has almost run out, but the English still carry on this view. One of my flatmates generally gets asked by English people if her father works in a coal mine. This is actually rather offensive to her. One aspect of the Welsh landscape you cannot miss are the hill-top pastures. It is a bit of a change from the flat land in Iowa. If you see the pastures, you can’t miss the sheep. There are sheep in your backyard and sheep on the road (there are no sheep crossing signs, however). Sheep everywhere! So many sheep that the English refer to the Welsh as “sheep shaggers.” Use your imagination. So why all this disdain for people with whom you share a country? The countries mostly dislike one another because of battles and wars that happened hundreds of years ago. The English were conquerors and exploiters. They pushed the Welsh into western Britain, then forced them to join Great Britain. The Welsh still resent English domination. Scotland signed on by treaty. The Welsh and Scottish have recently called for more control within their country-sections. The Parliament in Westminister is even giving more governmental powers to Scotland and Wales. Scotland has a Parliament, and Wales now has a National Assembly. People used to resent each other in the country due to domination and control. Most people still resent this English rule, but now the dislike is mainly due to sport. Rugby, soccer, cricket, polo -take your pick. They all cause fights among country supporters. It’s kind of like the sport riots after championship games in America … then magnify it by 10. You think we tailgate in America for sport … magnify it by 100. Then imagine the chaos between rival country sports. Westminister doesn’t allow too much power to Wales and Scotland now, but who knows, giving these extra powers to Britains once conquered states may lead to succession a few hundred years from now. With new power and control, you might think everyone could all get along since there are no wars anymore … unless rugby is the cause of it all.