Well it has its own sense of national identity and its own language
As an Englishman, the closest frame of reference he has is Wales
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:22, 2 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

Everyone knows that Wales is a principality

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:23, Reply)

Try telling the Welsh that
I'd love to see you learn - and pronounce - the Welsh for principality
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:25, Reply)

I have repeatedly told several Welsh people exactly that
not in Welsh though because the only thing I can say is "I love tortoises"

I did live there for 4 years, had 3 welsh housemates, one of whom was my long-term girlfriend.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:26, Reply)

Alright smartarse you win
Although my original point was that Wales is not part of England, which stands
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:28, Reply)

it fucking well is
just because we let them play at having their own flag and government doesn't mean they actually are their own people.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:29, Reply)

No, but it's part of the UK
England is not the country, is part of the country. That's the problem with you, Englishmen, that reduce all of Britain to England, and that upset Scotish, Welsh and Irish.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:29, Reply)

England is a country though
the United Kingdom is a union of countries

obviously we are the most important
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:30, Reply)

England is not a country
You're not represented as England in the EU, because it's not a country; you're represented as Britain. UK is a union of kingdoms, and all of them together form a country.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:32, Reply)

you are wrong
the UK is a sovereign state made up of several countries
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:32, Reply)

Which countries
Because a moment ago, only England was a country.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:37, Reply)

see below
argument about Wales not being a country is a facetious one.

Scotland is a country, as is England.

You try telling a Scotsman that it's not a country and see how far you get.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:40, Reply)

The UK is a United Kingdom (hence the name) under one monarch
Therefore the union is not of Kingdoms but of countries and/or principalities
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:36, Reply)

The UK is a United Kingdom (hence the name) under one monarch
Therefore the union is of Kingdoms
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:38, Reply)

Ok
Is Wales a country? Is it? Then, there we are.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:28, Reply)

Yes it is.

(PsychoChomp, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:28, Reply)

Yes No +n't
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:30, Reply)

No, it isn't
The country is the United Kingdom; and it's divided in several bits, one of them is Wales (and England is just another, not a country in itself)
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:31, Reply)

England is definitely a country

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:31, Reply)

Stop that
You know it isn't. Is your Prime Minister is not governing England: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom.

You don't have an independent English goverment, it has to folow whatever rules the Prime Minister of the UK decides to pass.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:35, Reply)

it fucking well is!
none of those things mean it isn't a country
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:35, Reply)

What's the definition of country
If it's not based on it's independent politics, then, explain.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:37, Reply)

at it's basic level a geographical region.
in your argument the entire British (or any other for that matter) empire in the past would have been one country.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:41, Reply)

Geography have very little to do these days with the definition of country
People put lines where they want to put them. You call yourselves as you want, country, nation or village, the reality is that you haven't got an independent goverment, you don't control your international affairs independently, you aren't represented in the world independently... If it's to stop a war, call it a country, but it clearly isn't.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:50, Reply)

I don't think the politics defines it
it's far more of a cultural and historical thing.

you didn't answer my other point though. In the past vast areas have been under the control of a single government, the British Empire, the Roman Empire etc. They weren't countries where they?

it's essentially the same thing. Just because there is an organisation where they can be represented now doesn't make it more official.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:53, Reply)

But they were
At least, that's how we translate them. When the British empire, all the pieces of land in your power, stoped being countries and became Britain. Same with the Romans, which didn't have countries in their empire, had provincies. When the Spanish empire, all of it was Spain, with several provincies too.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:57, Reply)

I don't agree with that
they were still countries

clearly our definitions of country are different (yours is wrong) so I should stop trying to argue this and do some work!
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:59, Reply)

Hahaha
Oh, well, as far as Spain and Roman, I'm sure we didn't have countries, we had provincies. I'm not sure about the British, so I'll let you have that one right.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 10:03, Reply)

England is a country. Wales is a principality
Scotland is a cautionary tale. The United Kingdom is an elaborate scheme constructed in 1707 to let us nick a load of oil.

So there.
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:35, Reply)

OMG STOP MAKING COMMENTS THAT DONT MATTER YOU WITHOUT BEING INFORMED FIRST
/the intricacies of the UK are a bit complicated but England Scotland and Wales are all countries.
(PsychoChomp, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:35, Reply)

You can't agree that
even between yourselves.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:36, Reply)

In other news,
Catalonia is not part of Spain
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:37, Reply)

You see?
I know that's not true, so you don't bother me. You probably don't know any Spanish history either.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:39, Reply)

we are taught about history where it has affected the course of civilisation
unfortunately Spain hasn't contributed much so we haven't been taught about it.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:43, Reply)

You clearly haven't studied any history at all
I pity you.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:51, Reply)

1 Religious torture,
2 failed Naval attacks
3 civil war.
(PsychoChomp, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:54, Reply)

I can see you're still upset and talking stupid things
Because the British never had a war or kill anyone, did they? You're just using that to try to upset me, as you're taking this personally, when I'm trying to have a constructive discussion about politics.

If you're going to go that way, I say our conversation is finished.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:59, Reply)

that was a joke....

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:55, Reply)

I know
Mine was a half joke too... I know you know more than that because we've talked before.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 10:00, Reply)

I actually know very little of Spanish history
other than a little of the early 20 century stuff. Just not something we were taught, and other than taking a bit of interest in very specific periods and places, I've not really studied any since school.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 10:05, Reply)

I'm well aware that Catalonia is a part of Spain
because as you're Spanish, and Gary Lineker is not, I assume that you're right.

See where I'm going with this?
(Darth Foxtrot A one-man army dedicated to making fetch happen, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:48, Reply)

Yes, but have you lived in Spain?
I'm saying that you can call yourselves a country, but what I see everyday is that you aren't. You can't move your finger without having to agree with Wales and Scotland; not on the big things, not on the small. As I said to Vipros, call it country to stop a war, but it doesn't look like one.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:52, Reply)

And what about them Basques, eh?

(Cave Duck, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:42, Reply)

Basques are more complicated
It's not so clear how they became part of Spain, and I'll be happy for them to have their own country, as long as:

1. They give back all the money Spain has given them to integrate them
2. Stop asking for bits of Spain that were never Basque (Navarra, La Rioja...)
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:54, Reply)

That's because Vipros and Darth are being LOL racist.
They're all countries.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_of_the_United_Kingdom
(PsychoChomp, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:38, Reply)

the argument over Wales being a country is a facetious one
I argue it because it annoys the Welsh
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:39, Reply)

Again
How you define country. Maybe I'm wrong, but seeing your politic system, it doesn't look like England is a country, as it can't decide anything withouth the Prime Minister of the UK agreing; and it's not represented as a country in the EU, Britain is.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:41, Reply)

I tell you how it works
BETTER THAN SPAIN IS HOW IT WORKS
(PsychoChomp, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:42, Reply)

Are you upset, Chompy?

(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:54, Reply)

basically
if it's not in london or cheshire, don't worry about it, nobody else does.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:44, Reply)

Hahaha

(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:54, Reply)