Why do people use UK so much?

[Crazyraceguy]

Most of the time, they really mean England. If they are referring to, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland, they are more specific?
It would be like me saying I'm from America. Most would assume the United states, but that's not entirely fair. Even specifying North America would include Mexico, Canada, Greenland, etc.

As far as I am aware, electric plugs are specific to England. Does that extend to the entire UK?
If not, what do they use? more like other European countries? How many different ones are there? Certainly, they are not all different? When did it get standardized? (if it did)

 

[MikeGE]

I used to travel frequently between Germany and the UK before retiring, and think the correct term is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".  Great Britain includes England, Scotland, Wales, and the nearby islands, with the exception of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

As a U.S citizen, I call myself an American, but do not tell anyone who asks that I am from America.  Instead, I say I'm from the United States or USA.  In the early days of my European tour, I would say I was from America, and the nearly immediate followup question was "Which country?"  Most Europeans are keenly aware that America is the part of the western hemisphere that includes all countries in the North and South American continents.

Concerning the electrical plugs, yes all of the UK, Republic of Ireland, and a few other countries that used to be part of The Empire, use the Type G plug and receptacle for normal domestic wiring.

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The huge 13-Amp plug normally has an internal fuse and the receptacle normally has a switch to disconnect the outlet.

The rest of Europe uses a variation of the Type F Schuko plug and receptacle. 

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The domestic wiring is a star configuration (branch circuits) normally protected by a 16-Amp circuit breaker for each branch.  In Germany all modern houses have 400/230V 3-phase distribution.

 

[bobtskutter]

Hello, I'm from the UK.  I live in England but grew up in Wales, and we sometimes visit friends in Scotland.  I call all of it "UK", it's just something I've always done.  However you will almost never get a Scot saying they're from the UK, a Scot is from Scotland! (absolutely no offence is intended to anybody with that comment)

The 3 pin UK 13amp plugs/sockets with rectangle pins have been around since the 70's (I think).  There used to be a round pin 15amp plug/socket but they got phased out in the 60's (I think).  My grandparents house used to have them, and gas lights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets:_British_and_related_types

The modern sockets are designed with safety feature to shield the conductors until the earth pin is inserted.  The plugs also have shielded conductor pins to prevent people getting their fingers "round the back of the plug" when pulling it out.

Modern electrical wiring in the UK follows a "ring main" style wiring schematic, European countries are different.  In fact, European countries are often decades ahead in forward thinking about how utilities should be provided to domestic houses.

The UK also has different telephone sockets.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_telephone_socket
But they're likely to get phased out over the next decade as the UK telecoms network shifts to VoIP.

There's a hotel just round the corner from where I work where the rooms have UK (rectangle pin) sockets and round (Euro style) sockets because they get so many visitors from Europe.

Bob

 

[timwors]

I am also from the UK (England). Technically, England, Scotland etc are "nations" within a country (UK). It is all very confusing.

The press here (and politicians) talk a lot about Great Britain, which they use interchangeably with the UK although I think actually refers to the island of Britain, i.e. excludes Northern Ireland and the other islands around Great Britain.

Even more confusingly if someone asks my nationality I would say "British" rather than English. My passport says I am a British Citizen.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

  However you will almost never get a Scot saying they're from the UK, a Scot is from Scotland! (absolutely no offence is intended to anybody with that comment)

Bob

This is what I meant. Someone from England says UK, but someone from Scotland or Wales probably wouldn't.

In the early days of my European tour, I would say I was from America, and the nearly immediate followup question was "Which country?"  Most Europeans are keenly aware that America is the part of the western hemisphere that includes all countries in the North and South American continents.

  In Germany all modern houses have 400/230V 3-phase distribution.

I think most Europeans are far more aware of the Americas than most of us are about Europe.
I don't really know why though? It may just be the mentality of the school system. The US seems to think it's the world's big brother, and those things don't matter?
Even simple world geography is lacking in our education system and it has gotten worse in the many years, since I was in school.

3 phase is virtually never seen in houses, and they couldn't get it if they wanted.
That's a commercial building thing, and even then, you would have to be close enough to the source.
Years ago, when the company where I work added a huge new dust collection system, the current power supply was not adequate. They added an entire new secondary line. They added a new pole, new transformer, everything. It took months, and quite a pile of $$

 

[rmhinden]

Concerning the electrical plugs, yes all of the UK, Republic of Ireland, and a few other countries that used to be part of The Empire, use the Type G plug and receptacle for normal domestic wiring.

I had a trip to Ireland last November, when packing I naively assume that because they were part of the EU, they would use the EU style plugs.  Wrong, they used the UK style plugs and I had to buy some adapters :-(

Bob

 

[PaulMarcel]

I liked this overview. The picture of god from Monty Python really adds the authenticity I needed. It's a bit old so the "member of the EU" is incorrect.