I was born in England, but left home 18 years ago after my A levels. I have spent the last 13 years married to an American, living mostly in Germany (now Italy) with a couple of years in between in New Jersey (all at US military bases).

A lot of people ask where I am from and I will always answer "English", but if the question is asked the other way around, it usually comes out "Are you British?" A couple of days ago, I was completely flummoxed by the follow up question "Does it bother you if someone calls you British?"

Trying to put it into perspective, I likened it to calling an American, Canadian or vice verse, but that isn't quite true. Nobody would call a Frenchman German, or an Austrian Italian even though those countries are all in the same land mass of Europe, so why do Americans have such a hard time grasping the fact that (Great!) Britain is made up of four separate countries?

Just wondering what your individual thoughts are on this? Comments please.