Today

AnonymousWhich is correct?

Both are fine. Americans freely use simple past with 'already'; Britons less so.

And we British rarely refer to ourselves as Britons.

fivejedjonAnd we British rarely refer to ourselves as Britons.

... the preferred term being ____?

CJ

fivejedjonAnd we British rarely refer to ourselves as Britons.

Actually, I wasn't sure (having previously been castigated for using 'Yankee' and 'Canuck') so I went to the dictionaries and used it based on this entry:

1. A citizen or native of Great Britain. (

British.

I am British. The British drink less tea than they used to. We British normally use the word Britons only in heaadlines and news summaries: Paris Plan Crash. 3 Britons killed.

The word 'Briton' exists. It's just that we don't use it much of ourselves. It's most commonly used for the inhabitants of our island who were defeated by the Romans.

Some of us use Brit informally, though others dislike this. if you stick to British, everybody will be happy.

fivejedjon if you stick to British, everybody will be happy.

Including "a British"?

The word is 'Briton' but we simply don't use it much. We are far more likely to say A British tourist/citizen/visitor/passenger/etc.

In the past, we English often used an Englishman, but that is used less now, because it excludes English women and all Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish people.

Incidentally, a Scottish person is a Scot. We don't have an equi

fivejedjonThe word is ...

Thanks. No matter how many times I learn this, I end up forgetting it. Maybe it's an "age thing".

(And then you brought up "Scot". That set of terms (Scot, Scots, Scottish, Scotch) is an even worse headache. And no, I'm not asking for a lesson on those. My nerves are already too fragile after hearing about Brit

I don't know why people find the absence of a British equivalent of an American so strange. It's not as though we are alone - we don't have a singular word for a French, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese or Swiss person.