An Olympic Question.

[Thipu1]

On these boards we usually refer to people who live in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland as those who live in the United Kingdom. 

Watching the Olympics, we see that the abbreviation is 'GB'.  we assume that this means 'Great Britain'. 

What is the difference?

[Ferrets]

Geographically speaking, "Great Britain" is the big island comprising England, Scotland, and Wales.

Politically/nationally, "Great Britain" is used as a shorthand term for "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (which includes The Big Island, That Bit Of That Island Called Ireland, Some Smaller Local Islands and Some Even Smaller And Non-Local Islands).

Team GB, in the Olympic context, comprises [shameless C&P from Wikipedia] "athletes from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) plus the three Crown dependencies and all but three of the British overseas territories". (Great Britain at the Olympics)

(If you're Northern Irish, you can choose whether to represent the UK or Ireland at t'Olympics.)

See Britain Versus the UK.

[Thipu1]

Thank you, Ferrets. 

Most illuminating and helpful.  There are always people with good information on E-Hell.  That's why we keep coming back to the place.