British Isles

The British Isles is the collective name for the islands of Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and all of the surrounding islets. The term is used mainly referring to weather and nature stuff, and also has some cultural use. Some Irish people have hard reservations about the term being applied to the island of Ireland, and so the British and Irish governments no longer use it. But Irish people who are not insecure about Ireland's future have no problem with the term, recognising that its just the name of a place, not a secret government. Origin: Britain and Ireland were called "Britain" and "Britanis" in Roman times, which translates as Great Britain and Little Britain.