“the English: people from England, or sometimes from all of Britain”
(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)
“the English: infml the
people of Britain”
(Longman Dictionary of English Language and
Culture)
When I first learned English, “he is an English” meant he is a man who comes from the island country that is located on northern part of France, from whichever part of the country he may come. But after knowing that the England soccer team does not represent the whole country – more than one soccer team from UK participate in the World Cup qualifier, I mean, I become hesitated to call whoever from the island or the northern part of Ireland, English. For if any foreigner doesn’t call me Korean but one of any wrong part of my country, I would be not pleasant, although it was from her ignorance – but that would be okay because it was from her very ignorance. Do the people not from England would be unhappy to be called English? (There would be a big probability, I guess, for I heard a Scottish interviewee say, in the referendum for his country's independence from the UK, that his heart wants to be independent from UK, but his head wants to remain in the UK on YouTube, but I want to hear the voice of Scottish, Welsh, Irish, etc.)
Best Answer
People from the country of England are English. People from the country of Scotland are Scottish. People from the United Kingdom (also referred to as [Great] Britain, though technically that is the name of the island England is on) are British.
The UK is the set of countries under British rule. This includes Scotland and England. Thus, someone Scottish is also British but not English.
Some Brits take their national identity within the UK quite seriously, and may find it insulting to be called English if they're not from England.
This is wise. They (most likely) aren't English. They may identify as Irish (this one is your best bet), British, or both. It's complicated; Northern Ireland is particularly sensitive to the Irish / English / British distinctions, for historical reasons.