I suppose the reasoning is pretty much what people have stated here, even if it is flawed. I wonder what the attitude is in Ireland and Malta...

But yeah, Malta, Ireland, Cyprus and Iceland are also islands in Europe. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and others also have their own currencies.

And Denmark used to rule you guys too, don't forget! Holland and Portugal used to be superpowers as well.

Different times... at the time other empires existed, much of the world wasn't even known to exist by Europeans.

But let's not turn this into a pissing match :P

Same reason we Canadians always say we are so different culturally from the U.S. Jealousy.

No wait I mean Superiority. Yeah, that.

They're like women. Only a part of Europe when its useful

People in the Uk have a lot of sentiment, but i think everyone reasonable pretty much knows that there is no alternative to the EU.

im English and I consider the UK part of Europe, why you ask? well, I was never great at geography, but I did get the lesson on Europe, whether people here accept it or not, the UK is part of Europe, and that ladies and gentleman is a fact

I dont hate the other European nations either, heck most of the people from the rest of Europe that ive met have been nice friendly people.

Personally I think its ignorace, some people here cant let go of the fact that the Empire is dead and we are no longer a super power, that and they dont know geography.

Thank you for telling me where I live!

Its purely a historical thing.  For hundreds of years between being kicked out of France, England (and later Britain) has always attempted to distance istelf from 'European' matters, prefering to concentrate on trade, colonies and the Empire.  Old habits die hard.

And it will be a cold day in hell before I refer to myself as European instead of English and British.

some points on that:

1) I dont think the French or Germans refer to themselves as "european", they just accept the fact that they are in the continent of Europe

2) if people ask me my nationality, I say "English", being English does not make me any less part of Europe though, its just the correct answer to the question, though "British" or "European" would both be correct answers, though would not be specific.

To be fair, I try not to think of the UK as a representative of Europe either. It's closer to the US socially than the rest of the European nations so if they want to think themselves different more power to them.

For the same reason I don't want to consider them part of Europe they don't considered themselves a part of Europe, I would assume. Social differences can go a long way on how a people feels about their country in its place in the world.

1. They are not connected by land to most of Europe
2. Believe it or not, they're one of the only countries that speaks English in Europe
3. They have their own currency
4. They have the most history out of any European nation
5. They could kick France's ass whenever they wanted!