Instead of saying “Tom is a British person” or “British people drink a lot of tea,” is it equally polite to use the terms “Brit” or “Briton”? Would any British people be offended by those terms?
Thank you.
P.S. At another helpline, I learned NEVER to say “Britisher.”
“Brit” is informal only. “Briton” is more formal. Neither term is offensive or sensitive.
To me personally, “Britisher” sounds odd, quaint, or old-fashioned, rather than offensive. According to Wiktionary, “Britisher is mainly used in the Indian subcontinent, having originated there during the British Raj. Its use was once considered pejorative, but is now mostly considered jocular.” oxforddictionaries.com says it is used “in North America and old-fashioned British English”.
Thank you very much. In future, I shall simply refer to Brits or Britons instead of having to say “a British person” or “British people.”