Is it very offensive to call a Scottish an Englishman?

by me

I have a friend who comes from the United Kingdom. He is good at Chinese, so we generally talk to each other in Chinese.

In the Chinese language, British and Englishman share the same character(英国人), so I always call him Englishman/英国人.

But today, he informed me seriously: My dear friend, I’m a Scottish not an Englishman. I come from Scotland, not England. Although Scotland and England belong to the same country the UK, Scottish and Englishman are different ethnic groups.

Then he explained to me a brief history of England and Scotland. In history, England conquered Wales and Ireland, but they couldn’t conquer Scotland. After many wars, a Scotland king married an England princess, then they formed a united government.

After the union, they had the same central government and army, but Scotland and England were still two different nations, and their legal systems, churches, and education systems were all still independent. Now the name of the entire country is the United Kingdom or Britain, but the population of each constituent country still has its own national identity.

In his words, I can feel his annoyance at being called an Englishman.

I am a history buff myself. I think I know the history of the United Kingdom very…