A quick question on Britspeak

[ffutures]

Prompted by yet another story in which a British character refers to the USA as "The Colonies" without appearing to intend it as sarcasm or an insult.

[Poll #1468439]

Comments

[coth.livejournal.com]

I'm British, and use the term when it makes historical or rhetorical sense to do so. It isn't a term used much in a modern context when talking about the modern world, but you might say "...back when we still talked about The Colonies".