There are many alternative ways to escribe the people of the United Kingdom (UK), though the official designated nationality is British. The standard noun is Briton (see also demonym), but in colloquial usage this is often abbreviated informally to Brit. In practice, Britons are often referred to, according to their constituent nation, as English, Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish. Some other terms are humorous or derogatory slang, and used mainly by people from other countries, although British people themselves may use them in a self-deprecating way. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to coin words as alternatives to the potentially ambiguous standard terms. British (English, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh combined) people may consider some if not all irreverent terms to be offensive, or in some cases even racist.