Notes from a Big Country - excerto

On another occasion when I made reference to someone in Britain attending a state school, an American researcher said to me: 'But I didn't think they had states in Britain.'
'I meant state in the rather broader sense of nation-state.'
'So you mean public schools?'
'Well, no, because public schools in Britain are private schools.'
Long pause. 'You're kidding.'
'It's a well-known fact.'
'So let me get this straight. They call private schools public schools in Britain?'
'Correct.'
'Then what do they call public schools?'
'State schools.'
Another long pause. 'But I didn't think they had states in Britain.'

in Notes from a Big Country, Bill Bryson