What does it mean to be British?

I was laughing my head off reading this. Why do people want to define what it means to be British, I dont understand. I am quite happy to be just British, thank you very much. I quote:

What does it mean to be British? How do you express it in a country that believes self-promotion to be embarrassing? And how do you deal with a defining trait of the people you are trying to define: their habit of making fun of worthy government proposals?

The readers’ suggestions included “Dipso, Fatso, Bingo, Asbo, Tesco” (Asbo stands for “anti-social behavior order,” a law-enforcement tool, while Tesco is a ubiquitous supermarket chain); “Once Mighty Empire, Slightly Used”; “At Least We’re Not French”; and “We Apologize for the Inconvenience.” The winner, favored by 20.9 percent of the readers, was “No Motto Please, We’re British.”

“The point I was making is, this idea of a statement of Britishness; I cannot think of anything less British than that,” said 25-year-old David Bishop, author of the winning motto.

I dont think we can define what Britishness is, it will defeat the purpose. Where do you start? the history? the culture? the language? everything is so diffuse but still goes to make up something that is brilliant. Best I can explain is by reference to something.

Define atmosphere. Well, you can define it by the percentage of oxygen, nitrogen, other gases, etc. But the air we breathe is one of the causes of life taking form on earth. And does the definition help? no. Similarly why do you want to define being British? Just say we are and that's it! :)