TI: Transalantic Ignorance

[Mobius]

Just and idea whch might be a good read eventually...

-----==Transalantic Ignorance==-----
As our UK/US memberlist is pretty big i thought we could try out a little 'game'. The aim is for one person from either side of the atlantic to say something which they think is true bout their neigbours across the pond, and someone else has to say if it true or not.

eg...
American member: "Everyone in Britatin gets round by red buses."
British Member: "That's an urban myth mate, we might if they ever turn up..."

Game on anyone?

[Rapier Racer]

In America everyone has a great big gas-guzzling car

[AmishRobot]

In America everyone has a great big gas-guzzling car

My current car gets about 35mpg (that's good), and my last car got 40mpg (that's great). I also take the train to work, and as a result only use about 10 gallons of gas per month. (and in Texas, no less! :D) Sadly, I'm too lazy to convert miles and gallons so those amounts make more sense. Perhaps someday the US will join the rest of the world in the metric system.

Sadly SUV's are far too common here, but it's not like an endless caravan of Hummers. The biggest problem here is that there is so much land, we tend to build out instead of up, and that makes mass transit far less viable in most cities.

As for my preconceptions:
I've always had this mental image that Britain is either congested high-rise city or uninhabited back county, with nothing comperable to a suburb to speak of, aside from some random villages. How far off am I on that one?

/interesting topic.

[Dimension]

aside from some random villages.

yeah, "some" random villages... hundreds of the ****ing things :lol: you can barely drive 2 miles without finding another little outcropping of populace, also the big cities do stretch quite far outwards, London for example is of course a county to itself, manchester seems to take up most of Lancashire and between Leeds and Sheffield there's not a lot left in this half of yorkshire. I guess its pretty accurate to a degree, but there are plenty of in between sized towns and stuff, we've got everything from old London town to collections of 3 or 4 houses and everything in between! Fascinating, i'm sure :P

What I always thought about america: i kind of figured with the size of the place and the few cities that I actually know of that there's these vast plains of nothing for about a hundred miles in every direction every once in a while, must be all these daytime movies with road trips through wierd deserts that do it :roll: Until not long ago i thought there was all of about 5 town/cities away from the coastal areas, seeing some maps i see there's a little more than that :o

[infoxicated]

In America everyone has a great big gas-guzzling car

My current car gets about 35mpg (that's good), and my last car got 40mpg (that's great). I also take the train to work, and as a result only use about 10 gallons of gas per month. (and in Texas, no less! :D) Sadly, I'm too lazy to convert miles and gallons so those amounts make more sense. Perhaps someday the US will join the rest of the world in the metric system.
US Gallons are larger than Imperial Gallons, so that 35mpg is actually not that spectacular - closer to 30mpg in imperial gallons.

My car does in excess of 50mpg on the motorway, and around 40mpg for regular commuting (http://www.whatcar.com/RoadTest_FullData.asp?DL=0&RT=181464). I could drive to the frickin' moon and back on a US Gallon! :lol:

To quote an article I read on a US car salesman "Nobody ever sold a car by telling the buyer it was safe or economical!" ;)

[Lance]

.
i beg to differ: U.S. gallons are a good deal smaller than imperial gallons. according to conversion tables found here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/55-30/appi.htm
one Imperial gallon equals 1.201 U.S. gallons, so they're about 20 percent larger than the american ones.

my old car got 10 miles per U.S. gallon. now i have no car, and consequently save a lot on gasoline/petrol.

back on topic: i have this belief that there are still a lot of English villages that have hardly been modernised at all, so that, except for having cars now, they still look almost entirely like they were in the 19th century. is that true?
.

[Mobius]

That isn't entirely true,
We have running water and electricity and other creature comforts in these places but yes, most of the victorian buildings still stand nowerdays. British engineering, you can't beat it...(ahem...wipeout...ahem...) :D

You do get some villages though which have been totally modernised but have lost all their appeal - take Harefield for example. Set in the northen-western most area of the greater london area. The locale is beautiful but one problem is 90% of the people there are chav's. I go to school there sadly :(

Anyhoo, i have always had this preconception that most of america has TI and thinks we are all called john and wear pinstipe suits and drink tea and all have posh accents...

[Lance]

.
glad to hear it's much as i thought.
pity about Harefield, though.

with or without villages, i would love to go sailing in the Lake District. Derwent Water, Coniston Water. all that lot. and hiking round the relatively uncivilised Haweswater.


''...and thinks we are all called john and wear pinstipe suits and drink tea and all have posh accents...''
funnily enough, i watched The Avengers movie last night. ah, John Steed. hehe
Eddie Izzard provided quite a contrast, however.
.

[infoxicated]

.i beg to differ: U.S. gallons are a good deal smaller than imperial gallons..
I guess I read the conversion ratio thing the wrong way around then.. :) :oops:

[Lance]

.
a brief phase of factual dyslexia, i've no doubt. :) probably passed already, i'm sure
.

[Rapier Racer]

is it true that in America you have to carry cards which show that you have health insurance and if you have the wrong one you won't get help? for example if you were carrying a blue card and the ambulance arriving was from the red card people they would just leave you there

I don't believe this but oh the things you hear these days :roll:

[Lance]

.
ambulances and fire/rescue and emergency medical technicians are all county employees. no one asks for insurance cards till AFter you get to a hospital. most hospitals are privately owned by corporations.

i have no medical insurance [nor any other kind, either]. i would be a dead man if i needed hospitalisation because you pretty much don't get in without it. although an unconscious patient being brought in by emergency team could answer no questions and would probably be given immediate life-saving care. dunno about beyond that
.

[Dimension]

i always had the idea that the yanks think we all ahve really bad teeth, why is that? I mean, sure NHS dental care's a little crap but we don't exactly all have bad teet... maybe it goes hand in hand with the tea drinking thing, tea stains on the teeth and that :?

[Lance]

.
i guess Shane McGowan has become the quintessential briton in American eyes
.

[AmishRobot]

Emergency medical technicians (ambulance, firefighter, etc.) don't care if you're insured and don't check. And no hospital here can refuse emergency treatment for life-threatening injuries, even a privately owned one. They can refuse treatment for lesser problems, though I'm not sure where the line is drawn, whether it's broken bones or whatever. A county run hospital will treat you whether you're insured or not. This can actually be problematic. For example, here in Dallas, the hospitals in outlying cities are forcing patients they don't think will be able to pay over to our county hospital, and Dallas residents get stuck footing the bill with their taxes, while the pompous suburbanites drive their SUV's over freshly paved everything, and have walk-in humidors in their gas stations (opulence run amuck).

Prolly more info than you need. :)

And the bad teeth thing is definitely an American stereotype of Brits. I don't really know why... I suppose long ago there was a reason.

[lunar]

.

back on topic: i have this belief that there are still a lot of English villages that have hardly been modernised at all, so that, except for having cars now, they still look almost entirely like they were in the 19th century. is that true?
.

Yes, this is true, there are a few pockets of architectural resistance against the 20th century, but the genuine ones have all become branded tourist attractions and frequently charge admission, you can`t park within 15 miles and they are full of tourists, when they aren`t being used as sets for commercials and costume dramas. Its hardly a trip back in time. We have a very dense population which means everything changes.

In Colorado I came across possibly 19th century (?) mining villages left alone since the mining of whatever mineral was being extracted became uneconomical, with trains just parked and left where they were standing, and shops just abandoned like the day when everyone moved out.... real life ghost-towns that nobody seems to be interested in. We have nothing like this.

[Dimension]

I didn't know there were villages that charge admission. (except York, they charge for absolutely everything in York. I wonder why old old folks and tourists live there heh :lol: )

Go on then, do you all talk with either a texan accent or one of those daft, inexplicably clean sounding ones from the movies and TV adverts where they pronounce new 'noo' (for example)? :P

[Lance]

.
i didn't know there was any way to pronounce 'new' except 'noo'. perhaps if i were dutch and spelled it 'nieuw', i might throw in another syllable and get something like 'Nyoo' Amsterdam. [Holland-America Line 1937, or thereabouts]
.

[Dimension]

it's pronounced 'nyou' in english english :wink:

[Spiral Motion]

Is there really a difference between 'Biscuits' and 'cookies' in the USA.

I travelled round there for 2 months earlier in the year, apparently they are too different things. Strange question I know.

[Lance]

.
in the U.S., a biscuit is a kind of soft moist bread, fairly heavy, with a firm browned outer crust, and when baked is about 2 and a half inches in diameter and and inch and a quarter thick. [Pillsbury ''Grands'' are a commercial development, a giant biscuit meant to be used as small meals in themselves rather than being an accompaniment to a meal. and btw, those standard sized, cold, dry, and hours old, so-called biscuits served by fast food franchises with fried chicken are pale imitations of real biscuits.] biscuits are usually served freshly baked and hot, and are split in half by the eater through the large dimension leaving the two circular halves either completely separated or still slightly attached while butter is placed between the halves to melt from the heat. very often after the butter melts, one then separates the upper and lower halves and applies fruit preserves or jam to the buttered side. blackberry preserves and strawberry preserves have always been my favourite. i like to eat them along with a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatos and peas, and another vegetable. and in the summer, iced sweet tea.
.

[Spiral Motion]

Thanks for that!

Biscuits over here are just your cookies I guess. Although we do use cookie to describe a biscuit that is generally round and flat, normally with chocolate in it.

Just realised that I spelt 'two' as 'too' in the above post, my English is getting sloppy! :(

[AmishRobot]

no, no, no, Lance. You've got it all wrong! Biscuit is slang for the posterior, aka the bum. Which of course, when re-reading your full discription within the new context, is quite odd and just a little disturbing.
:lol:

Like Humpty Hump from Digital Underground says: "Just grab 'em in the biscuits!"

[2SU]

It is something of a preconcepotion here that all Yanks are gun toting lunatics - is this true?

[Lance]

.
James, LOL
butter!
pervert ;)


-----------------

toosoo, no, very few people actually carry guns. tiny percentage of the population.
there are quite a few people who use firearms to hunt. of course there are armed robbers and police, but again only a small percentage of the population, though too high a percentage no matter how small.
.

[Dimension]

It is something of a preconcepotion here that all Yanks are gun toting lunatics - is this true?

I always wondered about that too, figured you all keep big fugg off anti-tank style weapons in your great petrol guzzling cars' glove boxes. How much of your population believe in UFOs? 25% of the yanks I see on the TV are just there going on about 'spinning discs on the tree line' or some such crud lol, easy one to jump to conclusions on I guess :D

[Rapier Racer]

Is it true that in America you get a free rifle when you open a bank account

[AmishRobot]

Dimension: You forgot to mention our fat asses and the "God is my copilot" bumper stickers on our SUV's! :lol:

Guns are a very integral part of our culture, but Lance is right: the actual population of gun owners is a small percantage. About the bank thing, you're probably talking about that scene from Bowling for Columbine. It was true that he walked into a bank, opened an account, and got a free rifle, but the context was missing. Not only was that an aberration, but it was also very rural community. Hunting is big in rural towns here; people like that grow up around guns, know what they do and tend to respect them. They aren't the gun owners to be afraid of (they're terrifying for other reason, but I digress.. :)).

Now here's a question: I've always understood that in the UK, most food has all the flavor boiled out of it, and really good ethnic foods (ie, Mexican, Chinese) are nigh-impossible to find. Any truth to that?

[Spiral Motion]

We have great food in the main cities, London, Manchester etc. Although it is a lot harder to find Mexican food sadly, that's one thing I liked about eating out in the US, good Mexican.

One the flip side there are still tons of Italians and Chinese and more importantly we have a lot more Indian restaurants over here. mmm curry.

It just comes down to the ethnic groups in your society, we have less hispanic people but more Indian people than the USA for example.

Although if you live in a small town there aren't many great places to eat really.

[DaMiGi63]

edit by Lance: flame removed

i should have done it sooner. sorry about that

[zargz]

Anyhoo, i have always had this preconception that most of america has TI and thinks we are all called john and wear pinstipe suits and drink tea and all have posh accents... don't know about john but I'm finding a Lot of variations of Steven (stephen etc) right here on the boards (for UK)! 8)

Praeterea censeo autopilotum esse delendam

edit by Lance: flame response removed

[Bob Todd]

I don't understand how those American postboxes (mailboxes, I should say) outside houses work. The arch-shaped ones with little red flags on them that you see in films. As I understand it, the postman puts the mail in, then pulls down (or up?) the flag, which locks it. What if he (or she) realises that he's got some leftover stuff that he didn't put in the mailbox? Can he not get it back in?
Or do most of you chaps not have those at all and actually have slots in your front doors, as we do?

[Dimension]

Since in america you cannot drink until you're 21, is it true that not one of you has yet drunk at a sensible age (14?) :P

[Thruster2097]

14?
see, toughened-up northern boys go into pubs at 14.
Us sissy southerners at least have the decency to wait until we're 15 :)

[Mano]

I don't understand how those American postboxes (mailboxes, I should say) outside houses work. The arch-shaped ones with little red flags on them that you see in films. As I understand it, the postman puts the mail in, then pulls down (or up?) the flag, which locks it. What if he (or she) realises that he's got some leftover stuff that he didn't put in the mailbox? Can he not get it back in?
Or do most of you chaps not have those at all and actually have slots in your front doors, as we do?

Those flags arent used to lock the mailbox; they are for the owner to know theres mail in it.

Btw they are only common in North America afaik, Central im not sure and Southern i dont think so, at least in Peru we dont, we usually use slot boxes.

[Bob Todd]

Those flags arent used to lock the mailbox; they are for the owner to know theres mail in it.

Doesn't that mean that anyone could come along and steal your mail? 8O

[Dimension]

Nah, they're american, nice boys like, they'd never steal from one another... should that have been aired more as a question as to whether that's true? 8O

[Lance]

.
mail theft from private boxes is pretty much unheard of here, which actually surprises me a lot
.

[Bob Todd]

Blimey. If you tried that in London, there would be no post in anyone's mailboxes at all. Thievin' chav scum.

[Lance]

.
possibly the UK does not have as much junkmail as we do?
about 90 percent of my mail is adverts
.

[jospicy]

Chavs and NEDs what a pain in the arse they really are!!!

[DaMiGi63]

well,if I'm to be considered a jerk, then so be it, I'm a jerk to you, but to others I'm considered to be a very nice guy, all that I was trying to do was have a little fun in the forums,is that so worng :? ..?

edit by Lance: flame removed. a wink did not convincingly disguise the flame in this post. and the first post above was a flame, not having 'a little fun'. the WZ is not like the old official Fusion board you came from. when i read that old board, you always struck me as one of the more adult and least offensive people there. please establish that habit here.

[G'Kyl]

about 90 percent of my mail is adverts

Gosh, I hate adverts and flyers in my mail. Don't you have those little stickers you can put on your mailbox saying "no ads please!"? We have them in Germany and you can legally sue every company that ignores them.

Ben

[Lance]

.
in the U.S., the national postal service, the only organisation allowed to make delivery of anything other than packages, supports itself financially by delivering junk mail. the money from that subsidises the cost of delivering personal mail and bills. so you can't say no
.

[DaMiGi63]

sorry I was trying to have as I quote it, "a little fun" but when the guy responded as he did, I overreacted as I did, My appologies to the board and I was wrong in the way my reaction was and I was'nt trying to cause any problems.

[infoxicated]

zargz was pretty careless in his use of words too - I've spoken to him on messenger about this and warned him that the term can be offensive.

Letis be friends, people. :)

[Mobius]

Yeah, lets.

Not trying to moan here but thats why it i called transaltantic ignorance, or have i lost the plot of what was going on?

[zargz]

DaMiGi63: what you said wasn't funny as lance pointed out but I'm sure you are a very nice guy so I'm sorry about the hard words!
Is that okay with you?
------------------------

back on topic:

is there StatOil in the US and does americans Really think it's from the states?
there was a comercial here about a year ago claiming that :D

Praeterea censeo autopilotum esse delendam

[Lance]

.
Mobius, i think you lost the plot; what DaMiGi63 said in text was a pure slam; it wasn't a real question about British character. whatever his intent, the text itself was offensive.

------------

zargz, what the hell is StatOil?
.

[Deadly Diabetic]

This is an interesting thread, so I thought I'd jump in. A couple of things:

Mailboxes - The redflag on the mailboxes denotes to the mail carrier that there is mail in your box that you would like to have picked up. Presumably the reason for this is that mail can build up in the box if you were to go away for a couple of days without putting the mail on hold. Therefore they needed a mechanism to designate the mail in the box was outgoing and not ingoing. I know this seems overly complicated, but that's the U.S. for you.

Guns - I own two shotguns, two rifles, and a handgun. One of the rifles and one of the shotguns were passed on to me from relatives; otherwise I would only have one of each. I used to go hunting a bit more than I do now but I still enjoy going to the range and firing a few rounds now and again. It's like any skill, it takes practice and there is a certain amount of pride at being good at it. However, I don't have a gun rack in my car, am not looking to ever have to use a firearm other than hunting, and wouldn't allow someone to handle my firearms unless they knew gun saftey.

Land - Although I live in Mississippi (one of the southern most states) most of my family is from Oklahoma (in the southwest). My family owns four square miles of land which they use to farm wheat and there is only one house on the entire property. I'm sure this may seem odd to people from a country where land is such a premium. The thing is that my relatives aren't wealthy, because most farmers have sold to major corporations they have to farm that much land to be comfortable. Also, there are a number of "ghost towns" in OK. Not that they are just everywhere but there was a large oil rush in OK that sprung up all kinds of small towns. The problem is that the terrain is very unfriendly (especially in regards to natural water supply), so when the oil (money) ran dry there was nothing to keep the towns viable. People moved away and couldn't sell the properties they had. Instant ghost town.

Okay, time for a couple quick questions: What's a Chav? Why does England still put up with the royal family? Is there any degree of regionalism? On the last one, I mean that when I moved to the south I got a lot of guff for not having a southern accent (the way I pronounce my words) and there are a number of other regionally different aspects of American life (cooking, climate, speed of life, etc.) Is there the same thing in England? Or is it much more nationalistic?

-DD

Sorry I'm so wordy but congrats if you made it all the way through that post. :oops:

[Mobius]

@ Lance:
Haha - great answer! :D

----------------------------------

Do roundabout exists out there? Bends in the roads or is it all crossroads?
Are the roads given a number for a name as in 5th Street etc. Or are there some with names (Like over here they are named e.g. i live on west end road.)

[Rapier Racer]

You wouldn't be referring to the whole of the UK as England now would you DD?

[Deadly Diabetic]

Maybe :oops:

I try to think of myself as an educated individual but I always seem to do that, use England and the UK as synonyms. It's probably because I don't truly understand the difference. And that is quite sad considering most of my geneolgy is from the UK. Is the U.K. more of a geographic reference (like North America) than a geopolitical or social reference?

-DD

[Edit] Sorry mobius, didn't see your questions. Once again, I'll answer for my area. Most streets come to intersections; however, there are a couple roundabouts here in Jackson. I recently moved here from Memphis and it was the first place in the states that I had ever seen a roundabout. To be honest, most people don't know how to use them very well. Everyone acts very tentative about entering and exiting which can lead to some messes. As far as the naming is concerned, that is up to individual town planners. Usually though streets are given names (Jefferson, Main, Winding Way) until you get to the downtown area where streets can get numbers. But that's just here in the south. I think it is different up north.

[Mobius]

Answering DD question.

I cant explain what a chav is but someone else can - but basically the are common with a capital K...

That'll be kommon then.

[Thruster2097]

hmmm... where to begin with that one...
A chav is a term (usually) used to describe young people from ages of 11 to 17 who have a total disregard for everything. Usually wearing baseball caps 24/7, branded sportswear from head to foot and often seen smoking. Basically the chavs are very likely to drop out of school early with no qualifications, learn the wonders of the job centre and mooch of us tax payers. THE SCURGE OF MY TOWN!! :evil:
I believe they are called "bums" over the pond?

Royal family? dont get me started..... :wink:

[infoxicated]

Okay, time for a couple quick questions: What's a Chav? Why does England still put up with the royal family? Is there any degree of regionalism? On the last one, I mean that when I moved to the south I got a lot of guff for not having a southern accent (the way I pronounce my words) and there are a number of other regionally different aspects of American life (cooking, climate, speed of life, etc.) Is there the same thing in England? Or is it much more nationalistic?
A Chav is, usually, a teenager of working class background, of either sex, who dresses predominantly in branded leisure wear. There's a guide here: http://www.chavscum.co.uk/

I don't quite know how this new term for them has developed, as this type of youth culture has been around for many years now, and they've been known by a variety of names, usually regionally slanted. i.e. in Glasgow they're called Neds, in Liverpool they're called Scallies, and Chav has worked its way into the mainstream from the south of England, I believe.

The accent thing holds true here - when I moved from the west of Scotland to the south east of England back in the 80's, I got no end of abuse for my accent. Then, when I moved back to Scotland after a few years down there, I got no end of abuse for having an accent that nobody could understant as I'd spent three years trying to sound as neutral as possible. :roll:

The accents aren't just divided between the borders of England, Wales and Scotland - people sound very different from one city to the next. That posh, anglo-scots Ewan McGregor/Sean Connery accent is mostly an East coast/Edinburgh type thing. Whereas the Grounds Keeper Willie "hoots, mon!" crap can be indicative of either Dundee in the east, or Glasgow in the west.

Speed of life is probably the same in its relation to urban and rural areas. Having lived in london for a couple of years I can tell you that the pace of life is just insane - you rush for absolutely no reason, in the streets, in the tunnels of underground stations - everywhere. During the time I was living in London, a trip back to glasgow (a decent sized city in itself) would simply highlight that we were used to rushing around whereas everybody else was walking slightly slower and getting in the way. :)

Incidentally, if you're referring to the country as a whole, it's best to say Britain rather than England. It's a lot more PC and helps dispel that fat, hawaiian shirt wearing american tourist image of "The last time I was in England I went to Edinburg"

[Deadly Diabetic]

Okay, you caught me....I'm a dumb yank but could someone please explain the difference between UK, Britain, and England? Sorry to be a pain in the arse ;)

-DD

BTW, in my mind the stereotypical British accent is Eric Idle. Where is that dialect from?

[Thruster2097]

The UK is the United Kingdom. England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales collectivley.

afaik, England and (Great) Britain are the same damn thing, so if anyone knows any different they'll be teaching me a lesson! I mean we have an England football team but we have a great britain athletics team.
I have no idea.

This site may help.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html

[Lance]

.
i suspect that once upon a time, chavs would have been called wastrels, as they just burn time and money on name brands and tunage. nothing going on in their heads but an itune tune, perhaps? my understanding [and remember that i'm an american] is that they are extremely shallow and care for nothing but 'cool' fashion, music, and sex. in other words, just like typical american teenagers.

DD, the UK is a political term, but its actual meaning is not very clear even to Brits, much less to us! see, there are these parts of the ''country'/'nation/'state' that are all together in one government except that some of the parts have home rule, that is, their own parliaments, except that Parliament with a capital P still makes the rules that override the home rules. sometimes. and sometimes not. and Parliament sorta controls only England, but internationally speaks for the whole 'country', the U.K.
so like Scotland and Wales are 'countries', but they really aren't. Scotland is more nearly independent than Wales, however, even though they both have their own parliaments. i'm not sure, but i think Ulster is parliamentless.

there now; doesn't that make everything more clear?
:D
.

[Dimension]

The worst thing about that description is that I couldn't have said it any better and I live here :|

It's too true though, I honestly don't bother with it though, i just say i'm from yorkshire and am done with it :)

[Deadly Diabetic]

Okay, clear as mud! ;)

As long as the locals aren't clear on the issue then I don't feel quite so bad for my ignorance. You guys just tell me the best term to use so that I don't sound like a "tourist" and I'll be happy. :D

-DD

Not counting Blair, what is the British general attitude about Americans? (favorable/unfavorable)

[Dimension]

favourable/unfavourable? It seems to vary a lot, though mostly favourable I'd expect, the types that fall into one of the several widely used clichés thrive on american culture so the kiddies love you, it kinda gets split around my age 19 and a bit over between the types that love and that types that don't, I can't say I really know for anyone older, though that's not really my place :P

[Piranha Advancements]

In keeping with the spirit of ignorance,it was Collina not seeing Carvalho fouling Valdes.I hate the West End now.Really.

*makes stabbing motions towards London*

[DaMiGi63]

[quote="zargz"]DaMiGi63: what you said wasn't funny as lance pointed out but I'm sure you are a very nice guy so I'm sorry about the hard words!
Is that okay with you?
------------------------

Thank you for the appology to me,I appreciate that, and I think that it's called "harsh" words ;) and as the motto says,"lets be friends"...? :D

[lunar]

.
i'm not sure, but i think Ulster is parliamentless.

.

it has an "assembly".... which is currently suspended. Wales also has an assembly rather than a parliament. In other words it has no legislative powers. It is probably the world`s most expensive debating chamber. If the hot air inside it was ignited life on earth would come to an end in a blinding flash of light.

I think there were also plans to create a Yorkshire assembly/parliament, which were opposed by the people of Yorkshire, or something. God knows. We have a large useless political class in need of a free lunch. One day we`ll all have our very own personal parliament of one.

[zargz]

DaMiGi63: http://www.geocities.com/zargz/leenden/ok.gif that motto sounds great to me!
the use of the word 'hard' >> direct translation from swedish :D

as far as I know the british islands are the two above france, right? heh!
GB > Great Britan ( yet another name for da UK ). also afaik britan = UK -> united kingdom
the british flag called union jack is a mixture of the flags of england scotland wales (dunno if N ireland too? that is what you refere to as ulster I guess?)
some years ago i uesd to refere to the uk as england but got quickly straightened by some scotish guys
yes there is 'nationalism'/regionalism most obvious in football > The Real one!, (btw somone said about football - it's not a matter of life or death. it's More than that!)
where evry member of the union has got their own team - england, scotland and wales not sure about N ireland though
but when it comes to the not so impotant Athletics, Olympics and rest of sports there is the GB or UK team representing the falg we all know! ;)
ow! almost forgot the 'archaic' rugby! >four different teams as well! 8)
reginalism based on er .. 'historical grudge' happened 100+ years ago mainly between english and scots if my memory serves me right
I find it pretty tuchy subject actually as opposed to sweden/norway/denmark where it's mostly on the joke level. again > my perception as nonUKr! :roll:
uk wipErs feel free to correct me!
*dodging, expecting rotten tomatoes, eggs and other not that soft objects!

lance: Statoil is a nowegian oil company - guess they just used the common view of an american tourist in a funny way in one of their comercials!
but now I know there's no such thing in the US! thanks!

Praeterea censeo autopilotum esse delendam

[infoxicated]

afaik, England and (Great) Britain are the same damn thing, so if anyone knows any different they'll be teaching me a lesson! I mean we have an England football team but we have a great britain athletics team.
I have no idea.
I do hope you're being funny here!

The whole England/Scotland/Wales thing is why we don't have a soccer team in the olympics - if the country ever collected all its best players and played under the banner of Great Britain, then the individual nations would not be able to take part in international events thereafter. So we just don't take part.

Britain is the collective of England, Scotland and Wales, although you'll generally hear it referring to English people. For example, if "three brits are killed in a plane crash" they'll be from anywhere within Britain, but usually England.

If it's a crowd of men acting like a drunken idiots on a plane that has to be diverted, they'll generally be named and shamed by their locality - especially if they're Scots, otherwise they'll probably remain "brits".

If a man makes his way to the cockpit of the first plane, wrests control from the stricken pilot and lands it safely, you can almost guarantee that he'll make the transition from "Brit" to "Englishman" in the media coverage if he's from England. Otherwise he'll remain a "true British hero".

It's the way it works here - the BBC and most other media companies are predominantly based in the London area and staffed by English people. In the case that the news isn't London centric in the first place, it'll almost certainly be England centric.

People have said I just say that because I'm scottish, but having lived either side of the border at different times in my life I can say, with my hand on heart, that it's a very accurate portrayal of the way this country works.

[Damon]

Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they are distinct:

Great Britain = England, Scotland, Wales.

United Kingdom (UK) = England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. (The full title is 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' which helps to remember which entities it includes).

However, we British aren't really consistent on the issue, as our Olympic team, for example, is known as GB, but can include athletes from Northern Ireland so would more properly be described as the UK team.

It is true that the separate countries - England, Scotland and Wales - have differing levels of 'independence'. For example, Scotland's legal system is distinct from the one operating in England and Wales. Notice also that I didn't mention Northern Ireland. This is just because it's such a complicated issue to sort out - hardly a separate 'country' as it was historically part of Ireland, but due to various well known difficulties, it was partitioned from the republic of Ireland in 1927 and became part of the UK. Further discussion of this particular topic could last several hundred years...

[Damon]

LOL, you beat me to it Rob. And included some rather more entertaining examples than I did! :D

[infoxicated]

Why thankyou... it still doesn't measure up to your "died in a balloon accident" gag, but I do keep striving! ;) :D

[Deadly Diabetic]

Without trying to turn this into too much of a place for political rants, could someone explain the entire IRA thing to me. I didn't really start getting into politics until that entire thing had pretty much calmed down, so I never had a clear grasp of what sparked that rivalry. My assumption is that it has something to do with the entire Northern Ireland thing. Am I completely off on that?

Sorry to keep asking all these questions, I'm just a curious individual. You can tell me to shut up.

-DD

"Bollocks!" (That's the extent of my English slang vocabulary)

[Dimension]

Hmm, I don't really know much about that, having come into being a little late, but wasn't it something to do with protestants and catholics not getting along? I know there's been big trouble with that one in ireland in the past :?

[Damon]

Without trying to turn this into too much of a place for political rants, could someone explain the entire IRA thing to me.

That's an immense subject and I doubt most of us could boil it down to a pithy posting on this message board (apologies to anyone who actually could!!!)

It goes back a long way and is most definitely not just a matter of religious differences. This link seems to clarify many of the key events, and might help you understand what it's all about - or at least form the basis for further research if you're interested. Hope it's useful:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/northern_ireland/10657.stm

[Lance]

.
well, it all started with the English-caused potato famine........ ;)

migration.... blahblahblah

beyond the pale.... blahblahblah

wanting independence.... blahblahblah

catholics mad about Henry VIII... blahblahblah

de Valera.... Collins.... blahblahblah

Tazio Nuvolari won at Ards TT..... blahblahblah

Enya and more Enya..... blahblahblah

and the rest is History
.

[Deadly Diabetic]

LOL! You ever thought about a job as a history teacher? ;)

[Seek100]

Hmm, the IRA are terrorists who want control of Northern Ireland (which is not all of Ulster, 3 counties of Ulster are within the Republic, but it is most of it) to be given to the Republic of Ireland.

The republic is almost completely Catholic, Northern Ireland is about 60/40 Protestant/Catholic, so the Church of England have a slight majority there and that 60% odd want to stay part of the UK, this has led to some mighty bloody fighting. The Act of Union 1800 brought the UK into existence by combining Great Britain and Ireland so the full name was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Prior to this Ireland had been ruled by the King of Great Britain as a separate Kingdom so the two were 'in personal union' but not legal union. In 1927 the south was partitioned from the north, not the other way round, the south was soon renamed the Irish Free State, and eventually received independence as the Rep of Ireland.

@ Zargz, the Union Flag is the actual name, and it's the flags of England (St. George cross), Scotland (St. Andrew 'saltire' cross) and the cross of St. Patrick which was made up by taking the flag of the religious order of St. Patrick to fit the new flag when Ireland was added. Wales never got a look in, incidentaly their flag is a white on green horizontal bicolour with a red dragon in centre.

A flag is only ever called a Jack when flown at sea. Scotland was added long before Ireland, the fighting stopped in the 17th century I think, when James VI of Scotland became James I of Great Britain, he was the closest descendant to the English monarchy at the time.

[Lance]

.
why is it always a descendant who ascends... the throne?

--------

DD. the thought crossed my mind very very briefly. about 5 seconds, i think it was.
.

[zargz]

A flag is only ever called a Jack when flown at seacheers, Seek! didn't know that, guess i got the name from some pirat movie :pirate
Damon: thanks for the link - very enlightening! :)

Praeterea censeo autopilotum esse delendam

[Roger]

Nicked from Wikipedia (thought it might be of interest):

Jacks are additional national flags flown by warships (and certain other vessels) at the head of the ship. These are usually flown only when not underway and when the ship is dressed on special occasions. In the Royal Navy the Union Jack at sea serves both as a naval jack and as the rank flag of an Admiral of the Fleet.

It is illegal for a merchant ship or yacht to fly the Union Jack: a civilian jack (sometimes known as the pilot jack as it was formerly used to request a pilot) exists, and consists of the Union Jack with a white border. The St George's Cross flown from the jack staff is known as the Dunkirk jack, and is customarily flown by ships and boats which took part in the Dunkirk rescue operation in 1940. The flying of the St George's Cross elsewhere on a civilian ship is illegal, as it is the rank flag of a four-star admiral.

[Deadly Diabetic]

Hey guys,

Just got done watching Eddie Izzard's "Dressed to Kill". Absolutely hilariously!

Is he popular in the U.K.?

-DD

[Lance]

.
i dunno, but he was popular with me the first time i saw him [which was in Velvet Goldmine]
he's been a guest on several American late night talk shows. he's always funny on them [to me, anyway] and is a perceptive analyst of American culture
.