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Regional differences

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  • Connecticut (and most if not all of America I believe): We say we are "going to college", not "going to university".
  • Connecticut (and most if not all of America I believe): We say we are "going to college", not "going to university".

    That's true. I heard in England they call it Uni.
  • One thing occures to me, the thing about regional differences is that they're common in the area and as such kind of hard to spot when you're from the area, one example that I just remembered was that around the breakfast table hearing someone ask for the homo milk isn't strange, offencive, or weird, it's just the way it is, though it's fun asking for it now that I don't live at home anymore as people normally call it skimed milk around here.

    Connecticut (and most if not all of America I believe): We say we are "going to college", not "going to university".

    That's true. I heard in England they call it Uni.
    Where I live at least university and college are very different things, in the states I think they considered university to be college and college to be community college.
  • Most people here refer to community college as community college. I also hear 13th grade and Jr. college rarely.
  • Where I live at least university and college are very different things, in the states I think they considered university to be college and college to be community college.
    TECHNICALLY, in America, a university is more general than a college, that is, a university is made of many colleges of specific knowledge. But nobody applies that distinction anymore. Boston College, for example, has a ton of different programs, but it's still a "college".
  • RymRym
    edited October 2007
    A college offers only undergraduate degrees, with possibly a very small or specialized number of graduate degrees.  A university offers undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees.
    There are, of course, exceptions, but by and large that is how they are differentiated.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • edited October 2007
    In England, no one actually knows about the American war of independence. I only found out it existed a few years ago and still don't know much about it.
    I still don't understand how people can refer to a carbonated beverage that feels like it burns when in my mouth a "soft" drink.
    You ain't tried nothing until you've had some of This!.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • In England, no one actually knows about the American war of independence. I only found out it existed a few years ago and still don't know much about it.
    We were originally colonies belonging to you. Then we got pissed and killed your soldiers until you let us go.
  • I gathered that much. General pattern of wars really. Someone gets unhappy and kills people until people do as they say.
  • In England, no one actually knows about the American war of independence. I only found out it existed a few years ago and still don't know much about it.
    We were originally colonies belonging to you. Then we got pissed and killed your soldiers until you let us go.
    I guess with so many "wars of independence" being fought by your former colonies it becomes easy to forget one or two of them happened :)
  • The mass colonization by the seafaring western European countries is the main reason they aren't like most of eastern Europe. In terms of innate size and resources England should be a much less powerful country than China or the US. Though the bad side to this is that places like Africa are heavily corrupted because when the English left they still owned a lot of the major companies so even countries rich in natural resources still don't see much growth yet their resources are being used up fast.

  • Posted By: Omnutia
    In England, no one actually knows about the American war of independence. I only found out it existed a few years ago and still don't know much about it.
    We were originally colonies belonging to you. Then we got pissed and killed your soldiers until you let us go.
    Really? I just remember a lot of French blockades of that part of North America at the time, and not so much of the Americans killing British regulars, though I'll admit there was some of that. That said I'm not currently aware of any war that the US won that the French weren't some how involved in... ever.
  • When I was in Australia years ago, I noticed that when I got fast food "to go", it was called "take away".

  • I still don't understand how people can refer to a carbonated beverage that feels like it burns when in my mouth a "soft" drink.
    So how much did Scott pay you to say this?
    LOL. Nothing. ^_~ However, I used to enjoy drinking soda, but I stopped drinking soda since February for certain reasons. I tried drinking soda again a few months ago, and I couldn't stand it and it felt like it was burning my mouth. No more soda for me.
  • Fanta now has way too much sugar, absolutely not bite.
  • In England, no one actually knows about the American war of independence. I only found out it existed a few years ago and still don't know much about it.
    We were originally colonies belonging to you. Then we got pissed and killed your soldiers until you let us go.
    AP American History in one sentence. Add in slavery and you're done.
  • RymRym
    edited October 2007
    I do find it funny how the Americans were basically angry over taxes imposed on them by Britain to pay for the cost of their own defense against the French and Indians. 
    The only reason they probably actually revolted was the simple fact that the US was too far away and too different from the standard European model of statehood to be subject to the power of a distant foreign power beset at all sides by marginally to openly hostile powers.  The only reason they won was simply that they were able to avoid suffering a catastrophic military defeat before the French intervened.
    Britain returned during the War of 1812 (started by Americans), during which the US blundered into defeat after defeat, only to be saved by Britain's much more pressing war with France and the fact that occupying and destroying our capital city had little effect on our nation's ability to govern.  Our navy outclassed Britain's in the conflict almost entirely due to the fact that only the shabbiest of ships could be spared from the French war.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • They rightly cared more about fighting with the frogs than with what was effectively themselves.
  • They rightly cared more about fighting with the frogs than with what was effectively themselves.
    Horatio taught me that all they do is drink wine, run semaphore stations, and captain ships poorly.  Sometimes, they incite the Irish to revolt.
  • Don't forget surrender.
  • In Australia, the slang for Americans is "seppos". Like a lot of other Australian words it's derived from cockney rhyming slang: yank = septic tank = seppo. I believe this started when American seamen came to Australian ports during WW2.

    The slang for British people in Australia is "pom" or "pommy"; there are a lot of silly urban myths about why, but the most likely origin is pomegranate = immigrant.
  • edited October 2007
    The slang for British people in Australia is "pom" or "pommy"; there are a lot of silly urban myths about why, but themost likelyorigin is pomegranate = immigrant.
    An Australian friend of mine told me that it came from P.O.H.M. (Prisoner of Her Majesty) stencilled onto clothes, gear, and stuff.

    Would there be a difference between a yank and a redneck, or are all yanks equally as loathesome?
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • An interesting thing to add is that New Amsterdam was taken by the British due to a sudden drop in the price of tulips which caused a lack of finance for the dutch army and was renamed to.. New York.
  • An interesting thing to add is that New Amsterdam was taken by the British due to a sudden drop in the price of tulips which caused a lack of finance for the dutch army and was renamed to.. New York.
    I knew them darned Brits renamed our city. New York... sounds slightly better though, then again, that's probably because New York has been used ever since and thus nobody ever says New Amsterdam and thus one can't really compare.
  • An interesting thing to add is that New Amsterdam was taken by the British due to a sudden drop in the price of tulips which caused a lack of finance for the dutch army and was renamed to.. New York.
    I knew them darned Brits renamed our city. New York... sounds slightly better though, then again, that's probably because New York has been used ever since and thus nobody ever says New Amsterdam and thus one can't really compare.
    From this point on I shall only refer to that city as New Amsterdam, the same way I call the capitol Bytown
  • An Australian friend of mine told me that it came from P.O.H.M. (Prisoner of Her Majesty) stencilled onto clothes, gear, and stuff.
    This is a complete myth, no such stenciling has ever been found. Besides which, the word refers to British migrants and probably has no relation to convicts.
    Would there be a difference between a yank and a redneck, or are all yanks equally as loathesome?
    "Yank" is generally used for all Americans, there's no distinction between people from different parts of the US. I don't think we used 'redneck' before US TV programs came to dominate our airwaves, but I may be wrong.
  • I do find it funny how the Americans were basically angry over taxes imposed on them by Britain to pay for the cost of their own defense against the French and Indians.
    There's this little know document itemizing the reasons for the American Revolt called the Declaration of Independence. I shall highlight some of my favorites from the Indictment here:
    Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

    He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

    He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

    He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

    He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.

    He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

    He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

    He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

    He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

    He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

    He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

    He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

    He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

    For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

    For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

    For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

    For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

    For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

    For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

    For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

    For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

    He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

    He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

    He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

    He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

    He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

    In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
  • Yeah, most of those are excuses, it was mostly down to a) increases in taxes and b) reaction to British crackdowns on efforts to get around said taxes (that is, smuggling).
    That's mostly in the New England area, of course, but that was kind of the hotbed of the revolution.
  • There's this little know document itemizing the reasons for the American Revolt called the Declaration of Independence. I shall highlight some of my favorites from the Indictment here:
    Stated reasons != real reasons. Welcome to politics.
  • Stated reasons != real reasons. Welcome to politics.
    I dunno. Most of those seem to be around not having any control over the law of their land. In an era of terribly slow communication, if you have a standing army enforcing laws that cannot change for months or years, then we have some pretty serious issues. The shit and stinky of it is I offered documented evidence of my claims, what about yours?

    I would postulate that the 'no taxation without representation' issue gets brought up a lot because it's very relevant today. Living under a tyrant ruler that's six months by boat away with armies living in your towns and houses is not something we deal with today.
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