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ARRRR!!! It's good to be a 'Yankee'


dasNdanger

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than they know who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Hey... everyone knows that All Americans fought against England.... and we won by hiding behind trees and shooting at them with our rifles as they ( what idiots) marched across the field in nice straight lines.........

Foxe.... sorry about making a mess of your moniter...... :unsure:

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I think that's Pat's point, Josh. Our schools teach us that a handful of untrained farmers and shop-owners rebuffed the British Army and of course ALL Americans fought for independence. Everyone thought it was a great idea! :unsure::lol::lol:

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Building an Empire... one prickety stitch at a time!

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Das, I'll just let Kass tell you how lovely my accent is :lol: There's nothing north of the border except savages, heathen, cattle thieves and some bloke who invented the kilt in a land where the thistles grow waste high. Give me civilisation any day. (Incidentally, did you know that it was argued that God was an Englishman as early as the 16thC)

But yeah, American schools put more emphasis on sports than anything

Which makes it kind of ironic that America has the highest child obesity levels in the world! If you're gonna have fat kids anyway you might at least give them a decent education! :unsure:

(No offence to any fat dumb American kids reading this, however slowly...)

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

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Good style choices, Josh. I want pictures! And possible video tape...

Ed -- Bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster, More! Morbidly thin or dangerously obese. No in betweens for us! I'm waiting for lead white makeup to come back. :P

I think should have been our national slogan instead of E Pluribis Unum or whatever it is... :)

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Building an Empire... one prickety stitch at a time!

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"Wow" she says, "For a European your English is better than mine!"

:P

God, Foxe, what a great story. Sadly, as dasndanger said, it is so reflective of a large population of the American public. I think a big part of it has to do with a de-emphasis on geography and cultural or social sciences in schools. Like, das, I worked in a school library for many years and became appalled at how little kids know about the world. We all laugh about it, but the reality is becoming more and more frightening. This could lead me into discussing politics which I will refrain from. :P

Has anyone here ever heard the performance artist Laurie Anderson (who I adore) do her little monologue about Yankee Doodle? Quite charming it is.

I wonder if one of the most important steps on our journey is the one in which we throw away the map.

-- Loreena McKennitt

My fathers knew of wind and tide, and my blood is maritime.

-- Stan Rogers

I don't pretend to be captain weird.

I just do what I do.

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I think should have been our national slogan instead of E Pluribis Unum or whatever it is...  :)

We have a national slogan... ??? :P

*shrugs*

Foxe - well, seeing as how me great-great grandpa was a Macbeth straight from Scoootlund...I have a certain special place in me heart for kilted men and bagpipes...especially on days when the wind blows high... ;)

I think a big part of it has to do with a de-emphasis on geography and cultural or social sciences in schools. Like, das, I worked in a school library for many years and became appalled at how little kids know about the world. We all laugh about it, but the reality is becoming more and more frightening. This could lead me into discussing politics which I will refrain from.

It is sad, isn't it? I was fortunate enough to grow up in a small community, and had several great teachers over the years, so I did learn a little something...but nothing like I've learned since high school. Being interested in history/reenactments and archaeology has helped, too, and I'm terribly curious...so if I don't understand something, I WILL find a dictionary or encyclopedia that has the answer...OR, I just ask Foxe...he's faster than an itchy google finger... :P

das

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It is sad, isn't it? I was fortunate enough to grow up in a small community, and had several great teachers over the years, so I did learn a little something...but nothing like I've learned since high school. Being interested in history/reenactments and archaeology has helped, too, and I'm terribly curious...so if I don't understand something, I WILL find a dictionary or encyclopedia that has the answer...OR, I just ask Foxe...he's faster than an itchy google finger... :P

das

Das I feel the same way a few good teachers and a love of reading have taken me a long way although I still use the fact Georgias public schools are or were the worst in the nation as a crutch now and then :P .

By the by on the subjects of hollywood, history , and England. I got a great laugh out of Prime Minster Blair's rants on the movie U-571. A few may recall a British movie by the name of Breaking the Sound barrier (U.S. in Britian it was just Sound Barrier) in witch a British pilot breaks the sound barrier before any one else because he ....wait for it ........reverses the controls. This movie was in many ways the star wars of it's day with great special effects and a pervasive script it convinced many of us simple minded colonials that Chuck Yeager was merely the first American to break the sound barrier. This resulted in a PR war waged by the USAF and one P.O.ed pilot by the name of Chuck to witch the British producers (insert snide looks and dry british humor here) replied they had labeled there movie as fiction. flash forward a few decades and well ........ Oh and for the Prime Minister's information the first to break enigma were the Poles :) . To be honest I had a real good laugh at this but in all likely hood I'm the only person who put these distant events together with a sick sense of humor lol

THIS BE THE HITMAN WE GOIN QUIET

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itchy google finger...

There should be a topical creme for that....

Well, if there is...the Brits prolly invented it... :P

Hitman - I guess the US will always be at war with the Brits (and visa versa), over something. Two giant egos that love to torment each other, in that big brother/little brother sort of way. But let's face it - without the US, Britain would now be part of Germany, and without Britain, we wouldn't have marmite and Twiglets... crazy-vi.gif

:P

All teasing (and food) aside, I guess there will always be a little niggling between these two countries. No harm in it, I figure...keeps us both humble... (HA!)

(actually, as a rugby addict, I praise the English for inventing the best sport on the planet!! ;) Wait a sec...was it the English...or the Welsh... ;) Okay, I'll behave now... )

das

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This old "who won WWII" argument is as old as... well, it probably started in about September 1945...

If we're honest, there's no way that we were going to win against the Germans and the Japanese without your help, and whatever we say we are grateful for it. But part of Germany? Nah. By the time the first yanks turned up in the Euro-African theatre we'd already been fighting solidly for three years (we fought alone for a longer time than we fought with your help), we'd already turned the tide of war in North Africa and completely scuppered any hope of Germany invading. We couldn't have retaken Europe without you, but our own interests were more or less safe from the Germans by 1942. Without your help in the East we'd probably have lost India to the Japanese, but it was partly due to American pressure that India was granted independence anyway (and look how they've progressed!), so the balance is about equal in that part of the world.

FWIW, the Poles captured the first Enigma machine, and indeed first broke portions of it, but one of the little known facts about Engima was that there were goodness knows how many different versions and codes. British cryptanylists were the first to routinely break the essential Naval code, as well as the much advanced 4-rotor machine, which replaced the 3-rotor machine in 1941. (Hehe, it has not been unknown for me to do WWII living history at Bletchley Park... did all this for my homework!)

Now, if we're gonna get into films which depict the Americans in a better light than the English... oh where to start! U-571 is just the tip of the iceberg. BUT, that would be OT and probably start a loooong debate, so I won't.

without Britain, we wouldn't have marmite and Twiglets...
...or your language, culture, religion, White House, MacDonalds, or... oh yes... country.

And yes, it was the English who invented Rugby. Webb Ellis, Rugby School, Warwickshire.

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

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  • 4 weeks later...
without Britain, we wouldn't have marmite and Twiglets...
...or your language, culture, religion, White House, MacDonalds, or... oh yes... country.

Why am I suddenly reminded of...

All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
:huh:

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