|
Post by Ryan on Jan 13, 2006 11:32:30 GMT
Scottish Accent = Something I'd like to have instead of an upper midwestern accent Just a matter of which one though, Liz!
|
|
|
Post by CPK on Jan 13, 2006 18:07:36 GMT
Here's a little joke that I was e-mailed a while back, to do with accents:
Nelson Mandela is sitting at home watching TV and drinking a beer when he hears a knock at the door. When he opens it, he is confronted by a little Chinese man, clutching clip board and yelling, You Sign! You sign!' Behind him is an enormous truck full of car exhausts. Nelson is standing there in complete amazement, when the Chinese man starts to yell louder. 'You Sign! You sign!' Nelson says to him 'Look, you've obviously got the wrong man', and shuts the door in his face.
The next day he hears a knock at the door again. When he opens it, the little Chinese man is back with a huge truck of brake pads. He thrusts his clipboard under Nelson's nose, yelling, 'You sign! You sign. Mr Mandela is getting a bit hacked off by now, so he pushes the little Chinese man back, shouting: 'Look, go away! You've got the wrong man! I don't want them!' Then he slams the door in his face again.
The following day, Nelson is resting, and late in the afternoon, he hears a knock on the door again. On opening the door, there is the same little Chinese man thrusting a clipboard under his nose, shouting, 'You sign! You sign!' Behind him are TWO very large trucks full of car parts. This time Nelson loses his temper completely, he picks up the little man by his shirt front and yells at him: 'Look, I don't want these! Do you understand? You must have the wrong name! Who do you want to give these to?'
The little Chinese man looks very puzzled, consults his clipboard, and says . . .
Get your best Chinese accent ready .....
'You not Nissan Main Dealer?'
|
|
|
Post by Ryan on Jan 13, 2006 18:16:41 GMT
Well "first past the post" is kinda how it works here... Kinda... I forget how the Senate works, but for House of Reps, all the ballot papers are sorted by first preference votes. If one candidate doesn't have over 50% of the votes, then the person with the least number of votes (number of ballot papers in "their pile") is eliminated, and their ballot papers are sorted according to second preference. This continues until one candidate has over 50% of the formal votes, and they become the representative for that electoral area. That's a form of "Proportional Representation" then Gonz, I forget which one, but I knew Australia didn't use First Past the Post. How the UK Government is elected is a little different to that: Instead of the number of votes cast being counted toward the final result, its the amount of constituencies won by the winning party that counts overall. So while the Conservative Party may have an overwhelming majority where votes cast for them are concerned, if Labour have won more constituencies than they have, then they win the election and get to form the next Government, which is slightly unfair, but that's the way it is!
|
|
|
Post by Skarloey on Jan 13, 2006 20:17:05 GMT
If anything, I'd probably vote Labour. People focus too much on the negative issues such as the Iraq war, and not on the positive stuff closer to home when it comes to the Government's actions and policy. I choose to ignore it myself, we showed allied support to America, and it'll stand us in good stead in the future should we need it. Not that I condone war, but there WILL be positive aspects from this. Good on you, Ryan, I'll see if Jamie (our MP/Mum's boss) can put in a good word for you with ol' Tony. We had allsorts here in the election. Jamie Reed for Labour won, of course, with an increased majority. Then came Chris Whiteside for the Tories. Then Frank Holowell of the Lib Dems. There was an Independent, an English Democrat and Edward Caley-Knowles for UKIP. He is a reknowned "nutter" and lives in what he calls "Jonathon Swift's House". The truth is, Mr Swift lived there for less than a year as an infant.
|
|
gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
|
Post by gonzerelli on Jan 14, 2006 3:25:43 GMT
What complicates things is that the Liberals and Nationals are a coalition... So lately, Labour's kicked the Liberals' asses, but they were beaten by the Coalition. (In rural areas, the Nationals tend to be quite popular)
Anyway, more than enough politics for me.
I'm a little annoyed at the fact that we're starting to lean towards American words and phrases rather than "English English"... I don't wanto be Americanised dammit!
|
|
JEFF
Goods Engine
Posts: 341
|
Post by JEFF on Jan 14, 2006 3:50:14 GMT
What complicates things is that the Liberals and Nationals are a coalition... So lately, Labour's kicked the Liberals' asses, but they were beaten by the Coalition. (In rural areas, the Nationals tend to be quite popular) Anyway, more than enough politics for me. I'm a little annoyed at the fact that we're starting to lean towards American words and phrases rather than "English English"... I don't wanto be Americanised dammit! what do you mean
|
|
|
Post by The Old Bean on Jan 14, 2006 10:22:20 GMT
Politics regard:
Our government is combined of two political parties - the Liberals and the Nationals. Hence a 'Coalition'.
On Americanised words:
Generally it's becoming more irritating to us Aussies to find major publications using words like "color" or "specialized"... when it should be "colour" or "specialised" and things like that.
|
|
|
Post by FlyingScotsman on Jan 14, 2006 14:37:45 GMT
I don't mind Americanisms up to a point. The British tend to resist Americanisms in the strongest possible terms- some to the point of xenophobia, and then the rest of us get a bit uncomfortable.
|
|
|
Post by Mark Iron on Jan 14, 2006 16:55:23 GMT
to an american as myself, I find using the UK, and Aus. spellings and words don't bother. Probably thanks to thomas (and this forum). Heck, I'd quite like the visit the UK and Aus myself.
|
|
|
Post by CPK on Jan 14, 2006 17:16:55 GMT
One thing I heard at one point is that the British hate chips being referred to as French Fries, as they're not.... they're chips!
Personally, I don't really mind what they're called, although it seems that thinner ones are called French Fries, whilst the larger ones are referred to as chips.
Oh, and American potato chips are crisps in the UK, but you already knew that.
A similar comparison can be made with the spellings of certain words, such as colour. There's no U in the American spelling.
|
|
|
Post by Cläy on Jan 15, 2006 2:22:28 GMT
Don't get me started on the correct terminology for deep fried pieces of potato... (For the long and boring backstory to do with that sentence, just PM me. It's too much effort to type it here...)Re Americanisation - the main time it gets on my nerves is when I'm typing in Word and words like 'colour' or 'favourite' are shown as spelling errors, even after I change the dictionary to Australian spelling...
|
|
JEFF
Goods Engine
Posts: 341
|
Post by JEFF on Jan 15, 2006 2:56:10 GMT
to an american as myself, I find using the UK, and Aus. spellings and words don't bother. Probably thanks to thomas (and this forum). Heck, I'd quite like the visit the UK and Aus myself. same here back when i was younger i was always using Rubbish in school a lot plus my Kindergarden teacher was british.
|
|
tm85
Goods Engine
Posts: 120
|
Post by tm85 on Jan 16, 2006 2:48:13 GMT
Just so you all know about Australian sports. The main Winter games here (March-Sep,Oct) are Australian Rules and Rugby League. Australia is split down the middle in terms of the codes with Australian Rules just edging ahead. Australian Rules is played in Victoria, Western Australian and South Australia. They have teams in NSW and Queensland that attract a big bandwagon following when they are winning but the bandwagon drops way off when they start to lose. Rugby League is played in NSW and Queensland mainly with teams in New Zealand and Melbourne. Rugby League was hurt massivly about 15 years ago by a thing called the SuperLeague war where Rupert Murdoch tried to take control of Rugby League. He succeeded by getting 8 of the 20 teams in place and created 2 more slapdash teams. SuperLeague failed and they merged with their compeditor to form the NRL. More info. www.afl.com.auwww.nrl.comen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussie_rulesen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_leagueFull NRL games at this link cromulent.customer.netspace.net.au/nrl/Rugby Union is also played here but no one but the people who get free tickets because they can't attract a crowd really cares about it.
|
|
gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
|
Post by gonzerelli on Jan 16, 2006 5:56:37 GMT
Don't get me started on Super League... (Not the British comp, it's not fair to pick on the handicaped lol j/k) 1994-5 the ball started rolling, 1996 was a weird comp with noone knowing their future, 1997 it was a split comp (SL / ARL)... 1998 it was back together with 20 teams, but everyone was told those 20 were to become 14... And funnily enough all the Super League teams were perfectly safe *angry face*
AFL will never have a stronghold in NSW or Qld... It will be better off with the new TV broadcasting deal, but it'll never take off up here.
And noone here in Oz really likes Rugby Union... But come on, you gotta admit, without that Johnny boy, you Poms would have been screwed in the World Cup!!!!!
Cricket is the summer sport around here. Sure, the basketball season runs over Summer, and the crowds are pretty consistent there, but cricket just has that inexplicable popularity.
|
|
gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
|
Post by gonzerelli on Jan 16, 2006 5:59:45 GMT
What complicates things is that the Liberals and Nationals are a coalition... So lately, Labour's kicked the Liberals' asses, but they were beaten by the Coalition. (In rural areas, the Nationals tend to be quite popular) Anyway, more than enough politics for me. I'm a little annoyed at the fact that we're starting to lean towards American words and phrases rather than "English English"... I don't wanto be Americanised dammit! what do you mean Well in parliament, the political party which has the most elected parliamentary representatives is said to be "in government", and the party with the second largest number is the "opposition". Now, for Parliamentary purposes, the Liberal Party and the National Party combine as a coalition. So while Labour may have more representatives than Liberal, it comes down to how many Liberal + National representatives there are.
|
|
tm85
Goods Engine
Posts: 120
|
Post by tm85 on Jan 16, 2006 6:10:10 GMT
Don't get me started on Super League... (Not the British comp, it's not fair to pick on the handicaped lol j/k) 1994-5 the ball started rolling, 1996 was a weird comp with noone knowing their future, 1997 it was a split comp (SL / ARL)... 1998 it was back together with 20 teams, but everyone was told those 20 were to become 14... And funnily enough all the Super League teams were perfectly safe *angry face* . Mate tell me about it. All the mergers and what not. I know Tigers and Magpies fans who will not support the new club so they now support Reserve Grade NSWRL. I know Stelers fans who are spat at at Kogarah for wearing their Steelers gear. Rabbitohs fans still think they are in 1956 so SuperLeague hasnt reached them yet. Adelaide and Perth were kicked out because there wasnt enough payTV subscripions and Perth had a Jersey Flegg side full of Born and bred Perth players. I blame the Broncos for alot of it though. The Gold Coast Chargers and the Sth Qld Crushers were supposed to merge until the Broncos got involved somehow. It's good to see we are coming back stronger than ever with a new team on the Gold Coast etc
|
|
|
Post by Cläy on Jan 16, 2006 8:20:28 GMT
The Super League was the reason I stopped following League for ages...well, that and Darren Albert's try in the 97GF (I was silly enough to be following Manly at the time...have come to my senses thanks to Gonz though) The AFL started out as the VFL but expanded during the 80s even though they should have had teams in other states well before then. Sydney flocked to the Swans in the mid-80s due to a run of winning football that stopped when the finals rolled around. Consequently, Sydney was utter rubbish for a good 5-7 years after that until they made the GF in 1996 (and lost). Interest perked again, and now they'v won the premiership in 2005 there's a heap of bandwagoners (people who only follow a team when they're winning) on board. Me...I'm a Carlton fan, and the last 4 years have been pretty awful. They were the dominant force in the league until those 4 years...I still love 'em though. Union is a non-event. The three summer sports are Cricket (by a mile), basketball and soccer (but no-one really cares about either of them). Oh, and for some reason Lawn Bowls gets a fair bit of Airtime here as well...
|
|
gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
|
Post by gonzerelli on Jan 16, 2006 10:11:53 GMT
Oh, and for some reason Lawn Bowls gets a fair bit of Airtime here as well... Yes, but only on the ABC, which has so much content from England it might as well be called the BBC...
|
|
SRapi
Main Line Engine
Pronounced: Ess-Are-Ay-Pie.
Posts: 1,543
|
Post by SRapi on Jan 16, 2006 22:08:12 GMT
I was wondering 2 things: 1-What does England think about America? Are we good people? Or are we lazy, ignorant, obese, and self-important morons? (Pardon my laguage, but since I'm American, I can bad mouth myself. ) 2-No offence meant, but I have heard from many people that the food in England is, um, not the best in the world. Is it realyy as bad as some people have told me?
|
|
|
Post by CPK on Jan 17, 2006 0:36:03 GMT
1. We think of the Americans as Americans..... we think of them as people in another country. No-one really hates Americans, but I can't speak for everyone. All in all, we don't really mind them.
2. Depends if I cook it or not. Well, English tradition is Fish and Chips, so we're pretty decent when it comes to food, except I don't like fish.
|
|