NationStates Jolt Archive


Is anybody else really nitpicky about technicalities?

Greater Alemannia
25-07-2006, 11:56
Yeah, I am. For example, I HATE it when people refer to the United Kingdom as Great Britain. Great Britain hasn't been an individual nation since 1800.

Yeah, that was the best example I could think up.
Harlesburg
25-07-2006, 11:58
Not really, ya pendant!
Bottle
25-07-2006, 12:00
Yeah, I am. For example, I HATE it when people refer to the United Kingdom as Great Britain. Great Britain hasn't been an individual nation since 1800.

Yeah, that was the best example I could think up.
Look, let me be perfectly honest with you:

Most Americans don't have the faintest idea how you break down "Britain," "Great Britain," "The United Kingdom," and "England." Our schools teach us that the correct terminology is, "Them Redcoats."

Forgive us. We're loud and undereducated.
Lunatic Goofballs
25-07-2006, 12:01
Look, let me be perfectly honest with you:

Most Americans don't have the faintest idea how you break down "Britain," "Great Britain," "The United Kingdom," and "England." Our schools teach us that the correct terminology is, "Them Redcoats."

Forgive us. We're loud and undereducated.

And we're too busy eating cheeseburgers and pie to care anyway. :)
The blessed Chris
25-07-2006, 12:02
Look, let me be perfectly honest with you:

Most Americans don't have the faintest idea how you break down "Britain," "Great Britain," "The United Kingdom," and "England." Our schools teach us that the correct terminology is, "Them Redcoats."

Forgive us. We're loud and undereducated.
:D

That might just have made my morning!

We're not that much superior. The American revolution never happened if the GCSE history syllabus is to be believed. French revolution? Study it. Thirty years war? Why not.

But that inconveniant conflict that we actually lost is forgotten.....:rolleyes:
Bottle
25-07-2006, 12:03
:D

That might just have made my morning!

We're not that much superior. The American revolution never happened if the GCSE history syllabus is to be believed. French revolution? Study it. Thirty years war? Why not.

But that inconveniant conflict that we actually lost is forgotten.....:rolleyes:
When I traveled to London with a fellow student, I was delighted by the number of tour guides who would refer to us as "Colonials." :D
Philosopy
25-07-2006, 12:04
:D

That might just have made my morning!

We're not that much superior. The American revolution never happened if the GCSE history syllabus is to be believed. French revolution? Study it. Thirty years war? Why not.

But that inconveniant conflict that we actually lost is forgotten.....:rolleyes:
GCSE history is concerned with nothing except the Nazi's. I certainly didn't study the French Revolution until my A-Levels, and the Thirty Years War doesn't get a mention on any syllabus I know.

And you have to ask yourself why our history lessons would concern themselves with what is, ultimately, a very minor event in the history of Empire when they don't even talk about the Empire in the first place.
The blessed Chris
25-07-2006, 12:08
GCSE history is concerned with nothing except the Nazi's. I certainly didn't study the French Revolution until my A-Levels, and the Thirty Years War doesn't get a mention on any syllabus I know.

And you have to ask yourself why our history lessons would concern themselves with what is, ultimately, a very minor event in the history of Empire when they don't even talk about the Empire in the first place.

The GCSE history syllabus is a sodding joke. As is the New Labour fabricated AS.

I can accept that the revolution is perhaps not worthy of study to a European audiance, however it would be preferable if it was acknowledged.
Philosopy
25-07-2006, 12:11
I can accept that the revolution is perhaps not worthy of study to a European audiance, however it would be preferable if it was acknowledged.
It should be acknowledged, when teaching about Empire. I agree that the current history syllabus is a complete joke; kids leave school knowing everyting there is to know about Hitler but pretty much nothing else. Empire made the world we live in today, from democracy and freedoms all the way down to corruption and Third World Poverty, and so it is of great importance that it is studied. But instead, our legislators shy away from it out of a guilt complex. It's absurd.
Whereyouthinkyougoing
25-07-2006, 12:13
If they're worth being nitpicky about, sure.

Example:
Not really, ya pendant!
pendant (http://altura.speedera.net/ccimg.catalogcity.com/210000/212400/212406/Products/6212097.jpg)
pedant (http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/cartoons/2002/09/16/austinnew1.jpg)

;)
Philosopy
25-07-2006, 12:19
Yeah, I am. For example, I HATE it when people refer to the United Kingdom as Great Britain. Great Britain hasn't been an individual nation since 1800.

Yeah, that was the best example I could think up.
Incidently, I don't mean to nitpick here, but Great Britain is an individual nation within the United Kingdom, so referring to its existence is not incorrect, although assuming it to be the whole UK is, as you point out.

And the date you're looking for is 1801. ;)
Crimson Vaal
25-07-2006, 12:19
If they're worth being nitpicky about, sure.

Example:

pendant (http://altura.speedera.net/ccimg.catalogcity.com/210000/212400/212406/Products/6212097.jpg)
pedant (http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/cartoons/2002/09/16/austinnew1.jpg)

;)


Made my morning. Good work, and nice touch :p
Whereyouthinkyougoing
25-07-2006, 12:21
Made my morning. Good work, and nice touch :p
:p
Smunkeeville
25-07-2006, 12:27
There is this drain cleaner commercial that annoys me (okay a lot of commercials annoy me)

anyway, they have this clogged sink, and she comes in to watch him "fix it" and he says "look at this drain cleaner, it looks just like water"
and she says "but doesn't water go right down the drain"
and he says "so how is it "grabbing the clog" "

and I say (not everytime I am trying to quit)

"IF WATER WENT RIGHT DOWN YOUR DRAIN IT WOULDN'T BE CLOGGED!!!"

it makes me furious, and like a crazy person I scream at the TV

oh, and then there is that "Bayer Back and Body" pain reliever for when you have "back and body pain"

YOUR BACK IS PART OF YOUR BODY:headbang:

and the one where she is talking about her "tension headache, not just a headache, but a real headache with pain in the neck and shoulders"

uh.... your neck and shoulders are not your head, so it's not a headache, maybe you should take that "back and body pain" medicine.... :rolleyes:
JiangGuo
25-07-2006, 12:30
Movie technicalities. Pearl Harbor had nearly 200 technical errors, things from the wrong era.

Plus, who didn't want Ben Affleck to be thrown into the propeller on the planes?
Lunatic Goofballs
25-07-2006, 12:36
Movie technicalities. Pearl Harbor had nearly 200 technical errors, things from the wrong era.

Plus, who didn't want Ben Affleck to be thrown into the propeller on the planes?

The actor or his character? :)
Baratstan
25-07-2006, 12:38
Incidently, I don't mean to nitpick here, but Great Britain is an individual nation within the United Kingdom, so referring to its existence is not incorrect, although assuming it to be the whole UK is, as you point out.

Do you mean nation as in a group of people of a particular culture, or nation like Wales or N. Ireland?
Damor
25-07-2006, 12:38
Is anybody else really nitpicky about technicalities?Occasionally.
Like when people call the USA America (totem pro parte), or the Netherlands Holland (pars pro toto).
Whereyouthinkyougoing
25-07-2006, 12:40
The actor or his character? :)
:p
Damor
25-07-2006, 12:43
Incidently, I don't mean to nitpick here, but Great Britain is an individual nation within the United Kingdom, so referring to its existence is not incorrect, although assuming it to be the whole UK is, as you point out.Huh, and I always thought it was the other way around (i.e. UK < GB)..
Oh well, I generally call them both England anyway :P

Ah, I do so love wiki, and Venn diagrams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:British_Isles_Venn_Diagram.png). Finally I comprehend.
Neoma
25-07-2006, 12:46
I don't care cuz I'm from South Carolina I'm a REDNECK! j/K

I'd probbebly get my ass deported the first time someone called me a colonial.
But then again the revolution was a world war people just don't want to admit that.... interesting... Another thing that is funny, Farmers with crap lousy guns took on the strongest nation and won WOOT!.
Compulsive Depression
25-07-2006, 13:05
I'm a fully paid-up pedant, and wouldn't have it any other way.Oh well, I generally call them both England anyway :P
Do not do this when talking to a Scot ;)

But remember: An English sports(team/person) wins, and they are English.
A Scottish sports(team/person) wins (eg. Elephant Polo), and they are British.
Not bad
25-07-2006, 13:12
wiki, and Venn diagrams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:British_Isles_Venn_Diagram.png). Finally I comprehend. [/e]

Who knew Scotland wholly contained EnglandWales?
Jeruselem
25-07-2006, 13:22
Moi, ya!

I drive managers nuts because I'm such a technicality person. :p
I work in IT ...
Damor
25-07-2006, 13:45
Who knew Scotland wholly contained EnglandWales?I think you're reading it wrong :rolleyes:
The names are the entities, not the names of the sets.
(And additionally, from what I gather, red is geographical and blue political.)