Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
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join:2004-01-06
Sweden
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| reply to Pjr
Re: Elf and Safely
said by Pjr  :said by jvmorris :How on earth do you guys put up with this crap? By ignoring it  TBH the banning of Christmas decorations passed me by. Or was it that they were scared they'd fall on someones head? That's something else we have imported from the US: the sue culture. Slipped over on the ice and sprained an ankle really rather badly? Nasty bruise? Sue somebody, anybody, for as much as you can. The beauty is we get a lot of our law traditions from your country... Not to mention, the majority of "American" culture is an anglo culture... America is more closely linked to the UK than to any other foreign country.
-Tzale
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Neoconservatives (G.W.B) are not true conservatives. A conservative believes in defending the Constitution. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - RON PAUL 2008 »www.usconstitution.net/const.html
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
| reply to wonko3fc
Re: Does England Really Suck more than America?
Well, to be perfectly frank, . . .
(Don't you hate that phrase? And just who is Perfectly Frank anyway? I mean, really . . . Okay, I've got Freeborn John down now, but Perfectly Frank, I dunno.)
At any rate, I only feel able to comment on your query for myself.
Yes. 
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Joseph V. Morris |
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wonko3fc
Verbum sat sapienti
join:2001-06-02
UK
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| reply to jvmorris
said by jvmorris :I never did grasp his point. (As it were and so to speak.)
That must have been to much relief all round then?  |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
1 edit | reply to John2g
Or, as my older brother was fond of saying, "It's all in the wrist!" Not being particularly fond of tennis in the first place, I never did grasp his point. (As it were and so to speak.)
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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John2g
Qui Tacet Consentit
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join:2001-08-10
England
| reply to jvmorris
Laura Bush: "We have the weekend free darling, what would you like to do?"
George Bush: "I'm not sure. Let's think..."
Laura Bush: "No, let's do something that you can do too."
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Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
| reply to dave
If I may correct you, dave, it's actually an executive order signed by the current President after talking to God one night. The order was written by Alberto Gonzales and incorporated several refinements suggested by Vice-President Cheney.
Yes, it's true that there is an amazing similarity in God's voice and that of the Vice President but that simply explains why the President values everything said by the V. P.
Ha, ha . . . only kidding.
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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wonko3fc
Verbum sat sapienti
join:2001-06-02
UK | reply to dave
Too funny! Another stunning example of thee land of the free...
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pauldenton
join:2003-12-20
London
| reply to dave
said by dave :said by wonko3fc :I wasn't aware that there was any evidence of original humor originating from the USA given the tightly constrained confines within what passes for 'satire' and the comprehensive absence of Irony. I believe there are federal laws about that. As soon as an American utters something which might be construed as witty, he is required to follow it up with "ha, ha, only kidding", thus rendering the joke inert and harmless. »www.bobdylan.com/songs/lenny.html |
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dave
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join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
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| reply to wonko3fc
said by wonko3fc :I wasn't aware that there was any evidence of original humor originating from the USA given the tightly constrained confines within what passes for 'satire' and the comprehensive absence of Irony. I believe there are federal laws about that. As soon as an American utters something which might be construed as witty, he is required to follow it up with "ha, ha, only kidding", thus rendering the joke inert and harmless. |
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wonko3fc
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UK
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1 edit | reply to jvmorris
Re: Elf and Safely
said by jvmorris : How many British residents have actually been injured during Guy Fawkes celebrations
Sadly, quite a lot every year.... 
I also have some vague memory of some poor sole being killed putting up street decor for Crimble and of course, I've no doubt several folks sustain injurys one way or another through domestic decor...
IMHO the problem is the imported littigation culture as alluded to previously in this thread. FUD (Fear Uncertainty & Doubt) has caused 'officialdom' to become 'overprotective' aka Nanny State as a consequence. All rather a shame really; its taken the fun out of life in an attempt to 'engineer' common sence... |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
| reply to wonko3fc
Re: Does England Really Suck more than America?
Oh, quit pushing me, willya?
The only reason I understood nemo's reference to 'Cockney rhyming slang' was due to a Dick Francis novel that I must have first read about 20 years ago! (I tend to re-read them fairly often, along with Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiel Hammett.)
The only way I'll ever pick up on most of this stuff is if the Home Office gets off my butt and lets me visit my wife in England regularly with no hassle (something that does not appear to currently be on their agenda, as long as they can collect some more revenues for allowing me this 'privilege'.)
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
| reply to Pjr
Re: Elf and Safely
Exactly (and what was the title of this thread initially, once again)? The English ignore too much as their culture is stripped away from them. You go whimpering into that dark night . . . . (restricting your complaints either to the home fires or those few local pubs in which you are likely to know everyone present).
We tend to be a bit more noisy about that here in the US (and unfortunately only a bit more noisy these days), but then we tend to throw the bastards out of office. I think what really amazes me about the English is that your papers (which, admittedly are more competitive than most of ours) are certainly willing, for the most part, to criticize the Government freely, but the electorate never seems to respond, even though, for the most part, they reflect the attitudes in the daily rags. (Okay, the BBC, especially recently, has become the mouthpiece for politically correct positions as espoused by the Labour Party.)
Could it be that over here (US) a great number of our elected representatives must stand for re-election every two (or four) years, whereas your situation is every (what?) five or six years, at best? Admittedly, our basic 2/4 year electoral cycle has its good points and its bad points, but the real problem today in the US is that the electorate seems to have about a 24-hour memory.
TBH the banning of Christmas decorations passed me by. Or was it that they were scared they'd fall on someones head? Oh, gimme a break, you have an established religion in the UK, we don't in the US, but our 'Christmas' decorations are far more extensive than yours! (Okay, it's more marketing oriented here in the US than in the UK, but I've always found your decorations both more tasteful and more modest.) Oh, sure our (Christian) weekly church attendance is much more than yours, but you have more ostensible Christians (as a percentage of the population) than we do. We have a higher percentage of practicing Jews and Muslims than you do. (Okay, you beat us out on Hindus and Sikhs, but there doesn't seem to be any problem with the Diwali celebrations.)
Let me ask you this: How many Brits have actually been injured in putting up Christmas decorations along public streets in the UK without using cherry pickers to do so in the past 100 years? How many members of the general public have actually been injured by falling decorations in the past 100 years (due to a failure to use cherry pickers to install them, of course)? How many British residents have actually been injured during Guy Fawkes celebrations (not to mention Diwali) as compared to Americans celebrating the 4th of July?
(Oh heck, I'll need to come back later and finish this up); something else has come up.
That's something else we have imported from the US: the sue culture. Slipped over on the ice and sprained an ankle really rather badly? Nasty bruise? Sue somebody, anybody, for as much as you can.
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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wonko3fc
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1 edit | reply to jvmorris
Re: Does England Really Suck more than America?
"Elf & Safely" very good like "Darby & Joan" no doubt?
Oh Wikipedia is busy off the back of these threads isn't it? Bung in another couple of Blades Dave, DSLReports is active again....
Addendum: I just realised Blades are a bit old fasioned these days...Esp for this forum... Dave! Scrub the blades, spin up a couple of additional VM's mate! |
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jvmorris
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
| reply to wonko3fc
Oh, sir! Now 'elf' is surely some sort of elf, but 'safely', I'm fairly certain must be some sort of troll.
After only six weeks' absence, I can't recall his name (I really hate that), but you've got at least one satirist in one of the major daily rags who also draws. Still, I've never seen the representation of elf and safely that I keep hoping for.
Still, you have a point here. With the exception of the Daily Show (Jon Stewart), the Colbert Report, and the occasional zinger from Olbermann on Countdown, we're long past the heyday of satire and irony here in the US (too complex for most of us these days, I suspect). We've got no new Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Tim Lehrer and TW3 is, alas, long gone. More's the pity. I think George Carlin tries, but he's getting on a bit these days. The snappy, clever dialog from films of the 30s and 40s is also long gone. Christ, (pardon my French), we don't even have a Pubmaster!
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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wonko3fc
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UK
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| reply to jvmorris
I wasn't aware that there was any evidence of original humor originating from the USA given the tightly constrained confines within what passes for 'satire' and the comprehensive absence of Irony.
NB: Watch Tzale come back at me now and prove me right |
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Pjr
join:2005-12-11
UK
1 edit | reply to jvmorris
Re: Elf and Safely
said by jvmorris :How on earth do you guys put up with this crap? By ignoring it
TBH the banning of Christmas decorations passed me by. Or was it that they were scared they'd fall on someones head? That's something else we have imported from the US: the sue culture. Slipped over on the ice and sprained an ankle really rather badly? Nasty bruise? Sue somebody, anybody, for as much as you can.
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It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall. |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
| reply to jvmorris
Ehh? Is it really going to be necessary for me (a Yank, no less) to explain to you poor Brits what's wrong with Elf and Safely???? Given the amount of criticism they routinely receive in the British media, I figure there must be a good caricature of elf and safely somewhere, although I must admit that I've never seen it.
At the moment, they're doing an excellent job of wiping out fetes throughout the UK, never mind things like Christmas (or wintertime holiday, if you prefer) decorations throughout the UK, but that's only the beginning of their transgressions.
How on earth do you guys put up with this crap?
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
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join:2004-01-06
Sweden
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| reply to Tzale
Re: Why England Sucks
Quite an interesting "dictionary" for translation between American and International (U.K.) English..
»www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/···nary.php
-Tzale |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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join:2001-04-03
Reston, VA
1 edit | reply to wonko3fc
Re: Does England Really Suck more than America?
said by wonko3fc :. . . Indeed, having spent what feels like a lifetime on and off the clutch in the daily commute, my personal bliss moment came when the manual transmission was replaced with an automatic one - I tell ya, there is no going back now.... Ahhhh, the deeper nuances of English written communications! But again, this is really a cultural difference between the US and the UK. After all, most US commuters are the only occupants of their vehicle during the daily commute, so there's much less opportunity for clutching -- if you catch my meaning, if you get my drift.
Addendum: Unfortunately, I can no longer recall whether "If you catch my meaning, if you get my drift ..." comes from Beyond the Fringe, a most definitely English group or Firesign Theater, a most definitely American group of satirists. The two groups' performances are now so deeply interwoven into my psyche that it's impossible for me to separate them. . . . Why, I suppose I'll just have to listen to the original recordings again! (And, while I'm at it, I think I might as well go ahead and listen once again to the complete audio transcripts of "The Goons Show", which John2g so graciously provided lo those many years ago. And thank you for that, John.)
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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jvmorris
I Am The Man Who Was Not There.
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Reston, VA
| reply to wonko3fc
said by wonko3fc :said by jvmorris : (Perhaps we could have a lively discussion on whether Tony sucked more than Dubya? ) OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo YUK! To much information! That's a mental image I'm gonna have to try to purge now... Thanks JV! Ooooohhhh!!! Didn't think of it that way when I posted, but I see your point!
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Regards,
Joseph V. Morris |
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