Britishness

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Can we include the Irish in this?

I have allways loved drinking with the Irish. Tonight I went down to the local Pub with my wife and there were a bunch of Irish in there. Had a merry time drinking Kilkenny, Guiness and Bush Mills and singing Irish Drinking Songs about the IRA!

A merry time was had by all and dont forget the Whiskey in the Jarr-ooooooo!

 
... The British people have much to be proud of not least of which is standing alone against the greatest evil the world has ever known. Well done!

OK, I missed something here.
 
Gotta go with Merlin and say Wales would be a nice place. The language is intriguing.

interesting thing about Wales is the castles built by Edward I in the 1290s at great expense to conquer the Welsh. A welsh nationalist said to me that he is proud that the red dragon flies over the ruins and that the English are charged to enter their own castles!
Of course he is an ignorant welsh nationalist coz Edward I was Norman and not English.
 
One of the things I enjoy about the British is the Language. The economy of the spoken word - example: In the US we go to THE hospital, in UK its I went to Hospital or I went to THE University whereas in UK its I went to University.

And its also has a lilt and softness sometimes. In US I get the wrench out of the trunk whereas in UK its the spanner in the bonnett. More poetic.
 
Its boot for trunk.
Bonnet for hood.
Petrol for gasoline.
Motorway for highway.
Bumper for fender.
And we drive on the correct side of the road. True...see...in an accident...a person instinct goes left so in UK away from traffic...In USA head on to traffic. Its why carriers have the island always on the right as the aircraft lands.
 

Good point! probably why the standard airport traffic pattern here in the US is left also.
 
and a beaver is a large semiaquatic rodent with webbed hind feet and a broad flat tail; construct complex dams and underwater lodges. Can also mean to work hard on something.
 
The greatest thing about the castles in Wales is the fact that they were more of a hinderance than a help to the English in holding down the Welsh; typical English of the day "We do it, because we can."

There's no denying the influence England - and the Great Britain, as a whole - had on the world. Great Britain as a nation is not what it used to be, the reputation has gone. And the British people ... well, I have seen nothing in recent times that shows me Britain would pull together in the event of another Blitz.
 

I think you maybe looking at are past with slightly rose tinted glasses. The strikes throughout the war by miners,aircraft engineers,dockers etc show that not everyone was content. Crime, social injustice, depravation where all at their highest as the British Empire hit its Golden age during the Victorian era. Given the choice I wouldn't want to be living during those times.
 
Those strikes are the exact reason I hate miners. All well and good for them to complain - call 'em up and kick them to the front bloody line.

You are comparing Britain then, to the modern world. You think if the state of society back then was backed up with modern technology - the crime would be so high? Every c*nt who farted in front of the Queen would be getting hanged - we'd have bloody moniters to detect the silent ones so we could hang more. You wouldn't think of stealing a loaf of bread from a dead man 'cos you'd be shot. Only reason crime would be so high is 'cos most got away with it.

And social injustice - hardly a freakin' surprise given the fact it was 100 years ago. I ain't looking through British history expecting clean streets and British sh*t smelling of roses ... but I look back through it and see a Britain with a purpose, something we don't have now.
 
The 'Bevin Boys' were conscripted miners. Walk a mile in another persons shoes before making a harsh judgement.

Plan you too made the comparison. I also just pointed out that not everyone was perhaps pulling for a common cause.

I have no problem with the defence of Britain against the Nazi. As an ordinary person I could see no benifit to myself by supporting the expansion of the British Empire during the Victorian period.

"There were 30 million English who talked of England's might,
There were 20 broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night.
They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade;
They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade."

Kipling
 

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