HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: katherim@fraser.sfu.ca (Katherine Merle Mason)
Subject: Re: The story of the Scottish flag
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: sqnt
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 02:13:16 GMT

ulick@bernini.helios.nd.edu (Ulick Stafford) writes:

>In article <1992Dec10.174430.4305@sequent.com> stm@sequent.com (Scott "Worf" MacQuarrie) writes:
>>katherim@fraser.sfu.ca (Katherine Merle Mason) writes:
>>
[STUFF DELETED]
>>
>>>How can you use "quite nice" and "Cromwell" in the same sentence.
>>
>>Unless you include the phrase "Thank god he's dead". 
>>
[SIGNATURE DELETED]

>Many not nice rulers had really nice emblems, because they were into it, like
>the Nazis or Mussolini.  Re Cromwell I still remember the Ladybird book on
>King and Queen's of England giving a glowing report on Oliver the Bastard and
>ending it with the worlds greatest understatment - theat Cromwell was well
>loved by all, except the Irish.  In Ireland the name is synonimous with
>anti-christ.  What is that Pogues song? 'God damn you Oliver Cromwell, you
>have raped our Motherland, I hope you burn in hell etc.  But perhaps being 
>from Wexford, and having a had a roommate in College from Dundalk, I have
>a worse than normal attitude to him.  Hell it was over 300 years ago, and it's
>not like he was necessarily the last of his type.
[SIGNATURE DELETED]

Perhaps I am overly touchy on this subject.  A large part of it however
is due to the fact that the reason I am living in Canada now and not
in Scotland was due to Oliver Cromwell.

Katherine Merle Mason
Ne Oublie.... 
From: arf@otter.hpl.hp.com (Andrew Farmer)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 15:44:21 GMT
Subject: Re: Banned: ``Happy Holidays'' [sic]
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british


In soc.culture.british, tjo@its.bt.co.uk (Tim Oldham) writes:

> I propose that this phrase be banned from this newsgroup. Acceptable 
> phrases are ``Happy Christmas'', ``Merry Christmas'', ``A Very Happy
> New Year'', plus one or two similar phrases.

	Bah! Humbug!

		arf
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:17490 soc.culture.usa:9197
From: mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Divided by a common language - pecker.
Date: 15 Dec 1992 00:32:57 GMT
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
NNTP-Posting-Host: pangea.stanford.edu

In article <1992Dec4.131734.10578@vax.oxford.ac.uk> wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>In article <1fj47tINNb5l@morrow.stanford.edu>, mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop) writes:
>> 
>> Err, I don't deny that the term pecker meaning penis comes from The
>> States but many people in the UK are familiar with and use the term and
>> aren't even aware of it being US in origin. Often the term was lengthened
>> and the name Percy Pecker used. Context plays an important part though, so
>> pecker can generally be used to mean nose without too much laughter unless
>> your audience is feeling juvenile or drunk or you've been none to careful
>> in your use of words.
>
>Ummm... isn't it chin not nose? 
>
>My favourite `pecker' quote:
>
>`Be firm, be firm, my pecker' (Gilbert & Sullivan, Trial by Jury)
>-- 
>
>Stephen Wilcox             |   For Sale: Posts in British Government. Suit
>wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk    |   outgoing American. Highest bids accepted.


A bit of a late reply but I've been at a shin-dig for the past week.
Pecker means chin, hmm.. the explanation I received as a child was that
pecker = beak which doesn't have a direct equivalent in humans but is
often given one to one correspondence with the nose. This seems pretty
plausible to me even now, on the other hand this wouldn't be the first
time I discover I was misinformed as a kiddy. At present though I'll
stick with nose as the reasoning for chin looks a bit weak to me.


Tony Mossop, geophysics, Stanford
From: rich_b@sn4402.oldham.gpsemi.com (Richard Bogusz)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Time to elect a monarch?
Date: 16 Dec 92 17:43:16 GMT
Organization: GEC Plessey Semiconductors

In article <ZXR9IEV@zelator.in-berlin.de>, snuffy@zelator.in-berlin.de > lso writting as an (ex-pat) Britt. subject - I wouold be far more
|> interested in being able to (vote!)( elect anybody anywhere and if the
|> matter lconcerned was a monarchy (anybody anywhere!) then I would find
|> the opportunity to "DE-ELECT!" a Queen far more interesting than to
|> vote to swap one pompous and unnecessary large scale sponger with
|> another!

Stuff deleted...

Knowing our luck we would get Jeremy Beadle or Wogan...or both! Wait , Wogan's
Irish so it's Jeremy I!

But seriously folks...Just in case we do decide to elect a monarch could I
nominate Joe Longthorne, Joe I the singing king!

Happy Christmas to everyone.

-- 
Richard Bogusz				"You can lead a horse to water..
GEC Plessey Semiconductors LTD		But a pencil must be lead!"
Oldham, United Kingdom.				Stan Laurel 
E-mail: rich_b@oldham.gpsemi.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: johnf@apollo.hp.com (John Francis)
Subject: Re: Anglepoise Lamps
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 17:40:05 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>               [ earlier articles expunged ]
>Beg your pardon but there are ray-traced animations on Sesame Street.  I've
>seen the stop-motion animations too (most ingenious, some of them) but I 
>also know ray-trace when I see it, and the ones featured match the 
>description of "Luxo Jr."  There are also 2-D cartoons that look like they
>were done with a kid-paint program.

ob.quibble:
Apparently the guys at Pixar have you fooled: you don't know ray-tracing
when you (don't) see it!  While "Luxo Jr." was entirely computer created,
it was *not* raytraced.  It was actually produced by using a precursor of
Pixars "RenderMan" software, which is capable of producing some absolutely
stunning visual effects while using considerably less CPU time than would
be required for raytracing.

ob.quibble.quibble:
Yes, I know -  it was actually done using "Reyes".  And it probably
made use of the special hardware in the Pixar Image Computer.
-- 
John Francis                                 johnf@apollo.hp.com
with 9 cats to feed, I don't have time to think up a clever .sig
From: dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: US bombed Libyan civilians
Date: 15 Dec 92 10:51:41 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

andrewg@brtph346.BNR.CA  writes:

>Who said anything about cheering them on. I merely said they could find some
>excuse for bombing Libya. Eg. Libya gives weapons and explosives to the
>IRA. The


Guess you forgot about the bombing of a certain disco in Germany full of US
servicemen then. eh?
Or the Aquina Lauro? Or the "Line of Death"?

That was the main reason given by the US for the retaliatory strike.


Dave
--
From: CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CZ94)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: An ENGLISH monarch??
Date: 20 Dec 92 19:22:49 GMT
Organization: McGill University

In article <1992Dec20.130411.14383@maths.tcd.ie> dwilkins@maths.tcd.ie (David Wilkins) writes:
>In article <18DEC92.11034381.0099@VM1.MCGILL.CA> CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CZ94000) writes:
>>This thread seems to be using an odd definition of "English".
>>Does anyone really think of the present Queen as German, merely
>>because she's descended from Prince Albert (or was this a reference
>>to George I)?
>
>Half-Scottish (from her mother), half-German (from her father), with a small
>proportion of Danish blood.
>
>Take a look at the line of descent from James I and Anne of Denmark.
>Practically everybody in this line of descent married a German
>prince or princess.  The sole exception that I can think of offhand
>is the marriage of Edward VII to Princess Alexandra of Denmark
>(the present Queen's great grandmother), and I dare say that
>she would have had plenty of German blood in her.
>
Do you seriously thing that being German is a genetic trait, rather
than cultural?  If George VI was German, why wasn't he interned
during WW2?

Tom Box
CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: ag129@cus.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Subject: Re: If the Wales' divorce
Organization: U of Cambridge, England
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:43:41 GMT

>In article <92345.1541592893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>, Andy <2893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>
>> Another option is to disestablish the Church, an act that is long overdo. It is
>> quite odd in this day and age for a democracy to have a State church,
>> especially one to which a lessening proportion of the population belongs,
>> severing crown and church would also allow Britain to do away with various
>> anti-Catholic legislation concerning the monarchy.

But the establishment of the church doesn't affect the democratic bits,
only the undemocratic bits (the monarchy and the House of Lords).
By all means have a revolution and overthrow the monarchy, but you can't
start any argument from the premise that "because we live in a democracy,
therefore..." because we don't. We have an elected _parliament_; choice
of government is in principle (and when it comes to issues like church
establishment, we really are talking about principles rather than anything
of immediate importance) entirely up to the monarch.

p.s. there was an article in "Private Eye" recently to the effect that
the only religion which has genuine powers of censorship in this country
is Islam; they used the example of the Jesus puppet on "Spitting Image",
which was not removed despite complaints by the church lobby, but was
removed when some Moslems pointed out that Jesus was a spiritual figure
for them too. I mention this only for information.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
From: s0319198@let.rug.nl (E.B. Meijerink)
Subject: Re: The Scottish National Anthem (was Re: The story of the Scottish flag)
Organization: Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, NL
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 13:46:37 GMT

I have lived in Scotland for a while and have been 'a wee bit' 
indoctrinated :-) with Scottish culture. I've got the lyrics to 'Flower of 
Scotland, but a lot of people don't like this song to be the national 
anthem (question 1: Why is there no mentioning of 'Scotland the Brave'?).
Also, a lot of people seem to prefer "Scots, Wha Hae", could somebody 
please mail (or post) the lyrics to this song?

Thanx!

Erik Meijerink               || 'Who did slash the pooltable in
Univ. of Groningen (Neth.)   ||  Salisbury Green? I'd still like to 
E-Mail: S0319198@let.rug.nl  ||  know..........'
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic,uk.net,alt.bbs.internet,soc.culture.europe,uk.telecom
From: larry@news.rn.com (Larry Snyder)
Subject: Re: The UK Internet list
Organization: Gator Communications - Feeds-R-Us 219-289-3745 
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 14:04:18 GMT

ke94002@black.ox.ac.uk (Daniel J Mitchell) writes:

> Since then, they've added ftp and telnet access; no extra charges past those 
>for standard use.

How much for your server?

We've had access to ftp, rlogin, telnet, etc for the last couple of
months now and haven't figured out what to charge for shell accounts
with complete internet access -

currently, we bring in news via nntp, and have lots of smtp traffic -
but we would like to offer complete internet access as well.  

-- 
Larry Snyder                                    internet: larry@gator.rn.com
keeper of the Gator                                  uucp: uunet!gator!larry
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: London Underground sell-off?
Date: 17 Dec 92 18:37:07 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In London yesterday I noticed that Mornington Crescent has been
closed, allegedly temporarily (for 17 months). A clue to a
privatisation time scale?

-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: gerard@caliban.soest.hawaii.edu (Gerard Fryer)
Subject: Re: Re: sesame st./Magic roundabout
Organization: Scum Of the Earth and Senile Tenured
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 01:42:51 GMT

In article <1992Dec15.143747.1@vms.ocom.okstate.edu>, chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu writes:
|> It's too late, you've been deceived!!!
|> 
|> The Magic Roundabout is French!!!!!!!!!!
|> 
True, M.R. is French.  But the dialog is English.  Apparently the beeb
receives the thing sans dialog, just with a music track (and without
any idea of what the story is really about), and they just think up
something that fits.
-- 
Gerard Fryer                                  |  g.fryer@soest.hawaii.edu
Department of Geology & Geophysics            |
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology  | <-punctuate that if you can
University of Hawaii at Manoa                 |
Honolulu, HI 96822-2285                       |
From: dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: SECRET PURPOSE OF FALKLANDS WAR
Date: 18 Dec 92 11:11:04 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:

>Mr. McElwaine, how are you?  Fresh from all your lunatic fringe postings
>in sci.space and who knows where else ?  Fortunately my newsreader has
>the ability to kill all messages by an author in all groups, so I won't
>be hearing from you again anywhere.  It will indeed be a relief.

Awww...I quite liked it, especially the bit about the secret underground
base in South Georgia.

dave
--
From: fledgist@weber.ucsd.edu (Fragano Ledgister)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Foreign Study in Britain
Date: 14 Dec 1992 06:23:04 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego
NNTP-Posting-Host: weber.ucsd.edu

In article <KWFVBHSW@cc.swarthmore.edu> jnawroc1@cc.swarthmore.edu (Jason Nawrocki) writes:
>I am planning on studying abroad in England next year. However, I need some
                           ^^^^^^
>advice on colleges in the UK with engineering programs available and that
>are fairly rigorous. I would also like to find a college that has a fair
>amount to offer socially as well. Any help or inside tips would be great.
>Thanks
>
>Jason Nawrocki
>jnawroc1@cc.swarthmore.edu
>
>
When in Britain, you are not abroad.

-- 
____________________________________________________________________
Dawn over the dark sea brings on the sun;                      
She leans across the hilltop: see, the light!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: hillyer@rrc.chevron.com (Martin J. Hillyer,(510)242-3123)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Green cards
Date: 17 Dec 92 19:25:12 GMT
Reply-To: hillyer@rrc.chevron.com
Organization: Chevron, Richmond, California

In article 9B8@srgenprp.sr.hp.com, patk@sr.hp.com (Patrick Kearney) writes:
>Can anyone tell me why Green Cards are actually blue? Mine is. Does
>the colour of these things have some significance? Are Green ones
>reserved for Hispanics, Blue for Europeans etc.? 

---stuff deleted----

Well, I'm a citizen of the UK, and mine's green.  Of course, it's really old, 
too ;-).  When I came in (1963) they were still using the national quota 
system.

Martin.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
From: hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phill Hallam-Baker)
Subject: Royal Familly Privatization Program
Keywords: Selloffs, Privatizations.
Reply-To: Hallam@zeus02.desy.de
Organization: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Experiment ZEUS bei HERA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 05:41:32 GMT

I found the following press release, it may be of interest:-



As some of you may be aware the Government is fully committed to the continuence
of it's highly successful privatisation program. This has recently become the
victim of it's own success in many ways and there is now very little left to
sell off.

This raises the rather tricky question of the disposal of the Royal family. As
has been widely rumoured for several months the Government has decided that it
is no longer feasible to continue to maintain them in the public sector.

In view of the longstanding ties between the USA and UK and in view of the
inordinate amount of interest that they appear to generate in that country it
has been decided to give that nation "first dibbs" so to speak.

Prospectus:

The initial program will encompas the following items :-

1)	Diana, Princess of Wales.
		A successful bidder may wish to replace the "Wales" title with the name of a
sponsor. In this case bidders are respectufully advised that a certain
sensitivity in the choice of sponsors should be chosen.

2)	Fergina, Dutchess of York
		Used, but not baddly soiled this model should provide sturdy service for a
number of years.

3)	Prince Edward.
		Former soldier and thespian, described by many as a real "man's" man.

Items (1) and (2) would make good breeding stock and prospective buyers
attention is drawn to their proven track record in this area.




Now it appears to me that the above may merely be an attempt by the palace to
get rid of the dog ends. Nevertheless they would serve as an excelent "starter
kit" for a prospective constitutional monarchy.

Obviously to take full advantage of the breeding potential it would be well to
put them to stud at an early stage. This brings up the subject of suitable
partners, how about:-

Diana		Michael Jackson.
Fergina		Silvester Stalone or Daniel Quayle
Edward		Maddona or Sinead O' Connor


--

Phill Hallam-Baker
From: ian@sun.com (Ian Griffin - NCN Reseller SE)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Do we really need the monarchy?
Date: 17 Dec 1992 22:36:56 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: ian@sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: marmite.west.sun.com

In article 24703@dcs.qmw.ac.uk, mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
[]It would really be pathetic if we British kept the monarchy
[]going just for tourist income, just like all those other third
[]world tribes who have long lost interest in and forgotten the
[]meaning of their rituals, but when they smell $s put on the old
[]grass skirts and dance around in a desultory sort of way
[]because that's what they're expected to do.

How do you measure the current interest in rituals such as the Changing 
of the Guards, Beefeaters in uniform at the Tower etc?  I'd bet there
are far more tourists observing these events on any given day than
genuine "natives" who attend such tribal rituals as non-tourists.

Would the proverbial chap on the Clapham omnibus be able to state the
meaning of these rituals?

Not that the monarchy is without meaning, but the interest in it
evinced by many of the non-British world may be responsible for
a hefty chunk of tourist income.

Finally, the image of Chales, Di, the Duke and Her Majesty dancing around in
grass skirts in a desultory sort of way does have a certain ironic Pythonesque
appeal -- considering the number of such ceremonies they must have
witnessed themselves!

Ian.
---
From: cabr53@ccsun.strath.ac.uk ("R.A.McPheat")
Subject: Re: Lamont's wine and PRIVATE EYE
Organization: University of Strathclyde
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:41:43 GMT

In article <BzD3pp.5r9@newcastle.ac.uk> w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk writes:
>
>  So we now get the "Affair of Gummer's Pond" the umpteenth "scandal"
>this Governemt has faced in the last 3 months.  Private Eye normally
>has knowledge about the scandels in politics, have the recent back
>issues mentioned any scandals which have not made it to the daily 
>papers yet?
>
>  The business about Lamont's purchases of stuff from the off-license
>has had a very odd end, almost as if pressure has been brought to 
>bear on the accusers to force them to withdraw.
>Has Private Eye being suggesting this?

Acording to Private eye, the parent company of the wine shop
has previously made donations to the tory party.

R McPheat
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: FAQ
Date: 17 Dec 92 17:31:12 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <78204@hydra.gatech.EDU>, gt7303b@prism.gatech.EDU (Troy Lee) writes:
> 
>    Is there a FAQ for this group? If so, could somebody please send it
> to me as I seem to be consistently missing it.

The soc.culture.british FAQ list exists in the same way that the British
Constitution exists: if you dig around in a few archives you may find articles 
posted on various dates around the beginning of the existence of this newsgroup
that may or may not constitute a FAQ list, depending on whether we can agree on
a legally and morally binding definition of what constitutes a FAQ list,
whether articles posted several years ago in a situation completely different
from that which obtains now should be held to be relevant to the present
events, whether the move once afoot to split the newsgroup under the principle
of subsidiarity falls under the terms of the FAQ list and whether the their is
any implication to the FAQ list of the separation of the heir to the throne and
his wife. There are apparently subversive moves afoot, by such noted 
signatories of Charter 92 as Stephen Wilcox and Sue Miller to have the FAQ list
removed from its fine obscure traditions and placed on a written basis, but all
fine upstanding Englishmen, such as Dave Sharriff Yadallee and Laurence Godfrey
naturally deplore such terrible modern trends and would rather die for their
newsgroup than see a FAQ list instituted such excuses as fairness and
enshrinement of rights.
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   For Sale: Posts in British Government. Suit
wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk    |   outgoing American. Highest bids accepted.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:17790 soc.culture.celtic:8306
From: calum@ivy.clu.cf.ac.uk (Calum Gordon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Last King of Scotland (was Dates 1603, 1688, and 1707)
Date: 18 Dec 92 16:00:26 GMT
Reply-To: Calum Gordon <calum@clu.cf.ac.uk>
Organization: Computational Linguistics Unit, Univ of Wales College of Cardiff
Posting-Software: GNUS: NNTP-based News Reader for GNU Emacs

In article <CC.92Dec17110804@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:

>  According to a recent opinion poll, everyone's utterly ignorant of the
>  Treaty, but less against it than in England.
>  
>  Really, the whole thing seems like an irrelevance - sovereignty and the
>  national parliament disappeared centuries ago, we've lived without them for
>  generations, and being ruled from London-and-Brussels-and-Strasbourg doesn't
>  seem so different to being ruled from London.  They're all a long way away,
>  and totally unresponsive to public opinion here, so we're not going to lose

I agree that it won't make much difference to Scotland and the general
disregard in which it is held in Europe but that's no reason to put up
with it. The fact that this has gone on for generations should be more
of a spur for change than a lull into  reactionism. Only when Scotland
has an Edinburgh parliament can it stake it's true place in the
Maastricht arena. Maastricht should really be a secondary issue for
Scots just now - we need a referendum on SCOTLAND not EUROPE.
--
** Calum Gordon <calum@clu.cf.ac.uk>      ** TEL: +44-222-874000-x5310 **
** Computational Linguistics Unit (CLU)   ** FAX: +44-222-874293       **
** University of Wales College of Cardiff ** JAN: <calum@uk.ac.cf.clu> **
** ----- "People with (a) CLU use Suns; CLUless people use Macs" ----- **
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: ahall@library1.library.carleton.ca (Alison Hall)
Subject: Re: Do we really need the monarchy?
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 18:39:10 GMT

>>   I furthur arge that the people show, based on a value system, should keep the
>> government in check.
>
>Shurely, as well asthat, it shold only be people. govenrments should not,
>no circonstunces, be allwed to do it.

Um, what?

>Simon.
>
>Marks out of 10 anyone?
>
>  Simon Patience

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british