HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Subject: Re: Words: American vs English (UK type)
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 14:54:42 GMT

Daan Sandee writes:
> Chris Malcolm writes:
>|> Dan Carpenter writes:
>|> 
>|> >Truck vs. Lory
>|> 
>|> Ok. In English a Lory is a large Australasian parrot with a brushlike
>|> tongue. What is it called in America? I thought in America a truck was
>|> a large goods vehicle?
>|> -- 
>|> 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
>
>Uh, Chris, the man asked what's it called IN ENGLAND. So he wouldn't be
>interested in opinions out of Edinburgh. 
>On the other hand, I can affirm that in this country a truck is a road
>vehicle for the transportation of goods - it doesn't have to be large,
>the midgets driven by death-defying rednecks are officially
>called "light trucks". The dictionary gives 18 other meanings for the
>noun, and an Australasian parrot is not one of them.
>
>Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
>Thinking Machines Corporation
>Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044


Wrong!!  Chris Malcolm said that a LORY was an Australasian parrot.
As any decent English or American dictionary will tell you.
From: venable@faculty.coe.wvu.wvnet.edu (Wallace Venable)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Words: American vs English (UK type)
Date: 2 Oct 92 01:51:42 GMT
Organization: WVU College of Engineering

In article <26432@castle.ed.ac.uk> cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>>Truck vs. Lory

>>Can anyone help me? 

>Ok. In English a Lory is a large Australasian parrot with a brushlike
>tongue. What is it called in America? I thought in America a truck was
>a large goods vehicle?
>-- 

	In America, a large goods vehicle is usually a "semi."
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: VNS, Wed 30-Sep-1992
Date: 1 Oct 92 09:08:00 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

In article <qh3u2oo@zola.esd.sgi.com> livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
>In article <1992Sep30.161026.29890@rdg.dec.com>, cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) writes:
>>
>> A former TV reseracher has been charged with purgery following 
>> his participation in a TV documentary in which the Northern 
>> Ireland security forces were accused of collusion with loyalist 
>> terrorists.
>
>Well, don't leave it like that.   What on earth did he do?

Standard sort of thing.  Refused to reveal the name(s) of his
source(s), on grounds that if they became public knowledge said
source(s) would be killed.  Considering that the allegation was that
the 'security forces' (in a vague general sense) are assisting
terrorists, and that it is the 'security forces' (iavgs) who want the
names, feels at least logically and morally consistent that said
journalist should refuse to give them, particularly since he gave
promises of confidentiality as a condition of getting the information.

-- 
Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
 P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!uknet!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dbrooks@rosencrantz.osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: France, je vous remercie pour l'election d'Anti-Christ
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Reply-To: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 03:49:31 GMT

godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY) writes:
>A bit patronising, isn't it?  Would that it were true - I'm 39 and very
>nearly over the hill.

Suddenly the assembled company was hushed.  All heads turned to the revered
and elegant Fido, whose visage had taken on a stern but composed mien.
With how much disdain should he answer this young nitwit?  Or should he
rather leave the energetic retort to the one of the many forty-somethings
who were, if anything, even more offended?  Hush, he draws breath...

(Personally, I'm 43, and I don't know what hill we're talking about)
David Brooks					dbrooks@osf.org
Open Software Foundation			uunet!osf.org!dbrooks
Four more months!  Four more months!
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Currency Problems
Date: 30 Sep 92 11:53:33 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

From: david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George)
>Ditto for similar German newspapers.  Bild ran the
>headline "SUPERMARK" with such comments in the article
>as "Mark storms off battlefield victorious over
>pound and lira".

Is this the article that went on about how cheaply Germans
could buy things from the rest of Europe? Good, that will
improve the balance of trade situation, at least it would do
for Britain if our industries hadn't been allowed to get so run
down that there's nothing left which we make for the Germans to
buy. It is rather a pity that the other countries didn't just
let their currencies get hit one by one by the speculators,
since the net effect then would be everyone else left evens with
each other, with just the mark overvalued.

Matthew Huntbach
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,talk.religion.misc
From: kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch (kevinh)
Subject: Re: In response to Jon Livesey, also stand on EC, Maastricht and the
Originator: kevinh@nath
Reply-To: kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch
Organization: Ascom Hasler AG
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 14:48:11 GMT


In article <Bc9sRB6w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca>, yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee) writes:
|> kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch (kevinh) writes:
|> 
|> -
|> - Slight, but important, difference is that people  are voting on the issue
|> - and not being invaded by Napoleon or Hitler. 
|> 
|> Wait a moment.  Both Hitler and Napoleon, more so Hitler, HAD the DEMOCRATIC
|> backing of their people before they went on their corruption rampage. Here, it
|> is  appropriate to say beware power-mongors looking like democrats.


Do you really believe that Hitlers rise to power was fully democratic, that's
almost a joke and hardly warrants discussion here. Napoleon was in no way
a leader in a democratic country elected by democratic process as we have today.

|> - Not having read Revelations recently I don't know about this prophecy in
|> - detail, but didn't somebody point out that it mentioned 10 states, not 12??

|> I did state
|> previously that there is always the possibility that some states could withdraw
|> from the EC, a viable possibility.

But very unlikely. Who did you have in mind?

|> - Anyway, there's no reason whatsoever to think that *any* power will move
|> - away from Brussels/Strasbourg (they quite like it :-). On what do you base
|> - your belief that Rome will become the seat of the EC?

|> AS for the seat being moved to Rome, have
|> you ever heard of that bring-back-the-good-old-days syndrome??

Not from 1000+ years ago, surely?! Rather than such a flippant reply,
state the reasons/justifications why you think such a move might take 
place?

|> Dave Shariff Yadallee 

kevinh@hasler.ascom.ch
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Subject: Re: Names of naughty politicians
Organization: sgi
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 19:55:12 GMT

In article <Bvn9y8.G1n@scd.hp.com>, tim@hpcpbla.bri.hp.com (Tim Phipps) writes:
|> 
|> I'm setting up a cluster of workstations and it has been decreed that the
|> hostnames will have a theme.  The weenies around here want to name them
|> after characters from Startrek (yuk).  To counteract this I've come up 
|> with the idea of politicians disgraced by scandal (the more sordid the better).
|> I need your help with some more names. I have so far:
|> 
|> Profumo
|> Mellor
|> Thorpe
|> Archer
|> Lucan (not a politician but the right flavour)

Hey, you're in luck.    This week's Economist has a list of
Ministers who either jumped or were pushed.

jon.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: sgi
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 04:02:44 GMT

In article <riaedwards.1.718188190@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au>, riaedwards@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (AUDREY EDWARDS) writes:
|>
|> Repetition can conflict with education, when the examination regime goes no
|> further than to assess whether the candidate has successfully mastered the
|> art of regurgitation (as was the case in the days of the board schools where
|> the inspector's job was to listen to the pupils chanting their lessons
|> verbatim.)

The claims being made here get weaker and weaker.   First we were
told that testing *will* lead to rote learning, we've gone through
several variations, and now we're down to Repetition *can*
conflict with education under some, apparently past, testing
system.

It's probably true, but what does this have to do with what is
going on today?

|> Having sat 'O'levels, 'A' levels, read for my undergrad degree, sat
|> the Law  Society Finals and have yet more exams in four weeks, to be
|> asked my view on  testing is strangely amusing.  

Do you think that the rest of us *havn't* been through this kind of
thing?  Surely not.

More to the point, some of us who have taught in North America
have had to deal with freshmen who have been "exposed" to calculus,
physics, chemistry, and what not, but were never tested, and as
a result, have a very exagerated idea of what they know.

I've deleted a bunch of stuff about your experiences with Law exams.
I can't comment, since I've never taken law exams.

jon.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: pault@ossi.com (Paul Taylor)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: Fujitsu America, Inc.
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 04:02:11 GMT

What turned me into a Shakespere fan was seeing a production done in the
round. I think the play was Hamlet, with Shelia Hancock and some other
people from the Royal Shakespere Company. It was a project done for schools.

That got me going, and I took evening classes and am now a qualified
drama teacher. Who sometimes inflicts poor little mites with Shakespere.

IMHO it is not Shakespere that is the problem, but the way it is presented
to the school kids and students. Plays are meant to be performed not
discussed to death in a stuffy classroom. I get very annoyed when I
hear of some of the ways that Shakespere is taught today.

I am not advocating that every kid must do Shakespere. But I think it
is important that people learn about and understand live theatre.
There are a lot of very good plays around, modern and old, that
need to be heard.

Yes I am biased, and prejudiced, BUT is my 2p's worth....

-- 
  Paul Taylor pault@ossi.com
"Sometimes you get the bear, and other times the bear gets you.
I think we have just been gotten"
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: sfysh@epas.utoronto.ca (Stephanie Moskal Fysh)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: University of Toronto - EPAS
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 12:28:08 GMT

In article <BvDL7I.EGH@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU> streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater) writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.212802.4550@epas.toronto.edu> sfysh@epas.utoronto.ca (Stephanie Moskal Fysh) writes:
>>
>>It's bonkers because Shakespeare's English is now 375 or so years old.
>>Why should we be expecting 14-year-olds to comprehend it?  It's no
>
>For someone in a university English Dept to say this boggles the mind.

After 4-5 years of Shakespeare in high school I'd have expected my
19-20 year old first year Honours English students to comprehend it
too.  Many of them didn't.

And Shakespeare isn't God of the English Dept.  Sorry to disappoint.

Stephanie Fysh
Dept of English
Univ. of Toronto
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: pault@ossi.com (Paul Taylor)
Subject: Re: Some of my best friends are speculators
Organization: Fujitsu America, Inc.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 16:06:31 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.144415.7568@menudo.uh.edu> chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU writes:
>[stuff deleted]
>>
>>Well, that's crap.    There are some strictly limited things 
>>that Governments can do, but most of the broad economic trends   <---
>>are actually outside the control of Government, and blaming      <---
>>the Government the the British buying too many imports is just 
>>silly.
>>
>>jon.
>
>That's the oldest one in the book, Jon. US Republicans have taken up the same
>track for this presidential election -- the economy *is* a mess, but don't
>blame us, blame Congress! (oh, and vote for Geogre and hence 4 more years of
>the same thing anyhow). Be honest; would you, or John Major, pause for a
>*millisecond* to bask in the glory if the economy was "working" under the
>envigorating "forces of competition and the free market"???   ;=) 
>

The sad picture is that most of the people running the governments don't
know what to do about the economic mess we are in. If they do, they are 
running scared because they might not get re-elected. In the mean time
the health care and education are falling apart.

I think that a free market economy works. There are countless examples of
sucess stories to back me up. Robert Makwell, Ivan Boesky, Micheal Millican
being just some.. :(

If some bright person can come up with an economic model that is actually viable,
the world will beat a path to their door. Or maybe, to misquote, "the truth is
that there is no truth"

-- 
  Paul Taylor pault@ossi.com
"Sometimes you get the bear, and other times the bear gets you.
I think we have just been gotten"
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13296 talk.religion.misc:17479 soc.culture.europe:8728
From: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,talk.religion.misc,soc.culture.europe
Subject: Re: France, je vous remercie pour l'election d'Anti-Christ
Date: 30 Sep 92 20:04:55 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.british,talk.religion.misc,soc.culture.europe
Organization: Johns Hopkins University CS Dept.

In article <1992Sep30.165354.20951@philmtl.philips.ca> ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn) writes:
>>The short response to this is "It takes one to know one".
>>The short response to that is "Are all jurors who convict, guilty of the
>>offences"
>It's astounding that Godfrey can equate his narrow-minded, racist
>statements with the impartial conclusions of a juror.

The phrase "it takes one to know one" does not purport to apply to only
racist statements; it purports to apply to all statements, and thus the
example is quite comparable.
--
"the bogosity in a field equals the bogosity imported from related areas, plus
the bogosity generated internally, minus the bogosity expelled or otherwise
disposed of."  -- K. Eric Drexler

Ken Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm;
     INTERNET: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu)
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Currency problems
Date: 5 Oct 92 10:37:12 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <1992Oct2.091305.2623@bristol.ac.uk>, smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:
> Interesting.  As I said, though, of questionable reliability, unless
> someone can verify some of those numbers.  Also, yes, there are some
> missing numbers.  E.g. the price of coal other than deep-mined, and
> a comparison of the amount of energy this money given to the nuclear
> industry provides, as compared to the amount of energy in a similarly
> valued pile of coal.
> 
No figures, but a few thoughts. There are only a handful of nuclear power
stations in the UK (<10 I think) producing a small percentage of the
electricity we consume. Until a few years ago all the coal-fired power
stations, which still produce the vast majority of Britain's electricity were
run on British coal. So if the nuclear subsidy were given to the coal industry
and Scargill's figures are right we could almost all have free electricity
*and* there would be enough money left over in the kitty to cut acid-rain
producing gases immediately almost to zero. 

OK, that last sentence is a guess, but the technology is there and is cheap.

-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   Remember what happened to the dinosaurs!
wilcox@maths.oxford.ac.uk  |    I did---and look what happened to me.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: torkel@sics.se (Torkel Franzen)
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance and such
Organization: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 17:03:32 GMT

In article <6250083@hpopd.pwd.hp.com> ian@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Ian Watson) writes:
				       
   >I've been hauled up once before for using this term ["Jap"], and I still
   >don't see why.  To me, it's the equivalent to 'Brit', which I don't
   >find in the least offensive.

  In cases of this kind, the question is to what extent we should take into
account, not how we who use the term regard it, but how those referred to
react. In the case of "Jap" it has emerged in soc.culture.japan that some
Japanese at least consider it highly offensive. So do you want to continue
using the term since you yourself consider it perfectly harmless, or do
you want to avoid it so as not to be perceived as grossly offensive by
any Japanese readers? Whatever the answer, we should be aware that people
perceive this term differently.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Subject: Re: France, je vous remercie pour l'election d'Anti-Christ
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 21:19:46 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Sep28.162222.7758@rz-berlin.mpg.de> gray@rz-berlin.mpg.de writes:
>In article <25SEP199217541530@sscvx1.ssc.gov>,
>godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY) writes:
>
>> In article <qa83hl4@zola.esd.sgi.com>, 
>> livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes...
>>> 
  [ loads-o-stuff deleted ]
>
>  Do you by any chance, when dining in the UK, leave dollar bills as tips?
>

Since we're back on this subject again  - I wish *I* had done this very
thing in a few over-priced London restaurants.  Had a couple of rather
unpleasant experiences with rude and even argumentative staff. 
I retaliated with tiny tips.  Should have left them $$ instead to make
the zipperheads work a little more for their money. 

Next time I'll carry some small US change with me...
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13100 talk.religion.misc:17278
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: In response to Jon Livesey, also stand on EC, Maastricht and the
Date: 28 Sep 1992 15:20:08 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <CC.92Sep28145735@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk>, cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
|> In article <Bc9sRB6w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca> yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee) writes:
|> 
|>    Wait a moment.  Both Hitler and Napoleon, more so Hitler, HAD the
|>    DEMOCRATIC backing of their people before they went on their corruption
|>    rampage. 
|> 
|> Didn't Hitler's party have *less* than 50% of the Reichstag?  They got their
|> majority by various maneouvres after the election, I thought.

While Germany (in the Weimar Republic) was still a functioning parliamentary
democracy, the largest electoral success of the NSDAP was around 35%. He
got his power through the Ermaechtigungsgesetz (Empowerment Act) of 1933.
After that, political opposition was destroyed and any further electoral
exercises were meaningless. It is true that he had the approval of
the German people for his actions (including starting WWII and persecuting
the Jews) but to call it DEMOCRATIC backing perverts the meaning of the
word democracy. You might then apply the term just as much to any popular
dictator - there've been plenty of those.
As to Napoleon, democracy is any modern sense never existed in France 
before 1848. And I don't think the French, as a people, are on record of
approving Napoleon's doings. They didn't get much of a chance. Certainly
the millions of soldiers that Napoleon conscripted and sent off to die in
faraway countries were never asked for their opinion.
(Modern French schoolbooks, of course, portray the Emperor as one of the
shining lights in all of history, just as British schoolbooks display him
as one of history's biggest villains, between Genghis Khan and Hitler. I
wonder what Yadallee learned in school?)

Finally, why *corruption* rampage ? Rampage, yes, but what was so corrupt
about it ? Neither Hitler nor Napoleon were paid to do for what they did and at
least Hitler didn't amass any private wealth, which is actually quite unusual
for dictators. And Napoleon was a lot less corrupt than the French monarchy
was before and after his reign.

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: djc105@rsphy2.anu.edu.au (Damian Jackson)
Subject: Re: Abuse A Brit (was Re: Pardon my ignorance and such)
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: Computer Services Centre, Australian National University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 09:21:07 GMT


> You seem to miss the point, it is impossible for a Brit to be insulted by 
> someone who is so evidently inferior due to their being foreign,
> irregardless of what one is called.
> 
> Simon.
> 
> PS :-) For the nationality impaired
> 
> -- 
>   Simon Patience
>   Open Software Foundation			Phone: +33-76-63-48-72
>   Research Institute				FAX:   +33-76-51-05-32
>   2 Avenue De Vignate				Email: sp@gr.osf.org
>   38610 Gieres, France				       uunet!gr.osf.org!sp

 Having read all the above, I find it hard to believe that no other Brits,
like myself, took any notice of the guy above. It seems to me like he
pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one.

	I have spent a couple of  years in the U.S., admittedly it was Los Angeles
so this may be a special case, and I am now banished like convicts of old
to one of our old colonies. (Australia that is). I feel that my life has
been made a lot easier by knowing the fact that I am English, (there is a
difference!), and therefore one above anyone else I might meet, as Simon
pointed out. After all, if it wasn't for us invading and destroying
civillizations of old, where would the world be today?........a rhetorical
question!

______________________________________________________________________________

  Damian Jackson                     ||   God does not play dice with the
                                     ||   universe, but he would if he
could
  djc105@rsphy2.anu.edu.au           ||   just come up with a system! -
anon.
______________________________________________________________________________
From: venable@faculty.coe.wvu.wvnet.edu (Wallace Venable)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance and such
Date: 2 Oct 92 01:51:39 GMT
Organization: WVU College of Engineering

In article <BvDKL0.E9C@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU> streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater) writes:

>In article <TORKEL.92Sep28180332@bast.sics.se> torkel@sics.se (Torkel Franzen) writes:
>>
>>react. In the case of "Jap" it has emerged in soc.culture.japan that some
>>Japanese at least consider it highly offensive. So do you want to continue

>When you figure that "Jap" was the term used during World War 2 it is hardly
>surprising that Japanese people would find it offensive.

>Tin.

	And by the Americans in the Army of Occupation, and by American 
military personnel during the Korean "war," etc.  It was often used in 
company with unattractive adjectives. i.e. "dirty Jap"