HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Truth with a capital T
From: Aengus Lawlor <RBYAML@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 16:19:23 EDT
 BYAML@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com> <4834@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: Rohm and Haas Company

In article <4834@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU>, streater@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU
(Tim Streater) says:
>
>In article <92205.141605RBYAML@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com> RBYAML@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com
>(Aengus Lawlor) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul23.141015.21412@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew
>>Huntbach) says:
>>>
>>>"1066 and All That" ends with a sad little note that since World War I,
>>>America had become Top Nation and History had come to a.
>>
>>Come to a period? That's how this thread got started again!
>>Lurkers who don't speak the same language as the rest of us.
>>
>Confused are we? That's probably because Matthew omitted the space between the
>indefinite article (a) and the full stop (.).

No, I knew what Matthew meant. But the sort of person who has to have
"1066 and all that" explained to them wouldn't. Consider it my good deed for
the day.
>Tim
>
>"Will you all please SHUT UP" - G. Bush.
>
Aengus
--
RBYAML@ROHMHAAS.COM                    Aengus Lawlor
RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET                   (who used to be ALAWLOR@DIT.IE)
"How about some of that famous Dublin wit, Barman?"
"Certainly, sir. Would that be Dry or Sparkling?"
From: dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Scotland?
Date: 31 Jul 92 09:07:56 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

ross@informix.com (Ross Hagglund) writes:

>I attended a recent Scottish Highland Games with some friends, one of who
>knew the words to "Scotland the Brave". He mentioned in passing that he was
>sorry that he couldn't remember the words for the parody "Scotland Depraved",
>as is was extremely funny.

Try soc.culture.celtic for this. I used to have a copy of it but I've lost
it.

Presumably you're referring to the one about incest and bestiality finish off
with something like:-

"England's bad but Scotland's depraved"

Dave
-- 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: hobbit@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Ed Medvid)
Subject: UK job placement
Reply-To: hobbit@aplcen (Ed Medvid)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 20:36:19 GMT

Hi,
    I'm hoping someone can help me.  I am an American
citzen attempting to find a job in Europe, first
choice is England/Scotland/Ireland.  I am open to
positions in either the computer science or education
fields.  Does anyone know of any placement agencies
or general info that might help?
                                    - ed
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.misc
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 14:26:39 GMT

In article <3655@keele.keele.ac.uk> cla04@seq1.keele.ac.uk (A.T. Fear) writes:
>From article <6497@pharaoh.cyborg.bt.co.uk>, by ian@pharaoh.cyborg.bt.co.uk (Speed Freak):
>> fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes) writes:
>> Isn't it sad that many British people worship the Americans.  Just look at
>> all the filthy scum who wear New York Yankee baseball caps for instance.
>>
>
>Especially those who wear them backwards - this bizarre dress code
>really gets up my nose.
>
>Andy,

	When you're detasselling corn and the sun is at your back it's
	eminently sensible.  Out in the farming belt they're known as
	seed caps (because they carry emblems of corn breeders,
	Pioneer Hi-Bred to name my former employers for example) and
	they're given away by the salesmen.  It's a very sensible piece
	of headgear, cheap, allows movement of air (summer ones are made
	of a stiff polymer web), resilient, and can be used to protect the
	eyes or the back of the neck from the ravages of the midwestern sun.

	Detasselling is tedious but not very demanding of the intellect.
	Maybe this is where the great unwashed scum came from (You also get
	covered in dust and pollen, gives you a tinge of gold.).

	Alec.
From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Electronic Matchmaker
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 22:52:43 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world

Women, I am about to launch a free electronic matching service on 
Usenet.  Unfortunately, more guys than gals have expressed an 
interest so far.  If you would like to see the fourth draft of my 
questionnaire so we can alter it to also fit women's needs as well as 
men's, either send me mail or look at the copy I posted in 
alt.personals.
 
This service is serious and I already have 84 men and 68 women signed
up so far.  The site of the service has already been selected and
programmers are being lined up for the construction of the listserver.
 
I should point out that this questionnaire really, really, really, 
needs some more input on CULTURES.  I need some questions to make sure
that matches are compatible culturally.
 
                                                            Eric Klien
From: nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: LINDISFARNE MEAD
Date: 22 Jul 92 09:09:19 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <1992Jul20.082011.17944@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:

>It's a wine, not a liqueur. It's made by a process of
>fermentation, but using honey in the place of grapes. Liqueurs
>are made by adding things to a spirit base.

Sounds just like any other mead to me. The ultimate test though - does it
smell of cat's pee? If it does, then it's neither a wine nor a liqueur, it's
just good old mead.

Nick.
From: koumis@husc4.harvard.edu (Anthony Koumis)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Pronounciaton of Three-Syllable Words
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:36:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Jul23.123606.14098
Distribution: world
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

In article <36928@ttidca.TTI.COM> jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson) writes:
>(Jon Livesey) writes:
>>|> jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson) writes:
>>|> > 
>>|> > One of my best friends is from the lower classes. Poor chap actually had
>>|> > to work while he was going to school (he served behind the counter
>>|> > in a tobacconists I think).
>>
>>Well, I had a job while I was in Grammar School.   I worked
>>in a store on Putney High Street.    What does that make me?
>>I have no idea, and care less.
>

Having just been in Putney for two weeks which store was it?
Was it the photograph store, Thomas Cook's, M&S, Or Sainsburys,
the dry cleaners, perhaps the off license.
From: ramscar@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Ramscar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why only ONE british olympic team
Date: 30 Jul 92 15:48:52 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

Big yin Ally Grant writes

	people who call themselves Scots and Welshmen by definition believe
	they belong to separate countries. Some of us call ourselves 'British'.
	If you believe every random nationalist, then Cornwall and the Shetlands
	are separate countries, and South Wales is not 'really' part of Wales.

I thought the appellation 'British' was limited to those unfortunate disciples of 
the ghastly New Briton Andrew Neill and his tawdry rag.

	Of course, to a real Englishman, 'country' refers to the area hunted by
	a single pack of hounds.

and this after his recent 'Ahm nae Scot, ahm far moor English than yoose yah bazza' 
argument with wee Frankie Muir. It is just this tendency, for those migrating 
between the two Kingdoms in the Union to turn themselves into sad caricatures of the 
natives, that gives many Englishmen and Scots a good reason to consider themselves 
distinct from one another.

On a related note, anyone know when Norman Lamont started pronouncing it La - mont?

Sassenach  
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
From: mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop)
Subject: Re: Pronounciaton of Three-Syllable Words
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 22:52:48 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.164039.776@col.hp.com> lpj@col.hp.com (Laura Johnson) writes:
>> >typical package includes a grant (scholarship), a work study job, a student
>> >loan, a suggested family contribution, and a suggested personal
>> >contribution, which usually includes projected earnings from a summer job
>> >as well.  All of these add up to the total projected cost for a year of
>> >school including books and travel to/from home.
>> 
>
>Actually, at least in my case, they didn't add up to anywhere near enough.
>The norm now (this is in USA) is where they say "You qualify for a $4000
>package this semester. We can give you $1700. Have a nice day."
>
>This is why many people have to work while in high school and save the
>money towards college (university), to make up the difference. 
>
>OK, is that enough drift now? I thought I was asking a simple question.
>(In fact, it hasn't been answered yet. The question--what I *meant* to
>be the question -- was, "Is working while in high school confined to the 
>lower classes in the U.K.?" I guess maybe it has been answered, in the
>affirmative, by the number of postings which assumed that I meant
>"university".)
>
>-Laura "We Apologize For Any Inconvenience" Johnson
>-- 
>lpj@hpctdls.col.hp.com
>Opinions expressed are my own, but may be licensed for a nominal fee.
>

Laura,

    I don't know about times past but when I was of that age in the early
'80's the U.K. was going through some pretty bad times (when isn't it!).
On the whole Britain has less of a tradition of companies giving youngsters
jobs to help them out in their younger years so when the lean times came
these part-time jobs were the first to go. Anyway there was a goodly
number of us who _couldn't_ get jobs and for a lot of us that's been the
way it's been ever since.

Tony Mossop, Stanford Geophysics
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George)
Subject: Re: Derogatory fanny pack
Organization: OSF RI Grenoble
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 16:08:13 GMT

In article <37796.glh@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu>, glh@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu (, Gene A. Heyler) writes:
|> 
|>     Some friends of mine recently visited the UK and were told the phrase 
|> "fanny pack", used to describe the strap-on around-the-waist carry pouch,
|> was a derogatory racial term, so should use the term "bum bag" instead. 

Bum, of course is English for Bottom, which according to Britain's naughty word
chiefs is now only 'slightly naughty'.  Whereas fanny is the English word for vagina - ooops, red faces all round.  However an article in Britains leading
undergraduate journal (VIZ - 54) indicates that Britain's swear bosses may give
the green light to this and many other similar words !

Incidentally these bags seem to been worn by little dumpy American girls in front, not behind, suggesting that 'fanny pack' is indeed the more correct usage.

:-)

David.
From: igb@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Ian G Batten)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Metric System (was: New banknotes)
Date: 22 Jul 92 17:12:08 GMT
Organization: Fulcrum Communications

>>>>> On 22 Jul 92 12:45:14 GMT, smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC) said:
Steve>  To avoid that they aim for, say, 1998cc then even with +/- a bit it
Steve>  keeps them on the right side of the tax law.

The Honda CB900 was 903cc, I think.  Which considering the insurance
cut-off was at 900, wasn't too clever.

At the other extreme, the ``1400'' engine from Citroen is a 1360.

ian
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick)
Subject: Re: Derogatory fanny pack
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 15:27:03 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

glh@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu (, Gene A. Heyler) writes
>     Some friends of mine recently visited the UK and were told the phrase 
> "fanny pack", used to describe the strap-on around-the-waist carry pouch,
> was a derogatory racial term, so should use the term "bum bag" instead. 
> They were not given an explanation, so perhaps someone could enlighten us 
> as to whom this is offensive and why.

"Fanny" is a playground (schoolyard) term for the female genitalia.
Quite how this was construed to be racist is beyond me. 

Furthermore, given the all-pervasive influence of American tv and
movies, I would guess that a high percentage of British people know
that fanny has different meanings in the two cultures, and could work
out the intended meaning from context (ie "fanny pack" makes very
little sense from the British-slang standpoint). 

> BTW, the word "bum" of course means hobo or tramp or lazy person in America
> so one could wildly extrapolate that "bum bag" is offensive to them.

Yup -- "bum bag" is probably about as offensive to the average
American as "fanny pack" is to the average Brit.  In other words, not
very much.  Both would get a giggle out of a 6-year-old, but that's
about it.

Jonathan H.
From: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Metric System (was: New banknotes)
Date: 21 Jul 92 04:41:51 GMT
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

In article <CC.92Jul19150114@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
>In article <1992Jul17.180714.14359@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:

-- NOTE THAT THERE WAS A FIRST PARAGRAPH HERE IN WHICH I EXPLAINED THAT
   I MYSELF FAVOUR METRICATION AND AM SIMPLY TRYING TO EXPLAIN WIDELY HELD
   AMERICAN VIEWS!

>   (1) We don't feel any need for it; we're getting along fine with a system
>   which is already uniform from coast to coast.  (Unlike Europe, which,
>   in pre-metric days, had a different system every few miles.)
>
>??? The British system varied from town to town?  This is news to me :-)

   Try the Continent.  See Encyclopaedia Britannica, first edition,
   under "weights and measures".

>   (2) Metric does not necessarily mean standard.  Ever try obtaining 2.5-mm
>   bolts (for Japanese tape recorders) in Germany?  They only make 2mm and 3mm.
>   In France you can get a 2.6mm which does not fit the Japanese 2.5mm.
>
>I don't see how adding inches to the equation helps to get things more
>standardised! 

   No, but we're often told that if we simply metricized, we would
   magically have standard-sized everythings.

   Britain, in fact, still makes plumbing fittings in exactly the same
   sizes as before, but now measures them (inaccurately) in mm instead
   of inches.

>   (3) The metric system was made up by a bunch of nuts who also tried to ban
>   the practice of Christianity in France.  And we're supposed to be impressed
>   with their wisdom?
>
>Nope, you're meant to be impressed by the official adoption of the same
>metric system by, umm, about 96% of the world's people.

   I'm impressed and you're impressed, but much of the rest of America is not,
   and I'm not saying they're right, only that they're not stark raving
   bonkers :)



-- 
==========================================================================
Michael A. Covington, Ph.D. |  mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu  |  ham radio N4TMI
Artificial Intelligence Programs | U of Georgia | Athens, GA 30602  U.S.A.
==========================================================================
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phillip M. Hallam-Baker)
Subject: Re: R4 LW going away (was Re: VNS: Wed 15-Jul-1992)
Reply-To: hallam@zeus02.desy.de
Organization: DESY ZEUS Central Data Acquisition
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:34:00 GMT

In article <1992Jul20.120953.13654@gdr.bath.ac.uk>,
bspahh@gdr.bath.ac.uk (Andrew Henry) writes:
|
|>In article <1992Jul15.212525.16287@osf.org> dbrooks@osf.org (David
|>Brooks) writes:
|>>evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com (Gwyn Evans @ IME) writes:
|>>|> The BBC are to start a 24-hour news service on their long wave
|>>|> transmittors within the next 18 months once the Radio 4 FM service
|>can be
|>>|> heard across the whole country.
|>>
|>>Are you people in Western Europe upset by this?  When I was working
|>in
|>>Germany, it was always a comfort to be able to go up a hill and hear
|>The
|>>Archers and ISIHAC.  Damned progress.
|>
|>In Northern Germany, you should still be able to get The Archers on
|>the
|>Forces radio, BFBS.  I'm not sure about ISIHAC.  The only problem is
|>that you've got to switch off PDQ to avoid the rest of BFBS. It is a
|>shame though.  The only time I've ever been glued to Farming Today
|>long
|>range weather forecasts on R4 was when I was working In Germany.  It
|>was
|>about this time that I started eating Marmite again, but thats
|>another
|>thread ...

I think that it all depends on what sort of news service they do. If
it's like CNN, five minute buletins repeated every 15 interspersed with
adverts and the Holywood five minutes, they can keep it.

However, given that most of R4 is news/current affairs at the moment, I
would be quite happy to loose the plays and the daily service. Provided
the 24 hours are used for something a little more imaginatively than
repeating the headlines I think a 24 hour prog could be quite good. What
I would like to see is something that gave more in depth reporting of
foreign stories.


Phill Hallam-Baker
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:10575 rec.games.empire:2308 alt.war:1535
From: nigel@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.games.empire,alt.war
Subject: Re: BBN II -- Murk-o-Vision World Update (Mau Mau)
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:21:45 GMT
	<92Jul21.103933edt.104@orasis.vis.toronto.edu>
	<1992Jul22.203836.5003@dscomsf.desy.de>
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md, USA

In article <1992Jul22.203836.5003@dscomsf.desy.de> hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phillip M. Hallam-Baker) writes:

[much deleted]

>The US could never learn the British Guerilla tactics because they just
>don't have the mindset. They prefer egotistical little one man Rambo
>style warriors. They have an army built arround the latest techno
>wizardry rather than the British system of bloody good Sargeants.

Excuse me but I think you're extrapolating a bit too much from
Hollywood movies than reality.  While the Brits have bloody great
Sargents our NCOs aren't too shabby either...and we have techno
wizardy wimply because a) we can afford it and b) force multiplication
through technology is a good way of saving lives.

As far as learning Guerilla warfare you might remember the US taught
the Brits something about that topic a few years back ;-).  More
seriously the hit and run tactics of the first few units in Vietnam
pretty much proved that the US armed forces even of that period was
capable of carrying out intelligent tactics...and effective guerilla
attack in NVA units operating in S VN.  

Then some idiot got some burr up his ass about "search and destroy"
missions...which were geared toward going in and ambushing NVA units
in the field rather than burning villages at that point.  I'd be
willing to bet the same idiot introduced the later S&D missions where
they didn't have clear objectives and ending up burning villages for a
lack of anything more intelligent to do.

>Ultimately the US lost Vietnam because they didn't know why they were
>fighting, they didn't beleive in their aims or methods, they
>underestimated their opponents and failed to understand the territory.

Granted...plus a lot of micromanagement of the war from the White
House.  Thank god we're not doing that anymore.

>They got their asses kicked and a damn good thing to. Until they build a
>second monument to the people they killed and appologise to the
>Vietnamese people, the US will never regain its old position in the
>world. Vietnam was the start of the collapse of the US empire, perhaps
>they will be smart enough to realise this sooner than the British were.

The US will probably never have the same influence it had post-WWII
and pre-VN.  However, I've met quite a few of the Vietnamese people
who fled the current regime and the only thing we have to apologise
for is leaving them hanging.  A monument to the NVA and the butchers
they served?  Not in a million years.

Good thing we got our asses kicked?  Maybe...we've learned a lot of
lessons from that war and the Gulf conflict proved it.

>Phill Hallam-Baker

Nigel Tzeng
--
Nigel Tzeng
.sig under construction
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: nigel@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov
Subject: Re: BBN II -- Murk-o-Vision World Update (Mau Mau)
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md, USA
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 16:46:09 GMT

In article <5634@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at> mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at (Markus Stumptner) writes:

>From article <NIGEL.92Jul27133549@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov>, by nigel@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov:
>>(Phillip M. Hallam-Baker) writes:
>>    |>Good thing we got our asses kicked?  Maybe...we've learned a lot of
>>    |>lessons from that war and the Gulf conflict proved it.

>>    What like how to aim rockets?

>> Yes...and I suppose that there is some "sin" in using techno-wizardy
>> in warfare? 

>Exactly.  It is a sin, in military terms, if you place too much
>reliance on it and then lose, i.e., you get punished for it.

Not quite...technical superiority is a tremendous advantage...one that
you find on most winning sides of battles...especially modern battles.
Relying on that advantage is no more than simply relying on the tools
of the trade.  Wars are lost for various reasons...far more are lost
from loss of will than over abundance of technology.

Besides...which war would you characterize as lost from over-reliance
on "techno-wizardry"?  A few battles here and there perhaps (when your
spiffy new wonder weapon does not perform as your defence contractors
made you believe pre-war) but the cause of ultimate defeat tends to
lie in other areas.

>Btw, you are evading his point, namely that the Gulf War tells nothing
>on how the US military would go about a guerilla war in not-so-perfect
>terrain nowadays.

The "point" is that Mr Hallam-Baker would have us believe that the US
does not have soldiers but rather incompetents that push buttons.
While the Brits do have one of the most professional armed forces in
the world the members of the US military are no less professional and
dedicated...  and for that matter no less trained and much better
equipped than their British counterparts...

As for how we would fight a guerilla war the correct answer is that we
would not.  The last thing the US needs is to become embroiled in
conflicts too costly win and too annoying to lose.  However, in
regions where such engangements could (say Panama) occur recent US
military strategy appears to be to go in quick, take your necessary
objectives, get the hell out and leave it to the politicians to figure
out a settlement that leaves everybody as happy or at least not
shooting anymore...

My guess is that any future US military ventures will follow that
model and not leave troops around to get truck bombed or putter about
for years with no clear objectives.

>-- 
>Markus Stumptner
--
Nigel Tzeng
.sig under construction
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:10782 soc.culture.usa:6238
From: jac54@cas.org
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: In re the Minister of Rumpo
Date: 28 Jul 92 10:50:00 GMT
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio

In article <1992Jul27.185019.19360@dscomsf.desy.de> hallam@zeus02.desy.de writes:
>|>>Mellor was the chap who wrote a standard text on Inorganic
>|>Chemistry.
>|>
>|>     The standard text on inorganic was
>|>     written by Cotton & Wilkinson (before you object, check the
>|>     organization line).
>
>Could this be a quick chance at a plug by any chance? I suppose you
>don't get the chance to do it on Wogan like everyone else, would be
>rather unusual:

	A plug!  Heaven forfend!  No no no no NOOOOOOO
	We don't publish it.  If we did, that would be
	something different.
>
>Terry (for it is he): And now my next guest is an avid writter on the
>subject of Inorganic Chemistry.
>
>(Skip the intros, -ed)
>
>Prof: I have always been interested in Inorganic Chemistry since I was a
>small child. I remember looking at a tube of copper sulphate and
>wondering, I wonder what the enthalpy... (thats enough chemistry - ed)
>
>
>Phill

	Indeed, what the enthalpy...
				    Alec.