HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ckp2n@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Chris Powell)
Subject: Re: Accents (was Re: Abuse a Brit)
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 19:11:54 GMT

sue@netcom.com  writes:
> >  Studious readers of Mr Fodor's guides will have been warned
> >  that the term "Britisher" is considered mildly abusive in
> >  Britain.  I would give bonus points to anybody using it for
> >  at least getting on the right side of the equator.  I've
> >  been identified as an Australian, a New Zealander and even a
> >  South Efriken.
> >  
> >  Alec Chambers.
> 
> 
> Yes, but have you been thus misidentified by a fellow Englishman?
> Didn't I have a laugh when this happened to my SO!  He was most
> disgruntled.  
> 
> Also, one American asked him if were German.  That was even funnier.  
> 
> David Brooks has mentioned that Brits that have moved to the US obtain
> a "mid-Atlantic" accent.  I think this only happens if they
> move to the mid-Atlantic.  :-)
> 

My mother, who is German and has lived in the U.S. for 35 years,
is continually asked if she is English.  And strangely, when I
lived in England, many people thought I was English because I
"don't look American."  I never had the nerve to ask what that
was supposed to mean....

Chris
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13585 rec.arts.books:17616
From: ag129@cus.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: 5 Oct 92 10:56:57 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge, England

In article <92Oct05.030509.28371@acs.ucalgary.ca> quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca (Martyn Thomas Quigley) writes:
>I must be missing something here.  Do playwrights write plays to be
>acted or to be read?  Do you read opera?  Do you read film scores?
>Laban?  Stockhausen?  To be really insulting, do you read synchronised

Sorry to be irrelevant, but some of Stockhausen's work _is_ meant to be
read. E.g. the composition "Go and live for three months in a cave in the
desert. Then play a note. Then play another note. Repeat. Do not think
about the music." Although it is slightly easier to find performances of
this piece than Braxton's compositions for two orchestras, which require
them to be in different galaxies.
From: gray@rz-berlin.mpg.de
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: France, je vous remercie pour l'election d'Anti-Christ
Date: 28 Sep 92 16:22:22 +0100
Organization: Rechenzentrum MPG Berlin

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...
>> 
>>  [Dolly Silly Yandipoops' stuff deleted]
>>
>>This is all very well, Dave, but seriously, exactly what do you have
>>against the EC?   Is it really just a religious objection?   If so, 
>>you're welcome.     But if you really have something concrete to say
>>about the EC, let's hear it.
>> 
>>
> 
> You didn't ask the question of me, but I will answer it anyway.  The EC
> would be fine without the Germans - this has nothing to do with the Tories
> pathetic attempts to blame the Germans for the mismanagement of the British
> economy, it just has to do with the fact that the Germans are extremely
> objectionable people, and I won't support any organisation that requires
> having contactswith them.

  Do you by any chance, when dining in the UK, leave dollar bills as tips?

Just wondered.
Struan.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13196 rec.arts.books:17130
From: fuller@athena.cs.uga.edu (James P. H. Fuller)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:34:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: athena.1992Sep29.183431.4531
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey) writes:

>	I've always thought that the true bard of Scotland was Ossian.  ;-)

     But there's some debate about how real Ossian was and whether he ac-
tually wrote what was attributed to him.  The Ossian poems are somewhat
less authentic than Macpherson claimed, though not total frauds as Johnson
thought.  At any rate the figure of Ossian is distinctly less substantial
than Rab the Rhymer.

                                             -- jf
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: My wife's gon to the West Indies
Keywords: joke
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 15:25:22 GMT

In article <1afjljINNnre@gap.caltech.edu>, roy@willow.ccsf.caltech.edu writes:
|> 	My wife's gone to the West Indies.
|> 	Oh really? Jamaica?
|> 	No, she wanted to go !

Local (Boston, MA) variant:

	My wife's gone to the suburbs.
	Jamaica Plain?
	No, she's always looked like that.

Well, I admit it, I just made it up.
-- 
David Brooks					dbrooks@osf.org
Open Software Foundation			uunet!osf.org!dbrooks
111 more days of Bush Presidency!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU ("Bill Harrison (713)-743-2789")
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Reply-To: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 14:46:38 GMT

In article <92Oct05.030509.28371@acs.ucalgary.ca>, quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca (Martyn Thomas Quigley) writes:
>ajw@aus.intel.com (alan waldock) writes:
>>Reading plays closely (which I imagine equates to 'studying' them,
>>except for the need to prove that you've done it) is a very rewarding
>>exercise, and a skill worth practising. Essentially, it cuts out the
>>middleman, and lets the dramatist speak directly to you.  Your own
>>imagination becomes the director and the cast.
>
>I must be missing something here.  Do playwrights write plays to be
>acted or to be read?  Do you read opera?  Do you read film scores?  
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
>Laban?  Stockhausen?  To be really insulting, do you read synchronised 
>swimming scripts, and let your 'imagination' provide the performance?  
>

Well actually, yes, I do... For *me* there's a significant cost difference
(borrow the libretto free from the local library vs. several hundred/thousand
$$$s to travel to see the thing 'live'). But beggars can't be choosers... ;-) 

Bill

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\               /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
| Bill Harrison,            \             /       "Be as radical as... |
| University of Houston, TX  >-----------<         reality itself"     |
| CHEM91@JETSON.BITNET      /             \                V. I. Lenin |
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/               \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 09:20:47 GMT

In article <1992Sep29.183431.4531@athena.cs.uga.edu> fuller@athena.cs.uga.edu (James P. H. Fuller) writes:
>jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey) writes:
>
>>	I've always thought that the true bard of Scotland was Ossian.  ;-)
>
>     But there's some debate about how real Ossian was and whether he ac-
>tually wrote what was attributed to him.  The Ossian poems are somewhat
>less authentic than Macpherson claimed, though not total frauds as Johnson
>thought.  At any rate the figure of Ossian is distinctly less substantial
>than Rab the Rhymer.
>


	Umm--  I'd say there was a little more than _some_ debate about
how real Ossian was!  Almost all evidence indicates that they most of the
Ossian poems were total frauds, and those that weren't were based on
various fragments written by a number of different poets.  That's why I
put the little wink-smiley at the end of the sentence.


	--  Jim C. <jchokey@leland.stanford.edu>

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Subject: for your convenience..
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 14:32:00 GMT


For the convenience of users in this group, I have extracted a posting
from soc.culture.asean from Mr. Wee (sic):


In article <1992Oct3.014909.1793@nuscc.nus.sg>, eng20009@nusunix1.nus.sg (TAN
 GIM WEE)    writes...

>Hello there, let me make this very clear. The fine for not flushing
>public toilets in Singapore is S$150. One hundred and fifty dollars, not
>$1500 or $1000 or any other amount!
> 
>--
>---------------------------------------------------------
>Tan Gim Wee
>EE Dept, NUS
>internet: eng20009@nusunix1.nus.sg
>bitnet: eng20009@nusvm.bitnet
>"Born to inspire, Destined to perform."

I understood that was the maximum fine, and that the actual figure depended
on the contents of the toilet bowl, after evaluation and analysis by the
Police Toilet Inspectorate.  Can you plead not guilty if the flushing
mechanism is defective, or micturating circumstances (that is intended
to be a joke)?

Is it true that there is a law against wearing dirty underwear in your
advanced country too?  Or for allowing your dick to hang on the wrong
side of your zipper?

Laurence


Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU ("Bill Harrison (713)-743-2789")
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Reply-To: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 14:40:04 GMT

 [stuff deleted]
>>
>The like/dislike of reading seems to start much earlier. Interestingly, I know
>of adults (some with PhD's, even) who never do any recreational reading. I
>don't understand it, myself.
>
>tin.
>
>

Most of my American PhDeed colleagues (in science) appear to hardly ever read
literature for pleasure. They *can* tell you an incredible amount about TV
"personalities"... 

Bill
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\               /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
| Bill Harrison,            \             /       "Be as radical as... |
| University of Houston, TX  >-----------<         reality itself"     |
| CHEM91@JETSON.BITNET      /             \                V. I. Lenin |
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/               \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
From: smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Currency Problems
Date: 2 Oct 1992 17:19:01 GMT
Organization: SunConnect
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: hardy.france.sun.com

In article <1992Oct2.142735.11940@bristol.ac.uk>, smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:

> 
> Second is trickier, but incredibly fundamental.  It is obviously
> possible for the government monopoly to be more efficient, and so
> cheaper.  If the basic, unavoidable, minimum cost of distributing water
> to all the houses in town is X, the government should be able to do it
> for X.  The private industry has to charge X+Y for it, where Y
> represents the profit to their investors and is required to be
> positive. 

I disagree with that premise. A government cannot afford to simply
break-even, it has many programs (healthcare, welfare, defence etc.)
which are inherently loss-making. When providing a commercial service
they still have to work on your X+Y figure, the difference is that they
don't call Y "profit", they call it "tax".


> The problem?  Well, it requires that the government industry be run by
> people who will run it in the most efficient way possible, not because
> they'll make loadsamoney out of it, but just because it is the best way
> of doing it from the point of view of the country as a whole.  So,
> you've got to find such people.
> 
> Now, some people will say you simply can't FIND people who will work
> their best simply because it is in the public interest.

You can find them OK, the problem is keeping them. In a small company
people feel somewhat more involved with what they're doing, they can
see that their efforts make a difference. In a large company that is much
less true, and a government-run large company is the worst of all. It has
so many layers between top & bottom that the people at the bottom feel
uninvolved, and eventually stop caring.

(Naturally there are well-run & badly-run examples of each, but I think
that an average small company is orders of magnitude better than an
average government department).

I'm not disagreeing that in principle some things are better provided
centrally, but I do disagree with some of your specific examples.

Steve


-- 
Steve McKinty
SUN Microsystems ICNC
38240 Meylan, France
email: smckinty@france.sun.com	   BIX: smckinty
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: Words: American vs English (UK type)
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 17:15:17 GMT

sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
|> Wrong!!  Chris Malcolm said that a LORY was an Australasian parrot.
|> As any decent English or American dictionary will tell you.

As will a well-illustrated edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
Well, maybe not the Ozzie part.
-- 
David Brooks					dbrooks@osf.org
Open Software Foundation			uunet!osf.org!dbrooks
111 more days of Bush Presidency!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: sanderso@aaron.cs.rpi.edu (Don Sanderson)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 00:30:45 GMT

In article <5871@mccuts.uts.mcc.ac.uk> zzassgl@uts.mcc.ac.uk (Geoff Lane) writes:
>..... AND Shakespeare is to be used as an example of "good" English
>would you be marked down if your physics exam answers were expressed using
>the grammar and spelling used within the good old bard's plays?  
>
Well for starters forget SI, Only good old "English Measures" for the Bard.

" Yeah verily this oh too solid earth, draweth me nearer, and with
each passing second my velocity increaseth, by 32 foot per second ???????"

Sorry it's late, and I've been revised a research paper once too often 
tonight.  (Suppressed Smiley)


-- 
|Donald Sanderson				sanderso@cs.rpi.edu         |
|RPI Computer Science Department		(518) 276-2609	            |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|In the Final Analysis Each Student is Responsible for his/her Own Education|
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Subject: Re: Halloween in England
Organization: On the Brew.
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 16:53:32 GMT

In referenced article, plummer@cs.swarthmore.edu (David Barker-Plummer) writes:
>In article <196@irsaims.UUCP> dennis@irsaims.UUCP (Dennis Hank) writes:
>
>DH> "Do the British celebrate Halloween ? "
>
>The short answer is no.

The not-so-short answer is yes, in Scotland at least, unless they've stopped
doing so in the last few years.

On Halloween kids dress up and go Guysing - going round houses saying
"Please to help the Guysers", supposedly doing party tricks but usually
doing nothing, for candy, but mostly for money, used to buy fireworks for
Guy Fawkes day - Nov.  5th.  Very little difference from the American
habit, but not so universal, and not so commercialised.

This is not to be confused with the English habit of making an effigy of
Guy Fawkes and standing on the street begging "Penny for the Guy" which is
not connected with Halloween.

In Scotland also, witches and brooms and cats etc are all part of halloween,
just as in N. America, and turnip lamps (tumshie-lanterns) are made - there
are no pumkins grown.

Now whether this is part of our Celtic heritage or not (the Guy Fawkes part
certainly isn't!)  I'll let our swords and sorcerers pro- and an- tagonists
decide...
-- 
Ray Dunn at home    |    ray@philmtl.philips.ca    |    (514) 630 3749
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: bad teeth
Date: 30 Sep 92 13:21:26 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <3857@wyse.wyse.com>, jmunro@wyse.wyse.com (Jim Munro x2497) writes:
> 
> OK, well let me add my experience too!
> 
> My father was a dental technician and as a result, I always got 'preferential'
> treatment at the dentist while I was a child.
> 
> As with most people my age in England, by the time I was in my mid-twenties, I
> had a mouth full of fillings, a couple of gaps, and a partial denture.
> 
Just in case you think that this is typical of Brtish dentistry today, I
suspect that I am rather more typical of the twentysomethings of the 1990s: no
fillings, no gaps, no dentures, one visit in the last six years (oops) and a
perfectly clean bill of health then.

> I think it well known that despite a 'free' or almost free dental service, that the
> Brits have the worst teeth in the industrial world. This may be due to diet, but
> I suspect the inferior dental treatment is part of it.
> 
Again, this "have" should probably be a "had": changes in diet are improving
matters no end. As for whether this trend will continue, that's anybody's
guess: Maggie Milk-snatcher started the decline and Johnny Boring seems
determined to continue it. 

-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   Remember what happened to the dinosaurs!
wilcox@maths.oxford.ac.uk  |    I did---and look what happened to me.
From: th2_oate@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (Tom Oates)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance and such
Date: 30 Sep 92 14:37:29 GMT
Organization: Bristol Polytechnic, England

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.

Another offensive name for Japanese soldiers during WW2 was "nips" which,
I believe, comes from the word "nippon." There is no excuse for calling
the Japanese people "japs" or "nips" - the war ended over 45 years ago.
The Japanese know the emotions behind those words, even if Usenetters don't.

Equally, there is no excuse for the continued Japanese policy of portraying 
their country solely as a victim of the war in Japanese schoolbooks, and 
never the aggressor. Some of you out there in Usenet land will have heard 
about the plight of the ex-"comfort girls", but who knows anything about 
the "Rape of Nanjing", or the Burma Railway etc? It's entirely predictable 
that someone will cite Hiroshima - though strangely enough rarely Nagasaki, 
which was hit by a more powerful bomb.  

If the people of country X treated the people of country Y with respect
and maintained friendship (and vice versa) maybe there wouldn't be so many 
wars. But that's too much to expect. If a Japanese likes being referred to
a "Jap", use the word, if not (and most hate it) don't. 

-- 
**************************************************************************** 
* Tom Oates (Bristol Poly, England)  * DISCLAIMER:I speak only for myself. * 
* JANET: th2_oate@csd.brispoly.ac.uk * PGP 2.0 Key available upon request. *
****************************************************************************
From: fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Currency Problems
Date: 2 Oct 92 15:32:04 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:

#In article <qh3lks4@zola.esd.sgi.com# livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
##
##I think that the truth here is that there is really no such thing 
##as a government subsidy.  Governments have no money of their own: 
##all they can do is move other people's money around.    A subsidy 
##has to come from either your taxpayers or from your domestic 
##customers.

#Not sure what the point of this is, but taking the interpretation which
#I found most natural, then, yes, I am well aware that what I am
#suggesting is that the government should stop giving me tax cuts, take
#back a few of the ones it has given me, and use the money in worthwhile
#ways.

But Paul. Nobody is suggesting that you shouldn't be able to return your
tax cuts to the government if you believe that they'll invest them more
wisely than you can. I respect your judgement of your own ablitities. Go
ahead, send them a cheque.

You'll pardon me if I demur. After all, we all want a free society right?
I'm afraid that I have a lot less faith in government than you do.

# Passing out party favours to the people partying on deck while
#the boat is sinking and there are already 3 million people in the water
#without lifejackets does not feel either right, or sensible, to me.

What you advocate by taxing others to bail them out is more breaking up
the boat and throwing them the pieces than handing out lifejackets. At
the end of that route, everybody sinks. See the ex-USSR.
#-- 
#Paul Smee


FoFP
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13224 soc.culture.german:6898
From: tori@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Tori Kennedy)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.german
Subject: How much is a cup of coffee?
Date: 30 Sep 92 03:12:22 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Comp Sci, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia


Hi.

I'm going to be travelling through Germany and England later
this year.  

All the economic news we get down here says that Sterling is
in trouble, and the DM is suffering from a bad dose of inflation.

What are the currencies really like?  

For instance how much is a cup of coffee?  Over here (Australia)
it's ~$A1.50.

Which currency will give me better value for money (will there still
be a Sterling or DM at Christmas time)?

Thanks in advance,

Tori.
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Sod
Date: 6 Oct 1992 19:55:05 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <1asp8uINNoct@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Richard Banks) writes:
|> I notice many British people use the word `sod' when refering to someone.
|> It's seems to be used negatively.  What is a sod?  What does it mean?
|> When would you refer to someone as a sod?  And finally, what is a 
|> `cheeky sod'?

RTFD. 
(Random House)
sod (sod; sod) n. Chiefly Brit. Slang.(^B usually contemptuous)
        C4: Chiefly Brit.
1 n.
        sodomite; homosexual.
2 n.
        chap; fellow; guy.
3 n.
        child; kid; brat.
        D8: ^D bugger. ^A
Etymology:
        by shortening

(Not mentioned here, the adjective (pretending to be a gerundive, but the
verb doesn't exist to my knowledge) : sodding.

In the US (talking to the Brits now), there are things call sod farms.
Driving through rural Central Florida, I pass an ill-executed sign saying
"CHEAP SOD". I hope it's not intentional.

When do you use it ? It's a pejorative. Definitely not friendly. Addressed to
males only.

Cheeky : RTFD, again.

cheeky (cheek y; ch <y3> k <y3>) adj., cheek i er, cheek i est.
1 adj.
        impudent; insolent: a cheeky fellow; cheeky behavior.
Etymology:
        CHEEK <u6> - Y <sup> 1


Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british