It's not ENGLAND, it's THE UK

[3-Wheel Drive]

Official language of Oregon? English.
Official language of California? English (except LA).
Official language of Georgia? English. Ish.
Official language of Maryland? English.
Official language of North Dakota? English.

Official language of England? English.
Official language of France? French.
Official language of Germany? German.
Official language of Spain? Spanish.
Official language of Italy? Italian.

And that's not even getting into freaky-speaking countries like Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Finland, Slovenia or The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Each State (or Commonwealth) in the US has its own laws based on a common framework and are all governed by one overriding law - Federal Law. Each country in Europe has its own laws based on NO common framework and there is no single governing law above that.

Fact is that Italy gets as many seats in the UN Security Council as the US does - and far more than Texas does.


I'm not saying that you should know all of the countries in Europe - I doubt many people in the UK can either. Just that comparing them to States because of their sizes is foolhardy (especially when you factor in Rhode Island).

I never said anything about official languages, seats in councils or size relationships. All I said was that it wouldn't be a huge stretch to compare the two. Yes, it is quite a loose comparison, but they do have similarities. Of course Texas isn't it's own independent country that could ultimately do whatever it pleases tell everyone else to sod off, but many interactions between states and between countries could be compared, like travel or trade. It would be just as foolhardy to think of the US as all one, homogenous place. It is made up of many, somewhat independent states that can be very different from one another. Hell, some parts of the US may just as well be another country, as different as they are *cough* *cough* Louisiana *cough* cough*.

 

[Evolution.]

Counties, not countries you dumb-dumb!

He said counties. No 'r'.

Reading Comprehension > Me

Alright, I am like, 80% sure these are counties. Probably going to make myself look like an ass again though ..

Yorkshire, Essex, Kent, Sussex, Worecestershire (The sauce ), Middlesex, Flintshire, Durham, Cheshire, and Bedfordshire?

I'm probably wrong though. If not, go me. Didn't look them up, either .

Edit:

Reading comprehension > You

We posted the exact same thing .

 

[Famine]

Alright, I am like, 80% sure these are counties. Probably going to make myself look like an ass again though ..

Yorkshire

Which one?

Essex, Kent, Sussex, Worecestershire (The sauce )

Worcestershire may or may not be in Hereford & Worcester this week. I'll allow it.

Middlesex

Not since 1965...

Flintshire

Odd that you'd even know that one. It's so small and so recent.

Durham, Cheshire, and Bedfordshire?

Not bad.

 

[Evolution.]

Which one?

Didn't know there were multiples .

Worcestershire may or may not be in Hereford & Worcester this week. I'll allow it.

[insert text that seems like I know what he just said here]

Not since 1965...

I saw that in a history book somewhere I think .

Odd that you'd even know that one. It's so small and so recent.

I'm pretty sure the only reason I know that one is because I know someone who was born there, or something. I honestly didn't even know if that was in the UK.

Not bad.

:-D-<-<

:-D-/-<

:-D-\-<

 

[Dave A]

I am so upset.

There's some girl in one of my classes who continually refers to the UK as England.

Continually.

Are you sure she doesn't just mean England, if I point to a map, I always point to England if I'm showing someone where I'm from. Not Scotland, or Wales, or Ireland, England. I don't know the context of what she's trying to say though, if she actually does mean England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland combined when she says it, then she's wrong.

Great Britain is technically wrong too, but it works, and it's ten times better than England.

Great Britain isn't wrong. I am from England, Great Britian and United Kingdom. None are wrong, it just depends exactley what you are referring to.

THERE'S NO QUEEN OF ENGLAND

Yes there is, she lives a few hundered miles from me. She happens to be the queen of a few countries, including England.

Oh and Mach One, there's more counties in the UK than states in america, so technically, if you want him to name 30 states, you have to name at least 30 counties and more for it to be fair. I can name probably 35-40 states without having to think hard about it.

 

[Moglet]

England is a bloody terrible place. Apart from Somerset which is a lovely area.

It's not as bad as Alabama though, judging by Top Gear. People there are ****ing warped.

 

[1X83Z]

Ugh. The new GTP, folks.

 

[Kylehnat]

It's not as bad as Alabama though, judging by Top Gear. People there are ****ing warped.

Judging by Top Gear, England is full of opinionated, loud-mouthed assholes who are as ugly as all sin.

 

[Omnis]

Is the Isle of Wight sovereign? If not, to who does it belong?

 

[Kylehnat]

I never quite understood where the Isle of Mann fits in...

 

[Evolution.]

It's not as bad as Alabama though, judging by Top Gear. People there are ****ing warped.

Now, I love Top Gear as much as the next horsepower junkie, but I have to say, Clarkson is an over-opinionated jackass most of the time. Can't say I hate him though.

 

[Omnis]

I never quite understood where the Isle of Mann fits in...

Nevermind. They are crown-dependencies and stuff. Wikipedia > this topic.

 

[kikie]

No.

Her territories include England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Pfff, wow, lucky us, Belgium escapes...

Actually, according to the Americans that Jeremy Clarkson asked in his newest DVD, you Americans don't know much about Europe... at all. They don't know where Paris is, etc.

Yep, so true. I once heard Americans referre to Belgium as the capital city off Brussels.

 

[benzoboy]

Judging by Top Gear, England is full of opinionated, loud-mouthed assholes who are as ugly as all sim

Judging by your daytime T.V, America is full of fat people who talk really loud about random subjects...

...and don't expect an apology. I don't apologise, I'm sorry but that's just the way I am

 

[Mark T]

Judging by Top Gear, England is full of opinionated, loud-mouthed assholes who are as ugly as all sin.

I would say that Clarkson is opinionated, loud mouthed and probably ugly. The thing is, he admits it himself. He always says that he is balding and has literally no style.

 

[Vasco]

Ugh. The new GTP, folks.

Isn't it great?

 

[Famine]

Judging by Top Gear, England is full of opinionated, loud-mouthed assholes who are as ugly as all sin.

I'm not loud-mouthed.


Anyway:
Test your knowledge of the contiguous US States and Commonwealths.
Test your knowledge of English/Welsh counties.
Test your knowledge of European countries.
Test your knowledge of cities (various versions) against other people.

 

[Touring Mars]

Or as we are known to the rest of Europe, 'le Royaume-Uni, nil points'...

 

[Mark T]

I always think of myself as being English. When I fill out an application form I always want to write "English" instead of "British."

 

[Touring Mars]

That's funny you should say that. If I applied for a job in Scotland, I'd write Scottish. If I applied for a job anywhere else in the UK, I'd write British. But if I applied for a job anywhere else in the world, I'd revert back to Scottish again.

 

[kikie]

That's complicated.

 

[YSSMAN]

Hmmm, I guess I've always changed what I've called the "area" depending on who I'm talking to and what context we are in. In my Poli Sci classes, its always the UK. In my History classes, we usually refer to it just as "Britain." Normally I just refer to it as the UK under most circumstances, and just roll everything together... That way, you don't get stoned for saying Wales is a part of England.

...I know I had to explain pretty much the same thing we're discussing to a few co-workers over the summer during the World Cup. They kept asking when the UK was going to play (England = Union Jack here for most people), and I had to inform them that they were playing... Only as the English team (there went the explanation of St. George's cross).

Americans I think understand what the difference is, but get caught up in the technicalities of it all, and they lose their place. Hell, even I was confused for a while. It isn't that we don't know, but in most respects, don't care to separate them all (even though we should). Its part of being American I guess. I guess it would be the same as Europeans calling America "The United States of Texas" under GWB, or something silly like that.

...But there was a time in which your state defined who you were when it came to America...

...As for those tests, those were crazy. I aced the America test (I think I could do well with Canada too), but I had no idea what was going on in the UK, and although I'm fine with Western Europe, I have a bit of difficulty with Eastern Europe (after the various wars, etc).

 

[wfooshee]

...As for those tests, those were crazy. I aced the America test (I think I could do well with Canada too), but I had no idea what was going on in the UK, and although I'm fine with Western Europe, I have a bit of difficulty with Eastern Europe (after the various wars, etc).

Same here, except I can NEVER get Vermont and New Hampshire straight! Eastern Europe looks like a cartographer threw up (no disrespect intended.)

 

[Smallhorses]

....but I have to say, Clarkson is an over-opinionated jackass most of the time.....

👍

It's widely publicised, mostly by the man himself, that he hates Americans.
If there's one thing he hates more than Americans, it's non-smokers.

If you're a non-smoking American, forget it, you'll never get on his good side!

However, if Clarkson is the only benchmark you have for the general populus of the United Kingdom, then I can see why you'd be less than enamoured with the place. Have a look at some other UK TV, a history book, or find a limey & talk to one! We're not all as bad as Clarkson!

 

[Moglet]

Clarkson's a legend!

"...as I was waiting in the airport and I noticed a fat family dressed in tracksuits walking past eating chips, despite the fact that nowhere in the airport was serving food. But then, as we know, you could send a fat family to the moon and they'd still manage to find a bag of potatoes and a deep fat fryer."

 

[Sureboss]

Hmmm, I guess I've always changed what I've called the "area" depending on who I'm talking to and what context we are in. In my Poli Sci classes, its always the UK. In my History classes, we usually refer to it just as "Britain." Normally I just refer to it as the UK under most circumstances, and just roll everything together... That way, you don't get stoned for saying Wales is a part of England.

...I know I had to explain pretty much the same thing we're discussing to a few co-workers over the summer during the World Cup. They kept asking when the UK was going to play (England = Union Jack here for most people), and I had to inform them that they were playing... Only as the English team (there went the explanation of St. George's cross).

Americans I think understand what the difference is, but get caught up in the technicalities of it all, and they lose their place. Hell, even I was confused for a while. It isn't that we don't know, but in most respects, don't care to separate them all (even though we should). Its part of being American I guess. I guess it would be the same as Europeans calling America "The United States of Texas" under GWB, or something silly like that.

...But there was a time in which your state defined who you were when it came to America...

...As for those tests, those were crazy. I aced the America test (I think I could do well with Canada too), but I had no idea what was going on in the UK, and although I'm fine with Western Europe, I have a bit of difficulty with Eastern Europe (after the various wars, etc).

Tbh YSSMAN, not many Brits would care too much (I don't and I doubt many on here do). Though getting Wales mixed in with England is probably the worst of the lot.

On those tests, I was poor in the States (about 1/3 right) I did struggle in the Eastern Bloc though, it's very mixed up.

 

[Scaff]

...I know I had to explain pretty much the same thing we're discussing to a few co-workers over the summer during the World Cup. They kept asking when the UK was going to play (England = Union Jack here for most people), and I had to inform them that they were playing... Only as the English team (there went the explanation of St. George's cross).

Which can then lead onto even more fun, as technically its only a Union Jack if its flown as a jack (a small flag flown at the bow of a ship), in any other form its the Union Flag.

Some get very, very fussy about this difference; others don't. Personally I don't have a big problem with it, just don't fly it upside down.

Lots more on it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack

Regards

Scaff

 

[McLaren]

Actually, according to the Americans that Jeremy Clarkson asked in his newest DVD, you Americans don't know much about Europe... at all. They don't know where Paris is, etc.

Because you're listening to a TV show. I would have thought by now, people not in the U.S. on this site would realize anything on TV depicting us is usually negative towards us.

I'm don't judge the U.K. based off your comedies or Top Gear. Otherwise, I'd think you'd all have an almost out-there taste in humour, or have nothing to show but being a jackass.

But I don't, so I don't see why you should be judging the U.S. from what you see on our TV shows. Hell, I was in France once, and some people there thought everyone in Dallas had money and oil.

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

Personally I don't have a big problem with it, just don't fly it upside down.

But who would notice?

 

[YSSMAN]

Which can then lead onto even more fun, as technically its only a Union Jack if its flown as a jack (a small flag flown at the bow of a ship), in any other form its the Union Flag.

I had absolutely no idea that it had a different name. I can't think of anyone I know here in America who refers to it as the Union Flag.

...I've always wanted to buy three flag poles for my front yard and fly an American, Australian, and UK flag out front. Sadly, I don't have the money...

There is a house I drive-by every day on the way to school that flies both the Stars and Stripes and the Union Flag out front, and I've always thought that to be pretty cool.