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Only in the UK

Motokid said:
Can you please explain to me what purpose the "Royal Family" serves the people of England? Are they just figure heads that represent the past and a symbol of history, or do they actually serve some real purpose to the people?

I am serious. I have no clue about this.
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They bring in lot's of tourists which helps our economy & then that money along with bucket loads of taxpayers money is spent keeping the Royal Family in castles & the like :rolleyes:
 
why did tony blair have to ask the queen to dissolve parliment? what does that mean? and is it just like a formality?
 
I think it's because the Queen's head of state, so only she has the right to dissolve the present parliament before the next one is elected. And you're right, it is only a formality. She has to give her assent but isn't really in a position to deny it.
 
I think I have found my news source. BBCnews rocks....

"Two horses killed in road crash
Two horses were killed when they escaped from a field in Kent onto a major motorway and were hit by an articulated lorry.
The accident happened on the anti-clockwise carriageway of the M25 at Swanley early on Wednesday.

Emergency services were called to the scene after witnesses reported seeing four horses loose on the motorway but when they arrived two had been hit.

The lorry driver was uninjured but the M25 was closed for more than six hours."

While there is nothing funny here I must take a pause when reading such things like: articulated lorry ....anti-clockwise carriageway....and even motorway. These are just not things you hear in the US. What's an articulated lorry? I have an idea it's a tractor-trailor but man does it sound so much cooler in England.
 
Yes - well trailer rather than lorry I guess.

As for your other question - the M25 is a huge motorway (freeway?) which circles London, hence you can either go round clockwise or anticlockwise :)
 
Motokid said:
I think I have found my news source. BBCnews rocks....
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I think you may notice a subtle difference between www.bbc.co.uk and www.foxnews.com. For a start there doesn't seem to be an option on the Fox site for it to be viewed in arabic, wonder why that is?

Seriously the BBC site is one of the better ones on the web, they even have an message board devoted to books. Unfortunatly they spoil it by using big words that make my head hurt...
 
Thank you all. I feel smarter already. I think I'll start using anticlockwise instead of counterclockwise. I like the sound of that.

And why do you think foxnews would not want arabs to be reading their news stories....????? hmmmmm....
 
i like to say "a tip" for a big mess. ie: this house is a tip. i picked that up off coronation street. and brilliant. i do use that alot as well.
 
Motokid said:
Thank you all. I feel smarter already. I think I'll start using anticlockwise instead of counterclockwise. I like the sound of that.
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If you want to learn to speak proper English like what we do..

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/b.htm

In case you think that's a bit rude, it's not. Thats something else called 'Rogers Profanisaurus', you need to be much more inline with the filthy British sense of humour before you're ready for a link to that..

Motokid said:
And why do you think foxnews would not want arabs to be reading their news stories....????? hmmmmm....
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I don't know, surely exposing the middle east to the reasonable and considered opinions of Bill O'Reilly could see this whole current unpleasantness sorted out quick-sticks. You may need to reference the slang site to understand that last bit...
 
Kenny Shovel said:
In case you think that's a bit rude, it's not. Thats something else called 'Rogers Profanisaurus', you need to be much more inline with the filthy British sense of humour before you're ready for a link to that..
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Ah, Viz. I really should start buying that again. :)

Jenn, you sound like you're well on the way to becoming an honorary English person. :)
 
Kenny Shovel said:
In case you think that's a bit rude, it's not. Thats something else called 'Rogers Profanisaurus', you need to be much more inline with the filthy British sense of humour before you're ready for a link to that..


..
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My kid is 65% Brit (just got his UK passport this week, yay!) so I taught him to curse in English first, then American. He could say "bugger off you bloody sod" before he said Mama. :)

The 65% is a bit tricky, to do with my chemistry being weaker than the Hub's, which is part real ale. It's all very technical.
 
Yeah, I found out the hard way that some insults don't translate overly well. When I (in good humour) called someone a #%&$ (acronym of Tinkerbelle Was A Tailor) here in Canada I was in a great deal of bother trying to explain myself. For crying out loud, I thought, they use it in prime time on Red Dwarf all the time! (Granted, though, that it rhymes with 'hat' not 'hot' on that show...)

I do get endless amusement out of the North American/Australian discrepancy of the word 'root', however. Especially the television commercial for the plumbing business known as 'Mr Rooter'. That's talking about a different kind of plumbing in my book!
 
well a sketchy one here is one's C U Next Tuesday. our boarder from nfld uses it quiet regularly which according to him is usual for nfld. now i did get used to it, however i did beg that he not say it in front of the boys. hard one to explain at the preschool.
 
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