Picking on Brits a Bit

[mawnansmiff]

Just watching a lecture online and was reminded of this thread, in particular the subject of us Brits driving on the right side of the road which of course is the left side .

Well, the English professor said regards how temperate we are "...if ever [the] Brits get to driving on the right, they will do so gradually...".

That did make me chuckle.

Jay.

 

[telescopes]

I'll never forget my first trip to Ireland. We get off the plane in Limerick after a very long flight. I made my way to the rental car only to discover I am driving a stick shift, with the set up on the left side of the vehicle. Everything is the opposite except the brake and gas. I pull out with the family - adjusting to driving on the other side of the road for me, and am immediately confronted with 7 roundabouts. My brain was doing circles - literally. We make our way to Doohan - where by the time we got to the cottage, I was truly exhausted.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'll never forget my first trip to Ireland. We get off the plane in Limerick after a very long flight. I made my way to the rental car only to discover I am driving a stick shift, with the set up on the left side of the vehicle. Everything is the opposite except the brake and gas. I pull out with the family - adjusting to driving on the other side of the road for me, and am immediately confronted with 7 roundabouts. My brain was doing circles - literally. We make our way to Doohan - where by the time we got to the cottage, I was truly exhausted.

When we visited London, it never occurred to me that I could drive there, with only a passport and Alabama DL. But, we took our bikes with us when we traveled.

We ran into so many people that I just couldn’t understand. Probably Irish or Scottish. Heck, New York is full of people who talk so fast I just can’t grasp what they’re saying.

I was at a restaurant in Birmingham (Alabama), waiting at the bar… a cop had gotten short with someone he had pulled over. The jerk would only give the cop a passport, when he asked for a DL. So, he took the obstinate foreigner in for driving without a license. The cop was fired, and was setting in that bar telling me his story, when I realized that maybe I could have driven a car when I was in London, ha ha.

 

[Hillcrest]

That looks more like a grotesque than a gargoyle to me.

A gargoyle is a decorated waterspout that projects from a roof and carries rainwater away from the walls of a building, protecting it from damage, whilst a grotesque is a decorative carving that has no functional architectural purpose.

Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

 

[Mikerr]

How about the difference between US aluminum and European aluminium?

 

[MisterBadger]

How about the difference between US aluminum and European aluminium?

Is there a difference? Both are 13Al on the Periodic Table of the Elements... Seriously, yes, the spelling and pronunciation... well, since Hans Christian Ørsted discovered it first and called it "Aluminium" (which it is still known as in Danish), I suspect the American dropped second i is down to old Dan Webster's successors following his attempts to save ink and paper and so drive the British publishing industry out of business, thus securing the global market for the (necessarily cheaper to produce) US products.

 

[telescopes]

When we visited London, it never occurred to me that I could drive there, with only a passport and Alabama DL. But, we took our bikes with us when we traveled.

We ran into so many people that I just couldn’t understand. Probably Irish or Scottish. Heck, New York is full of people who talk so fast I just can’t grasp what they’re saying.

I was at a restaurant in Birmingham (Alabama), waiting at the bar… a cop had gotten short with someone he had pulled over. The jerk would only give the cop a passport, when he asked for a DL. So, he took the obstinate foreigner in for driving without a license. The cop was fired, and was setting in that bar telling me his story, when I realized that maybe I could have driven a car when I was in London, ha ha.

Driving - especially a stick shift - on the other side of the road in a car that is laid out completely the opposite of what we have in America - is a fantastic brain exercise. Honesty, it really makes the neurons all pop in a way they rarely get to over hear and on most occasions. It's kind of like catching a wave when you are surfing.

 

[sablebrush52]

Is there a difference? Both are 13Al on the Periodic Table of the Elements... Seriously, yes, the spelling and pronunciation... well, since Hans Christian Ørsted discovered it first and called it "Aluminium" (which it is still known as in Danish), I suspect the American dropped second i is down to old Dan Webster's successors following his attempts to save ink and paper and so drive the British publishing industry out of business, thus securing the global market for the (necessarily cheaper to produce) US products.

Methinks it's a difference in pronunciation. American = aluminum, accent on the second syllable, British = aluminium, accent on the third syllable.

And then there's jaguar, and we're right back to Lucas Electrics

 

[georged]

Not in response to anything said so far, just gettin' with the thread title.

No idea what some politician/policy maker had in mind with this sort of thing, but if it was striking fear into the hearts of Bad Guys, I doubt it's working:

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Not in response to anything said so far, just gettin' with the thread title.

No idea what some politician/policy maker had in mind with this sort of thing, but if it was striking fear into the hearts of Bad Guys, I doubt it's working:


View attachment 356167

I don't know.. that hair looks pretty sharp.

Almost looks too sharp and dangerous to be legal over there.

 

[dd57chevy]

Not in response to anything said so far, just gettin' with the thread title.

No idea what some politician/policy maker had in mind with this sort of thing, but if it was striking fear into the hearts of Bad Guys, I doubt it's working:


View attachment 356167

Dirty Harrietta ???

 

[georged]

Dirty Harrietta ???

Policeupine ???

 

[Brendan]

$10 says she's also vegan.

"Don't have a cow man"

 

[pinem]

She kind of looks like the kid in Love Actually. Interesting enough, I caught my wife watching this movie earlier this week. Talk about the epitome of holiday dreck. London should have been quarantined, hauled before the Haigh and/or shipped to Siberia, for being accomplice to that movie.

 

[rakovsky]

We ran into so many people that I just couldn’t understand. Probably Irish or Scottish. Heck, New York is full of people who talk so fast I just can’t grasp what they’re saying.

I've heard about that with Scottish. In that case I could ask the person to talk slowly or to write what he was saying on paper.

I was at a restaurant in Birmingham (Alabama), waiting at the bar… a cop had gotten short with someone he had pulled over. The jerk would only give the cop a passport, when he asked for a DL. So, he took the obstinate foreigner in for driving without a license. The cop was fired,

I'm wondering what the cop did that merited him getting fired. Let's say if I just show a copy my US passport, I would expect that it wouldn't be enough, and I would need to show a DL too.

The only thing that I really see wrong that he did was taking the foreigner in. If someone is driving without a license, cops just cite the person instead of arresting them.

and was setting in that bar telling me his story, when I realized that maybe I could have driven a car when I was in London, ha ha.

There can be upsides though to traveling without a car. One is that road rules and signs can be different in other countries. In the case of the UK if you have to drink fast on a highway where the cars go both directions, it could feel confusing or dangerous. There have been even a few times when I drove the wrong way on a US street, and it was usually scary when I realized that I was doing it.

I remember in Poland when I saw the sign saying that you are leaving a town/city it was surprising for me. When you enter a city, they put the city name on a sign. So far so good. But when you are leaving the city, they put a sign, then the city's name on the sign, and then they strikeout the city's name diagonally, as if the city has been eliminated or somehow else abolished, kind of like this, but with the name instead of the bell:

Now you know in reality that the city is still there, so it's not hard to figure out that it's just the weird way that they make their "leaving city ____" signs. But it is an example of how confusing road signs could be in other countries.

 

[warren]

The only thing that I really see wrong that he did was taking the foreigner in. If someone is driving without a license, cops just cite the person instead of arresting them.

In many counties non-residents are taken into custody post bail/fine with the presiding court officer (Justice of the Peace usually). Those fines are sometimes a fair portion of the county budget. A fellow student at the National Academy, a county officer from Georgia, related that the justice of the peace often rode with the cops and accepted the fine/bail on the spot.

 

[MisterBadger]

I've heard about that with Scottish. In that case I could ask the person to talk slowly or to write what he was saying on paper.

One evening Mrs. Badger and I found ourselves at an event at which we were with a young friend, Mark, who came from deepest Dorset and hadn't seen much of the world outside it, and another, Wullie, a Scot from Glasgow. Wullie started enthusing to Mark about a similar event he'd recently been at, and while Mrs B. and I could understand him perfectly, Mark could hardly make sense of a word. So for half the evening, we sat between the two of them and translated - Westcountry English to Glaswegian English, and back again. Now if Wullie had not been making an effort but had been speaking Scots instead (which is another language in its own right, with several regional dialects all related to English and not to be confused with Scots Gaelic, which is vastly different again), the case would have been hopeless. Imagine a conversation which went something like this:

Wullie: Wear ye comfrey, man?

Mark: Sorry?

The Bs: He's asking where are you from.

Mark: Christchurch.

Wullie: Cries chutch. Wear the fox hat?

Mark: What?

The Bs: He wants to know where Christchurch is.

(etc).

 

[MisterBadger]

In many counties non-residents are taken into custody post bail/fine with the presiding court officer (Justice of the Peace usually). Those fines are sometimes a fair portion of the county budget. A fellow student at the National Academy, a county officer from Georgia, related that the justice of the peace often rode with the cops and accepted the fine/bail on the spot.

Fines for minor traffic violations - real or alleged - are also a significant source of income to some counties in UK. In my experience, Oxfordshire is one of the worst. The County Council has been officially bankrupt for the past two years, so if I have to go through it, I drive VERY carefully. I've been stung three or four times.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Almost looks too sharp and dangerous to be legal over there.

Now you see why our coppers wear those pointy hats



Jay.