h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sol not all english people see themselves as british.
when I was applying for university my friends and I got really annoyed that the forms only had the options of welsh, scottish, irish or british for nationality. there was an other option for international folk. we ticked that box and then wrote english - we weren't allowed to submit te forms like that. we were british apparantly.
Though I am from Yorkshire and still think my nationality is Yorkshire and that it should become a seperate country from the rest of england

Belgium has refused entry to Dalai Lama after pressure from China - what is the coming to?

If you'd like to express your disapprovement with the Belgian government, Chaiwallah has info on how to do that, here: <./>F115543?thread=4138782</.>

Forgot to give a link to the story:
http://www.savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1137

[p]

[RNick]

Hello ( )
And doing quite a bit of scientific research, for that matter
We have the tajiks cleaning the streets (of Moscow, can't speak for the whole country).
I wonder who will be doing the research jobs in a couple of decades' time.
Forget your job, Solnushka, it's nice to hear you talk.
Best regards to B.

P.S.It's unfair you don't have the 'English' option for nationality.

[WA]

Morning all.

>Santra, that's probably the oddest thing I've seen with stamps on. So what was the story?
I believe the basic idea was just that - make an attempt for the strangest thing to send by mail with stamps on, i.e. not packed.
And Hati is right , the Rabbitforest Open Croquet Tournament is our annual (you've guessed it?) croquet tournament. The Rabbitforest bit is because of the name of the local forest/area/village - in a bad direct translation of the kind that internet based translators have been, uhm, renowned for
This year's event is on June 9 at 13:15 (1:15pm CEST for those so inclined) - it's strictly speaking an invitation-only tournament but should any Salonistas appear, I'm sure we could arrange a wild card


>Belgium has refused entry to Dalai Lama after pressure from China
I'm happy to say that when the Dalai Lama was in DK some years ago, it might have been arranged less formally than under preferred circumstances (and less than most Danes thought it should) but we did not allow the Chinese to dictate that he shouldn't come

In the US, everyone's American - we don't divide much by state, "New Jerseyian" (or is it "New Jerseyite"?) only comes up as trivia ("the correct term for a person from New Jersey is _______"). The closest we get to dividing along national lines dates back to the civil war of 1860, Yankee vs Dixie. Coincidentally I came across this map the other day, it delineates the US according to our accents, but it probably also doubles as a rough guide to how we differentiate each other regionally - whether you sound like Tony Soprano ("New York Dialects") is much more important in the impression you make on other americans than the state lines.
http://www.evolpub.com/Americandialects/AmDialMap.html

But we do make distinctions on heritage. Since most of us are descendants of immigrants, we do identify ourselves as "Irish/Italian" or "Italian/Lithuanian/Polish/Greek/Malaysian" - though that doesn't create a separation in most cases. It does for recent immigrants, so people who are here only a generation or two often try to hide their heritage.

And we are xenophobic. We are trying to build a big, looooooooong fence along the border with Mexico, which some of us are very upset about.

Catching up...

I'm angelic (of course! What else did you expect?)

Am I the only one who really dislikes the scent of roses? But lilies are worse - I refuse to have them in the house.

Favourite scent is honeysuckle - any suggestions as to which variety I should plant in my north-facing and slightly damp garden?

I find it interesting how little 'New Joisey' is split by the New York/Midlands accent border. I live right on that line, and you really can tell the difference where someone was raised.

{[J'au-æmne - angelic english]}

New Jerseys are a type of early seasom potatoe. Lovely boiled with just butter.

We need a name for the syndrome that whereby you only see the spelling mistakes after you hit the Post Message key and before it posts. Come with m e you two.

And another one for extra words - that, gotcha

[Belated reply to earlier posting]

Thanks, Lil
I'm not sure what 'jumping the shark' means, but that's probably just me and not Brits in general! The Post Office here started something similar recently.

[Belated reply to Lentilla's earlier post]

The pain was a bit weird, to be honest! It started off on the left side of my lower/mid back, then got worse and moved to the right of my back as well as across where my diaphragm (which I've probably spelt wrong) is. When it was at its worst I also had slight pain in my upper chest area, but I think this was because I wasn't breathing properly - i.e. it was an effect of the fact I couldn't breathe because of the other pain, rather than the cause of me not being able to breathe!

*hiding by the potted palm*

*Thanks, SpaceCadette! *

I don't have an accent at all. It's the rest of you who talk funny.

LP, hope you're enjoying your day off work and resting properly.