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

To be honest I'm not sure how a Liverpool person would react to the term "Scouser". Think it'd depend who you were and the way you meant it.

Like I remember being told in a lecture at uni that black people in the US would call each other things like "nigger" like calling someone "mate" or "brother" or something. But if a white person used it, it would be so offensive.

I've never heard the word "scouzer" before. It sounds like a dog breed.

I was bitten by a ribbon snake once, long ago. I don't think the bite was fatal in my case.

I,m glad that Ribbon snake left you alive! and ,yes I (as an Aussie)have no idea what to make of the Scouser,Scouzer nickname.

Isn't it a funny thing that some one from overseas can name something about your homeland and yet you have no bloody idea what their talking about! lol

I well remember an old Irishmen telling my Dad , 'Where the Black+Tans arn't, you should be'.

Never ever made any sense until I read a book called 'Imperial Crimes,English Climes.'

History, it says it all really.

Yeah. It's weird all those nick-names. No idea where "Scouser" came from. Think "Black and Tans" was something to do with their uniforms, which at least makes some sense.

Ah' yes Sirius Black('The Grim!!!'), Amy Tan I,m at a loss though.
The 'Black an Tans' of course were the rather notorious miltary corps put together by the Brits in the Irish Troubles of the twenties(I think).
Amy Tan?(singer,actor?)Hmmmmm.

Did you know that a Scallops 39 eyes are Blue!!!!?

There, never let it be said that us Aussies are as dumb as that Brickwall over there>>>>>>. Although I must admit parts of it look familiar!(Ha HAAAAAAAA)

Interesting.....

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American novelist who wrote "Joy Luck Club," The Kitchen God's Wife," and other titles.

haven 't heard of the books.

Its the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month and at the Eleventh hour today when the clock struck eleven I stopped for a few minutes to remember people like my Grandfather and Great Uncles who served in WW1 and others who never came back.

Its a shocking thing to think about really. A whole generation wiped out for what?
Armistace Day or Rememberance Day as it is now known here, takes on ever more signifigance as we enter this new Millenium and face of against the threat of Terrorists and other Loonies.
Its all a little bit much at times, don't you think?

Oh well,Xmas rolls on and thats something to look forward too.

Someday, historians may treat World Wars I and II as one war with a twenty-year hiatus in the middle. Not unlike the Thirty Years' War.

I've been weeding my local library's collection, and I'm about halfway through the World War II books. It's a huge section .
Readers still like to check out some of the books written in the 1940s and 1950s. In recent years, there have been some new books on the war, and they are popular, too.

I don't know if people read about these wars because they like to imagine themselves as military strategists, or if they grew up during wartime, and want to reminisce.

Thats a good point you make Paul, about why people read about the Wars. I didn't grow up in the time they were happening but my parents did and my elderly relatives did.
Back then if anyone mentioned the War you just knew they were refering to WW11. It was in away a constant of my early years and I think as a result of it I like to browse and read War histories every now and again.
In the case of WW1 it is a matter of studying the roots of whats is now a mainstay of Australian culture...'The Anzac Spirit'. Understand this and you understand us.

Wasn't the first World War supposed to be the war to end all wars or something? Or did I just imagine that?

I suppose there is a huge facination with it all. As I wasn't about at the time, I find it interesting to hear real stories about things. My grandfather was a marine, but he died when I was 11 and I wish I could've asked him about what he did in WW2. We have my great-grandfather's hat from when he fought in the first World WAr. It has a dent in it where apparently got hit with a bullet.

We seem to be hurtling toward all-out war in the Middle
East.

Definatley looks like it. It's scary to think we've seen two Gulf Wars - and under both George Bushes.

After awhile, it won['t matter much who started it. Wars are like that. It's like passing the event horizon of a black hole....

Hello again,
This is the friendly people thread, so in the interests of that heading...

I pass onto you a discovery of Everest proportions: Sufjan Stevens invites you: Come on feel the ILLINOISE.
this is the Title of a CD. The artist has taken on the task of doing an album interpreting All of the American states! This is number two.

Wow! Does not matter your musical style, for he covers nearly everything. Listen to it if you can.
Cheers

Sounds interesting.

Hey merry christmas you lot! 38 degrees and blue here,perfecto weather for chrissy.
Yahoooo

I think it's a little cooler here, but not much.