A Manc, a Brummy and a Scouser were arguing about which city was the so-called Second City of England.
The Manc said Manchester was the second city, because it was the boom town of the north, packed with succesful industry, commerce and culture.
The Brummy said it was Birmingham, because it was second biggest city in terms of population, with a long record of manufacturing and harmonious multi-culturalism.
The Scouser said it was London, obviously.
Here's another one to try out on your London friends:
Londoners are cultural people who know at least 2 pieces of classical music:
Pop goes the Queen
and
God save the Weasel.
I know another one about Londoners, but the punch line will get bleeped.
While Brit's were appreciative over the help the US sent during WWII, they were not so sure about the military personel. Their description?
Over paid,
Over sexed,
Over here.
I will share those pieces of music.
Having gone to London over many years, I have to say, that I greatly enjoy hearing the language spoken. Unfortunately, on the streets of Mayfair, English (even the wonderful UK variety) is not a "native language." They are about # 10 on the frequency scale.Let us just say that English (any flavour) is not the native tongue of 95% of the folk on those sidewalks.
Hunt
Personally I find London too expensive, too over-crowded, too dirty and generally avoid the place, however it depresses and angers me greatly to see so many urban teeanagers destroying the place.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8687177/London-riots-live .html
I completely understand. I am greatly saddened by the recent events there.
I just cannot believe that we are not there now. Last trip was in the middle of the 500,000 person protest in Central London/Mayfair, and the protest rally culminated right below my balcony, overlooking Hyde Park. It was like Mardi Gras in the French Quarter in New Orleans, and we were basically "trapped" in our hotel, due to the crowds. Fortunately, the damage toll was not as high, as authorities had anticipated, and violence was pretty well contained. Still, it was a very sad day for me.
Best to all,
Hunt
Roger Benedict wrote:
Sad indeed, John. Hope it settles down now that Cameron appears ready to act, according to the press reports we are getting across the pond. I heard there was also trouble in Birmingham and Liverpool. Has it been severe in Liverpool?
There was a token copy cat outburst a couple of miles outside the City Centre, in the same area as the 1981 riots - around Lodge Lane, where it meets Upper Parliament Street and Smithdown Road.
There are lots of young men running around for several hours, intimidating everyone. The sum total of the damage was 2 or 3 burnt out cars and a few broken windows. Clearly not good, but nowhere near what's been happening in London.
There's been frightening fires and looting of shops selling high value goods on a very big scale in many suburbs of London, some poor areas, some very much not poor.
Meanwhile the Mancs are trashing Manchester on a grand scale:
The big worry is the impact on the London Olympics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2011/aug/09/london-riots-201 2-olympic-safety-fears
I have got tickets for the last Saturday of the Olympics - lots of field and track finals - which is good as they're like hen's teeth. The journey there and back does not appeal even at the best of times as London is always clogged up. With hundreds of thousands of spectators, athletes, officials and media, travel will be a complete pain. Add on the additional security measures and a risk of public disorder, I'd be better off sitting in front of the telly on the couch with a bottle of wine and the laptop!
I've also had to cancel visiting the 15th International Citroen Car Club Rally in Yorkshire, for which I'd bought tickets before "winning" the olympic Tickets in Seb Coe's stupid lottery - you could only apply for tickets by using a VISA card; no other card was accepted. That's selling out to sponsorship.
It's typical of London - they've tripled the number of plods in London by taking them from elsewhere in the country!
The view of London/England from overseas is interesting. London is seen as the most inequitable captial in the world with the disgustly rich making huge fortunes within sight of some of poorest parts of the UK, while earlier in the year it was Royal Weddings and Harry Potter, and now it's phone hacking and looting.
Yes, the concentration of police in London, does seem to have spread the problems to other areas. Sort of like hitting a big drop of mercury, and watching it "spread" elsewhere.
Sorry that this is happening.
Now, and probably BECAUSE I am a daft Yank, I really love London, but do observe a lot of what you mention. Also, because of business and time (or lack thereof), we do not get to see all that much of the rest of the UK, so even though we spend many weeks in London each year, we are basically clueless of the rest of the land.
This is all interesting, and tragic, and will likely have far reaching implications and ramifications. Most of us will just have to wait and see, and then try to decide what happened, and why it happened.
Though we are in the "joke thread," these problems and their root causes, are anything but a joke.
All the best,
Hunt
function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}Hudechrome wrote:
Hmmm, Kami, your post here and the one in my e-mail are vastly different!
On another note, I just re-read Clancy's "Debt of Honor" and I noticed the name of the Japanese AWACS plane was Kami (1 through 10).
Co-incidence?
Yes, and I am sorry. I posted, then thought better (or worse) of it. I do not want a fight; if you read what I originally posted, you can decide for yourself if you agree with any of it.
My apologies again.
* "Kami" is also, I believe, the Japanese word for 'Spirit'; it is a coincidence that I like more.
function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}Hudechrome wrote:
Seems accurate enough. Rather unfortunate, however.
I would have left it, since it is simply reporting on what is already posted elsewhere. Maybe a bit over the top for the joke thread....
Back to jokes:
Thank you, Larry.
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Albert Einstein was at a party when he was asked by a guest if he could just simply explain how a wireless telegraph worked.
He replied: "Imagine a very big cat. Its' tail is in New York and its' head is in Los Angeles. When you pull the tail in New York,it meows in Los Angeles. Wireless telegraphy is just like that but without the cat."
It's not that I particularly value points--I'm just frustrated seeing users headed off in what I consider to be a wrong direction based on points. So I'm trying to accumulate points so that users will have (what I feel to be) a more correct idea of whether or not to take my advice.
lol! really? isn't that how the 3rd reich started?!!
Gary: Hey Fred,it's been a while. How are your poetry studies coming along?
Fred: Great! Since starting them,I've doubled my audience!
Gary: Oh,I didn't know you got married! Mazel Tov!
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In today's news the Secret Service foiled yet another attempt to climb over the White House fence.
They immediately escorted Obama back,and told him he couldn't leave until he finished his term. ![]()
dave milbut wrote:
nobody reads post 2112
My bad, Dave. You can swipe the first part of post 2115 somewhere down the joke thread. I don't think anyone will notice. ![]()
Btw,the forum upgrade seems to have reset notification prefs,I've been getting email on this thread.
So under Your Stuff > Preferences,click on the Email Notifications tab,and see if your settings are where you want them.
I guess I tend to work backwards,Bill. This issue is also detailed in the Announcements on the Forums index.
North America
Europe, Middle East and Africa
Asia Pacific