[Leica] Re: More on UK

[jwlee01 at gmail.com (John Lee)]

Larry,

Hmmm. You left out the Irish in your comparison.

-- John

On 12/16/05, lrzeitlin@optonline.net <lrzeitlin@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: lug-request@leica-users.org
> Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:29 am
> Subject: LUG Digest, Vol 31, Issue 43
>
> Peter writes:
>
> <<The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland;
> each
> of which except for Northern Ireland, which has the status of "province", 
> is
> legally a country in its own right and I am not going to discuss further
> here.
> For example Scotland has its own legal system and currency (same names
> different
> notes etc; very different laws in some areas). Under conquest and the
> various
> Acts of Union etc, all surrendered their powers to Westminster. Lately the
> constituents have been granted limited autonomy, which has been seized upon
> by
> both Welsh and Scots, causing conflict with Westminster. In addition 
> various
> other constituents such as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have
> their
> own legal and tax systems which interact with the Enflish system in various
> ways. Berwick-upon-Tweed is a complete
> ly different case with until recently a
> seperate standing under international treaty and has only recently made its
> peace with Russia after the Crimean War.>>
>
>
> As a recently repatriated former long term resident of the UK I found it
> hard to underestimate the mutual antipathy between the English Anglo-Saxons
> and the Celtic Welsh, Scots, and Irish. To a foreigner, all Brits seem
> alike, but that's not the way they see it. The English regard the Scots as
> clannish dour folk, living in a cold forbidding country, who spend all 
> their
> time fighting, drinking, doing sports that involve throwing heavy objects,
> and inventing practical things like steam engines, television, and
> penicillin. Whatever language they speak, it certainly isn't English.
>
> The Scots view the English as lazy wimps who cheated their way to the
> Scottish throne and are incapable of running their own country. They regard
> helping the English manage their affairs as a form of missionary outreach
> work. Scots point to
> the fact that if the British Cabinet were not 2/3 Scottish, England would
> slip slowly into the sea.
>       
>       The Welsh are almost beneath notice by the English who believe that 
> singing
> coal miners and drunken poets are the only good things to come out of Wales
> in centuries. The Welsh reciprocate by regarding the English as jackbooted
> thugs who delight in oppressing hardworking poor folk and appropriating
> miner's pension funds for London based welfare grifters. To add injury to
> insult, the English dominated supermarket chains import New Zealand lamb 
> and
> mutton when the hills are alive with the sound of wooly Welsh sheep.
>
> So refer to a Scot or a Welshman as an Englishman at your own peril.
>
> Larry Z
>
>
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