Linus Van Pelt wrote:

IPL wrote:but whats up with the Welsh....eeek.

The Welsh are Britons. Wales is part of Britain.

on the run from the romans, the welsh were the irish that couldn't swim.

well as some kind soul already pointed out, we brits get to use fun words such as 'wanker' and 'tosser' without sounding like either one.


what you have all missed out on however, is the constant referal by our lovely cousins across the pond to 'brits', and then slating english people!!!!
you seem to have forgotten all about our lovely neighbours the scots and the welsh, who unless you are using brits or british in a celtic sense, you are throwing us all in the same gumbo pot!


some goods:

british (england, wales, scotland):

monty python
sherlock holmes
stephan hawking
gun control
manual gear box's
the national health service
kate beckinsale

american:

family guy
macguyver
big fuck-off cars with silly sized engines and cool names
jazz
not losing your license for for speeding more than three times
kirsten dunst


bads:

british (england, wales, scotland):

inventing the television, and thusly being responsible for not only the teletubbies, but also indirectly barney (what WERE we thinking...)
'uk-garidge'
the national health service


americans:

spending a cool million dollars developing a pen to use in zero gravity while the russians just took a pencil
automatic gear box's
darma and greg


as a side note i would like to point out that the town i live in is where the washington family were from (yes, as in george washington).

The national health service is great!

Not perfect but it beats paying.

uk_chris wrote:americans:

spending a cool million dollars developing a pen to use in zero gravity while the russians just took a pencil

Ahem! Bollox:

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

although i enjoy my ampeg, my hiwatt wins.

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:I lived in Lincolnshire for a year, and I have to say that I felt more at home in England than I ever did in NEW England; the people are hilarious, the countryside gorgeous, and the bookstores excellent--and I'm not one to complain about lots of rain. But the food IS pretty bad, and there seemed to be a real dearth of attractive women. Good beer, though. English pubs kick most American bars' asses.

Lincolnshire? For a year? I hope you were picking sprouts or something equally useful.

Given the language and vowels debate of earlier, why british (and many scandy rock bands) so often try to sing with american accents? a mate once said that the vowels are much easier to sing, more flexible and resonant, or summats...

floog wrote:
Given the language and vowels debate of earlier, why british (and many scandy rock bands) so often try to sing with american accents? a mate once said that the vowels are much easier to sing, more flexible and resonant, or summats...

This has me thinking of the reverse a la Adrien Brody’s character in _Summer of Sam_. There was a similarly liberty-bespiked kid in my highschool with a fake british accent. Not sure if he was gay, but he sure was an idiot.

floog wrote:
Not sure if he was gay, but he sure was an idiot.

Well, I suppose that makes a welcome change from 'the villain', then.

australian.........

i guess that means i'm british by default as they did send the most cretinous of their criminals out here because there was just too many of them.........stealing bread gets you a trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth i wish that was still the case.........

on my mum's side we are descended from marines that came out on the first convict boats to keep the bastards in order & on my dad's, from sheep farmers who came to south australia where there was not any convicts at the time.

useless information i know but anyways

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:
But when it comes to creating innovative popular music, America wins, hands down:

USA:
blues
jazz
country
bluegrass
rock & roll
gospel
soul
funk
hip hop

UK:
skiffle

Punk rock is a toss up, but I gotta give the nod to The Ramones, who, as it turns out, were led by a jingoistic guitarist fond of wearing U.S. Marines shirts. Seems perfect somehow.

the saints (brisbane, australia) put out the "i'm stranded" 7inch before the ramones got out their first record. they released it themselves too.....that's punk.....oh no wait a second doesn't a punk get fucked up the arse in gaol?

the ramones were definitely the "punk" band that spawned a whole movement of british bands though.