The Ask Shauni about England Thread

Post by **shauni** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:29 am

The Ask Shauni about England Thread
So, if you've got any questions about English language, culture, life in the UK, or really anything UK related that you think I might be able to answer just post it here!!

I blatantly stole this idea from Josiah for his Japan thread, but I was thinking that there are allot of misconceptions about England out there, and I decided I’d be more than happy to answer any questions....if you have any at all. England seems boring to me, cos I live here, but for some reason we get a lot of tourists.

Post by **Giga-Gar** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:20 pm

aside from boot to trunk, mobile to cell phone, and pub to bar, are there any other differences in words, like, we say 'subway' but you say 'tube'.

also, what does England, or Europe for that matter, think of America?

Post by **NabMaster** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:21 pm

Gardialvoir wrote:also, what does England, or Europe for that matter, think of America?

What's the opinion on Canada while we're on the same general subject?

Also, how popular is the anime Hellsing (or any other animes that got dubbed with english actors) over in England?

Post by **Josiah** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:48 pm

Hmm... Maybe we should have an Ask About the USA thread for the non-US forum members too. Seems to be lots of common misconceptions about the US in foreign countries...

Post by **Kaida** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:49 am

Josiah wrote:Hmm... Maybe we should have an Ask About the USA thread for the non-US forum members too. Seems to be lots of common misconceptions about the US in foreign countries...

Theres also some about Aussie too, Like the whole "kangaroo's fight with their front paws" thing... *muttteres to self*...

Aslso Shauni, how cold is it there? I've been told by my dad that its colder there then it is here*Aussie* in winter... that and I can't be bothered to ask Amookie who currently lives there, mainly because It's so hard to get a hold of her.

Post by **shauni** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:48 pm

Gardialvoir wrote:aside from boot to trunk, mobile to cell phone, and pub to bar, are there any other differences in words, like, we say 'subway' but you say 'tube'.

also, what does England, or Europe for that matter, think of America?

To answer your first guestion, it is correct that the 'subways' are not called 'subways very often. They are sometimes refered to as 'tube stations', but in the North West of England they are refered to as 'the underground'. The 'London Underground' is one of the oldest subway systems in the world. Only larger citys have a system of underground trains. The closest underground to were I live is Liverpool. Some spellings are different here to for the same words. There might possibly a few more words that are different...but I think you covered most of them.

Opinions about America in the UK arn't great at the moment...I presonaly have no problems with American's, I consider them a great friend to the UK, but there is alot of negative feelings towards your government at the moment in the UK. Some people feel that our Prime Ministor was bullied a little into the war on terror...there are some that feel that Mr Bush is a little bit..pushy about this war...I can't speak for other countrys...but that is the general feeling in the media in england at the moment...

Post by **Giga-Gar** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:55 pm

heh, your right on the pushy part, but he had a stroke of gienus with the 'No-Call-List.' I'm telling you, dad was ready to kill those tellemarketers. which leads me to my next question. is their a no call list in the UK? and are/were there any tellemarketers in the UK?

Post by **shauni** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:56 pm

NabMaster wrote:
Gardialvoir wrote:also, what does England, or Europe for that matter, think of America?
What's the opinion on Canada while we're on the same general subject?

Also, how popular is the anime Hellsing (or any other animes that got dubbed with english actors) over in England?

Oddly enough, the feelings for Canada are very good here. I think it's because you used to be in the comman wealth but were I live we like Canada.

On the same topic though, there are some people that think Canada is an America state...but there just the stupied ones

Anime has a strong sub culture in the UK, but there isn't much adult anime on main stream english TV. THe only time i've seen it on UK orgin TV was the studio Ghible collection. It has gotten alot more popualr here in resent years. Shops like HMV and Virgin now have anime sections. I think you can thank the increase in gaming culture for that, becuase each lends to the other. Although anime is easyer to get ahold of...manga is rarly in main streme shops in smaller town centers. I have to go to the local city center for that....but I can get everthing I need of the net...it still has a bit of a...geeky affliation. Hellsing came out resently in a box set...but anime is VERY expensive still. £50 for all the Hellsing anime...and £7-16 for four episodes of Full Metal and £12 each for feature movies.

Post by **shauni** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:01 pm

Gardialvoir wrote:heh, your right on the pushy part, but he had a stroke of gienus with the 'No-Call-List.' I'm telling you, dad was ready to kill those tellemarketers. which leads me to my next question. is their a no call list in the UK? and are/were there any tellemarketers in the UK?

'no call list '? If you mean 'cold calling', we get that all the time. Companys ring up from random companys doing 'markit research' or 'trying to sell us something'. I don't think there are laws here that prevent these, as I get them all the time....I find most of them arn't even in the UK. The number of cold calls from india asking me questions before I even agree to answer is suprising

Post by **shauni** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:06 pm

Kaida wrote:
Josiah wrote:Hmm... Maybe we should have an Ask About the USA thread for the non-US forum members too. Seems to be lots of common misconceptions about the US in foreign countries...
Theres also some about Aussie too, Like the whole "kangaroo's fight with their front paws" thing... *muttteres to self*...

Aslso Shauni, how cold is it there? I've been told by my dad that its colder there then it is here*Aussie* in winter... that and I can't be bothered to ask Amookie who currently lives there, mainly because It's so hard to get a hold of her.

England can get very cold. It hardly ever snows were I live, but resently we have been getting alot of freak weather...one time it snowed in June....in mid summer....anyway, at this time of the year, it is very cold...you can see your breath, cars are starting to frost over in early mornings and sometimes it's that cold its painful to your skin and lungs to be out there so long. When it gets to mid day its not as bad...on clear days though, there is no cloud cover keeping the heat in and it gets colder. It's not so bad most of the year...but it's hardly ever beach weather.....theres a saying here.

"That's you three days summer over'. We seem to get a few nice days then thats it. Most of the time it's eather cloudy or raining.....man can it rain!

Post by **Josiah** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:52 am

Not to steal the limelight here, but in reference to Gar's question about different names for things... In England an eraser is a rubber, which typically has a very different meaning in the US. If you're wondering how I know this, a friend of mine from Germany who learned British English before coming to the US had some trouble with that one.

Post by **shauni** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:34 am

Josiah is correct, but in more resent times, eraser has been used a little more commonly here. A the word ‘eraser’ here usually refers to a chalk board/pen board brush/ wiper.

Post by **NabMaster** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:31 pm

shauni wrote:Hellsing came out resently in a box set...but anime is VERY expensive still. £50 for all the Hellsing anime...and £7-16 for four episodes of Full Metal and £12 each for feature movies.

The only international exchange rate I know is CAN / US (canada passed $1 just over a week or so ago!), so do you know how much that is in the west?

Post by **shauni** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:02 am

The only international exchange rate I know is CAN / US (canada passed $1 just over a week or so ago!), so do you know how much that is in the west?

1 British pound = 2.0467 U.S. dollars at the moment, so double up the prices I give for the US dollar.

That means Hellsing is about $100, and the others are around $20

Post by **Josiah** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:44 am

You should probably know that for legit DVDs those prices really aren't bad. That's fairly similar to the US prices and a heck of a lot cheaper than in Japan.