30 Things British People Say Vs What We Actually Mean.

[lynn cates]

doggie

Hello Robert. A long, little doggie? Dachshund, perhaps? (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[Robert]

Hi Jeff

Re the basketball, I remember as a boy watching the Harlem Globetrotters on TV - only exhibition stuff, but still very entertaining - and so I suppose that when I first saw competitive basketball - in some Olympics or whatever - I was expecting it to be like that. But it was rather a letdown. It wouldn't be so bad if the basket was placed in a difficult position, but it seems to me that the tall guy only has to give a little jump and he can just place the ball in the net.

Re polo, a few years ago Scotland won the World Elephant Polo Championship. Go figure!

During music lessons at school we were sometimes taught and sang folk songs, and some of them were American, e.g. Get Along Little Dogies, Oh Shenandoah, Jimmy Crack Corn etc.

[Mayerling]

Thanks Jeff. After I wrote that I remembered reading about how 'mainland' areas didn't have statehood for some time, and I think their acquisition of statehood played a part in precipitating the Civil War, because the new states being created were anti-slavery states who would inevitably end up outnumbering the pro-slavery states (hope I've got that right).

You got it right Robert. If the Mexicans got any long term satisfaction from their loss of territory in the Mexican War it was it helped the land greedy gringos go at each others throats over the new lands and helped speed the division leading to the bloodier American Civil War. First in the problem in 1850 admitting California to the Union as a state (due to the population boom due to the gold rush). This led to the long debate and rough passage of the "Compromise of 1850" legislation (which put off the war by a decade, but angered many in the North by the "Fugitive Slave Act" that forced all Northerners to return African-Americans earmarked in Northern states as escaped slaves - sometimes they weren't). Then came the Kansas/Nebraska Act of 1854 to try to set up state governments in those two territories - this led to a mini-Civil War between gangs of Pro-Slavery southern settlers and Anti-Slavery northern settlers. Figures like James Lane, William Quantrill, and John Brown arose to prominent from this.

The reason for this struggle was that up to 1850 there were equal numbers of Free and Slave states in the U.S. Senate, so the slave holding states felt things were balanced. But California permanently tipped the balance for the Free States (although the Californians did appoint as it's first two Senators Fremont, who was anti-Slave, and Dr. William Gwinn, who was pro-Slave).
the rest of the states after that year made the South cringe:

1858 - Oregon (Free State)
1859 - Minnesota (Free State)

Nothing could counteract this.

Ironically, by secession from the Federal Government, the South worsened this situation. Nobody was around to block or slow it down!

1861 - Kansas (Free State)
1864 - Nevada (Free State - Nevada got the population, despite it's somewhat desert appearance, due to the Comstock Silver mine and other similar mining achievements effecting it's population spurt).

In between, Western Virginia was full of poor farmers - it had few slaves, and while it did not sympathize heavily with African-Americans it resented that it was dragged out of the Union by those plantation owners in the rest of the state. It did the unthinkable for a piece of Confederate territory - it seceded!

1863 - West Virginia.

After the war the growth of the states west of the Mississippi slowed a bit.

1867- Nebraska (and in honor of the late President, it's capital is "Lincoln").

1876 - Colorado (the "Centennial State")

There is a long stretch now until Benjamin Harrison becomes the 23rd President (1889-1893). As a U.S. Senator, Harrison was chairman of the "Territories" Committee, and had set things up properly:

1889 - North and South Dakota
Montana
Idaho

1890 - Wyoming
- Washington

More states entered Harrison's one term in office than in any similar four year Presidential administration before or since!

All this time there was one sore thumb: Deseret. The Mormons were being stigmatized by the rest of the country for polygamy. So first Senator George Edmunds got an anti-polygamy law passed by Congress in the 1880s, as a hint to the Mormons, and then a U.S. Supreme Court decision said polygamy was illegal. The Mormons decided to drop polygamy.

1896 - Utah.

There had been a land rush into the Indian Territory in 1889 (orchestrated by Harrison) and it reached fruition eighteen years later:

1907 - Oklahoma

It is not until 1912 that the last two of the Continental 48 get into the Union:

1912 - New Mexico
1912 - Arizona

Final two after that:

1959 - Alaska
1960 - Hawaii

And there you are!

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Hi Pat

"Soccer" is what the Americans call football. We used to call football either soccer or football, but nowadays it tends to be just football.

Football is the variety played by Pele et al - the ball is kicked, and the only time a player is allowed to handle the ball is if he's a goalkeeper, or if he's a player restarting the game with a throw-in.

Rugby is played with both feet and hands, mainly the hands. Players try to touch the ball down behind their opponents' line. Forward passes are not permitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwSx-xw_NU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMR0Srd-axc

The "soccer/ English "football" fan base is growing in the U.S. due to the larger numbers of immigrants from European, Asian, African, and Latin American societies that play in those games so intently. Flushing Meadows Park, about two and a half miles from where I am, has soccer fields. I'm not sure about Rugby - but it probably has growing adherents too.

I happen to be a baseball fan (especially if the Northeast U.S. teams are in the finals leading to the World Series - at least the Yankees and Red Sox are). It has a larger base than one would think. Canada had two teams, but the Montreal Expos never got the fan base and the franchise moved back to the U.S. (to Washington, D.C.) But the Toronto Blue Jays did get the local fan base, and in the 1990s twice won the World Series. There are popular baseball teams in Cuba (Castro was once a promising prospect in the early 1950s!), Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Japan likes the game, though it plays it a little differently. I hope one day these national baseball groups and the U.S. / Canada group expand into each other - so the "WORLD Series" actually becomes that. Baseball never caught on in Europe - twice (in 1889 and in 1913) U.S. Baseball teams went to Europe hoping to get interest growing. There was polite curiosity, but no great interest.

U.S. Football looks rough today, but in fact it was much more dangerous in the first decade of the 20th Century, when most of it was played on college gridirons. Indeed there were a series (in 1903-05) of injuries that resulted in deaths in college football games, and the issue became so big that President Theodore Roosevelt looked into it. He actually considered transplanting English "Football" to the U.S. as a safety precautions for our colleges, and encouraged a series of soccer matches by the champion Australian teams on the west coast. But it did not catch on at this time. Gradually the changes in rules for Football made the American game somewhat safer (though how much is still a matter of debate).

Basketball is the only one of our most popular sports to be invented in this country (by James Naylor of Massachusetts in 1892). Baseball (as English people love to remind us) is an update on the old game of "Rounders". Our Football is based on Soccer (actually it is a mini-version of warfare, with complicated battle scenarios used by both teams to get the football and carry it to the goal post). Ice Hockey was not invented here - I believe it's Canadian (please correct me if incorrect).

To me, Basketball is the most intelligent of the popular sports. In Baseball one has to stand at home plate with a fancy curved stick, watching a man hurl a round projectile at your head at roughly 90 mph. Only the stick and your reflexes prevent the ball from hitting your head (we have had numerous beanings, and one fatality in a major league game: in 1920 Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was fatally injured at the Yankees' then ball park, the "Polo Grounds" by a pitch from Yankee Carl May). Better head gear has helped. In Football you are chased, if holding the ball and running with it, by most of the members of the opposing team: men whose physical attributes make it undesirable for only one to be chasing you! In hockey, you have to be good in balancing and moving on ice skate blades over ice, and you have to avoid being hit by the puck. [Why they call it a "puck" I don't know - did anyone originally call it a "Robin Goodfellow"? Did someone looking at an original hockey scrimmage laugh and say "What fools these skaters be?"] With Basketball you just aim at a hoop above your head and try to prevent the opposite team from getting the ball into the hoop (which they are doing to you and your team).

I have noticed in recent years many Caribbean immigrants have started playing cricket around my neighborhood in the spring and summer. I have not noticed many playing croquet, but that is really a small garden game for summer houses.

I note I failed to mention golf and tennis, both of which have international popularity, and hai-lai which may be from American Indian origins. Polo is also an international sport, but it's popularity is limited to those people who can afford polo ponies (or as "Norton" on "The Honeymooners" once said, "a string of poloponies!"). If you saw the film "The Man Who Would Be King" you will see that the origins of "polo" as an insult to conquered enemies was a game called "headdo".

Jeff

[Robert]

Thanks Jeff. After I wrote that I remembered reading about how 'mainland' areas didn't have statehood for some time, and I think their acquisition of statehood played a part in precipitating the Civil War, because the new states being created were anti-slavery states who would inevitably end up outnumbering the pro-slavery states (hope I've got that right).

[Mayerling]

Hi Jeff

I guess what I meant was full statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, which I think was only granted c70 years ago. But I suppose it's a nice point as to whether a region is a part of a country or only a colony or some other unit. For instance, I don't know whether the people in Alaska could vote in US elections or pay taxes before their incorporation.

Hi Robert,

Both Hawaiians and Alaskans could vote in U.S. elections and pay taxes before 1959/60 because they were entitled to Social Security if they paid part of their wages into the system (that's the use of the taxes personally - of course part ended up used in superstructure, and in paying the then colonial governments). They could not vote for Senators or Congressmen because there were none, but both had representatives to observe Congress, without any power. This changed when they became states. Puerto Rico and (I believe) the District of Columbia (which has the population but has not become a state - currently it's our only "Federal District") have observers. I don't know if Guam or American Samoa or the Virgin Islands do. I'm not sure about the North Marianas.

An observer from Midway or Howland Islands would really be curious.

Jeff

[Robert]

Hi Pat

"Soccer" is what the Americans call football. We used to call football either soccer or football, but nowadays it tends to be just football.

Football is the variety played by Pele et al - the ball is kicked, and the only time a player is allowed to handle the ball is if he's a goalkeeper, or if he's a player restarting the game with a throw-in.

Rugby is played with both feet and hands, mainly the hands. Players try to touch the ball down behind their opponents' line. Forward passes are not permitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwSx-xw_NU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMR0Srd-axc

[Pcdunn]

Pat, the Americans have three games that are a bit strange :

There's one where a guy can hit the ball out of the stadium, but still has to give a leisurely trot round.

There's another where play stops every 30 seconds, so that the players can have a chat and the crowd can buy some burgers.

And there's one where 3 or 4 guys bounce a ball 2 or 3 times and then an 8ft tall guy drops (rather than throws) the ball into a basket. This is repeated 100 times or more, and then the crowd go home satisfied.

Hi, Robert,

Thanks for the sports summary. Colder areas also have one played on ice (usually indoors, go figure) by men with sticks and blades on their shoes, plus a "puck" which involves a lot of violence and "penalties".

Since you're a sports expert, what is the difference between "soccer" and "rugby" ? Our community college actually has a rugby team, but I don't understand why.

[Robert]

Hi Jeff

I guess what I meant was full statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, which I think was only granted c70 years ago. But I suppose it's a nice point as to whether a region is a part of a country or only a colony or some other unit. For instance, I don't know whether the people in Alaska could vote in US elections or pay taxes before their incorporation.

[Mayerling]

Thanks for that very interesting post, Jeff.

I must say, it seems very odd to have two areas (Hawaii and Alaska) physically disconnected from the rest of a country, but there are no significant separatist movements as far as I am aware, so full marks to the Americans for making it work.

Hi Robert,

It works to an extent, but there are limits. There are separatist movements in both states, though not overwhelmingly large. The Hawaiian is from the most native groups. But populations do change.

Also, the reason that both (though disconnected) were absorbed was basically anti British (remember both are absorbed in the 19th Century).
The leaders (for the most part) in both major parties from 1812 to 1900 had the nasty habit of "twisting the Lion's Tail", the "Lion" being the British Lion. This was based on the mythology of the American Revolution and the War of 1812 that England was our perennial enemy (and France our friend). While it was true that France became the first nation to recognize and ally itself with us (in 1778) the French did it to get back at the British for the long series of defeats (from the War of Spanish Succession to the Seven Years War) Britain inflicted on France and French interests*.

[*Most Americans, for instance, while recalling Lafayette and Rochambeau and De Grasse assisting us in winning the Revolution here at Yorktown and the Battle of the Capes, barely are aware of the serious series of sea battles in the Indian Ocean between Admirals Suffren and Hughes from 1779 to 1782. Nor are they aware of the French defeat at the battle of the Saints in the Caribbean in 1782 by Admirals Rodney and Hood. But this is normal - we don't know that our reluctant ally Spain wasted it's portion of the war fighting to recapture Gibraltar, and losing. ]

The myth also papered over some unpleasant facts we chose not to note - to make ourselves look better. Basically the War of 1812 was started as a land grab at the expense of British North America (Canada did not exist as Canada then). The Canadians, by the way, proved quite capable at defending themselves from Yankee invaders (i.e. General Isaac Brock). Instead we kept pointing at impressment of sailors. While this was a serious problem, it probably was not as bad as it seemed on the whole (the British were trying to reclaim their own sailors). Furthermore to go to war in 1812 against Britain made us an unlikely ally - Napoleon. In a way the U.S. and Napoleon in 1812-1815 resembles poor Marshal Mannerheim and the Finns stuck relying on Hitler against the Russians from 1939 - 1944. I will only say (and the mitigation sticks a little in my throat) Napoleon at least gave some lip service to the goals of the French Revolution in Europe. However it is, Britain rightly regarded our unofficial alliance with the Corsican as a stab in the back against a country who was (by fighting him) actually protecting us.

During the rest of the 19th Century this anti-British myth lasted. However, because the War of 1812 was a draw for the U.S. and Britain (but not for Canada!! ) both countries did all they could not to go to war against each other a third times. Border problems and the Alabama Claims were settled by arbitration panels or diplomats. That actually was positive. However both countries were still rivals elsewhere. Seward's purpose in getting Alaska (which Tsar Alexander II of Russia sought to unload) was to prevent it ending up as a new part of Canada. Both countries also had rival Pacific trade positions - and the Kingdom of Hawaii played a major part of this. In fact, in 1893, the Hawaiian monarchists hoped that Britain would step in and declare a protectorate over their nation from the U.S.

That it did not was due to the changing nature in diplomatic circles of both countries. The U.S. was to rise to the level of World Power by 1898, but it's war with Spain was not liked in Europe (most European states seeing it as opportunistic and at the expense of a fellow European state). That same year the Second Anglo-Boer War began, and Britain felt the same type of disapproval in fighting a non-native (read European based) colonial group: the German-Dutch Boers. The German Empire did not help matters by being openly pro-Boer, with Kaiser Wilhelm II sending a notoriously open telegram of congratulations to Paul Krueger earlier in smashing the 1896 Jameson Raid. Suddenly Britain and the U.S. began to realize that for all the differences they were basically in the same boat together. So the unofficial alliance began. Diplomatic overtures to France from the Fashoda Incident onward, as France and Britain sensed Germany to be the new common enemy led to the Dual Entente in 1902, and so the three Western democracies started being lined up together.

By the way, not only did I forget (as Pat mentioned) the "Centennial State" of Colorado, but I forgot that after World War Ii the U.N saddled the U.S. with the North Mariana Islands as well.

Jeff

[Magpie]

Lets call it what it is--Branston pickle is fermented toe-jam suspended in earwax.

[Robert]

Pat, the Americans have three games that are a bit strange :

There's one where a guy can hit the ball out of the stadium, but still has to give a leisurely trot round.

There's another where play stops every 30 seconds, so that the players can have a chat and the crowd can buy some burgers.

And there's one where 3 or 4 guys bounce a ball 2 or 3 times and then an 8ft tall guy drops (rather than throws) the ball into a basket. This is repeated 100 times or more, and then the crowd go home satisfied.

[Robert]

Thanks for that very interesting post, Jeff.

I must say, it seems very odd to have two areas (Hawaii and Alaska) physically disconnected from the rest of a country, but there are no significant separatist movements as far as I am aware, so full marks to the Americans for making it work.

[GUT]

You forgot to mention sports fans are utterly, completely INSANE.

But that applies throughout the world, you should see an English Football [Soccer] Tour or the famous Barmy Army [English Cricket supporters, especially when the Green and Gold are thrashing them] The poor old Kiwi's treat Rugby Union as a religion, one mid East country was said to have executed a team for not playing well enough [not sure if that was true].

[Pcdunn]

Jeff forgot to mention Colorado, which is now one of the "Rocky Mountain High" States.