Question to Brits

[Hurlshort]

^ Don't believe you about the Indian food.

 

As I said earlier, it is a very large country. The trick is to find an area where Indian people actually live. The Bay Area has an incredibly diverse population, so you can get pretty much any type of decent ethnic food if you know where to look.

 

Except for pizza, for some odd reason.

[Syraxis]

Except for pizza, for some odd reason.

 

The best pizza is made by a big greasy italian guy, in a wife beater, wearing an abnormal amount of gold jewelry on both hands. True story. (A)

Edited July 27, 2010 by Syraxis

[Gfted1]

Pardon me while I hijack the thread for a sec with my own question for the Brits. What will happen when the queen dies? Will the senior prince become king or is there some system where there will now only be queens and there is some other woman waiting to become queen?

[vault_overseer]

Pardon me while I hijack the thread for a sec with my own question for the Brits. What will happen when the queen dies? Will the senior prince become king or is there some system where there will now only be queens and there is some other woman waiting to become queen?

 

AFAIK prince Charles will become the King.

 

Which brings another question, will everything that's currently dubbed "Her majesty's" will have to be redubbed "His Majesty's" ?

Edited July 27, 2010 by vault_overseer

[Tale]

Probably why they use the HM short, so they don't have to change any stencils.

[Amentep]

Prince Charles is in line with his son Prince William after him AFAIK.

 

Some observations from my (limited) experience with the UK (from visiting) -

 

• Scottish people speak English in a way that you will recognize as English but not actually understand. It sounds nothing like the pretend Scottish that shows up in movies and television from the UK and you will need someone to translate English for you.
  
• Roundabouts actually make a lot more sense for lower traffic roads than stop signs.
  
• People drive on the motorway really fast.
  
• The thickness of fog is not exaggerated. Be prepared to feel disembodied.
  
• Until you are known at the local pub, be aware that walking in by yourself will be accompanied by death stares.
  
• Place names in Wales are actually longer than some of the places in Wales.
  

[Monte Carlo]

Pardon me while I hijack the thread for a sec with my own question for the Brits. What will happen when the queen dies? Will the senior prince become king or is there some system where there will now only be queens and there is some other woman waiting to become queen?

 

Prince Charles will become King Charles III, succession passes down via the eldest male. Elizabeth became Queen unexpectedly when her father (King George VI) died.

 

With the change of monarch, EIIR (Elizabeth II Regina) becomes for Charles CIIIR, and the royal device changes on uniforms, letter boxes, mastheads and warrants. An expensive business, but luckily longevity is something the Windsors' are blessed with so it doesn't change that often.

 

Cheers

MC

 

Edit: Although the postbox on my street is an ancient WW2-era specimen with GR for Georgeous Rex on it.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Monte Carlo

[Raithe]

* Oh, and curry.

 

Forget the Indian claims about curry, ours is a bizarre Bangladeshi hybrid created to pander to the infantile British palate filtered through distant cultural osmosis from the Raj. And completely delicious, best enjoyed with a drink (q.v.)

 

Never had a good curry in the States. Never. Great Chinese food, but for some reason the Indian food isn't right there.

 

To go with the pop culture reference.. (that might pass over a few heads..) "Of course! Lager! Nothing kills a vindaloo like lager."

 

The reason for the cliche over conversations on weather over here.. is because it can change so damn fast.

 

Dialects. Yes, the difference in regional dialects is extreme. Stick someone from Southampton in a room with people from Glasgow, Cardiff, York, London, and Manchester.. they will have a bloody hard time holding a conversation everyone understands.

 

Oh yes, with the old buildings.. half my city still has Norman walls.. and pre-Normal fortifications around the place.. and of course a lot of the buildings are around a century old at the least. Well, apart form the stuff that was bombed out during the war. Very few private houses are built with any form of a/c whatever.. but most will have radiators for the winter..

 

Our monarchy has been fairly equal opportunity for a fair while now... whether to be a King or Queen doesn't really matter. There have been the occasional discussions/suggestions made that with the age of Charles , they might skip from the Queen to Prince William.. which I think would be a shame. From what I've seen, Charles would make a fine King.

 

* Oh, one thing that threw me when I visited the States, drivers can go through a red light if they were turning right... Key thing is not over here.. that would cause a crapload of accidents.. Retraining for our roads is a key event. I've seen friends and relations who were visiting the UK from abroad get seriously scared when they were in cars going around winding country roads that were barely wide enough for two... and had hedgerows so you could barely see more then 40 feet ahead...

Edited July 27, 2010 by Raithe

[Azdeus]

Oh yes, with the old buildings.. half my city still has Norman walls.. and pre-Normal fortifications around the place.. and of course a lot of the buildings are around a century old at the least. Well, apart form the stuff that was bombed out during the war. Very few private houses are built with any form of a/c whatever.. but most will have radiators for the winter..

 

Our monarchy has been fairly equal opportunity for a fair while now... whether to be a King or Queen doesn't really matter. There have been the occasional discussions/suggestions made that with the age of Charles , they might skip from the Queen to Prince William.. which I think would be a shame. From what I've seen, Charles would make a fine King.

 

I've got tombs from the 10'th century about one hundred yards from here, but my house is just twohundred years old. :/

 

Atleast your next monarch won't be a pleb, unlike certain other monarchies. >_>

[Guard Dog]

Probably why they use the HM short, so they don't have to change any stencils.

Oh my God, look who's back!

[Humodour]

Pardon me while I hijack the thread for a sec with my own question for the Brits. What will happen when the queen dies? Will the senior prince become king or is there some system where there will now only be queens and there is some other woman waiting to become queen?

 

Interestingly when the Queen dies, Australia becomes a republic. She's the last thing tying the monarchy to popular opinion here.

 

I'll be sad that we're breaking away from our cultural tradition, also happy for the same reason.

[Walsingham]

I'm not a Brit, but still I'm going to chime in and point out a couple of things: the food is bloody awful, life there is fairly expensive, and finally the weather is awful. With all that being said, within the UK I'd recommend Scotland to live in.

 

Oh, and why not move to Ireland, instead?

 

Yes, because when I think of good food and excellent weather I automatically think of Scotland. I don't know what you've done to Pidesco, but it must be something bloody terrible to make him try and trick you into moving to Scotland.

 

As much as I hate to say it, as an IT bod the corridor between Reading and Guildford could be your best bet. You can commute to probably 60% of the high payscale IT jobs from there. On the other hand it's death by suburbia. Still, you could always finesse your location later on once you had a good job. My only caveat is that a friend of mine has moved to Reading and so far as I could tell in a weekend it is stuffed to the gunwales with lowlives. First time in many years I've seen drug dealers sitting around openly peddling on doorsteps.

 

In general the South is up its own rear end, and houses are expensive. The weather is typically better. English restaurant food can indeed be bloody awful, but there are exceptions. The biggest thing to keep in mind is ensuring you have a top class local pub. It will be your source of local information, friends, and good beer.

 

Afterthought: you might consider Bristol. It's becoming a new hub for firms.

[Darth InSidious]

Pardon me while I hijack the thread for a sec with my own question for the Brits. What will happen when the queen dies? Will the senior prince become king or is there some system where there will now only be queens and there is some other woman waiting to become queen?

 

Prince Charles will become King Charles III, succession passes down via the eldest male. Elizabeth became Queen unexpectedly when her father (King George VI) died.

He has suggested that he won't use the name Charles as king, which might be wise given that it raises interesting questions in Scotland.

 

Which reminds me...

 

@OP: One very important thing about Scotland (if you go there) to remember is that they do not have the same law as England. As an independent country up until 1603 (or thereabouts), they have their own body of law which can differ in significant ways. For example, a Scottish court could find your case "not proven", as well as guilty or not guilty. Anyway, it's something to watch out for.

 

Other inconsequential things you need to know:

 

*When it comes to schools, public means private, but private does not mean public. David Cameron went to a public school. That public school is one of the most expensive (and one of the oldest) in the country. The rest of our schools divide into comprehensives and grammar schools. Grammars and comprehensives are both government run, the difference being that grammar schools can select their pupils on the basis of academic exam, and are generally thought to have a tighter academic focus (though whether that's true or not depends). There are ~160 of these in the country.

 

*Brits as a term will annoy some people immensely. It is very important or both your short-term and long-term survival that you understand the difference between England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Britain.

 

*London is great to visit, but attempt no living there; it is hellish and absurdly expensive. Londoners, naturally, will chiefly tell you that it's God's gift to the Earth. It's absurdly overpriced, people are about as friendly as an armoured tank division, and there are far too many of them. Southerners will tell you, chiefly, that the North is an uninhabitable wasteland full of collapsed mines and bitter, xenophobic people. This is a lie, designed to hide the problems of the South.

 

*This country has an official religion (in the main) so that the majority don't need to bother about practicing it, and for due ceremony and fluff at official things.

 

*While the Queen is off-limits (generally), her family and her government are fair game.

 

 

On places to live, Reading is a hole. If you need to move to Berkshire or Oxfordshire, they're nice parts of the country, but avoid Reading itself.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Darth InSidious

[Rostere]

But generally speaking you only have to pay for Chalmers or Uppsala types of education, if you want to be a professor/engineer of something that is.

 

lolwut?

 

Also: while everyone will understand basically everything you say in English in Sweden, all the news and information will be in Swedish, which naturally might be a problem. In Stockholm, there is also a relatively large American/English-speaking enclave (I happen to have some relatives from America living in Sweden).

 

To sum it up:

 

Pros: People will understand everything you say even though Enlish is not a native language, nice place to live in, good, free education especially on University level

 

Cons: You won't understand a word of what other people say, perhaps language barriers will make it hard to find work (doubtful in the case of a programmer though)

[Raithe]

We just have to be careful of turning this thread into a North / South flame war

 

There's a long and storied reason behind it , but the Southerners tend to get viewed as more prissy, over-cultured, and slightly effeminate... and the Northeners have the uncivilized, struggling to be men's men while swigging beer stereotype.

 

 

And even government forms these days seem to hide the term 'English' for any box-ticking that needs doing.. Then tend to give the choice of putting Irish, Scottish, Welsh, or British... which is a touch annoying.

[Pidesco]

I'm not a Brit, but still I'm going to chime in and point out a couple of things: the food is bloody awful, life there is fairly expensive, and finally the weather is awful. With all that being said, within the UK I'd recommend Scotland to live in.

 

Oh, and why not move to Ireland, instead?

 

Yes, because when I think of good food and excellent weather I automatically think of Scotland. I don't know what you've done to Pidesco, but it must be something bloody terrible to make him try and trick you into moving to Scotland.

 

I didn't say that Scotland has good weather and good food. The whole of the UK suffers from those problems. Scotland just has some mitigating factors, like the beautiful cities, the wonderful castles, the whisky, the highlands, and the kickass dialect.

[Humodour]

The Scottish accent is about 100 times sexier than the typical British accent (which I'm sorry to say is often actually worse than some American accents!). Scotland is also a nice cultural and intellectual hub.

 

But there's nothing wrong with English food! Certainly Australia has branched out a lot since colonisation but English food is still a delicious staple even up against Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Japanese.

[Pidesco]

But there's nothing wrong with English food! Certainly Australia has branched out a lot since colonisation but English food is still a delicious staple even up against Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Japanese.

 

Different tastes and all but; no.

 

British food, like most Northern European food comes from a grease based, sledgehammer style sort of brutish cooking.

[Monte Carlo]

I suppose if you sleep half the day and eat at midnight then you've got the time to come up with... tapas?

Edited July 28, 2010 by Monte Carlo

[Pidesco]

Well, yeah, the Spaniards like eating in small portions, but good tapas are still much better food than anything England ever made up.

[Monte Carlo]

Pork pies, Pidesco. You can keep your rice-with-prawns-in and acorn fed pigs. Give me a pork pie, a piece of cheddar and a pint of Fuller's London Pride.

[Pidesco]

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. No finesse.

[Raithe]

There is much to be said, for a well made breakfast fryup on a day thats cold, wet, and you have to put in a lot of physical work... It just doesn't work so well if you're stuck as an office drone.

 

But, the UK style of cooking is rather eclectic. We have a broad based history in treating our food like our language. We rifle every other culture we meet , adopt and assimilate.

 

For remember...

 

"We are the anglo-saxon collective. Your linguistic and cultural differences will be adapted to our own. Lower your pants and prepare to be boarded."

[Monte Carlo]

Apparently we also invented lasagne.

[Pidesco]

Apparently we also invented lasagne.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasagna

 

Wikipedia tells me that's an urban legend. Hah!