Not to change the subject or anything, but I hope this will lighten the vibe here... I took my grandpa to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes. We decided to grab a bite at the food court. I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, and blue. My grandpa kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find him staring every time. When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matterold man, never done anything wild in your life?" Knowing my grandpa, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke onhis response; knowing he would have a good one. And in classic style hedid not bat an eye in his response, "Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."
Guys, I wouldn't take it personally about the booing. It was stupid, plain and simple but let’s put in perspective. The vast majority were Northern Monkeys from the wrong side of Watford who don’t get out much, let alone travel to Vegas. Gallons of cheap Beer along with the thought of screwing some little stunner hooker that night tipped them over the edge....to most of those kids it was the trip of a life time. They got caught up in Mob mentality. The support for Hatton was fantastic, the pathetic Booing was just plain ignorant. I have a blue passport and a red one and I left England before we all had to learn the Pakistani national anthem. Now There's something to Boo about. Flack jacket on.....
I fully agree with what you said, that living language is an evolving beast (very well put I have to remember that) , but do feel the need to stress that English is a Anglo-Frisian languages (sometimes called Insular Germanic). It was later influenced by the language of the Vikings (Old Norse). The Norman Conquest of England in changed the evolution of the English language. For about 300 years after this, the Normans used Anglo-Norman, (close to Old French). By the fourteenth century, Anglo-Norman borrowings had contributed roughly 10,000 words to English, of which 75% remain in use. During the renaissance, many words were borrowed directly from Latin and Greek. During the renaissance and nidevial times latin based languages were considered finer languages and people wanted to surpress the English languages “barbarian roots”. Being that English is my second language I think it is VERY interesting to see and hear how the same language is used by people in different places. I do not think that standard American English and standard English spoken in England differ THAT much. However, once you start “mucking about” with dialects things do get VERY interesting. ….what this has to do with football…well that is a different issue… By the way here is a sample of what English used to look like before the Norman Conquest: Him ða gegiredan Geata leode ad on eorðan unwaclicne, helmum behongen, hildebordum, beorhtum byrnum, swa he bena wæs; alegdon ða tomiddes mærne þeoden hæleð hiofende, hlaford leofne. (Oh, I left out the Celtic finfluennces...but I assume people are bored allready...)
i must admit to cringing when the national anthem was disrespected - not nice at all, that was down to drunken mob little ingunders - however the support shown by Ricky's 'northern monkeys' was unbelieveable, lets face it - there are quite a few matches in MLS that dont get that kind of support - never mind travelling half way across the globe to watch your hero. and by the way phil - the wrong side of Watford is the south!. Loved the way the professional Brit haters come out of the woodwork on here i.e. 'considering these ********s would be speaking german if it wasn't for us 'yanks'' . Just wait till next spring when 20,000 welshmen will descend on you to watch Calzaghe dismantle Hopkins ! apologies for mispellings or bad grammar - its 430 am here and im so tired!!
No offense, but Goldberg's traveling support was unbelievable also... Ricky Hatton is just the latest nationalistic flavor of the month for much of England, and I don't get why people would spend their hard earned cash traveling the world to watch a guy who ripped his nickname off Bret Hart box. Just a difference of opinion i guess, which is what makes the British invasion to this board fun.
You really need to go watch him fight in Manchester. He isn't a flavour of the month, he was beaten to Sports Personality of the Year by another publicly voted boxer- Joe Calzaghe. He has always had massive support, largely because of his association with Manchester City.
Many a true word said in jest, better not come back the local taxi drivers have just issued a fatwa on your head, think thats what they call it.
…so you left the UK with it’s 1.8 million Muslims for the US who according to the State Department and The Britannica Book of the Year estimates that there are 4,175,000 Muslims in the United States………………..and you live in Florida, a bi-lingual sate due to immigration. Humm…….I am obviously missing the point…
Yes you are and have. The whole of England fits into Florida. Only 6% of Noth America is developed. There may be many more Muslims here(I said Pakistani's not Muslims) but the country is so vast and they are spread out, you dont have to live on top of them. Also, I like my wife being Bi........
Bilingual? or.... Actually Jonas, 4.6 million muslims here in the USA disappear almost completely unless you go to some city or district that is distinctly muslim.
Good points...and points taken. Florida is such a multicultural state I just found your comments a bit...well, odd. If you lived in Montana or Idaho I probably would not have commented. Still, there are 747,285 Pakistanis in the UK (that is 1.3% of the total population) and I guess one could add Indians who there apparently are 1,053,411 (1.8% of the population) and 283,063 (or 0.5%) Bangladeshi. Does not seem like THAT many. A significant bunch….but still… Anyhow, I hope to move to England one day. Probably not forever but I really need to spend more time there. Another thing I HAVE to ask. I went to Florida (Orlando to be exact) and the place was crawling with Brits (and Brazilians). I do not mean this in a bad way, I was just surprised. Every were I went Brits and Brazilians outnumbered Americans, sure most were tourists but still. They even had The Daily Mail Orlando. I honestly did not expect that (but it was fun to read what a horrible person Sven-Goran Eriksson is and how he knew next to nothing about football and reading all these ads about refinancing “your US summer home” …..and 100% English owned Pubs with Premiere League games listed) Then I noticed while watching shows on BBC America like The Office, Midsummer Murders, Prime Suspect and plenty of others that Florida and Orlando was mentioned several times. (I think Wayne Rooney has a house outside Orlando as well). I am just curious, is this very typical of Brits, wanting to move or spend holiday in or retiring to Florida.
Disappear and disappear... I guess it depends on how you see it. Anyhow, it is not as if the US is as WASP as all those Norman Rockwell paintings used to portray it, right...especially not Florida...
Unfortunately the pakistanis and bangledeshis practice a very conservative way of Islam unlike the turks for example and are assimilating into British society at a snails pace. The demographics show that the pakistani population will grow by 50% in 15 years and the Bangladeshi by 70% in 15 years, due to birth rate and the fact that 70% of their children do not marry within the uk but bring in a spouse from their mother country, This is not the case with any previous cultural wave of immigration. The indians are assimilating into western values and culture much quicker and so are more readily accepted by the indigenous population of the UK. No opinions matter anyway because globalisation is unstoppable.
Quick update on the Booing from friends who have just returned. Im told the Booing was not an Anti American thing, something much simpler. Tom Jones was singing the English national anthem outside of the ring, he was cut short after about a quarter of it by the annoncers etc....that went down like a burning Zepelin with the Fans, hence the misguided Booing.
Its the most popular destination for British tourists by quite a long way (in terms of those going to America). I'd say between 80 and 85% of UK tourists going to the states go to Florida. Holiday companies offer package deals to the attractions/flights and hotels for as little as £900 per person ($1,800) Quite a few footballers have American homes, a few have even been on shows like the UK version of MTV Cribs. Why you found yourself watching midsummer murders is beyond me. Its the worst daytime show on TV (apart from most of the others). My step-mum is a New Englander (big Revs/Pats fan), and they still have a house her parents left her there. They go over once a year.
FYI. Im a Real Estate Broker here in Orlando. We sell Vacation homes to mainly Brits, have done for 10 years. Not timeshare, single family homes that people buy near Disney etc and then rent them out to other people coming on vacation to cover their costs etc. I have sold homes to many English Fotballers, Allan Thompson, Ian Wright, Reo-Coker, and more. It's a huge industry here and now we are seeing more and more US buyers coming here to purchase homes, especially from the Asian community in California. Not a plug, but this is what I mean www.totallyflorida.com
Very interesting and as you say, quite cheep as well. It would be fun to watch the UK version of MTV Cribs...I have to take a look and see if I can catch it next time I go to Sweden. You will probably faint now, but Midsummer Murders is very popular with Swedes. Maybe it is because we all have overdosed on meatballs Ok, more seriously in Sweden it is showed on the same network that shows The Sopranos (SVT, BBC so to speak) and Midsummer Murders have surprisingly much better ratings. (When you fly international flights with Scandinavian Airways between the US and Sweden they always have a selection of films and an episode of Midsummer Murders!!!) I got BBC America last year and realized how much I missed British TV. Life On Mars series II just started. Fantastic! Now I am waiting for the new Wire in the Blood episodes. I wish BBCA had some football/sports focused programs….but then, Setanta and Fox Soccer Channel (the latter should be called Sky Football Channel US) fills that void.
Thanks for the information and the link as well. Very interesting indeed. I know this is not football related at all, but how many Brits vacations in Florida in a year? Manybe you could jusy guesstimate? The same with brits who own properties down there?
Alan Thompson has just moved in on the same street as my Mums sister, think he still has a house in Scotland as well. His son was the mascot at one of Leeds' games this season (dad is club captain).
Around 2.5 Million Brits Vacation here each summer along with a huge number for Easter and Half term breaks in the UK. In the Four Corners area of Orlando near Disney, 'Short term rental" community's have sprung up everywhere because of the demand for Vacation homes buy a mainly UK market. The Brits love Florida and the US, It' half price, why wouldn’t they. In the super markets here, we have the Ethnic section where they sell UK necessities like English Mustard and Mint Aero's. We have an English food store here that we get anything we want.... Personally, I stay well clear of the tourist areas, badly dressed people in England shirts and Bum bags (fanny packs) and large pale white wives wearing licra shorts....not a pretty sight......