Thomas Hardy

Rick Johnson   Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:29 am GMT
<<humor such as seen on shows like Arrested Development (still not very well known even in the US and probably not around the world) are top-notch.>>

It has aired in the UK on BBC3-I've seen a few episodes. I going to cut against the grain and say that I actually liked Friends and also the Simpsons back in the days when it used to be understated and funny.
Gjones2   Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:40 pm GMT
>America doesn't have a culture. [Adam]

Here's what I wrote previously when somebody claimed that American culture was a "tabula rasa" [blank slate -- Latin expression sometimes used in philosophical discussions about the origin of ideas]:

>"American Culture is TABULA RASA"

If you'd read American philosophers such as William James and Charles Sanders Peirce, you'd be more likely to understand that the 'tabula rasa' concept doesn't apply here.

By the way, let me mention just a few of the writers that this country (without a culture) has produced: Franklin, Jefferson, Emerson, Thoreau, Edgar Allan Poe (who greatly influenced French poetry), Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, Twain (characteristically American in his subject matter -- and, by the way, one of the most quoted persons on the net), Walt Whitman (also characteristically American in his subject matter), William James, Henry James, Melville, Jack London, Steinbeck, Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Faulkner, Robert Frost, Kerouac, Salinger. If none of these names is familiar to you, then I ask you to consider the possibility that the defect lies in your own education rather than in the blankness of American culture.
Gjones2   Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:45 pm GMT
>Blackadder: "Answer the door please, Baldrick."

That joke would be helped considerably if you used the original wording -- "Get the door, Baldrick."
Gjones2   Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:51 pm GMT
>Gjones, Langcafe didn't get politicized until you showed up. [Uriel]

I responded to political posts that were already there. There may not have been political debate before I showed up (that's because to have a debate, there must be a dissenter who attempts a refutation), but the politicization was already present in the initial political remarks.
Gjones2   Sat Nov 05, 2005 2:24 pm GMT
>Before that it was pretty low-key (and I don't think all the political BS is much of an improvement, either.) [Uriel]

Yes. It's easy for people to be nice when others are agreeing with them or talking about matters with no strong emotional associations. The test comes when somebody dissents about a topic that they really care about (and, even worse, points about errors or fallacies in their posts).

Actually I believe it's best that language forums stay away from provocative political topics in the first place. There are plenty of political forums for the discussion of such topics.

In the language thread about "les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières" and proverbial versions of it in other languages, I took the trouble to replace the proposed English version with a more common and idiomatic one "mighty oaks from little acorns grow", and even went on and found a Chinese version from Lao-Tzu. Yet these suggestions remained unacknowledged in the translation list. Why? Probably because of the distractions and hard feelings created by the political thread.
Gjones2   Sat Nov 05, 2005 2:27 pm GMT
points about errors -- points out errors
Adam   Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:04 pm GMT
"My favourite comedy of recent times is 'The Office', a mockumentary set in, well, an office, but I know people who don't get it at all. "

Have you seen the American version of The Office? It's bad. I so a bit of it, and it was embarrassing. I'd just stick to watching the British one with Ricky Gervais.

American TV is bad. Britain only has 5 terrestrial TV channels but the quality of TV we get here far surpasses that in the US.

And, bear in mind, us in Britain only receive the BEST that American TV has to offer, and even most of those are crap.
Candy   Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:07 pm GMT
<<Have you seen the American version of The Office?>>
Hell no!!
Guest   Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:08 pm GMT
Adam is time for you to upgrade your brain ! A bilingual one ! But with two neurons.

Why the Brits don't study any foreign languages ? You need at least 2 neurons for that !

Why the Brits don't brush their teeth ? You need at least 1 neuron for that !
Candy   Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:09 pm GMT
Are you going to post that on every thread?
<yawn>
Guest   Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:09 pm GMT
why, are u a brit ?
Rick Johnson   Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:30 pm GMT
<<Britain only has 5 terrestrial TV channels but the quality of TV we get here far surpasses that in the US.>>

You must be the only person in Britain under 70, who only has 5 channels. Even most Boltonians can afford £30 for a digitial box to get another 30 channels for free.
Ren   Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:21 pm GMT
<You must be the only person in Britain under 70, who only has 5 channels>

That could explain his narrowminded ideas.
Uriel   Sun Nov 06, 2005 2:25 am GMT
<<And, bear in mind, us in Britain only receive the BEST that American TV has to offer, and even most of those are crap. >>

No, you don't, Adam. When I was in the UK, I saw obviously American shows that I had never ever even heard of. Finally, one day, I saw one of them on American TV -- at two in the morning.

That choice time slot should tell you a little something about how well-received it is in the US.
Guest   Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:41 am GMT
TV in UK is much better than in the US ! Simply because in the UK and the rest of EU you have to pay for it !

You have to pay extra for a TV licence, even if you have and pay for cable or satellite !!

A TV licence in UK is 120 pounds (210$) / year. If you need some extra channels you get cable TV for an extra (at least-200 pounds (400$) / year !!!

A total of 600$/year for TV! Belive me guys at this price you get quality TV.

But who's watching TV in EU is either Adam, idiot, pensioner or handicapped.