This is a pretty astute observations of the attitude of a significant minority in Britain, John!!
Especially those of a right wing persuasion who tend to read papers like 'The Telegraph' and the Daily Mail' which are not exactly paragons of balanced reporting!! They like to imagine the British Empire as a benign friendly thing that brought progress and civilisation to countries like India when in fact, they were bleeding these countries dry much like any other Empire before it!! They like to consider themselves the best in the World and sneer at others when in fact, our public services and infrastructure are now almost at third world levels and fail to realise these things are vastly superior in most other countries of Europe!! These are the people who have held this great country back for years and would rather see us slide into the gutter than admit we need the European Union!! Regards, Steve. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 7:50 PM Subject: [USMA:16435] Re: More metric items > 2001-11-27 > > But, I'll bet some people still think it exists. I have a feeling that > those who subscribe to the BWMA in some way, shape or form still feel a > strong nostalgia for the empire. > > Metric and Europe are seen as forces that remind Britain that the empire is > dead. To counter these forces, people who have this nostalgia do everything > in their power to promote English and to resist metric and the European > Union. To the empirists, it is grand when the British can rule and give > orders, it is defeat if the British are ruled over and take orders from some > other source, especially if those sources contains elements that were in > competition with the old empire, namely France and Germany. > > The loyalists to the empire are mostly old has-beens and young wanna be > has-beens! > > John > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Stephen Davis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, 2001-11-27 13:42 > Subject: [USMA:16433] Re: More metric items > > > > There's been no such thing as the British Empire for over thirty years, > > Jim!! > > > > > > Regards, > > > > Steve. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Jim Elwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 4:59 PM > > Subject: [USMA:16428] Re: More metric items > > > > > > > I mentioned "English citizen" only in an informal sense. I probably > meant > > > "someone who has lived or lives in England," as I do not know if > > > "digestive" is used in a similar fashion in all of the British empire > > > (i.e., Scotland, Wales, ....). (If I am using "British empire" > improperly > > > as a synonym for "United Kingdom," no doubt list members will correct > me.) > > > > > > BTW, the package that was labeled "digestive" has a description of > > "wheaten > > > biscuits, half covered with real milk chocolate." In the interest of > > > science, I opened the package and tried them. Very much like animal > > > crackers with chocolate frosting. > > > > > > Jim > > > > > > > > > At 05:01 AM 11/27/2001 -0800, Bill Potts wrote: > > > >Stephen Gallagher wrote: > > > > > > > >P.S. There is no such thing as an English citizen. > > > >People from the UK are British citizens (not British > > > >Subjects, by the way), as are people from Scotland, > > > >Wales, and Northern Ireland. > > > > > > > >You're both right and wrong. > > > > > > > >Regarding legal status, it's British citizen. However, citizen isn't > > > >exclusively a legal term and has a total of 10 definitions (OED). > > > > > > > >in the more general sense (and, in fact, the primary one), one can be > an > > > >English citizen, a citizen of London, a citizen of New York, and so on. > > > > > > > >I always look on myself as a citizen of the world, although legally I'm > > both > > > >a British and a Canadian citizen. > > > > > > > >Bill Potts, CMS > > > >Roseville, CA > > > >http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > > > > > >
