Dunno... I truly loathe soccer as much as a mystery to me as whatever tos Yankee / Sox people play... but I approve your list with the exception of Reeves and Mortimer who I have never seen outside that thing where one of them was dead and the Renault commercial..

Of course Tolkien was colonial born ... I wonder if this coloured the importance of home to him...

I think I read somewhere that he was very much affected by his mother's desperate need to return to the UK. Correct me if I'm wrong!

But, you mean you have not witnessed Reeves & Mortimer's finest creations, Mulligan and O'Hare? :eek: Truly grotesque! I forgot another fine comedy show which I must mention here - The Shuttleworths (Radio 4) and the TV spin-off, 500 Bus Stops.

If I may add: Yes Minister, Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served?, Withnail and I, to say nothing of Alex Guiness' Lavender Hill Gang and The Ladykillers etc etc ... :D

Does the land need wit that gave us Scotch, golf, men in skirts, Gregory's Girl and Sean Connery? Oh, and Saint "Mungo"?

Sorry all, but for my toonie, nobody, NOBODY is funnier than us Canucks. SCTV, Kids in the Hall, The Frantics -- the list goes on and on.

Pretty much all of the really funniest people in Hollywood are Canadian too: Leslie Neilsen, the writers of The Simpsons, Jim Carrey (OK, I admit, I don't find him funny, but many do) and, of course, William Shatner -- sure, he's no comedian (intentionally) but I figure we gave the world James Tiberius Kirk, and that trumps everyone else. :p

To continue on my nationalist rant. . .the following inventions are all Canadian:

Football
Basketball
Baseball
Hockey
Apple Pie
the Zipper
the Communications Satellite

and, last but never least,

Poutine! :smokin:

Hear, hear. There is no one like the wonderful Bill Shatner, and certainly no one can deliver a "KHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!" like he can.

I get far too much enjoyment from Star Trek. :p

I do like Yes Minister but at times it's like a reality show for me and can be uncomfortable to watch! That is how the senior grades really do act... :eek:

Fordim, I've some questions for you on a Canadian theme: Is Mike Myers Canadian (Wayne's World is another fave of mine)? And by 'football', do you mean the kind with quarterbacks and touchdowns? Football to me means the kind with Wayne Rooney and the offside rule and failing to win the World Cup, which surely is as British an invention as they come?

Myers is indeed as Canadian as maple syrup (90% of the world's supply of which is supplied by farms from within a 250 Km radius of my hometown).

And by "football" I mean the kind with quarterbacks and touchdowns -- although Canadian rules football (the original rules) includes some things that our friends to the south deemed unnecessary to their version of the game. . .much to my confusion and chagrin.

Don't feel too bad about English soccer -- at least your teams consistently qualify for play in the World Cup. . .is anyone outside Canada even aware that we have a soccer team?????

Am I very insular or has noone else heard of ANY of these (at least without some sneaky mugging up on Google)?
I think I am going to renew my acquaintanceship with Fordim's gauntlet very soon so it may as well be for a sheep as a lamb...

Hockey is played on grass by english schoolgirls in the winter
Basketball is basically netball. Ditto
Baseball is rounders which is played by english schoolgirls in the summer.
The football I recognise is played by a team of fifteen with no padding and is taken up by English girls at university when they are bored to tears by the above games.

Well my area provides most of the country's old people ... or so it seems ...

Gee home of Maple Syrup and the zipper? Gosh I have missed out on so much by not visiting Canada yet. Almost sorry my Pa didn't emigrate when he had the chance and stay with the "Vandoos"... I too could have been Canadian... :p

I adore Ealing comedy ...
Yes Minister is superb ... Ihave heard that truly it can be taken more or less as documentary but having failed the aptitude tests, I could neither confirm nor deny.... :(

You should have been so lucky! My grandfather was in the vandoos, btw. . .

Oh, and you can add to the list of Canadian accomplishments being the only armed force standing between Britain and Hitler for the six months after Dunkirk.

You're welcome.

PS Poutine is chips ("fries" to our American friends) covered with beef gravy and cheese curds. Food of the gods.

PPS We also invented beaver tails: a flattened loaf of sweet dough, deep-fried then dredged in cinnamon and sugar. *drool*

PPPS We also invented standard time.

PPPPS And the philips screw.

Actually you were the ones who got off lucky... my Canadian cousins are enough of a drain on the Canadian mental health budget so they probably wouldn't be keen or any more of the bloodline...though the few sane ones work in the immigration dept so who knows....


Well thank you for that... (I am fairly sure we still had a few squaddies left of our own but even so, very kind) To be fair .. my pa was attached to the Canadians for them to make a proper soldier out of him and he emerged to get "The most improved cadet" (though they called it something more obscure) on his return to Sandhurst so he can't speak too highly of them. Just don't get him started on the Americans..... And he was born in 1925 so you do the maths....

Poutine sounds utterly disgusting but I love bread and cinnamon so the beaver tail sounds better .... but I can feel my arteries furring at the thought of either....

The Phillips screw... is there a note of desparation creeping in... and time.... oh come on... :p

Speaking of cool achievements of where we live... New York's got the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. :p So there. Macy's being the world's second largest consumer of helium... Can you only imagine if all of the floats were to spring leaks over NYC? *Evil chuckle*
Hm... New York is known for some things. The Yankees, Mott's Applesauce, Kodak cameras, Hilary Clinton... :rolleyes:

But it's the scenic hills and whatnot that really count. ;)

Fea

Where I live has a unique fossil rich clay which geologists find fascinating .... says it all really.. :D

Send me directions and I'll be there post-haste! ;) Seriously though... art comes first for me, but this close >< behind it is science... more pointedly, geology. My hometown is part of a thirty-something mile long chain of antique stores. We don't even sell working things... just stuff that was cool a hundred years ago. Small wonder I get so involved in my hobbies.. .there's just nothing else to do.

Fea

Well if you look on a map of the uk .... oh hang on... if I give you directions... I also give directions to everyone I have offended and before you know it Prof Hedgethistle will be on my doorstep with his duelling kit..( I doubt pistols will pass customs but it could be Phillips screwdrivers at dawn..... :p )....and all the rest will be forming an orderly queue for me to apologise to them.. if I survive that is....

yeehah
 

born and raised in the appalachian mts. of pennsyvania. reside now in texas. whats interesting about texas? the bugs get really, really big here. kinda makes me think of bilbo fighting the spiders of mirkwood whenever I dodge a big web from tree to tree :eek:

Yup, I'm one of very few Swedes here. I've found two so far: Eärendil and Gothmog. Woo!

I live in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Kinda nice place.

After reading this thread it is easy to see how the BD's has become of my primary sources for news and geographical information. I think I have learned more about Canada from Fordim's rant than from history class, and how else was I ever supposed to know whether the Sox beat the Yankees? (wanders away muttering about the Cubs... :rolleyes: ;) )

Back on topic, suffice it to say that I live in the Midwest USA - I'm not really allowed to say more than that.

And the Oshcar for the besht actresh in a shupporting role...
 

Hey, you forgot the invention of fire ;) Sorry, I'm mocking, I'll shut up...you just gave me a whole list of random trivia that I can attempt to catch people out with ;)

Beth, my dear, let's be specific about this: It's the land that gave us Sean Connery saying the immortal line "And the oscar for the best actress in a supporting role goes to..." (Just...just insert 'sh' for every 's')

Pure classic brilliance. Somewhere backstage, someone was laughing...*sigh* Good times...

NightKnight, you are not alone! :) I'm a Swede to! ;P
As long as I've been here, I haven't met another Swede!

Oohh, hello then. :p Where do you live?

Well, leave out the cheese and then you have chips ‘n’ gravy, a dish of the gods if ever there was one and I fully applaud the Canadian culinary taste. One of the finer points of cuisine where I grew up was exceptionally good gravy, preferably eaten with mushy peas and Steak & Kidney Pudding, also known as a "Babby’s ‘ead". On the subject of cheese, Apple Pie was also traditionally eaten with a great lump of cheese. Prefer custard myself.

Claims to fame from the area I grew up in? Many marvellous, weird and wonderful bands and successful football teams (those that don't play in a red strip of course), incomprehensible regional accents, disgusting culinary habits such as cheese and apple pie...

The tests I did were easy peasy (spelling, putting things in alphabetical order), but then they were for the downtrodden admin grunt grade - the ones they are trying to fire in huge numbers, grrrr :mad: . Trying to get straight in at any higher level necessitates a weird skill combination of mind-reading and the black arts. I know people with MAs and PhDs who have failed to get in. So feel quite pleased with yourself. ;)

Indeed Aman, I was most disappointed to learn that Sir Sean was not offered the part of Gandalf for our favourite film trilogy. ;)

I would offer a huge list of Scottish achievments a la Fordim, however I am as un-patriotic as they come so I don't think I'll bother. I think there was one other Scot on the Downs but she hasn't been around for ages.

And as for kilts, they definitely rule! :D

Glad you assume it wasn't the easy peasy ones I failed..... :p

Wow...that's like, uh...kinda close to me. :D

Estel and Firefoot- Midwesterners rule!!
Heh... expect to be muttering about the Cubs for the rest of your life. ;)
Yeah, no kidding. My cousin in Houston used to collect bugs and show 'em off when I went down to visit.

And Fordim, I'm astounded. I had no idea that all of those things were invented by the Northern United States of Amer- uh... I mean Canada. :p :D

I've moved - West Kensington ahoy
 

And I'm in the right side of the best city. Life is good. Plus, the Empire is seconds from me down the road and I get free gig-tickets direct from the labels. Life is good. My local bar used to be a public convenience, but is now a hazy sofa-strewn über-bar that plays excellent music (well, my records, anyway!). Life is good. I walk barefoot across the road to the off-licence and grocery shops. In that order. Life is good.

The moral of the story is: don't live in Docklands. Ever. *shudders*

...you have a football team?

Sorry, far too easy, but it really had to be said ;)

I didn't read through all the thread but I guess there aren't many germans here, huh?
I live in Karlsruhe a city in the southwest of germany. I was to the states 3 times 'cause I have two aunts in Seattle and I loved the time. So after school I'm going to visit the states for half a year or more...

Well, Estelyn Telcontar is German... she's the only one I know of, though.

I do indeed live in Germany, though I'm not actually a German citizen; another member, one of the administrators, is German - Sharkû. There have been others who have popped in occasionally, but of the regulars, that's all I know of. Welcome to the Downs, Durfuiniel!

I always thought you were German, Esty. Now I find you to be like my sister, who lives in Germany and is Georgian citizen. Perchance you are my sister? ;)

*Gasp* Could it be? Could the powerful female administrator, Estelyn Telcontar, really be the sister of Heren, the lovable but cunning Downer who secretly plans to take over the 'Downs?! And what about Mark12_30 - can such a cheerful figure really mean well in 'innocently' suggesting the opening of The Gauntlet Inn - a place designed specially for fights? And can this have anything to do with Mithalwen's recent disappearance...? Tune in next time to find out on 'Who's that 'Downer?', the LotR community's favourite forum-soap!

Yes...well. Ahem. Indeed. No...germans here. *pause* If you'll excuse me...

;)

Oh dear, I hate to disappoint you, HI and Aman, but I'm nothing that interesting at all! I'm only bilingual, and since those two languages, neither of them Georgian, are English and German, I'm obviously not HI's sister. I am a U.S. citizen by birth, German by descent, and have been living in Germany for many years. 'Nuff information?!

Not quite- we just need your SSN and address and then we'll be all done.

I'm also of German descent, but I've never been to Deutschland. I'd like to go though, mainly to see all those große alte Schlösser, or however you say it.

But there's all that water between here and there. Very deep water. I'm scared of oceans... they're just not natural (oder natürlich, for you German sprechers out there).

And Esty, are you going to be coming to my city any time soon? I'm still depressed about not getting to meet you last time you were here.

Anyway- getränkbier und essen Sie bratwursts!!

Drink beer and eat your sausages? I am intrigued... perhaps there is a hidden metaphorical meaning behind this sentiment? ;) Perhaps not... I was never good at simple messages... overthink them and all.

My descent is of the Western European Mutt variety. Some English, Welsh, Irish... But as my family is generally unaware of where my mother's side of the family came from, you could conceivably throw in any nationality and I might have a blood-relative from there. But mostly... English and Irish. No German...

Fea

Chicago. Home of our queen Oprah.

Well, there really are some great castles in Germany, and very different ones. Old from the Middle-Ages and newer ones from the barock(is it called barock in english, too?). But if you like old buildings, you should visit France because there are many old churches which are so fascinating....
wow, so there are people here who speak german pretty good*smile*
Do people in America(or England or whereever) really think all germans are beerdrinkers? I'd love to her some other prejudices about us Germans, that's really interesting I think.... so please tell me your view of germany :)

Great philosophers. Especially Kant. :)

No, but the fact that a mug of beer costs less than a cup of tea doesn't help your case much. ;)

Maryland is home to the famous Michael Phelps...and blue crabs. ::shrug::

-Aylwen