Ok, the fact that i got no sleep last night doesn't help the matter, but come on! As mentioned in the Pre-Loved Apparel thread, I use eBay quite a bit for shopping. I get 50 kinds of irate when sellers give me grief about the fact that I live in Puerto Rico. I mean, stay in school, people! Puerto Rico is regular United States Postal Service. This is an American territory. The U.S. Post Office here is, in fact, a U.S. Post Office where it is required that one speak perfect English in order to work. I just got a message from someone from whom I bought a shirt on line explaining that they wanna' charge me $15.95 (the shirt cost me $10) to, "ship internationally." No wonder we Americans get the rep we get when traveling overseas. Never mind knowing about other countries and other peoples; How about knowing about your own country and your own peoples! You'll notice I highlighted the we a couple of sentences back to emphasize that as much as some people might hate it, this little island is, without a doubt, part of America. Ok, done now. End rant. EDIT ~ I just realized that I did not make it clear that the eBay seller is a U.S. seller, and a "power seller" no less. Must not take too much to get that title on eBay.
*crawls back under the sheets, pulls down the blinds, removes the stick pins from the bad-eBay-seller voodoo doll and tries to get some shuteye*
Yep, people who say England and Britain and the UK are the same things annoy me, as well, when they are very different. Same with the USSR and Russia. But calm down, not everyone is as enlightened as ourselves - especially not half the people who sell things on eBay Do not give those ignorant rednecks excuses! Recently a friend of mine went a bit west of the Mississippi (admittedly having made a stereotype already), and found that most people were friendlier than expected. Others had racist abuse scrawled on their cars, and a few recommended her to this site. She is a fanatic, literally, and that site took her by surprise!
okay. First. I am a redneck. and I know the difference. But, second, I spent about a half hour in class trying to tell my geography teacher that England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were all part of one country. He still won't believe me.
Em, sweetie... Actually they are not. From Wikipedia: It is a rather different set up than what we have in the U.S., so the confusion on the part of Americans is understandable. There are different names for the whole conglomerate depending on wether one includes some parts or others. The way their governmental system operates would lead Americans to consider England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to be what we would call states, but I can assure that the peoples of the aforementioned countries would disagree vehemently with the use of this nomenclature.
Like I said, most people in those areas are fine (well, according to my friend who visited - I've never been, and knowing that there are people there that are the glaringly obvious exception kind of put me off visiting). Hasn't he heard of Wikipedia? Sheesh, people like that annoy me. Can I convince you to keep trying to get the message across? And in reply to the other poster: actually, the Union is sort of irrelevant. Scotland has its own parliament, England has the Union parliament. England has no parliament of its own and very little control over its own laws, and hasn't had such for three hundred years They're not countries, they are part of a single country - the UK. They are, however, nations, and some (with the exception of England) have their own parliament. Scotland and England have their own legal systems (although not Wales, which was conquered by England). They're not really states. More like provinces. But it's only recent. After 1707 and up until the last decade, they were a single country beneath a single parliament, a Union of the parliaments and kingdoms of Scotland and England. And yep, I've dragged this way off-topic, so I'm gonna try and shut up now lol
A collection of former countries - only two out of four have their own parliaments. And that is a very recent thing. We are still nations, though, because we still have national identities and to a considerable degree separate languages. And damn me trying to shut up isn't working
Back on topic. That's just dumb. Has that person never seen a long-distance calling plan? Puerto Rico is almost always included in NATIONAL plans.
Rei, here's the kicker... I have, many times, made purchases from people in your country Canada*, and they were all very well aware that Puerto Rico was within the U.S. Postal Service system. *I bought some Kaffir Lime seeds from a lovely lady in British Columbia. When I asked her about her shipping costs to me she said, "Hun, regular shipping to the U.S. You do know you're in the U.S., right?" I had to explain to her the issues I had run into in the past which caused me to ask the question. We shared a good laugh, her and I.
How about the Texas directory information operator who told a caller that they didn't have listings outside the United States. The caller was asking about someone located in New Mexico. Sadly, this is a true story.
Okay, first (since I have no idea how to quote multiple people) what is the difference between a nation and a country? So, they're four different countries working under one government, except for two of them, which have their own governments?
Actually, just the other day did I learn the difference between the three. In the first few chapters where England was actually mentioned, my history textbook (The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century) uses Great Britain and England interchangeably, or at least subtly enough that I didnt pick up on the fact that the two terms do not mean the same thing. And even here on this forum --some of the English members here say they live in the UK as opposed to England; all this time I thought it was a modern or updated term of the country --like Burma is now internationally and officially recognized as Myanmar, you know? Anyone who has not been told otherwise would have no way of knowing. And the only reason I know that is because I had a friend who spent two years in Thailand helping Burmese refugees. The same goes for Puerto Rico; I have known that PR is not a state but is a US territory since I was very young because my dad immersed himself in Spanish culture in his college days and it therefore rubbed off on me. But for people who live in China or the Czech Republic, why should they care? But if this member was going to charge you out of ignorance and (s)he lived in the USA, that's a load of bull. I usually agree with you on most things, Wrey; but you should take a nap. Good that you caught her mistake, but I dont like it when people give each other grief over mistakes simply because they never crossed that subject in their lives. They'll remember next time. Americans arent exactly known for their international geography skills, but we know all of our states. I doubt any European could name all fifty states like I can; just like I cant name all of the countries and capitals within Europe. Out of sight out of mind, I guess.
Yup. The differing levels of autonomy and presence or absence of local governments does not make for easy comprehension to someone not from there. In the U.S. a state is a state. It's not like some have state level government and others don't. I agree. On both counts. It's a load of bull and I need a nap. Bad sleep = super cranky Wrey-wrey. :redface:
Right, I get that. I knew they weren't exactly states, and they weren't entirely separate countries. So they're all kinda in the middle...?
Silly silly book! I'm English, I live in England, but as it's part of the United Kingdom which is why I could say I come from the UK, it's more general I suppose. Wrey that is stupid, but it's eBay, you can't expect too much. It's stupid but true I'll admit my geographical knowledge of America is slightly crap...I only just learn that Los Angeles and San Fransisco are to the West...:redface: But I do know where most countries are in Europe, where I'm more likely to go. OK that isn't an excuse. I'm bad at geog.
Oh they are separate countries all right! But what is a 'state' if it isn't a country? I'm very ignorant about this..:redface: EDIT got it...'a political entity within the United States' rightio
Exactly! And it's nothing to make excuses for; when have you ever been to America, right? When have you ever needed to know? You dont care, it holds no importance to you, and most likely little to no interest. It's just where you live. Sophie, I know you said you'd like to live in France one day, and perhaps you've been there since it's a short trip across the channel; and from France it's not too difficult to reach Germany and from Germany... But in America, the only countries even remotely within driving distance are Canada and Mexico. (And that's only for a few of us. I would never drive, seeing as it would take me a little more than 48 hours to reach either border from my cozy laptop right here.) So of course we only know our own states and borders.
Haha you've summed it up better than I ever could Yes I've been to France lots, so I'm interested in the country, and you can reach other countries like Belgium in a couple of hours or so which is handy...if I went to America I'd find out more about the place (state! ) I was going to before I went. @ Xeno - ah OK ...lol I should really know that
To perhaps be more specific, a state is like a small country, you're right. Each has different rules within it; for instance, Vermont has legalized same-sex marriage, but in Indiana that is still not an option. However, we are all still ruled by one federal government that has blanket rules and principles, because, essentially, the same people who claimed Vermont also claimed Indiana. The reason for these state-lines (in modern times) is because a state like Hawaii --which is a collection of very small islands not even close to our mainland-- may be culturally rich in heritage from when it was once a kingdom, and those citizens might value certain subjects more than that same subject might be valued in Maine (the most northeast state, probably closest to you, Sophie) which has no connection to Hawaiian heritage, you know? I hope this helped some... I know a fair bit about government, but I am a bit rusty, so I apologize for any unclear spots.
