# "Don't you guys have an independence day?"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 4, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549 "2004-07-04T22:19:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/1 "2004-07-04T22:19:31Z")
I was on the phone to an American today (work related) and he asked if we had an independence day. I said no, and that we were on the wrong side of that one. He said he had been speaking to someone in Ireland the other day who told him that we did.
Do we? (Britain or England)
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/2 "2004-07-04T22:21:43Z")
P.S. He’s not the kind of person to be unaware of the connection between Britain and America and Independence day.
P.P.S I am aware that I _might_ have spelled ‘Independence’ incorrectly.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/3 "2004-07-04T22:22:49Z")
No. I think the guy may have been on the receiving end of a wind-up.
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### Author:  [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/4 "2004-07-04T22:59:34Z")
Independence from what? Rome?
Hey, yeah, I forgot about that one. You guys bring the wine, I’ll bring an assortment of togas. A party’s a party as far as I’m concerned.
Or maybe it’s… aha. Maybe it’s an independence day from some Empire we used to be part of, but got independence from by sending someone back in time to stop it happening. So we don’t remember it.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/5 "2004-07-04T23:16:26Z")
I would think he meant “Don’t you have a holiday particularly devoted to celebrating your nationhood and all that it implies?”
What would come closest - the Queen’s Birthday?
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/6 "2004-07-04T23:38:00Z")
There used to be an Empire Day, didn’t there? Back when we had an empire.
Failing that … hmm … November 5th is the closest we get to celebrating our government and our nation, isn’t it? (Or at least acknowledging that it could, possibly, be worse.)
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/7 "2004-07-04T23:40:42Z")
> [@Steve Wright](#):
>
> Failing that … hmm … November 5th
I wonder why that stuck. the celebration of the death of a guy who tried to blow up the Parliment. That gives people the excuse to light fires… _fires_… Ah I get it.
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### Author:  [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/8 "2004-07-04T23:44:58Z")
> [@Steve Wright](#):
>
> … acknowledging that it could, possibly, be worse
That is a beautiful statement of our national identity. “Could Be Worse Day” would be a great success.
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### Author:  [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/9 "2004-07-05T00:08:49Z")
> [@Ross](#):
>
> That is a beautiful statement of our national identity. “Could Be Worse Day” would be a great success.
‘Could be Worse’ - New National Motto!
But seriously, how could you not celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings?
October 14, 2004 is the 938th anniversary of that defining moment in British history. Have a cuppa, eat a scone and view the Bayeux Tapestry! What a civilized celebration! Re-create the moment when Harold gets an arrow through the eye! Fun for the kids!
😉
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### Author:  [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/10 "2004-07-05T00:14:36Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#):
>
> view the Bayeux Tapestry!
But you’d have to go to France to do that…
😉
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### Author:  [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/11 "2004-07-05T03:32:13Z")
[Not](http://www.sjolander.com/viking/museum/bt/bt.htm) [necessarily](http://hastings1066.com/baythumb.shtml).
[Make your own!](http://www.adgame-wonderland.de/type/bayeux.php)
[Keep it on your coffee table!](http://www.thamesandhudson.com/en/1/0500251223.mxs?&0&0&0&6)
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### Author:  [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/12 "2004-07-05T04:05:08Z")
> [@Olentzero](#):
>
> [Not](http://www.sjolander.com/viking/museum/bt/bt.htm) [necessarily](http://hastings1066.com/baythumb.shtml).
>
> [Make your own!](http://www.adgame-wonderland.de/type/bayeux.php)
>
> [Keep it on your coffee table!](http://www.thamesandhudson.com/en/1/0500251223.mxs?&0&0&0&6)
[William I]
Oh sure, you kids with your mod cons! Taking the easy way out. In my day, if you wanted something, you kitted up an invasion fleet and took it! We crossed the Channel in my day, and we liked it. You just don’t realise how good you have it! What with your Magna Carta and your writ of Habeus Corpus and your gothic cathedrals!
Bah!
By the way, could someone restitch the blasted thing so that Edward the Confessor dies before he’s buried? Thank you.
[/William I]
🙂
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### Author:  [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/13 "2004-07-05T04:17:38Z")
“Could Be Worse” Day – the Mel Brooks variant:
“It Could Be Worse; It Could Be Raining” [followed by thunderclap and downpour]
😃
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/14 "2004-07-05T05:24:49Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> I would think he meant “Don’t you have a holiday particularly devoted to celebrating your nationhood and all that it implies?”
>
> What would come closest - the Queen’s Birthday?
Quite apart from the Queen having two birthdays (she gets an extra one in June to make sure it doesn’t rain :dubious: ), I really hope we could find something better than the monarchy to represent the nation.
In any case, there’s far too many complications in trying to celebrate ‘British’ nationhood. I for one wouldn’t be celebrating. (And don’t forget that in some places, November 5th still retains its overtly anti-Catholic origins. And Empire Day was, in part, a marking of QUeen (and Empress) Victoria’s birthday).
And finally…despite it being logical, celebrating the country though one of its invasions (ie 1066) seems rather odd.
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### Author:  [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/15 "2004-07-05T06:03:23Z")
I always thought Guy Fawkes day was the most like the 4th of July what with the fireworks and all, but I don’t know how widely it’s celebrated.
-Lil
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/16 "2004-07-05T06:12:16Z")
Guy Fawkes day is widely ‘celebrated’ across England, at least. (I put it in quotes because the extent of the celebration is ‘lets burn things and make things go bang’. Hardly deep or meaningful.)
I’ve no idea what the situation is across the divides of Scottish communities, but I suspect it’s far less universal, what with one of Fawkes’ supposed claims being that he wanted to ‘blow the Scotchmen back to Scotland’.
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### Author:  [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/17 "2004-07-05T06:13:10Z")
Never mind Empire day or November the 5th. If I had my way we would all celebrate last Tuesday. What a day! I had finally finished a pile of ironing the size of Ben Nevis and then had a cup of tea while watching Countdown. I even managed to get one of the conundrums! ~sigh~ We won’t see the like of _that_ day again!
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/18 "2004-07-05T06:16:00Z")
> [@legion](#):
>
> Never mind Empire day or November the 5th. If I had my way we would all celebrate last Tuesday. What a day! I had finally finished a pile of ironing the size of Ben Nevis and then had a cup of tea while watching Countdown. I even managed to get one of the conundrums! ~sigh~ We won’t see the like of _that_ day again!
‘Cup of Tea and Countdown Day’!!! Perfectly defining the nation’s character!!
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/19 "2004-07-05T06:38:09Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#):
>
> Guy Fawkes day is widely ‘celebrated’ across England, at least. (I put it in quotes because the extent of the celebration is ‘lets burn things and make things go bang’. Hardly deep or meaningful.)
What, you think July 4th is marked by articulate discussions of Kierkegaard and Socrates?
It’s just an excuse to blow shit up, man.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Blowing shit up rules.
🆒
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-guys-have-an-independence-day/253549/20 "2004-07-05T06:40:50Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> I was on the phone to an American today (work related) and he asked if we had an independence day. I said no, and that we were on the wrong side of that one. He said he had been speaking to someone in Ireland the other day who told him that we did.
> Do we? (Britain or England)
That might be your problem. _Ireland_ does. The United Kingdom doesn’t.
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