[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac]
Thanks, glee. I’m at least semi-familiar with most of the things on the list (as a matter of fact, I was watching Fawlty Towers just the other day). Ladybower Reservoir is a new one on me, though.
I’m also figuring I’ll need an accent, a subculture, and a football team. Maybe I can get some recommendations.
[/QUOTE]
Regarding a choice of football team…I agree with what Gorilla Man said apart from manure fans who mostly seem to come from the South of England and Hong Kong or anywhere other than Manchester.
However what you don’t do is support that shower from mould trafford.
An ideal choice would be ::cough, cough:: Manchester City.
OK, we live in the shadow of “that other lot” but you’ll find that our supporters are the most loyal in the country, always have been and always will be and there isn’t a footie fan anywhere that will disagree apart from so called fans of “that other lot”
We’ve had our good times and our bad but we still hang on in there, hope for a return of the late 60s early 70s glory days spring eternal in a Manchester City fan.
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac]
Thanks, glee. I’m at least semi-familiar with most of the things on the list (as a matter of fact, I was watching Fawlty Towers just the other day). Ladybower Reservoir is a new one on me, though.
I’m also figuring I’ll need an accent, a subculture, and a football team. Maybe I can get some recommendations.
[/QUOTE]
I tried to make an interesting list. Of course it was aimed more at older chaps, but we do have an extensive history here!
The reservoir was obscure.
It’s where Barnes Wallis did his WW2 ‘bouncing bomb’ experiments for the Dambusters (another theme tune you need to acquire…)
Accents can matter a lot to some people. I would steer clear of them myself, since nobody likes to think they are being impersonated.
On a related point, I moved to Rutland 17 years ago. Lovely countryside. I said recently that I was proud to be considered a ‘native’. I was calmly informed that since my parents came from London, I would always be a Londoner!
Supporting footie teams can be tricky. Under the rules referred to by Gorillaman I’m only allowed to support Spurs (since my childhood was spent a couple of miles from the ground, plus my Dad supported them.)
How about rugby? The violence is all on the pitch, the queues for food and toilets are small and nobody minds why you support that team.
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac]
Apparently not. It’s considered a “routine” oath, and the default assumption is that by taking this kind of oath, you are not renouncing your original citizenship. Now, if I were to enlist in the Gurkhas, maybe it’d be a different story.
[/QUOTE]
You could most likely enlist in the Gurkhas; becoming an officer might raise questions. I looked into this when I was getting my Canadian citizenship, and the presumption (in almost all cases) is that a U.S. citizen intends to retain citizenship despite routine oaths, military service, or even non-policy government employment.
[QUOTE=GorillaMan]
I’m afraid you don’t get to choose the latter. The rules about who you support are as strict as those for citizenship itself. Where was your mum from?
[/QUOTE]
Hounslow… but her parents were from Birmingham. Do I have to go Premier League, or can I shop the other divisions?
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
And you have to learn to like cricket.
And having a great-grandfather who was a well-known player doesn’t seem to help, unfortunately. I was hoping there was some sort of genetic predisposition or something, but no such luck.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac]
Hounslow… but her parents were from Birmingham. Do I have to go Premier League, or can I shop the other divisions?
[/QUOTE]
You can shop wherever you fancy matey, from the premier league down to the conference and even lower should you so desire.
Be it Accrington or Arsenal,Lincoln or Liverpool,Bolton or Bradford…once you pick your team that’s it…they are yours, a life sentence no matter what the fortunes of your club are.
A friend of mine supports Rochdale who have NEVER won a thing since they were formed about 100 years ago.
They have spent more seasons languishing in the depths of the English football league than any other side. To my pal they are his team and he will wax poetic about them at every opportunity, I admire his commitment to a lost cause
[QUOTE=Cicero]
Can I ask who it was Sunspace?
[/QUOTE]
Ditto that. I once played with the grandson of Charlie Parker (not the musician, the quick-tempered Gloucestershire left-arm spinner who only played one Test but was a holy terror on the county circuit) and can confirm that cricket talent isn’t necessarily heritable.
[QUOTE=Malacandra]
Ditto that. I once played with the grandson of Charlie Parker (not the musician, the quick-tempered Gloucestershire left-arm spinner who only played one Test but was a holy terror on the county circuit) and can confirm that cricket talent isn’t necessarily heritable.
[/QUOTE]
Suppose I’m American, and all my relatives can be traced back here for 400 years. I’m a mutt mix of various European countries… plus maybe 1/64 “American Indian”.
How hard would it be for me to gain citizenship into the UK, or various north/west European contries, compared to (white) people from those areas gaining citizenship to the US?
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac]
Hounslow… but her parents were from Birmingham. Do I have to go Premier League, or can I shop the other divisions?
[/QUOTE]
Preferably not Premier League. And with a Hounslow connection, you could head on down out of the Football League and make a case for following AFC Wimbledon.
[QUOTE=Eleusis]
Suppose I’m American, and all my relatives can be traced back here for 400 years. I’m a mutt mix of various European countries… plus maybe 1/64 “American Indian”.
How hard would it be for me to gain citizenship into the UK, or various north/west European contries, compared to (white) people from those areas gaining citizenship to the US?
[/QUOTE]
I am not informed on UK citizenship law.
I guess that there’s a ancestor limit (grandparents?) as to how far you can go back.
(And you shouldn’t have thrown all that tea into the harbour and signed that Declaration either!)
Presumably we could all emigrate to Africa, claiming past residence…
)
I said recently that I was proud to be considered a ‘native’. I was calmly informed that since my parents came from London, I would always be a Londoner!