# Non-Americans: If I say "The Civil War", what do you think of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126 "2012-01-02T08:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126/21 "2012-01-04T11:35:56Z")
Why “civil war”? Isn’t warring a rather rude thing to do? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126/22 "2012-01-04T12:36:12Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Australian here. Without context The Civil War would to me reference the US one. > > As has already been said the most well known British Civil War has another name ie the War of the Roses that is used often as a reference name. The U.K. has had several civil wars, but as a Brit we always call the Cromwell one THE Civil War. (An incredibly bloody affair that makes the American one look almost civilised). If we’re watching an American programme, or a programme Ad. voiced in an American accent then we assume Civil war to mean the American one. But as to the O.P., Q.I. as seen on t.v. is seriously edited from what actually happened live on stage which lasts I believe approx.two and a half hours, (I’m open to correction if wrong but thats what I read on a Q.I. website) to what you see on screen. This is a guess only but I’d think that prior to the mention of the C.W. there were was conversation that put the war into context, but which was subsequently edited out. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126/23 "2012-01-04T13:28:08Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > The U.K. has had several civil wars, but as a Brit we always call the Cromwell one THE Civil War. > (An incredibly bloody affair that makes the American one look almost civilised)… I wondered about that statement. Wikipedia (yeah, I know–correct me if it’s wrong) says this about [the British war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War)–counting civilian dead: > [@](#): > > …These estimates indicate that England suffered a 3.7% loss of population, Scotland a loss of 6%, while Ireland suffered a loss of 41% of its population. The [US](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War)? > [@](#): > > It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Historian John Huddleston estimates the death toll at ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years old, and 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40. These are percentages of military-aged men; the other figures use “total population.” I think the US had a smaller percentage of civilian deaths. In both wars, deaths from disease may have outnumbered deaths in battle. Still, if you get to count Ireland, you probably win! As an American, in America, “Civil War” means ours. In a UK context, I’d assume that thing with Cromwell… ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126/24 "2012-01-04T13:59:42Z")
I tried to look it up earlier, but can’t find the cite at the moment (I know Wiki isn’t always accurate) but will try again, saying that fifty percent of the male population (Not adult male), died in the War. Of course the original item that I read could itself be innacurate. I find it so tiresome when people with their own personal agendas keep tampering with Wiki entries. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126/25 "2012-01-04T19:02:35Z")
Ireland had its own civil war and it is oft-referred to, especially in the political term Civil War Politics, however by context it’s almost always clear whether the Irish Civil War or the American one is being referred to on television or in other media. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126/26 "2012-01-04T21:24:29Z")
We had [one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Civil_War) of our own, it was pretty impressive as civil wars go if I do say so myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-if-i-say-the-civil-war-what-do-you-think-of/608126.md?page=1)