Aw hell, I say we just give the whole shebang over to the Canadians and move on. We’ll see how successful they are at getting hockey started in the Carribean. 
I can’t remember where I read this recently, but the penultimate governor of the British protectorate of Aden (now Yemen) said in the early 1960s that if the British Empire were to sink into the sea tomorrow, its greatest legacies to mankind would be Association Football and the phrase “Fuck Off.”
I just love how you included democracy in your list. 
No,no no. Fuckov is from a great Russia hockey player.
“He shoots! He Sc-ooores!”
“Who?”
“Fuckov. Pistov with the assist.”
Do you know, you could be the most consistently fucking stupid poster on this board. I must remember to look out for you attending a dopefest sometime, as I’d like to discuss that remark further.
On the other hand, I do vaguely recall good old Horatio Nelson paddling over to Copenhagen and beating the living shit out of the Danes.
You can’t go harking back to the Forkbeard. Dang it, we weren’t even a United Kingdom in those days, let alone an empire.
Um, are you being funny?
I’m not trying to be incendiary, but I do find it curious–most Dutch that I’ve met abroad go out of their way to disavow any allegience with the Afrikaaners. What do the cloggers really think of their cousins down south?
Sole purpose of the British Empire was to make sure the British crown got more stuff than the French crown or the Spanish crown or the … et., etc. In the process of doing this they found they ‘owned’ most of the world - mainly to stop the other chap from ‘owning’ it. I doubt many British, French or Spanish people were ever asked.
This seemed such a good game that newer nations like Germany and Japan thought they might to own large chunks too. (Even the anti-imperialist U.S. had a go in the Pacific.)
However I think that most of the 20th century proved rather conclusively that it was a bit of a bad idea, on the whole. I’m rather glad that the British Empire shut itself down, ‘comparatively peacefully’, rather than hang around unwanted like the French. So, speaking as an Englishman, I’ll think we’ll pass on your kind offer, this time.
On the other hand, red coats and white pith helmets did look rather smashing, old boy.
You merkins should be freaking grateful we had an Empire and populated much of your country - in particularly installing our language upon you. Otherwise you’d be forever worrying about accents and genders and cases.
And what have you done in return? Totally mess it up, mispronounce it, and spell things badly.
Hey maybe we should all just do what the Brits what us to.
Remember if it weren’t for them we’d all be speaking add whatever language
Yes, I was obviously being sarcastic. Dutch history is drenched in blood. Hardly anything to be proud of. It’s a good thing I have fuck all to do with it, other than to be born on the same piece of land. My point was that any flagwaving is ridiculous, especially based on the historical “merits” of a country. My country was once a superpower too. It benefited the Dutch only, and must have been a miserable time for anyone who happened to live in Indonesia or South Africa.
Can’t speak for all of us, but I’d say the general view is that whilst the modern Netherlands lobied hard to get the Apartheid regime out of the way, it is a fact of life that the same country stood at the very cradle of that system. Apartheid is the only Dutch word that made it into all other languages unchanged - says a lot about our history and influence.
How do we think of our cousins down south? Having been to South Africa, I can tell you there’s a world of difference between the two populations. White South Africans, as a whole, are culturally much farther apart from the Dutch than, say, Americans are from the British. There is still a lot of racism in RSA (on both sides, I might add). I’ve spoken to Boers whose words left me flabbergasted. I felt like I was transported back in time a century or two.
In fairness, Í’ve met plenty of decent, lovely folks down there as well, both white and black. But there IS a lot of hate and mistrust in that country, any South African will agree with me on that.
So, I guess we don’t think of them as our “cousins” anymore. The language (and Afrikaans is just beautiful!) is a reminder of the ties we once had. Other than that, the countries couldn’t be farther apart, and I don’t mean geographically.
Having said all that: it is the most beautiful country I have ever visited, and I can’t wait to go back.
Are you offended by Austin Powers movies? They tend to exhibit most of what I was saying. Why you think you have the right to not be offended is beyond me. This is is Pit after all. And where did I say that these were bad things? I said “I’m in”, did I not? Lighten up!
You will never meet me at a Dope fest. I certainly wouldn’t attend a party that would invite the likes of me!
pkbites, you are indeed a bit of an arse, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt in one area: in general, us Brits don’t indeed spend as much time and money at the orthodonitst as you Yanks, though clearly Austin Powers is an exaggeration.
However, you are so wrong about the women. Do a google on “brit babes” and you’ll see what I mean.
No, but I don’t think they’re documentaries.
Austin Powers is no more a documentary than COPS is.
Better yet, check out www. page3. com
What about “The Big Book of British Smiles” from the Simpsons.
You guys maybe are taking what pkbites says much too seriously and maybe need to get off your high horses. Are you so sensitive you cannot detect a joke when you read it? I’ve seen pretty many TV shows and movies that presented stereo types of Brits having bad teeth, “English humor”, and yes, even homely women with hairy legs.
Just sterotypes meant to be humorous. Maybe it’s the cold weather here that gives us Cheese Heads our overly sharp humor, but gosh, you do need to lighten up a wee bit.
I’m sure there are stereo types of Americans that Britions tell and laugh at.
Hayduke, regardless of how “funny” you find stereotypes, some people don’t find them “funny”.
Regardless, its all about intent. I personally didn’t see much intent of humor in his post. He was called on it.
If it wasn’t for us, you’d all be speaking Irish (and you know how bad Dubs are at that).