Country music is known amongst educated Saudis. They all studied in Texas at one time or another. One of our officers gets all misty-eyed about hash browns.
[QUOTE=Walloon]
American maple syrup would be even more expensive, subject to tariffs that products from British Commonwealth countries are not.
[/QUOTE]
Are there tariffs on non-Commonwealth imports to the UK? Seems like the WTO would stomp on that pretty sharpish.
[QUOTE=The Cocky Watchman]
Yeah, that is very true IME. I have never met anyone in the UK who told me that their hobby was hunting - it’s almost like there is a stigma to it. Even living in Scotland where deer shooting is fairly common on the estates, I’ve still never heard of anyone doing it recreationally.
I think the UK might be unusual in this respect though, shooting parties, fox hunting, hare coursing etc are seen as the preserve of the socially crass landed gentry. They’re not something the average Joe does by and large.
[/QUOTE]
I’m sure a lack of vast tracts of huntable lands might contribute to that, too.
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil]
I’m sure a lack of vast tracts of huntable lands might contribute to that, too.
[/QUOTE]
I reckon it’s a combination of land and cost. Anyone can do a days shooting (deer, duck, grouse, pheasant etc) but it can be extremely expensive unless you have a friendly landowner who allows you to hunt their land. My brother’s father-in-law hunts gamebirds on and around a certain country estate, and he’s not particularly wealthy.
A former boss of mine used to hunt alot, and would go deer-stalking in Scotland once a year.
There’s also a big difference in the way hunts are run. You’re not allowed to use blinds to hunt deer, you have to stalk them. Canned hunts are definitely not allowed.
I watched Louis Theroux in Africa a couple of weeks ago, and the American hunters in that were disgusting. They paid to shoot farmed animals from hides less than 100ft away and acted like they’d tracked their prey across the Serengeti. I wonder if that was representative of hunting in the US.
[QUOTE=Szlater]
Are there tariffs on non-Commonwealth imports to the UK? Seems like the WTO would stomp on that pretty sharpish.
[/QUOTE]
For that matter, are there tariffs on Commonwealth imports to the UK? I haven’t noticed that there is any economic benefit to belonging to the Commonwealth any more; there certainly isn’t a political one any more now that most of not all of the “overseas dominions” are politically independent of Mother Britain. Indeed, because of the UK’s membership in the EU, I wouldn’t be surprised if (for example) Canadian or Australian goods to the UK were taxed on import just as heavily as American goods.
[QUOTE=Spoons]
there certainly isn’t a political one any more now that most of not all of the “overseas dominions” are politically independent of Mother Britain.
[/QUOTE]
Not really what you meant but being a Commonwealth citizen does allow you to vote and stand for election in the UK, if you’re a legal resident (you don’t need to be a naturalised citizen unlike people from non-Commonwealth countries). Bryan Gould is a New Zealander and he was an MP, a shadow cabinet member and ran for leadership of the Labour party in 1992 (he lost to John Smith).
[QUOTE=Kyla]
Missed the edit window, sorry.
Clearly you have not been to Turkey, then. I’d actually put the Turks ahead of the US for displays of patriotism for their extreme devotion to Ataturk. His picture is EVERYWHERE.
[/QUOTE]
In Cyprus it’s even weirder. Many Greek Cypriots fly the Greek flag alongside their own national flag. I would have thought this was a bad idea if they want to get back on friendly terms with the Turkish Cypriots.
[QUOTE=Szlater]
I reckon it’s a combination of land and cost. Anyone can do a days shooting (deer, duck, grouse, pheasant etc) but it can be extremely expensive unless you have a friendly landowner who allows you to hunt their land. My brother’s father-in-law hunts gamebirds on and around a certain country estate, and he’s not particularly wealthy.
A former boss of mine used to hunt alot, and would go deer-stalking in Scotland once a year.
There’s also a big difference in the way hunts are run. You’re not allowed to use blinds to hunt deer, you have to stalk them. Canned hunts are definitely not allowed.
I watched Louis Theroux in Africa a couple of weeks ago, and the American hunters in that were disgusting. They paid to shoot farmed animals from hides less than 100ft away and acted like they’d tracked their prey across the Serengeti. I wonder if that was representative of hunting in the US.
[/QUOTE]
Mostly no. IANAH, but I know many, and most that I have ever run across hate canned hunts. Some use blinds, some don’t, but those I know that use blinds are all bow hunters and are strictly after meat and a blind makes for a comfortable and effective perch towards that end.
I know an ex-Marine gun nut that hunts coyotes around here. Local farmers with livestock, etc pay him to rid their land of dens…and he gets to shoot things for fun that are an actual nuisance, if not menace, to the chickens, sheep, llamas and cows that are raised around here.
[QUOTE=Szlater]
I watched Louis Theroux in Africa a couple of weeks ago, and the American hunters in that were disgusting. They paid to shoot farmed animals from hides less than 100ft away and acted like they’d tracked their prey across the Serengeti. I wonder if that was representative of hunting in the US.
[/QUOTE]
99+% of game hunting in the U.S. is guys in the wild with a gun. They can drive animals and/or use a blind, but they’re still hunting a wild animal in a fair way.
What you describe does exist, unfortunately. There are private fenced ranches where hunters pay big bucks to kill big bucks in what is essentially a zoo.
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil]
Mostly no. IANAH, but I know many, and most that I have ever run across hate canned hunts. Some use blinds, some don’t, but those I know that use blinds are all bow hunters and are strictly after meat and a blind makes for a comfortable and effective perch towards that end.
I know an ex-Marine gun nut that hunts coyotes around here. Local farmers with livestock, etc pay him to rid their land of dens…and he gets to shoot things for fun that are an actual nuisance, if not menace, to the chickens, sheep, llamas and cows that are raised around here.
[/QUOTE]
Around here all the guys who use blinds use rifles. Bowhunters use elevated platforms but not blinds.
[QUOTE=Szlater]
I watched Louis Theroux in Africa a couple of weeks ago, and the American hunters in that were disgusting. They paid to shoot farmed animals from hides less than 100ft away and acted like they’d tracked their prey across the Serengeti. I wonder if that was representative of hunting in the US.
[/QUOTE]
Around here the deer are so plentiful that you don’t really need to stalk them. I check for deer sign, find a spot to sit, and I wait until I see one. Then I shoot it. No stalking involved just me sitting in one place until one crosses my path.
Marc
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Around here all the guys who use blinds use rifles. Bowhunters use elevated platforms but not blinds.
[/QUOTE]
:smack:
You’re right, that’s what I intended to say. Platforms.
One thing that is also different is food regulation. Cheeses in France that aren’t pasteurized is one example. I don’t think you can use unpasteurized milk to make cheese legally in America (to sell, anyway).
And can’t chefs in restaurants in Europe legally bag a pheasant or ten and put it on the restaurant’s dinner menu?
I know doing that in America is not legal, but I’ve been told by chefs here in the States that they were aware of that practice going on in Europe.
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil]
And can’t chefs in restaurants in Europe legally bag a pheasant or ten and put it on the restaurant’s dinner menu?
I know doing that in America is not legal, but I’ve been told by chefs here in the States that they were aware of that practice going on in Europe.
[/QUOTE]
Not in the UK. All meat for sale has to pass through the hands of a qualified butcher. My friend is a chef (he’s currently the executive chef at a castle, of all things) but a couple of years ago their groundskeeper culled the deer on the grounds. Before they could serve the venison to guests in one of the castle’s three restaurants they had to get a butcher in to sign off on the meat. He explained the reasoning behind this, but I can’t remember exactly what he said, but I’m pretty certain it’s simply to ensure that the meat is fit for human consumption.
[QUOTE=jsc1953]
Let me assume the role of college sports apologist (being a fan, myself): Americans fell in love with organized spectator sports 100 years ago…something to do with urbanization, Industrial Revolution, whatever. For reasons I don’t quite understand, two main outlets arose: professional baseball, and college (amateur) football. (Professional football lagged behind the college game for 30 or 40 years)
So if you wanted to take in a football game, you would hie thee to the local campus and watch the lads from State U pound their rivals from Tech College.
[/QUOTE]
Leatherheads, released just a couple weeks ago covers the rise of pro football in the '20s. I haven’t seen it so I don’t know how authentic it is.
Don’t forget waterfowl (ducks and geese). That’s by necessity done by lurking in a blind and shotgunning them before they land. Upland birds (pheasant and a little grouse) is entirely different, of course.
[QUOTE=DesertDog]
That’s by necessity done by lurking in a blind and shotgunning them before they land. Upland birds (pheasant and a little grouse) is entirely different, of course.
[/QUOTE]
Sorry. Guns, I meant, rather than rifles.
We don’t have upland birds here anyway.
[QUOTE=DesertDog]
Don’t forget waterfowl (ducks and geese). That’s by necessity done by lurking in a blind and shotgunning them before they land.
[/quote]
Unless you use a punt gun 
I always thought that using what essentially is a canon loaded with shot aimed, at waterfowl on the water rather than wing, was a little unsporting.
I’ve done some clay pigeon shooting, I’d quite like to try a grouse or pheasant shoot, I just don’t have the money to be a gun though.
Wooden houses delivered already erected by road.
I’ll have a cup of half de caff Colombian,monkey nut and all the other pretentions of the coffee culture.
Very,very wide roads.
Large cars.
Traffic lights strung across the road.
Graduation ceremonies for school children.
Whooping from the studio audience in sitcoms when actors display a skill from something they learned in acting school like dancing but the audience think that it really IS the character displaying new talents.
Very weak beer.
In the military singing cadences while running.
Very short holiday allocations for workers.
Nutso Christian Fundamentalist organisations.
People saying that I’m a fifth Greek,a quarter Irish and so on.
And the sheer size of the country.
[QUOTE=Lust4Life]
Wooden houses delivered already erected by road.
I’ll have a cup of half de caff Colombian,monkey nut and all the other pretentions of the coffee culture.
Very,very wide roads.
Large cars.
Traffic lights strung across the road.
Graduation ceremonies for school children.
Whooping from the studio audience in sitcoms when actors display a skill from something they learned in acting school like dancing but the audience think that it really IS the character displaying new talents.
Very weak beer.
In the military singing cadences while running.
Very short holiday allocations for workers.
Nutso Christian Fundamentalist organisations.
People saying that I’m a fifth Greek,a quarter Irish and so on.
And the sheer size of the country.
[/QUOTE]
Most of these are becoming popular around the world.
Starbucks is all over Japan, Korea, Australia and many other countries.
Graduation ceremonies for school children are becoming popular in lots of places.
I remember at school we always had the I am a fifth Greek,a quarter Irish and so on discussions.
[QUOTE=An Gadaí]
The Debs Ball is essentially the same creature, just a different name. I think in the UK they have Formals which are also essentially the same.
[/QUOTE]
They variously go by the name ‘formal’ or ‘prom’, but invariably are just a huge piss-up for a bunch of kids who just turned 18.