What is a "berk"?

Factual Questions
21

I wasn’t trying to insult your stuff, guys, I was just being a smart ass. I just wondered how in the hell this got started? I’ve found pages upon pages of rhyming slang on the 'net. This disturbs me greatly. [hijack]BTW, how did you guys learn about the Revolution of 1776 in your schools? This interests the hell out of me to find out how other cultures teach their missives to their young. I understand the Japanese pretty much ignore the rape and pillage of China and such… What do you guys learn about the tea party, and that stuff?[/hijack]

–Tim

We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.

22

Homer,

As Mattk and I posted, I don’t think rhyming slang is used except for the occasional word/phrase, or to interest tourists.

You have an interesting point about teaching history. It’s a long time since I was at school, but I think the Brits are reasonably fair because:

  • we have a lot of history (well, you know what I mean!), so individual incidents matter less

  • we’ve fought a lot of wars, so many countries have been both our allies and enemies (if you’re interested, I think Portugal is our longest-standing ally)

  • we had an Empire, but were reasonably gracious about giving it up (we still work together thru the Commonwealth)

  • we’re a small island, so were invaded less

23

Homer,

Our Head of History tells me:

we teach ‘Native American interaction with European colonists’ (i.e. Cowboys and Indians!) to 13 year olds, and

‘American History 1918 - 1945’ (i.e. boom, bust and the World Wars) to 15 year olds.

Most educated people pick up on stuff like the Boston Tea Party by reading, I expect.

24

Now there’s a telling statement. . .

Rich