We need threads about all the countries Bloopers are from, yo!

Have you been here? If so, did you like it? Why or why not? Would you like to visit? And what do you think of our country - the government, our culture, the people (clue= they rock)?

For those that don't know, the UK consists of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and the correct name is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Thank you for the last line to save any confusion (and any irritation on my part with (a) the English who say 'England' when they mean Great Britain, and (b) the Americans who do the same thing!).

Obviously I'm British, so a little biased. The main thing I hate about this country is the weather! (Especially in Scotland, although it is distinctly better now I've moved from west coast to east coast!) Then there's the people who take advantage of the social care system, and who seem to think there's no need for any personal responsibilities.

However, that said, they represent a minority of British people. Most Brits are lovely people. And we have a brilliantly dark sense of humour. ;D I also love that we have a national health service, which for the most part delivers excellent health care to everyone regardless of how much money they have. I love that we can drink alcohol at the age of 18 (which I think is more appropriate than 21), and that smoking is banned in public places. I love that (in Scotland at least) we have a pretty decent state school education system and that kids are encouraged to learn about other countries, cultures and religions.

We also have some amazing countryside (particularly in Scotland), but right next to big cities with everything you could possibly need. We're near to mainland Europe too which provides even more opportunity for travelling and experiencing other cultures. And domestic and European flights are pretty cheap here.

From personal experience Scotlands weather is like hell on earth. IMHO anyway. Cold,wet, windy and did I say wet.

I live in England and it's so fantastic here :D I love it ♥

Well, it's good to see that even despite your clear explanation of what Britain is, it still only took 3 hours for an American to come on here and use the terms 'English' and 'Brit' as if they were the same thing.

*sigh* Despite my many many many efforts to explain this to the masses of Bloop, I now give up.

hehe, I like to rant about this on a regular basis to to NO AVAIL. People just don't understand, or choose not to!

I've never visited, but I'd like to!

I think the UK has a lot of heritage and history. It's an old country relative to Australia (a stupid thing to say, since Australia is younger than quite a few countries). But I'd love to go there and see all the historic buildings - Big Ben, for example. xD From what I've seen on TV, England looks quite pretty.

Hmm, actually, I have a stupid question! Is the UK (Great Britain) considered a country?? Or are England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales countries? I am inclined to think the latter... but then what does that make the UK?

I also have the stereotype that it's constantly cold and cloudy and sometimes rainy - for that reason (if it's true!) then I couldn't live there!

I love British humour... am addicted to Monty Python. And the accent is lovely! I wish I had that accent instead of my rough-sounding Australian accent! Apparently the Australian accent is one of the worst in terms of incorrect pronunciation of things.

I can distinguish between English, Irish and Scottish accents. To me, I think a Welsh accent would sound most like a Scottish or Irish accent.

From watching many UK television shows on Lifestyle Channel (e.g. Grand Designs, Property Ladder... xD) I do also know that there are different kinds of English accents. But if there are different Scottish, Irish and Welsh accents, which I assume there are, then I probably couldn't distinguish between them.

Strictly speaking Great Britain is the country made up of the kingdoms of Scotland and England and the principality of Wales.

The UK = Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Ireland is a seperate country but is split into Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (not part of the UK, and has a seperate currency)

Politically speaking we have a British government, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are devolved nations and we each also have our own parliament (with limited powers to control mostly health, education etc).


Compared to Australia it IS cold! Our summers are about 25 - 30 degrees at best. And winter can be as low was -10 in Scotland. Certain areas (particularly west coast) are very wet.

Welsh accent doesn't sound at all like a Scottish or Irish accent (although they're slightly similar to each other). The accent Welsh probably sounds most alike to is the Newcastle (in northern England) accent. But it's pretty different to every other accent really.

Yes, the southern Irish accent is much stronger than the northern Irish accent (which is more similar to the west of scotland accent), and there's different accents within Scotland too, but it's subtle, so I'm not sure you'd detect it if you didn't live here.

haha, you forgotten to mention "The British Isles", just to confuse matters further... since that is a geographical name and includes the island of Ireland (!), mainland Britain, Isles of Man and Wight, all the Scottish islands, etc.,

NO, YO - WELSH ACCENTS SOUND TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM SCOTTISH AND IRISH ACCENTS. SCOTTISH AND IRISH SOUND A LOT MORE LIKE EACH OTHER, WHEREAS WELSH IS SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY. LIKE IT HAS A WHOLE SINGSONG ASPECT TO IT. GOSH, YO, WHEN I TRY TO DO A WELSH ACCENT, I JUST TOTALLY MAKE MY INTONATION GO ALL SINGSONG, AND THEN THE ACCENT FOLLOWS. AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE WELSH ACCENT IS THAT THEY TOTALLY DON'T HAVE A 'DARK L'. LIKE WHEN MOST ENGLISH SPEAKERS SAY 'LITTLE' THE FIRST L IS A CLEAR L AND THE LAST L IS A DARK L. BUT WELSH HAVE THEM BOTH AS CLEAR L'S, YO! GOSH, I ALWAYS ENJOYED WELSH PEOPLE SAYING MY TOP SECRET REAL NAME THAT ENDS WITH L, YO! ;D

Oh and just for fun, I quote a Monty Python gem:

"We think that your American beer is a lot like making love in a canoe.

It's fucking close to water!"

Frag, come to west Wales, its nearly always sunny and hot.

Where I have lived (england and wales) I've found most people, even if a bit rough around the edges to be really polite and even our customers at work tend to make things easier for you if they can. In England, and Wales actually one moment your in the centre of a large town or a city, then around ten minutes later you are deep in the countryside without any civilisation for miles you can see rabbits, foxes, pheasants, dear and badgers, where I live at the moment, Aberystwyth Wales, there is nothing for an hour north, south and east, its gorgeous.

I love being able to walk around historic towns and cities like York, I can walk through a street older than the U.S.A!

I like how opportunities aren't influenced by money, you don't need to be rich to attend a good school and you don't need financial support from your parents to go to uni, as long as you're careful with your loan and grant.

I don't like the anti-youth attitude that a lot of people have, special alarms in shops to stop us going in, shops banning young people entirely, being treated like a thieving law breaking idiot for being under 25, its horrible.

I've been to west Wales. Most of my family is in south wales, so I've been down to the gower etc. And I used to have a friend at Lampeter University, so I've been there too (not much going on in Lampeter though!). You're at Aberystwyth (sorry probably spelt wrong) right?

Yep, and you spelt it right :)

My Welsh relatives and friends have taught me well then. ;)

I'm trying to learn Welsh, it is not going well!

Never been, and I don't think I'd care to. I like America and can find all the sights I need to see here. I'll never have enough money to fly out of the country anyhow, so it's just as well.

"I like America and can find all the sights I need to see here."

Brilliant example of the ignorant American stereotype we were talking about.

Yes, why would you want to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, Vatican City etc etc (I realise these are not in the UK, but my point is there are soooooooo many amazing sights outside of America) when you have the sights of America?

I was thinking the same thing... such deprivation to only stay in one country and think that's all you "need" to see!

Deprivation? Do you know what that means?

deprivation: the act or process of removing or thecondition resulting from removal of something normally present and usually essential for mental or physical well-being deprivation in childhood. a state of extreme poverty. The act of depriving, dispossessing, or bereaving; the act of deposing or divesting of some dignity. The act or an instance of depriving; loss. the act of depriving. (source: dictionary.com)

I am none of those things. You people need to learn what words mean and stop just throwing them around.


Who are you to decide what I need to see? How can anybody other than me make such a decision? That said, who are you to judge me just because you want or would like to or are or will see the world and I don't care to? How does that make you any better than me? How does the fact that you think that you "need" to see those things make you better than me?

I am not deprived of anything. I have all of my wants and needs taken care of right where I am at. That is not deprivation.

I suppose that's true - hell, I didn't know I 'needed' to see the Colosseum until I travelled to Italy myself and saw it. It was stunning and amazing, and I'm damned happy I got to see it.

How does that make me ignorant?

ignorant: lacking in knowledge or training (dictionary.com). I don't lack the knowledge of such places. I know of all of them. Since when does someone have to SEE something in order to know that it is there? That's ridiculous.

What do you mean by 'I know them all'?? You mean you know the names of all the other places in the world, or you know all the things each country has to offer? That'd be impressive.

Oxford dictionary says it better:

ignorant 1 lacking knowledge or awareness in general. 2 (often ignorant of) uninformed about or unaware of a specific subject or fact.

Your ignorance isn't in your knowledge of such places (although really, with your attitude I doubt you know much about other countries), it's in your lack of knowledge of how these countries affect yours (and the fact that America doesn't control them all). Your ignorance is in your belief that everything worth seeing in the world is inside the US. Because there's sooooo much more out there. The fact that you don't know, or believe that is your ignorance.

I think they are gross..........they drink warm beer....j/k about the gross part...they do drink warm beer.

Pub beer lager is from 1 degrees to 3, my last pint had lumps of ice, had to let it warm up a bit!