Conference thebay::joyoflex

    Re:  Orient vs. Orientate
    
    That's OK.  We Yanks are reasonably tolerant of the Olde English
    traditions which include the useless "u" in words such as labo(u)r
    and colo(u)r.
    

Re: .-1

Please don't generalise. You must realise that not all Yanks may honour the
way the Brits orientate their preferences.

    Interesting. One of the few cases I've ever seen in which American
    usage is right and British is wrong. But I think you give us too
    much credit; most of the Americans I encounter use "orientate".
    
    -John

Re .0 and .3:

Here's one English-English-speaking person who considers "orient" to 
be correct, and who has heard more Americans say "orientated" than 
"oriented".

[B.t.w., I wanted to write "English English" without the hyphen, but
also "X-speaking" WITH the hyphen.  Anyone else out there who would
have done it as I did?  I considered "English English-speaking" wrong,
because it would have tied only the second "English" to "speaking".] 

Gabriel.

    How about "British-speaking" and "American-speaking"?  (Or are usages
    in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales too divergent for the umbrella-term
    "British"?)
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    I'm still confused how an Englishman can 'go on holiday' for a week
    or two.  Over here we usually have one-day holidays, then go on
    a couple of weeks of vacation.

    re; .4
    
    How about "...English-speaking Englishperson/woman/man..."
    
    After all, I believe 'English-speaking' is the adjective modifing
    the noun 'Englishperson'. 
    
    -
    
    

    Re: .5  You can't have British-speaking, because British is not
    a language - English is.  Many people in Wales speak Welsh, and
    different forms of Gaelic are spoken in Scotland and Ireland.
    
    The two languages, I believe, are properly called British English
    and American English.
    
    Also, people living in Ireland cannot be British, though in the
    Six Counties they are citizens of the United Kingdom (whether we
    like it or not).
    
    Jeff.

Re: .8
        "Also, people living in Ireland cannot be British, though in the
    Six Counties they are citizens of the United Kingdom (whether we
    like it or not)."
    
    Even if they *used* to live on the other, bigger Isle?  Or do they
    shed their Britishness as soon as they take up *residence* off-island?

    I think they shed their Britishness because it's safer ..... :-)

    Re .9
    
    The term "British" is loosely used to mean "United Kingdomish".
    As far as I know, someone born and bred in Belfast is strictly speaking
    "Northern Irish" and not "British", but still a citizen of the United
    Kingdom.  If anyone out there knows better ...

    
    People in N.I. hold British passports. I have always thought of
    N.I. as being part of Britain as well as the United Kingdom.
    
    Chris.

    Re .12 Read the first page of your passport!

    Re: .1 Clarify for the poor Yanks! :-)
    
    "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"
    
    Great Britain = Britain + Scotland
    
    Britain = England + Wales
    
    Gavin

	Even more confusion:

	As far as I know, the term "Great Britain" was originally used 
as a contra-distinction to "Little Britain", which is that area of the 
island of Britain inhabited by Britons: Wales, in other words.  In 
Irish, Wales is still referred to as "an Bhreatain Bheag", and a 
Welsh person is "Breatnach".

	On the NI issue: keeping "Ulster" British has long been the 
rallying-cry of Northern Unionists: Britain is frequently used as a 
synonym for the UK, mainly, I suppose, because there is no easy way to 
get derivatives from a phrase like United Kingdom (UKish? UKian?).  
One can always confuse people by referring to Ukogbanians; they 
usually think it's some newly-independent Pacific Ocean flyspeck.

	Why do people refer to "Americans" as if only citizens of the
United States were such? 

    Because "United-Statesians" is awkward and Southerners might find
    "Yanks" offensive. I tend to use "Yanks," myself. 
    
	Jon

    Re: .16
    
    Wealth, power, and influence.
    
    Bernie

    Re "Anericans":
    
    It's not much better in Spanish, where citizens of the United States
    are frequently called "Norteamericanos" (meaning "North Americans"0,
    which is an unintentional slap at Canada and Mexico, which are on
    the same continent.  There are, of course synonyms ("Yanqui," and
    "Gringo" come to mind immediately).
    
    I've no trouble with "Yankee" or "Yank" and have often identified
    myself that way while in another country when asked ("I am a citizen
    of the Unites States of America," is a phrase I visualize a tourist
    crying while he or she is being hauled off by the local police,
    and hardly any other situation).  
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

It's easier for some of us. When I'm asked "where are you from?", I just
say "Boston."  It's known world-wide.  It works for L.A. and New York
too.  If they ask "what country are you from?" I say "The U.S." That 
works just fine too.
					>>>==>PStJTT

    	re: .20   You know Boston Stump well then? You can see that
    church from half way across Lincolnshire. It is right in the middle
    of the village.

You're probably talking about that Brit villiage, St. Botolf's Town, (Or
however it's spelt) that the mush-mouths of the area gradually elided
into "Boston." I'm from the REAL Boston; the only one that started out
being named that way. 
				>>>==>PStJTT

    .....but where did the name of the "REAL" Boston come from?

    Re .19
    
    There is another word in the Spanish language for citizens of the U.S.,
    "estadounidense", which is the adjective form of "estados unidos"
    (United States).  I have occasionally heard this word used by
    Spanish-speaking announcers on my short wave radio, but it is my
    impression that "norteamericano" is the term used more often. 
    
    --Mike