Correction: in its expanded definition...[North America] also includes Greenland and [many of] the islands...[around North America].
Anglosphere
<<"alongside his three American colleagues he really does seem to be the only one prepared to tell the contestants the cold, hard, bloody truth as he sees it - and then gets booed and jeered by the crowd! Why? Why tell them, like the Americans tend to do for fear of "hurting feelings"! - that they are fantastically wonderful and talented when it's quite clear they are anything but? "
Damian, Simon Cowell can be downright cruel. It makes many of us uncomfortable to see someone verbally abused.
If someone here has to tell somebody the ugly truth, usually an element of tact is expected. Unfortunately, Simon Cowell is anything but tactful. >>
HE DOES IT BECAUSE IT'S IN HIS JOB PRESCRIPTION! He is NOT an accurate representation of some UK psyche of direct speaking. People in the UK are NOT direct and to the point. The UK is one of the most PC places on earth and if anyone acted like Cowell in "real" life, they would be ostracised by society and probably locked up by the PC thought police.
Damian, Simon Cowell can be downright cruel. It makes many of us uncomfortable to see someone verbally abused.
If someone here has to tell somebody the ugly truth, usually an element of tact is expected. Unfortunately, Simon Cowell is anything but tactful. >>
HE DOES IT BECAUSE IT'S IN HIS JOB PRESCRIPTION! He is NOT an accurate representation of some UK psyche of direct speaking. People in the UK are NOT direct and to the point. The UK is one of the most PC places on earth and if anyone acted like Cowell in "real" life, they would be ostracised by society and probably locked up by the PC thought police.
****People in the UK are NOT direct and to the point. The UK is one of the most PC places on earth ***
In that case then I am an exception.....there's me thinking I was a true Scot all these past 27 years spent I've on this Earth when deep inside me I'm really a Yorkshireman - never one to hold back on the truth, speaking as I find with no beating about any bloody bush! Oh well......at least people know where they stand with me on a face to face basis. Internet forums may be different on this score.
I suppose I have to agree that Simon Cowell's actions are prompted by his contract on that program - passing judgment on all those starry eyed Wannabe's who often seem to be carbon copies of each other on a conveyor belt and cheered on by a huge crowd of hyenas and groups of hysterical family members and if given the thumbs down (plus a verbal roasting by Cowell) these would-be stars resort of either floods of tears and tantrums or the throwing of a hissy fit.
I agree about the PC thing in Britain - it's an abomination and if anything on this planet inhibits free speech and true expression of thought and opinion on anything under the sun then it's Political Correctness.
That may well be, to some people, an odd thing for a gay man to say as we are generally "protected" by the doctrine of PC but as a great supporter of Freedom of Speech I think I'd rather people voice their true opinions rather than hide them beneath a veneer of double speak crap.
Within reason of course, I prefer people to be up front and straightforward - you can always tell when they are not anyway - the eyes are such giveaways as a rule, plus the person's general demeanour. As long as it's done with sensitivity then where's the problem? That's where Cowell loses out I reckon, he shoots from the hip, but as I say - he's probably paid to do it the way he does.
It's obviously a recent phenomenon in the UK anyway - Political Correctness. When I was in the Musical Theatre group at uni we put on a production of the Noel Gay (his real name!) musical "Me and My Girl" which includes a number called "The Sun Has Got Its Hat On" - I so enjoyed taking part in this whole show, and when we researched the history of this show (it had it's first world premier at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, on 16 December 1937) we noticed that a certain phrase in this song had been replaced by another one for showing to today's audiences purely on the grounds of PC. The word concerned is a definite "no no" big time these days, but not back in 1937 Britain it seems. It's simply glossed over as the "N word" today. Present day version: "He's been roasting peanuts out in Timbuktu". Fully acceptable 1937 version: "He's been tanning n****s out in Timbuktu". PC is strange - this word, apparently, is used by the members of this certain group with impunity, but it's use by any other sections of society is banned. That's PC for you....
PC is the mastermind of people adhering to the various "-isms" ideology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6rD6LSdjpw&feature=related
In that case then I am an exception.....there's me thinking I was a true Scot all these past 27 years spent I've on this Earth when deep inside me I'm really a Yorkshireman - never one to hold back on the truth, speaking as I find with no beating about any bloody bush! Oh well......at least people know where they stand with me on a face to face basis. Internet forums may be different on this score.
I suppose I have to agree that Simon Cowell's actions are prompted by his contract on that program - passing judgment on all those starry eyed Wannabe's who often seem to be carbon copies of each other on a conveyor belt and cheered on by a huge crowd of hyenas and groups of hysterical family members and if given the thumbs down (plus a verbal roasting by Cowell) these would-be stars resort of either floods of tears and tantrums or the throwing of a hissy fit.
I agree about the PC thing in Britain - it's an abomination and if anything on this planet inhibits free speech and true expression of thought and opinion on anything under the sun then it's Political Correctness.
That may well be, to some people, an odd thing for a gay man to say as we are generally "protected" by the doctrine of PC but as a great supporter of Freedom of Speech I think I'd rather people voice their true opinions rather than hide them beneath a veneer of double speak crap.
Within reason of course, I prefer people to be up front and straightforward - you can always tell when they are not anyway - the eyes are such giveaways as a rule, plus the person's general demeanour. As long as it's done with sensitivity then where's the problem? That's where Cowell loses out I reckon, he shoots from the hip, but as I say - he's probably paid to do it the way he does.
It's obviously a recent phenomenon in the UK anyway - Political Correctness. When I was in the Musical Theatre group at uni we put on a production of the Noel Gay (his real name!) musical "Me and My Girl" which includes a number called "The Sun Has Got Its Hat On" - I so enjoyed taking part in this whole show, and when we researched the history of this show (it had it's first world premier at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, on 16 December 1937) we noticed that a certain phrase in this song had been replaced by another one for showing to today's audiences purely on the grounds of PC. The word concerned is a definite "no no" big time these days, but not back in 1937 Britain it seems. It's simply glossed over as the "N word" today. Present day version: "He's been roasting peanuts out in Timbuktu". Fully acceptable 1937 version: "He's been tanning n****s out in Timbuktu". PC is strange - this word, apparently, is used by the members of this certain group with impunity, but it's use by any other sections of society is banned. That's PC for you....
PC is the mastermind of people adhering to the various "-isms" ideology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6rD6LSdjpw&feature=related
Umm I don't think it was just the use of the n word there that made it unacceptable. A lyric about whipping black people (probably happily) is pretty horrible no matter what words you use.
I sometimes like Simon's frankness, but I am not impressed with his cultural fluency in the finer arts. I don't think he is the best person to judge acts outside of pop culture. Piers seems a little better at that.
To be quite frank myself Simon Cowell would not really be the type of bloke I would like to share a pint and a chat with down at the old Dog and Duck - he'd be way down my list of companiable companions for a good night out, but there you go.
In the YT clip above of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" appears to be a British one but it isn't - it's American, and even though they assume a somewhat exaggerated "Posh" English English RP accent it's quite easy to spot the slight slip ups when the Americanisms come across - in the simple word "last" for instance, and certain other intonations. In any case the main male character should, by rights, be singing in Cockney as he is supposed to be the Cockney lad who becomes a Lord by default. But I reckon I'm being picky here......
Back to the dreaded "N" word - here it is as voiced in a 1932 recording of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" - Ambrose and his Orchestra with vocal by Sam Browne - they performed regularly at top London restaurants and cafes in the 1930s. The song later became incorporated in Noel Gay's musical show "Me and My Girl" which ran at the Victoria Palace Theatre - very close to London's Victoria train station - from December 1937 until the theatre was devasted by WW2 bombing in 1940.
Ambrose and his Orchestra with Sam Brown as vocalist 1932
Note the "naughty" word - acceptable in those days
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDIpkz6DOi8
"MYMG" - most well known song is The Lambeth Walk - we so enjoyed performing this number and dance routine in our show at uni in which I adopted quite a good Cockney accent - the show has about a quarter of the cast speaking (and singing) in pure Cockney and the rest in the purest "posh" English English RP as the whole show features the very pronounced class divide of those days - a Cockney lad somehow inherits a title in the English aristocracy - a certain aristocrat "misbehaved" with an under-parlourmaid or something and the lad was living proof of it.
The Lambeth Walk as performed in a 1987 production of "Me and My Girl" recorded on stage at the Adelphi Theatre, in the Strand London, with Robert Lindsay, a true London lad himself, in the role as the Cockney lad who inherits the title.
During the blitzes of WW2 and throughout the rest of the war in the UK "The Lambeth Walk" was a great hit and it was played at all dances and social occasions involving music and dancing, and it became a sort of dance in itself in which it seems the dancers had to dance the appropriate steps with all the right bodily actions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCLKn6W1xk&feature=related
In the YT clip above of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" appears to be a British one but it isn't - it's American, and even though they assume a somewhat exaggerated "Posh" English English RP accent it's quite easy to spot the slight slip ups when the Americanisms come across - in the simple word "last" for instance, and certain other intonations. In any case the main male character should, by rights, be singing in Cockney as he is supposed to be the Cockney lad who becomes a Lord by default. But I reckon I'm being picky here......
Back to the dreaded "N" word - here it is as voiced in a 1932 recording of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" - Ambrose and his Orchestra with vocal by Sam Browne - they performed regularly at top London restaurants and cafes in the 1930s. The song later became incorporated in Noel Gay's musical show "Me and My Girl" which ran at the Victoria Palace Theatre - very close to London's Victoria train station - from December 1937 until the theatre was devasted by WW2 bombing in 1940.
Ambrose and his Orchestra with Sam Brown as vocalist 1932
Note the "naughty" word - acceptable in those days
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDIpkz6DOi8
"MYMG" - most well known song is The Lambeth Walk - we so enjoyed performing this number and dance routine in our show at uni in which I adopted quite a good Cockney accent - the show has about a quarter of the cast speaking (and singing) in pure Cockney and the rest in the purest "posh" English English RP as the whole show features the very pronounced class divide of those days - a Cockney lad somehow inherits a title in the English aristocracy - a certain aristocrat "misbehaved" with an under-parlourmaid or something and the lad was living proof of it.
The Lambeth Walk as performed in a 1987 production of "Me and My Girl" recorded on stage at the Adelphi Theatre, in the Strand London, with Robert Lindsay, a true London lad himself, in the role as the Cockney lad who inherits the title.
During the blitzes of WW2 and throughout the rest of the war in the UK "The Lambeth Walk" was a great hit and it was played at all dances and social occasions involving music and dancing, and it became a sort of dance in itself in which it seems the dancers had to dance the appropriate steps with all the right bodily actions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCLKn6W1xk&feature=related
Damian, I respect your opinion about speaking the truth, but don't you think a spot in the middle is the wisest?
I for one am much more tactful in person than I am on the Internet. (The Internet does seem to bring out the worst in us.) I would like to think that I often am able to tell the truth without hurting the listener's feelings. Some examples:
Question: Do you like my new hair color? Answer: I think it's a beautiful hair color, but I think your skin tone would be better enhanced by a lighter shade. (The questioner thanked me for my honesty.)
Question: Does the color of this dress make me look fat? (Private note to readers: this question is so prevalent that it has become an American joke.)
Answer: It's a pretty color, but I think you look the best in fall colors. The gold and brown get-up you wore the other day made you look absolutely exquisite. (The questioner smiled; I never saw her wear the purple get-up again.)
Damian, do you see what I mean? I'm not trying to paint myself as a paragon of tact, but I think a spot in the middle, on the debate of PC vs. Bluntness, is the most prudent course of action. On the last question, for example, just think how she would have felt if I'd answered,"That color makes you look like a great big eggplant (aubergine)"? She'd have been crushed.
I for one am much more tactful in person than I am on the Internet. (The Internet does seem to bring out the worst in us.) I would like to think that I often am able to tell the truth without hurting the listener's feelings. Some examples:
Question: Do you like my new hair color? Answer: I think it's a beautiful hair color, but I think your skin tone would be better enhanced by a lighter shade. (The questioner thanked me for my honesty.)
Question: Does the color of this dress make me look fat? (Private note to readers: this question is so prevalent that it has become an American joke.)
Answer: It's a pretty color, but I think you look the best in fall colors. The gold and brown get-up you wore the other day made you look absolutely exquisite. (The questioner smiled; I never saw her wear the purple get-up again.)
Damian, do you see what I mean? I'm not trying to paint myself as a paragon of tact, but I think a spot in the middle, on the debate of PC vs. Bluntness, is the most prudent course of action. On the last question, for example, just think how she would have felt if I'd answered,"That color makes you look like a great big eggplant (aubergine)"? She'd have been crushed.
As for the relationship between French French and Quebecois, well that's a bit strained too. I have yet to meet a French person visiting Quebec who didn't say they barely understood most people. What percentage of this is just them being melodramatic I don't know.
_________________________________________
I'm french, and I know this, when I was in quebec the first time, I didn't understand one word, but after one week, my ears get used to this new sounds and then I even began to speak with the same accent. :o)
_________________________________________
I'm french, and I know this, when I was in quebec the first time, I didn't understand one word, but after one week, my ears get used to this new sounds and then I even began to speak with the same accent. :o)
I fully see your reasoning, Jasper.....my situation is further complicated by my birthsign....I'm an Arian, born slap bang in the middle of the ram season.....holding back isn't all that of an easy option for me, but even so I know when not to overstep the mark really...we all have to take stock of common sense and standards of civility don't we? I assure you I am never deliberately rude to, or about, anyone.
I suppose we have to think of guys with wives or girlfriends in this particular issue, certainly in cases similar to those which you cited. I really feel sorry for such guys when confronted with the question: "Does my bum* look big in this/these dress/skirt/jeans?" I imagine those blokes have absolutely no option but to be bare faced liars if they value their relationships.
*Bum here doesn't quite mean the same as it does over there...it's what you call a butt.
I suppose we have to think of guys with wives or girlfriends in this particular issue, certainly in cases similar to those which you cited. I really feel sorry for such guys when confronted with the question: "Does my bum* look big in this/these dress/skirt/jeans?" I imagine those blokes have absolutely no option but to be bare faced liars if they value their relationships.
*Bum here doesn't quite mean the same as it does over there...it's what you call a butt.
***until the theatre was devasted**** ????? That's a new one on me.....I think I meant to type "devastated"......I'm devastated.
I think points ought to be awarded for typing standards in this Forum..it might improve my performance. Where's the spellchecker when you need it in a hurry...
I think points ought to be awarded for typing standards in this Forum..it might improve my performance. Where's the spellchecker when you need it in a hurry...
I know this is going off at a tangent.
New words for you
"driving on the left hand side"
Sterling
Episcopalian
Soccer
Rugby
Cricket
Democracy
Trial by Jury
Civilisation
New words for you
"driving on the left hand side"
Sterling
Episcopalian
Soccer
Rugby
Cricket
Democracy
Trial by Jury
Civilisation
Somewhere else on antimoon is a discussion about Dutch people. One of the things that was said was that Dutch people are very down to earth and straight forward. "They say what they mean, and they mean what they say." I don't know how true this is, but think that Dutch and German people have many admirable qualities.
The point I am trying to make, is that British people often do not say what they think for various reasons. This is why, "Simon Cowell" exists.
In a world in which people pussy foot around and you have to follow quite complex streams of logic to work out what they mean. Someone who tells it like it is, is going to find an audience.
I was recently watching Robert Carlyle playing "Hitler". Hitler was making a speech in a half empty beer hall (large room) to bored ex-soldiers getting drunk and feeling very pissed off. They completely ignored him. He said, "Kill the Jews!", they were interested and started listening to every word.
So, all the time we pussy foot about the 'n' word or the 'c' word, we are actually giving these words more power when they are eventually used.
The Sky News political correspondant is a real poofter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eWEOYmw3cU
(You have to wait for a bit for him to appear.)
The point I am trying to make, is that British people often do not say what they think for various reasons. This is why, "Simon Cowell" exists.
In a world in which people pussy foot around and you have to follow quite complex streams of logic to work out what they mean. Someone who tells it like it is, is going to find an audience.
I was recently watching Robert Carlyle playing "Hitler". Hitler was making a speech in a half empty beer hall (large room) to bored ex-soldiers getting drunk and feeling very pissed off. They completely ignored him. He said, "Kill the Jews!", they were interested and started listening to every word.
So, all the time we pussy foot about the 'n' word or the 'c' word, we are actually giving these words more power when they are eventually used.
The Sky News political correspondant is a real poofter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eWEOYmw3cU
(You have to wait for a bit for him to appear.)
Well, since we are talking about being blunt and honest, in that spirit I would like to say the following:
Damian, you are the most annoying person I've ever come across on the internet. I strongly dislike you. Your ramblings are completely uninteresting and you are very self-absorbed. Also, your writing style is excruciatingly stereotypical of a gay and reading your posts caused me enough cringes to impel vote against allowing gay marriage in California.
Robin Michael, you are the second most annoying person I've ever come across on the internet. Your life goal seems to be to clutter up threads with completely irrelevant, dead boring material with massive spaces so large it tires my finger as I scroll past without reading.
I am sorry if I have offended either of you, but I hope you will understand (Damian at least, you should, since you yourself have admitted to being blunt and honest. Robin Michael, from what I managed to skim from your irrelevant post it seems you consider bluntness 'admirable', so I hope you won't be offended either).
Damian, you are the most annoying person I've ever come across on the internet. I strongly dislike you. Your ramblings are completely uninteresting and you are very self-absorbed. Also, your writing style is excruciatingly stereotypical of a gay and reading your posts caused me enough cringes to impel vote against allowing gay marriage in California.
Robin Michael, you are the second most annoying person I've ever come across on the internet. Your life goal seems to be to clutter up threads with completely irrelevant, dead boring material with massive spaces so large it tires my finger as I scroll past without reading.
I am sorry if I have offended either of you, but I hope you will understand (Damian at least, you should, since you yourself have admitted to being blunt and honest. Robin Michael, from what I managed to skim from your irrelevant post it seems you consider bluntness 'admirable', so I hope you won't be offended either).
It would be interesting if 'blunt and truthful' had a name. What people always say - is that they appreciate 'constructive criticism'. Blank spaces on a computer screen; simply mean that you have to scroll down. It is not a terrible waste of paper. I employ blank spaces to separate out the content of whatever I am putting down.
completely irrelevant, dead boring material
Do I agree with you?
I have always had a tendency to go off at a tangent. There is no particular requirement to keep closely to the original topic.
'dead boring material'
It was obviously something that interested me at the time. Possibly I am following through on personal obsessions. What is boring to one person, is not necessarily boring to someone else.
This comes back to your name, 'blunt and truthful', if you had a proper name then I would have some idea of what does and what does not interest you.
Different things, interest different people.
completely irrelevant, dead boring material
Do I agree with you?
I have always had a tendency to go off at a tangent. There is no particular requirement to keep closely to the original topic.
'dead boring material'
It was obviously something that interested me at the time. Possibly I am following through on personal obsessions. What is boring to one person, is not necessarily boring to someone else.
This comes back to your name, 'blunt and truthful', if you had a proper name then I would have some idea of what does and what does not interest you.
Different things, interest different people.
"Also, your writing style is excruciatingly stereotypical of a gay "
I don't understand this.
How could any kind of writing style be stereotypically gay—or for that matter, stereotypically straight, or stereotypically anything?
Robin Michael: you might admire bluntness and honesty—but isn't it wise to take the other person's feelings into account? Being painfully blunt isn't the way to "make friends and influence people".
I think there's always room for human compassion.
I don't understand this.
How could any kind of writing style be stereotypically gay—or for that matter, stereotypically straight, or stereotypically anything?
Robin Michael: you might admire bluntness and honesty—but isn't it wise to take the other person's feelings into account? Being painfully blunt isn't the way to "make friends and influence people".
I think there's always room for human compassion.