Questions for our American friends

[JerryFalwell]

Originally Posted by gtos4ever

Depends on what part of the US your in. Here in the Upper Midwest it's a pop.

It's pop in Ontario, Canada.

[knobby109]

Originally Posted by Nick Danger

Just about any language is "better" than English when it comes to consistent spelling.

[/i]

Spelling was quite arbitrary for a long while, it's said that Shakespeare spelt his own name in a variety of ways.Sometimes the spellings are a reflection of how the words were pronounced at the time.Sometimes they are because of the roots of the word, for example "doubt" has a b in it as it's derived from the latin "dubitare"

[MaxJoker]

Only thing i want to know , apart from why you like Grits .


Is WHY do your deli`s , diners and such like give such massive portions .



If you order a simple burger they bring something the size of a dinner plate , and accompany it with a big bowl of fascist fry`s and a huge salad. Then if you decide to choose something lighter the next day somewhere else and have an ordinary club sandwich they bring you an entire loaf that`s been cut in half and stuffed with bacon and cheese . Oh and accompany it with a big bowl of fascist fry`s and a huge salad .

There are also places that won`t even charge you if you managed to finish the meal you order !!!

How can these places afford to do that , give so much i mean ???

Also why are Hershey`s Krackel and mr Goodbar so addictive

[Giacson]

Originally Posted by GreenSkull

Only thing i want to know , apart from why you like Grits .


Is WHY do your deli`s , diners and such like give such massive portions .



If you order a simple burger they bring something the size of a dinner plate , and accompany it with a big bowl of fascist fry`s and a huge salad. Then if you decide to choose something lighter the next day somewhere else and have an ordinary club sandwich they bring you an entire loaf that`s been cut in half and stuffed with bacon and cheese . Oh and accompany it with a big bowl of fascist fry`s and a huge salad .

There are also places that won`t even charge you if you managed to finish the meal you order !!!

How can these places afford to do that , give so much i mean ???

Also why are Hershey`s Krackel and mr Goodbar so addictive

I like grits. A southern US morning comfort food, especialy in winter months. They can be dressed up many different ways to enhance their basic bland flavor. They also happen to be good for you, being low in calories and sodium and high in protein and other nutients.

The restaurant biz is very competitive here for the "value meal". Thus, bigger portions bring in more customers. However, the mega-meal isnt exactly the norm for all places. Examples: The popular Applebee's chain has downsized a lot of meals. The Burger King chain has greatly downsized its "normal" sized burger to about the diameter of a hockey puck. The Hardee's burger chain advertizes a smaller version of its gut buster. Most of the independent diners I visit usualy have options for smaller portions but, if you are watching the Food or Travel Channel's spots on local diners and dives, of course you are seeing monumental portions served out. The meals you dont have to pay for if completely consumed are specialty items for big eaters bragging rights.

Also, the restaurant biz (particularly my area) has replaced the clubs and bars of the 80's and 90's due to much stricter drinking laws. Where live entertainment and social drinking were once the big draw, now we have restaurants and "sports bars" to gather in.

I have no answer for your love of Hershey's, especialy since I despise Krackel Mr Goodbar's arent so bad.

[MaxJoker]

Originally Posted by Giacson

I have no answer for your love of Hershey's, especialy since I despise Krackel Mr Goodbar's arent so bad.

Didn`t mean I loved them , just wondered why they`re so popular as supposedly they`re two of the biggest sellers yet i thought they tasted about as creamy as wrapping paper and pretty chalky.

[danton]

"Having chosen English as the preferred language in the EEC, the
European Parliament has commissioned a feasibility study in ways of
improving efficiency in communications between Government departments...."

Very witty post.

It reminded me of a story I once read about an early 20th century attempt to produce a 'universal language', called Volapuk (I think!). There was only one meeting of the International Volapukists for reasons I will outline.

The rules of the language were impossible. It actually dispensed with the letter 'R' for some reason and cancelled out several other semantic commons. By the time the 'rules' were established (at least in one person's mind) the grammar was described as "more challenging than that of Medieval Latin".

When the delegates met they quickly (immediately?) discovered few could speak the tongue and when they attempted to do so no one could understand them.

I think English gets a bad press and the famous Wildean quip about Britain and America as 'two peoples divided by a common language' unfair, but funny. By and large English succeeds because it has few hard edges. It succeeds best when used in the plain form, which in the hands of a master like George Orwell (an admirer of Mark Twain) is quite wonderful.

[knobby109]

Originally Posted by danton

I think English gets a bad press and the famous Wildean quip about Britain and America as 'two peoples divided by a common language' unfair, but funny. By and large English succeeds because it has few hard edges. It succeeds best when used in the plain form, which in the hands of a master like George Orwell (an admirer of Mark Twain) is quite wonderful.

Shakespeare seemed to cope reasonably well with the language too.

[DTravel]

Esperanto was another artificial "universal language". Apparently there are a few people who can speak it. I leave it to others to determine if it can be understood.

Part of why English is "successful" is because its the Borg of languages. "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James Nicoll

(That and its the language of the two latest world powers, Great Britain and the USA. It can be very useful to be able to talk to the 800 pound gorilla in its own language. )

[Alvin Lucifer]

Originally Posted by spoonfedmonkey

At great economic cost. That may be the single biggest economic problem in Germany.

A real job means guaranteed benefits which go beyond what Americans expect. But hey, this thread ain't about Germany. Still, it's quite interesting.

It comes down to power and corruption in the human condition. If the unions get powerful, they get corrupt. If the corporations get powerful, they corrupt. If the government gets powerful, it gets corrupt.

Right now in the U.S. only about 7% of the private sector is unionized. The lower the number sinks, the worse the lot of American workers is. When we had closer to 35% or 40% of private sector workers unionized back in 1930s -- 1960s, wages and job security improved all around because of the influence of unions. Yes, the big unions were corrupt. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was certainly wrapped up in organized crime; however, even corrupt unions turned out to be much better for securing a middle class than "at will" employment

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A New England colloquialism for carbonated beverages is "tonic." However, we always called it soda in my family.

[1952224]

watching the american crime programmes on t.v i know they are all armed but when they are in plain clothesare they allowed to walk about with there sidearms in plain veiw