Grundig wrote:(although that makes me curious: how big is Simon Pegg in the UK? Also, don't ask me where, but I heard somewhere that some of the aliases for Britain are pretty unpopular among the British, and I also have to admit, I'm still a bit unclear on how much sovereignty the UK's constituent states have. So my parenthetical question is: when I say UK, who am I referring to? What about Britain? England? I just feel like a constant noob on this forum, and I don't want to seem like the stereotypical A-merican.) Can you imagine Matt Damon as Kirk? He'd do that smirk of his, and... James T. Smirk is who he'd be.
Anyways, sorry if this is a little wacky, but I had a Mocha and forgot to ask for Decaf. I hope my
wasn't just because I'm hyped up on stimulants. Well, if so, I guess I know where to stop on my way to the theater next May!
I wouldn't say Pegg is huge at all. He's quite well known, but he's B List I would say.
Okay... A guide to the UK. This is complicated.
The UK is more properly titled "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
Britain, or Great Britain, is composed of England, Scotland, (to the North of England) and Wales (on the left side of England). All have been different nations in the past. What basically happened is that England conquered Scotland and Wales - over and over, actually. Eventually they became effectively one country. However, in the last few decades Wales and Scotland moved to have much more control over their internal affairs, rather as US states do.
It's a sore point amongst some Welsh and most Scots that they are part of the UK, given how they got that way. There was a somewhat joking sentiment to much of the griping, until Margaret Thatcher's government about twenty years ago. Very few Scots voted for her government or were likely to. She, in turn, used Scotland as a bit of a guinea pig, testing out public reaction to various laws and taxes by introducing them in Scotland first. Scots found this hugely insulting, and a good deal of genuine hatred for the English government and England in general was fostered. The politics of it are somewhat convoluted, but there's considerable support for Scotland becoming independent again. The same applies to Wales, but rather less so.
One thing that the Scots and Welsh hate with a passion is when people talk about "England" when they mean Great Britain or the UK. England is far larger than the rest in terms of population - it's been said that if 2/3 of England voted for X, whilst one third of England plus the entire of Scotland and Wales voted against, X would pass. So England is by far the dominant member of the Union, which is a sore point for Scots and Welsh.
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
moments, but seriously, what episode hasn't had at least one of those?
