Should Britain leave the EU completely and join in with the US?

[Harleyman]

:

there are very few Londons in the US, there's a lot more Manchesters, Oxfords, and even Dovers than Londons.

 

though there's more English or British place names in the US than any other but there's also plenty of French, Spanish, German, and Scandinavian ones, some states probably have more of these than British place names in fact. The US isn't like a transplanted English, or British culture at all, certainly not when compared to Australia and New Zealand, where yes you really can think that it's like a copy, sometimes.

 

Plenty of Spanish and English names in California. The town I live in was founded by settlers from the mid west near the end of the 19th century so most of the streets have English sounding names although there are several that are Spanish since before the Anglos arrived much of the land for hundreds of square miles around was owned by Spanish then later Mexican Ranchers.

 

I've yet to see any names commemorating WW2 General George Patton who was a lad from around these parts. You would think there would be but I dont even know of a street that bears his name. The Episcopalian church where the Patton family worshipped is still here and most of the family are buriied in the churchyard. There's a memorial window inside the church in his memory and a life sized bronze statue in the courtyard in full military gear complete with the famous pearl handled revolvers but that's all I've found so far

 

There is a Sheffield Road though

[Harleyman]

:hihi:I lived in Quebec when the FLQ was active ( Front pour le liberation du Quebec )This terrorist front actually carried out some murders as ell was blowing up mailboxes as the mailmen were emptying them. Not exactly the IRA, but scary enough at the time. The provinces of Canada always had a bit more autonomy than th US states. So the Quebec government were able to enact a law banning English traffic signs or shopfront advertizing. Even mighty Pratt and Whitney Canada were ordered to send all communications to the Parent company in Connecticut in French only. Pratt simply said they would relocate in Ontario, so the frogs backed down.

 

I remember hearing about the FLQ kidnapping a British diplomat sometimes around the early 1970s. The Montreal police and the RCMP carried out a massive search and he was eventually found alive but the kidnappers made some kind of a deal allowing them to go to Cuba. Castro put them to work in the sugar cane fields and not long afterwards they begged to be allowed to return to Canada and face trial.

[poppins]

there are very few Londons in the US, there's a lot more Manchesters, Oxfords, and even Dovers than Londons.

 

.

 

Not the ones I've met over the last 45 years, nearly all from London area, met one from Yorkshire years ago, all seem to have come from money too or made it in the US.

[HeadingNorth]

Not the ones I've met over the last 45 years, nearly all from London area, met one from Yorkshire years ago, all seem to have come from money too or made it in the US.

 

I may be wrong, but I think she's referring to towns called London, not people from the city of London.

[callippo]

yes place names, most popular in the US is Manchester, followed by Oxford, then Dover.

 

Washington is more popular than Manchester, but that is much more likely to be named after the person George Washington, than the town in Tyne and Wear, of that name.

 

place names are especially interesting in the US, there's a lot more French names than you might think, even some states, never mind just towns, have French names and the state capital of North Dakota is even named after a German statesman - Bismarck.

 

London is not a common place name but it is quite a common name in the US for people, there's the famous American author Jack London, among many. Sheffield is also not unknown as a name, some may remember that the child actor who played the son of Johnny Weissmuller in the old Tarzan movies was called Johnny Sheffield.

[Harleyman]

I've seen some fine London derrieres during strolls through Hyde Park on a summer afternoon.

[LeMaquis]

The largest racial ancestry group of US citizens according to the 2000 census was German, then Irish. English was fourth. French place names are quite common - Louisville, Baton Rouge, Detroit, Illinois, Juneau, Vermont, Pierre, etc. Arkansas is pronounced in the French way and not to rhyme with Kansas.

[callippo]

it's interesting enough that the state capital of North Dakota is called what it is, but what compounds that, is the way it's spelled - Bismarck, not Bismark. A German spelling. Think how Americans spell colour, as color. There's other German and French place names in the US where it's not so obvious that it's German, or even Swedish, or French, because the name was like customised or anglicised.

 

one of the features of the US is that pretty much all the 19th century immigrants and settlers for whom English was not their first language, quickly learned to speak English, and within a couple of generations, had usually largely forgotten their previous native tongues. But it's kind of cool, that they kept their heritage alive, in the places their forebears named.

[HeadingNorth]

one of the features of the US is that pretty much all the 19th century immigrants and settlers for whom English was not their first language, quickly learned to speak English, and within a couple of generations, had usually largely forgotten their previous native tongues.

 

For most of the 19th century, many schools in Pennsylvania still held all of their lessons in German. I suspect that wasn't the only state where this was so.

[Gordonb]

Couple of thoughts. have you ever tried to understand a Glaswegian in full conversation mode, equally what about some of the Geordies when they have had a pint or 3.

Ultimately English in whatever form is the language of business which leads to other nations learning it.

If the USA/Great Britain were ever to agree for some weird reason to tie up, I suspect that the USA would wish to sell on the Soviet Republic Of South Yorkshire to the Russians, a bit like buying Alaska but in reverse.