Posts by Steve Reeves
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It makes me wonder just what Farrar's "essential values" of New Zealanders might be. Can you imagine even trying to start agreeing on what those are? The term is, essentially, meaningless.
I guess the fact that he thinks that such a term even means anything is a good indicator of his view of society: believing that such a term denotes goes with a willingness to take stereotypes as a useful way of viewing people.
In this case, he clearly believes that a stereotypical NZer exists!
Though I suppose the "we" he has in mind all know what he means by "essential values"---nudge, nudge.
In fact, the "essential values" you choose will determine if you are a "we", i.e. "one of us", for his purposes.
At which point it all sort of goes into a pile of circular reasoning---and hence the term is shown to be meaningless :-)
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You're right about PMQs in the UK---always brilliant.
Perhaps we could have question here on one day a week JUST for the PM. And NO READING OUT OF PREPARED NOTES either, please :-)
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and now a second episode....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_586753&feature=iv&v=Yq0xVuRG4ng
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Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
I just shout "Peasant!".
The confused look at such an insult ("I say, are you jolly well insulting, my man???") is priceless, and the time to process means (so far) a safe getaway.
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Relax! There's no corruption in New Zealand!---remember year after year, regularly as clockwork, all those reports saying this?
Or is it just that we don't (or won't, or can't) look as deeply as other countries?
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A brilliant doco from the Beeb, already on Youtube!
First in a series looking at computers and society.
Quirky, disjointed (?) but a great story.
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Hard News: The Public Address Word of…, in reply to Tom Beard,
But, but...... "jackass" happens because the male donkey is a jack ass, whereas the female is a jill.
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I've recently come across "Whoroscope", pronounced as you would around Whanganui, i.e. with the "Wh" as "hhhwa" as in an old-fashioned English "hhhwat" for "what?".
Alternatively you can say "hooo-roscope.
So, it's NOT whore-o-scope!
The word describes the viewing of one's life chances as associated with when your day of birth falls relative to the original transmission of episodes of Doctor Who. (People born before 23rd November 1963 will all have the same significance attached to their day of birth and therefore their subsequent lives.)
It is not to be confused with exactly the same word used by Samuel Beckett in 1930 as the title of poem. That IS "whore-o-scope", I bet!
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Was "twatcock" this year? Hope so!
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Hard News: I'm not a "f***ing cyclist".…, in reply to Rosie,
On that last point….I learned to drive in the UK—there on motorways (or any road) there is the “whole of road” approach where you have to take account of all the road around you. My partner learned to drive in NZ—and here it seems on roads with more than one lane you are taught to just concentrate on that one lane and treat other lanes as separate roads (or something like that)!!!!
Also, the partner loves driving on motorways in the UK, but hates them here---scared of other road users, mainly :-) Or perhaps it's the speed thrill, which seems to be unoffically 70-80-90 in lanes 1-2-3 :-) judging from everyone's behaviour (and the way the police drive....)