Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread

[Mrs Figg]

computer games?

[David H]

computer games?

That would be my guess too

[halfwise]

That's a segment of the economy that doesn't even register with me.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ It should just for its scale. 7 years ago Rockstar games released the latest enstalment in their smash hit franchise Grand Theft Auto, in this case V.
Last year the game made the company 1 billion dollars. Its the most financially successful entertainment product ever. No book, no film, no tv show has come close to what it has earned and over such a consistent long period, so it now stands at over 8 billion dollars from this one game release 7 years ago.
The cost of making what are called Triple A games is astronomical, way above most blockbuster film budgets, but so are the potential rewards if you get it right.

And yes, its from a game, but one I am known for giving time to on this very forum, which narrows it down, a bit. And as a clue though from a game it is not free of some classic literary inhertiances.}}

[Pettytyrant101]

[Mrs Figg]

Its a computer game, I know which one you mean but I cant remember the names something like Callister and Rumpypumpy or something like that. dunno, computer games don't register in my brain much.

[Mrs Figg]

Absolutely brilliant summing up by Pie. Its very sad but every last angry word is the truth, there is no ambiguity about this, no humming and butting and whatevering, this is what the English are in 2021. "wankers"

[Mrs Figg]

well I must say South Africa is doing very well since they got rid of their 'colonialist oppressors'.

[halfwise]

Well they were doing okay until this last guy they put in office.

[Mrs Figg]

Maybe there was hope when Mandela was alive, but now it seems they just substituted one type of oppressor with another.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ So Boris has finally found a solution to all the sleaze, corruption and backroom dealing that has been the hallmark of his government. No, he's not going to stop doing it! He just hired his old school friend and fellow Bullington Club Boy Ewen Ferguson to be head of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. So problem solved for Boris. A corrupt response by a corrupt government.}}

[Mrs Figg]

wowzer! they don't bother to hide it any more do they.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ nope shameles. Accused of cronyism, appointing family members, friends, lovers, giving contracts to same Boris highers to investigate it and make sure standards are met his best mate! You couldnt make it up. At this point I think he is just seeing what he can get the plebs to accept and put up with and still vote for him- in England it seems his vote is as strong as ever. }}}}

[David H]

I heard an interview with Boris' sister the other day. Sounds like she knows all his tricks. Maybe you could get her to babysit him again?

[Mrs Figg]

His sister is ok, I quite like her, quite a normal person compared to him.

[Mrs Figg]

Watched the interview with Cummings on BBC2. Johnson nearly killed the Queen by all accounts.

[Pettytyrant101]

[Mrs Figg]

Brilliant!

[Mrs Figg]

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Seems a pretty spot on rant at normal Tory entitlement behaviour. I get why the wealthy vote Tory, I will never really understand why anyone else would. }}

[Mrs Figg]

ok had a heated argument about race and Emma tennis player. her mum is Chinese, her dad is Romanian. I said that she is 100% British, but she isn't English because she isn't from Anglo-Saxon origins, am I right or am I wrong? someone thought that its the same thing but I don't think it is. Any race can be British 100% like Mo Farah, he is British but he isn't English is he, he is Somalian. why do people find this so hard to understand, or maybe its me. Being English surely means you are Anglo-Saxon? ffs.

[halfwise]

makes sense to have different terms for racial versus national groupings. You'd have to dig pretty far back in time to find the "true" brits, so may as well use that for the national designation.

[Mrs Figg]

But is being English a race? If you are say from Somalian or Turkish origins and you are born in England can you call yourself English or are you British? its confusing me.

[halfwise]

Britain before the 20th century was a hodge-podge of Brits, Saxons, Normans.  I'd say "English" can tightly encompass those while "British" sort of can't.  Meanwhile the Scots and Northern Irish would accept being called British but not English. So it's somewhat contradictory but it works if you say the old time Brits were absorbed out of existence so you are putting the name to reuse.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I think Welsh, Irish and Scots (and probably Cornish too) would consider themselves Celtic by race. I'd be Scottish by nationality however (British doesn't really mean much as Britain just refers to the physical landmass of Scotland, England and Wales, its neither a race nor a nationality its just a geographical name for the biggest island). And anyone can be Scottish basically after a generation- so if you come here, live and work here, raise your family here your kids are Scottish. But they wouldnt be Celtic obviously unless they happen to come from another Celtic nation.
This also means you dont get that weird divisive thing Americans do of pigeonholing themselves into small national groups. If you come to live here from say Africa somewhere, then youre still African. But you make here your home and your kids are raised here then we'd not think of the kids as African-Scots (however much surveys and censuses might like to, people dont), they'd just be Scottish same as rest of us.
Ive always found it odd (and dangerous) in America people split themselves off from just being Amercians into sub categories of American; Afro-American, Latino-American, Italian-American and the like. It seems unnecessarily devisive to me, Youre all just yanks to the rest of us
In truth however Scots are a mongrel nation, always have been. DNA stdies show over 100 male lineages form across Europe, Asia and Africa, and over 150 female lineages from just as far afield. In fact the last study found that 1% of Scotish males are descended from the Berber and Tuareg tribesmen of the Sahara, a lineage which is around 5600 years old. So folk have been coming here and settlng for a hell of a long time. So whilst it still predominantently Celtic, with a chunk of Norse thrown in, theres also a storng mix of folk from much further afield- which surprised the researchers who cncluded that - "Perhaps geography, Scotland's place at the farthest north-western end of the European peninsula, is the reason for great diversity. For many thousands of years, migrants could move no further. Scotland was the end of many journeys."
Which is why anyone can be a Scot just by coming and settling here, it is afterall how the rest of us got to be Scottish in the first place.}}