U.K. is not a synonym of England

[Jason]

Bah. You're on a mission to ruin my fun.

[Red Celt]

Why do people from the UK feel the need to use full stops ala 'U.K.' as if we might think the name of their country is 'UK' pronounced to rhyme with 'yuck'?

It's because the women are always menstruating.

Pappa, this is a reminder that period/full stop jokes are against the rules of good comedy.

[JimC]

Why do people from the UK feel the need to use full stops ala 'U.K.' as if we might think the name of their country is 'UK' pronounced to rhyme with 'yuck'?

It's because the women are always menstruating.

Pappa, this is a reminder that period/full stop jokes are against the rules of good comedy.

BTW, Australia has just suffered an infestation of CharlesandCamilla...

And people were cheering them!

[ronmcd]

Why do people from the UK feel the need to use full stops ala 'U.K.' as if we might think the name of their country is 'UK' pronounced to rhyme with 'yuck'?

It's because the women are always menstruating.

Pappa, this is a reminder that period/full stop jokes are against the rules of good comedy.

BTW, Australia has just suffered an infestation of CharlesandCamilla...

And people were cheering them!

Eeww. My sympathies.

[Hermit]

Basing troops in a country is not the same as making that country a part of your empire. Otherwise we could claim Oz, Canada, and England in our empire.

So true. Those countries (and the others) are simply in a "special relationship" with the USA.

BTW, does that map include only actual military presence, or does it count the squad of Marines in every embassy as "military presence"?

It includes radar stations on godforsaken hunks of ground the locals couldn't even find useful, like in Oz./quote]Like Pine Gap. That US station is so unimportant that Australian military personnel is not granted access to it until 1980 outright, and to this day has only partial access. It is so unimportant that staff, consisting mostly of members of the NSA, numbered 600 in the early 1990s and is expected to have grown to 1000 in the near future.

I certainly prefer to live in a western democratic capitalist society to one run by the Chinese or the Taliban, but let's be clear about this: The numerous bases the USA operates outside its own borders function primarily as organs to protect US interests, and the host countries are - as Jesus_of_Nazareth noted - vassal states.

[Jason]

Sweet. Can we burn a US flag now?

[Cormac]

So what are the British Isles? Does it include Ireland and the channel islands? What about the Falklands?

The British isles includes Ireland, what ever we call the big island (Great Britain?) and it's surrounding islands.

Nope.

For reasons already explained.

[Red Celt]

So what are the British Isles? Does it include Ireland and the channel islands? What about the Falklands?

The British isles includes Ireland, what ever we call the big island (Great Britain?) and it's surrounding islands.

Nope.

For reasons already explained.

Yep.

For reasons already explained. Despite Irish revisionists.

[Coito ergo sum]

According to wikipedia, 'tis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles

[devogue]

Ireland is made up of Ireland, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the north of Ireland, the twenty six counties and the six counties, down south and the province, British occupied Ireland, the dubs and Crossmaglen.

Britain is made up of the jocks and the geordies, the sassenachs, the jockstraps, the English, the Welsh, the Scottish, the Cornish, the Brummies, the scousers, the taffs, the pakis, the paddys, the sheepshaggers, the mussies, the cockneys, the football fans, the manu fans.

The British Isles groans under the weight of all this knuckfucklery.

[Coito ergo sum]

Ireland is made up of Ireland, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the north of Ireland, the twenty six counties and the six counties, down south and the province, British occupied Ireland, the dubs and Crossmaglen.

Britain is made up of the jocks and the geordies, the sassenachs, the jockstraps, the English, the Welsh, the Scottish, the Cornish, the Brummies, the scousers, the taffs, the pakis, the paddys, the sheepshaggers, the mussies, the cockneys, the football fans, the manu fans.

The British Isles groans under the weight of all this knuckfucklery.

[Rum]

Ireland is made up of Ireland, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the north of Ireland, the twenty six counties and the six counties, down south and the province, British occupied Ireland, the dubs and Crossmaglen.

Britain is made up of the jocks and the geordies, the sassenachs, the jockstraps, the English, the Welsh, the Scottish, the Cornish, the Brummies, the scousers, the taffs, the pakis, the paddys, the sheepshaggers, the mussies, the cockneys, the football fans, the manu fans.

The British Isles groans under the weight of all this knuckfucklery.

The perfect anti Salmond argument as far as I am concerned.

[Jason]

Little Englander!

Also I think Liverpool fans deserve their own category. Wankers.

[Rum]

I see that a number of Merican States have filed requests to leave the Union following the election.

Little Americanos!

..or is that some sort of beverage..

[Cormac]

Ireland is made up of Ireland, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the north of Ireland, the twenty six counties and the six counties, down south and the province, British occupied Ireland, the dubs and Crossmaglen.

Britain is made up of the jocks and the geordies, the sassenachs, the jockstraps, the English, the Welsh, the Scottish, the Cornish, the Brummies, the scousers, the taffs, the pakis, the paddys, the sheepshaggers, the mussies, the cockneys, the football fans, the manu fans.

The British Isles groans under the weight of all this knuckfucklery.

(Except, a portion of these knucklefuckers are on an island that is not a British Isle...).