27th September 2003, 5:24 PM
Quote:Whoa buddy, if you don't want to call it the Slovak Republic, take it up with the Slovakians, because they named it that. And the US government recognizes it as such. The conventional long form is "SLOVAK REPUBLIC". What you said is like saying "This is America, NOT the United States." Don't believe me? Allow me to rub it in by referring you to: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publication...ok/geos/lo.html
I have never heard it called the 'Slovak Republic' before. Never.
Quote:Wow, the arrogance in that is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I was due to visit London on a class trip before 9-11 cancelled it. I'm sorry I'm not as rich and fortunate as your majesty to be able to afford trips to Europe.
Yeah, we didn't think so...
Quote:I think you'll have a very, very hard time proving that, as it's only a matter of opinion "how different" they are.
And you know this how? OB1 would know this best... I was mostly in the Czech part, not Slovakia (we mostly just drove through that part, if we even went there...), and it was quite some time ago... but still, I'm sure I know more about that than you do... given you don't seem to have anything to back up your claims, and have even less to show that the US and Canada are actually different on most all issues.
Quote:They were one country until 1830. They're neighbors. Until the 1830 separation, they'd always been considered one entity. Over half of Belgium is a Dutch-speaking majority. They're assumed identical foreign policies. They're about as alike as they can be while being two sovereign states. Ass.
Nope. Just look. Belgium IS half Dutch-speaking, but its Flemish half gives it a quite different character that you fail to recognize... and as for policy, they are very different. For example Belgium isn't quite on the same page as the Netherlands on drug laws... but the culture is most important, and you just fail to recognize that there are huge gulfs in culture between the nations of Europe. Yes, there are some in the US (North-South is the biggest one..., but not to the extent or of the age (and thus there has been less time for them to set in) or the severity (since Americans move around all the time...) of Europeans.
French and Germans may agree on many policy issues, but culturally they are still very, very different...