Rat
Not bored. Never bored.,
Is Not Knowing the Capital of Canada a Problem?
- Thread starter Mudcat
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ddt
Mafia Penguin
That is the case for Pakistan/Islamabad, and Brazil/Brasilia, but I don't see offhand other examples of that.
The case of Australia/Canberra is a simple case of rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne: neither got it, and a capital was built in between it. The case of Canada/Ottawa is more or less similar: it lies halfway between Toronto and Quebec.
Most cases, actually, seem to be cases where the capital was in fact the biggest and most important city at the time it was chosen to be capital. This holds for China/Beijing, Taiwan/Taipei, Philippines/Manila, Sudan/Khartoum, Syria/Damascus and (North) Vietnam/Hanoi, off the top of my head.
ddt
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I would have guessed 50 for England, but I'm at a loss for the other home countries.
And the capitals of Wiltshire, Berkshire, Shropshire, etc., would be?
When you count them, there aren't terribly many -shire counties so easy as you think. And then there are those without a clue: Kent, Surrey, Sussex (East/West), Norfolk, Suffolk, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (*), etc., etc.(*) they're both rivers, not cities.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
Rat
Not bored. Never bored.,
Scotland did something weird with their counties in the seventies, I think. I believe NI still have the old ones.I would have guessed 50 for England, but I'm at a loss for the other home countries.
And the capitals of Wiltshire, Berkshire, Shropshire, etc., would be?
(*) they're both rivers, not cities.
I take the point about not all counties being obvious. Wiltshire used to be Wilton, but is no more. Shropshire is presumably Shrewsbury, going by the name. Tyne and Wear doesn't really have a county town as such, being a metropolitan county (or whatever they're called these days).
ddt
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England did some weird stuff with their counties too: the introduction of those newfangled metropolitan counties like Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, Merseyside; the transformation of Yorkshire first into three ridings and now three separate counties. Some smaller counties have been absorbed by neighbouring counties. And let's not even start about the London area. What happened to Middlesex?
Rat
Not bored. Never bored.,
But after twenty years or so, we undid some of it. We annexed Rutland in the seventies, but since they made such a fuss about it, we let them pretend to be a proper county again in the nineties. Similarly, the horrible merger of Hereford and Worcester was righted in the nineties.England did some weird stuff with their counties too: the introduction of those newfangled metropolitan counties like Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, Merseyside; the transformation of Yorkshire first into three ridings and now three separate counties. Some smaller counties have been absorbed by neighbouring counties. And let's not even start about the London area. What happened to Middlesex?
Middlesex still play cricket, but otherwise only exists in the heads of people of a certain age who add it in their address, thinking it sounds posher than 'Greater London' or some other such fabrication. I fear Westmorland and Huntingdonshire are gone for good, and Avon never really took off in the first place.
Border Reiver
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Not quite true.
Ottawa (then-Bytown) was chosen as the capital for two reasons:
a. Being farther back from the Canada-US border than either York (now Toronto), Kingston, Montreal or Quebec (the other contenders for the capital) it was considered more defensible than any of its other contenders; and
b. When shown paintings of the proposed locations for the capital buildings in each city Queen Victoria thought that the proposed Bytown location looked better than the rest.
Was she right, in your opinion?
Border Reiver
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I've been to Toronto, and now Parliament would be surrounded by lots of glass towers getting lost in the view in much the same way the provincial buildings have been.
Montreal, Kingston and Quebec have some really nice views, but at the time of confederation the Canadians were more than a little worried about our militant neighbour to the south (large army) and the large number of ex-Irishmen who thought that it would be a simple thing to march north, conquer Canada and offer to exchange it to Britain for Irish freedom.
That being said, the view of Parliament Hill from the Ottawa River is spectacular.
Montreal, Kingston and Quebec have some really nice views, but at the time of confederation the Canadians were more than a little worried about our militant neighbour to the south (large army) and the large number of ex-Irishmen who thought that it would be a simple thing to march north, conquer Canada and offer to exchange it to Britain for Irish freedom.
That being said, the view of Parliament Hill from the Ottawa River is spectacular.
Mmm. Well, that would have been quite an undertaking, though there was a rebellion in Ireland in 1867.
Or at least it didn't accomplish the conquest of Canada and its barter for Irish independence. I never knew that was the intention. It sounds less than practicable.
truethat
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After page after page of endless typical blathering from Europeans trying to understand why Americans are not that interested in the rest of the world and responding to truthful answers with insults about intelligence of Americans, I decided to skip to the end of the thread.
First up, Europeans are completely deluding themselves about the sophisticated education levels of their people. Give me a break. Educated people tend to be more educated than non educated people. Big friggin' surprise right? Let's walk into the Council houses and do a "capital of the world countries" test and see how it goes.
Certain countries definitely have a better education system but they also seem to have a higher socioeconomic situation going on than others. So looking at Belgium it isn't just better education, it's better standard of living, jobs etc etc etc.
Shocker right?
The bottom line always seems to be that Europeans are disgruntled and try to place the "intellectually superior" card whenever Americans honestly admit that they don't really care what goes on in Europe so much any more because it has absolutely no relevance whatsoever on what goes on in our lives here in the states.
Americans don't care that much about Canada either. I think we used to be more interested in Canada before Canadians started trashing America after 911.
UK is important overseas but seriously, Scotland? Wales? Northern Ireland? What in the world do these countries contribute to the world as a whole? It's a bit rude to say so but it is what it is.
Americans tend to know more about countries that are in the news more. Just like everyone else. So we hear about England and China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Saudi, Iraq etc etc.
We rarely hear about even Germany, France or Sweden etc. It's just not in the news.
The US on the other hand is always in the news in every single country around the world. So it creates some sort of resentment because most of the world knows about the US but most of the US doesn't know about most of the world.
This is the honest answer but it gets people twisted when you point out the truth.
First up, Europeans are completely deluding themselves about the sophisticated education levels of their people. Give me a break. Educated people tend to be more educated than non educated people. Big friggin' surprise right? Let's walk into the Council houses and do a "capital of the world countries" test and see how it goes.
Certain countries definitely have a better education system but they also seem to have a higher socioeconomic situation going on than others. So looking at Belgium it isn't just better education, it's better standard of living, jobs etc etc etc.
Shocker right?
The bottom line always seems to be that Europeans are disgruntled and try to place the "intellectually superior" card whenever Americans honestly admit that they don't really care what goes on in Europe so much any more because it has absolutely no relevance whatsoever on what goes on in our lives here in the states.
Americans don't care that much about Canada either. I think we used to be more interested in Canada before Canadians started trashing America after 911.
UK is important overseas but seriously, Scotland? Wales? Northern Ireland? What in the world do these countries contribute to the world as a whole? It's a bit rude to say so but it is what it is.
Americans tend to know more about countries that are in the news more. Just like everyone else. So we hear about England and China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Saudi, Iraq etc etc.
We rarely hear about even Germany, France or Sweden etc. It's just not in the news.
The US on the other hand is always in the news in every single country around the world. So it creates some sort of resentment because most of the world knows about the US but most of the US doesn't know about most of the world.
This is the honest answer but it gets people twisted when you point out the truth.
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I am very sure that this is not the truth, though you may well be honest in mistakenly proposing it. I have too much affection for your country and its people to contemplate the possibility that what you have written really represents their attitude towards the rest of the world. But I'm glad you have been induced to speak your own personal feelings openly. It's always good to get it out.
ETA Your bit about the "council houses" is a real gem by the way.
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truethat
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Why? See this is what we keep asking you and you don't answer and get twisted about it. I'm married to a European. My sister is married to an Indian who was raised in England. My ex husband is from Egypt. My best friends from Pakistan etc etc around we go.
I have a lot of love for Europe as well. But over the years I've notice this ridiculous snooty pants attitude for Europeans that denigrate Americans for thinking they are the center of the world etc.
And while this may be true to some degree, >>>>read this part three times.>>>>> At LEAST IT"S BASED ON SOME REALITY
America IS the most influential country in the world. Yes China is up there and very important. But as I've pointed out before, our country is less than 300 years old and it is up against China which has been around for thousands of years.
If you go to any country in the world, they can tell you about America. Why?
The world knows all about America and we're used to it. It's just the way it is. It's just the way it happened.
It seems that Europeans cannot handle this concept. They get outraged when Americans are not interested in the rest of the world the same way. Many Americans I know are content to live simple lives and never even leave their own zip code in their lives just doing their thing. As a result the goings on in the world have absolutely no meaning or influence in their lives at all.
Now for me, I would curl up and die if my life was like that. Most of the people I know personally are very interested in the world and in history etc and whatnot.
But the question I ask you YET AGAIN that will not be answered because it has not been answered the entire thread is this
What does Europe do that makes it so relevant and important to Americans?
Because most of what I hear is that its famous in HISTORY not that it's doing anything all that fantastic now.
China pulls the interest of Americans because of trade.
Europe tends to pull the interest of Americans as "tourists" if you know what I mean.
So please explain what's going on in England and Europe that requires America to sit up and take notice.
So far, I've got the UN. Allies in invasions etc. Then what?
Next consider Canada, and again What is Canada doing that is so important that it would influence Americans?
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Rat
Not bored. Never bored.,
It might be that I missed it, but where are these pages after pages of Europeans blathering in this way?
I agree that if you go into council houses and ask, then you will not do well, but then I'm middle class. But again, I don't see Europeans deluding themselves about their education compared to the US. I do see a couple of Americans getting defensive about it, even before any Europeans have spoken.
But I'm wondering whether Americans don't care about these places because they're not in the news, or they're not in the news because Americans don't care about them. I'm not sure why how something impacts on your life is the only criterion regarding whether it's normal to know it. I certainly don't resent the US for appearing more frequently in the news than most other nations, but I'm not sure it's as common as you think, other than in the field of celebrity. We don't get much about US domestic policy, for example, and natural and other disasters are not covered any more from the US than from anywhere else.
truethat
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This freaked me out for years. LOL
truethat
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I've done this before on here. Give me any newspaper from around the world. I will guarantee that if I go to that paper today there will be a story about America in the paper.
But not necessarily Canada.
You don't see the snide comment in what you just said? That perhaps the countries are not in the paper because Americans are not interested in it. LOL AND YET once again, you have yet to explain WHY Americans should be interested in it.
Here's what's funny to me. Europeans talking about the rest of Europe would be the equivalent of New Yorkers talking about their bordering states. It doesn't mean they are more sophisticated at all. It just means that people tend to talk about things that are interesting to them or relevant to their lives.
This is why stories from Kansas and the Dakotas are not generally in the New York Times.
Would you like to play? Explain why Canada, matters to the US. Give me any reason right now?
Go.
And here's what's interesting. You probably won't be able to, just like through the first three pages when Mudd kept asking it people kept posting rude comments and dodging the question.
LOL
Because if you can't explain it, then why is Canada important to the UK right now. Go.
ETA
Just grabbed the New York Times and you'll see front page,
http://www.nytimes.com/
It has stories about China and Japan, Syria, Iran, Pakistan.. If the argument is that the unenlightened Americans only care about what goes on inside the country, they pray tell why are these stories in the news?
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@truethat
There simply is no possible response to what you have just written. We don't have any point of contact on which a response might be based. But let me ask you this: if by some disaster, which heaven forbid, your country's influence in the world was reduced, would you then change your point of view about what it was necessary or desirable for an intelligent person to know? Would you become as subservient, as you now are arrogant, in your attitude? Not for nothing did ancient peoples conceive the ideas of hubris and nemesis.
There simply is no possible response to what you have just written. We don't have any point of contact on which a response might be based. But let me ask you this: if by some disaster, which heaven forbid, your country's influence in the world was reduced, would you then change your point of view about what it was necessary or desirable for an intelligent person to know? Would you become as subservient, as you now are arrogant, in your attitude? Not for nothing did ancient peoples conceive the ideas of hubris and nemesis.
Rat
Not bored. Never bored.,
Not dodging, but clarifying: matters in what way? I'm not sure anyone's said that they do or even should matter to them in directly influencing their day-to-day lives. If no one is making that claim (and I'm not) then there isn't really a question to dodge.