There Are Synechdoches, and There Are Synechdoches

My fellow Americans, it is fine to use "Wall Street" as a synechdoche for "the financial industry." No one is offended.

But when you say "England" but really mean "the United Kingdom," the Welsh, Scottish and (northern) Irish do find it a bit disturbing. OK?

Comments

  1. English people find it annoying too

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do northern Irish get mad if people speak as if they are from Great Britain? Because if I recall correctly, they were still part of Team Gee Bee in London 2012.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Northern Irish can actually compete for Ireland or GB!

      Delete
  3. The wogs begin at Bar Harbor.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gene,
    I am glad you have finally seen the error in your ways!

    para 3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rob, who wrote that crap you link to?

      Delete
  5. Finally, you said something about Scotland that we can both agree on! Actually, sort of related to this, did you know that the numbering system of the British monarch is fair to both the Scots and the English? When I thought about the fact that Elizabeth was called Elizabeth II, my Scots pride was offended because Elizabeth I only ruled England. She NEVER ruled Scotland. However, after researching the issue I found that they made the system fair to both the English and the Scots. The rule is that if the name was present in both countries, the next monarch of that name would take the next number from the country with the higher number. So, for example, if there is another James, he would be James VIII NOT James III. If the regal version of the name only exists in one country, then of course the next number is taken. So, England, I don't think, ever had a King Robert, but Scotland had two, so the next King Robert would be Robert III of the United Kingdom even though there was never a King Robert of England. Interesting isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The english find it irritating too.

    Unknown - I did not know that.

    Sport in Northern Ireland and the Republic is very complicated. Sometimes competitions are all Ireland, sometimes they're just for the republic or north. Sometimes the republic has a national team, sometimes there's an all-ireland national team.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rob @1:18pm, that was a thing of beauty. Once I read the link, I remembered Gene having written that--since he was one of my favorite LRC contributors--but I never would've remembered. That's amazing.

    Gene you should go say penance or something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob, I have been doing penance for four years now for the things I wrote at LRC.

      Delete
    2. Since you brought it up...what happened four years ago? What made you change sides? Was it something specific or evolutionary?

      Senyor

      Delete

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