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Tag: UK

Government design, and the US’s problem

Government design, and the US’s problem

I have a controversial opinion – the Federal government of the USA should have more power, and the local governments (state, city, other regions) should have less. This is my opinion as an American. As a European by birth, I think the same is true of the EU. My friends moved from England to Belgium when England was still part of the EU. They had to register with all the Belgian government’s myriad tax and other authorities. Social security was…

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Incongruous thinking about the EU

Incongruous thinking about the EU

Some people believe, not inaccurately, that the people of the US are guilty of ignoring the rest of the world. As I discussed in an earlier post, if Americans knew how good the Scandinavians have it, they would not be voting the way they vote, or stomping around about the superiority of their country. The same is true of Britons. They vote against their best interests all the time, but the voting system there also reduces the need for compromise…

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Ways you didn’t know US English and British English differed

Ways you didn’t know US English and British English differed

Everyone knows about the differences in British and American English like the spelling of “color” versus “colour”, and the differences between word choices like “closet” versus “wardrobe” even where both the words exist in both languages. But less appreciated are the pronunciation differences of individual words. I thought it would be fun (nerdy fun) to look at the differences phonetically between English English and American English pronunciations, at least in northern New England: Tuna In the UK this is pronounced…

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