@GG Was that a deliberate or intended spelling mistake? Either way it's ACE!

Isha its a respectful and endearing part of cockney rhyming slang for our United States of American cousins. Glad you liked it.

Aha! Cockney rhyming slang. Now that's one 'language' I will never get my head around. Believe me, I've tried.

An interesting site I have amongst my bookmarks:

http://www.phespirit.info/cockney/slang_to_english.htm

Why, thank-you. Nope. Never heard of it. And a quick google around didn't get any hits. Obviously the facts are being suppressed. It's a conspiracy I tell you.

@Sandrounder: I did refer to the royal family as silly in my original post. My apologies. That was mean.

the rest of the "silly" comments referred to other things like celebrity gossip news in America and sports. I admit that I think cricket and rugby are silly, but they are by no means more or less silly than baseball and American football. In reality all sports are silly and frivolous and I don't want to start an internet poop-storm about my comments on cricket and rugby. The point is that people are voluntarily spending their own money on these things, but they have no choice but to spend their money on the bloated wedding budget and I can't understand how you Brits can stand for that. That's all.

Well, we can't understand why you Americans repeatedly vote for morons and villains as presidents, either.

We'll never understand each other. That's why you chaps had that revolution, remember?

Both are fantastic points. I'm glad that I moved to another country after GWB was out of office. It was embarrassing to explain to people how that happened when I would travel and he was in office. I guess Barack is better.

No, he's not. He's just another crook in a suit, like the last one, and the one before him, and the one before him...

Which is precisely why most Brits are happy to have Queen Elizabeth II as our head of state.

@Dougal's Breakfast: See, i was trying to be nice and you are still trying to be angry and mean. I guess we silly Americans will never be able to win back real friendship from you Brits.

Also, I thought that the queen had no real power. Am I wrong about that?

Have you seen the annual U.S: military budget lately? A mere snip at 660 billion, in fact i'll have a dozen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militar..._United_States

Now that must be a wee bit hard to stomach. The Royal Wedding is a poundland bargain in comprison.

This silly American agrees with him.

She ceased to have power when she forgot to pay her electricity bill.

Cheers,
Nick

My 100 yrs old Grandmother received €2500 from the Irish president as a Centenarian's Bounty. As she also holds a British passport, she received acknowledgement from Her Madge: a dour looking self portrait and rote message inside. I've yet to find a reason why I should use a British passport when an Irish one affords cheaper visas, friendly welcomes in hostile lands and the potential for a centenarians bounty.

Up the Republic!

But I'll watch the wedding Just to see all the fine horses there and so.

I got the date wrong! 11 November 1975 Governor-General Sir John Kerrr dismissed the Australian Government, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_power

So yes, the Queen has considerable powers over some parts of the (Empire) Commonwealth, and they have been used. She is not just a figurehead, and the world will notice if she decides to rattle your cage.

ManU or Schalke?

Ah... so that'll be why the Irish economy went to the wall and needed a bailout...

Ah, there are less than twenty of them

Good show on Channel4 last night, still available online: Royal Wedding Crashers

Try to stay on topic. That's tonight. The big game on Friday is Sydney v Carlton.

I just found it slightly more interesting than the OPs condescending assumption that we are all Lemming like in our need to defend Dear Old Blighty at the first sign of dark clouds and that in that tedious and badly innaccurate logic would come a thread of a thousand posts by the simple re-application of pressure on the obviously assumed open wound.what.