Five Things Meme!

[beccatoria]

Okay - that meme is going around again! The one where you comment on a post and get given five things the poster associates with you, then you get to talk about those five things on your LJ, and invite other people to comment on your post and ask for five things you associate with them!

So yes, chaila43 gave me the following five things! Comment on

Comments

[pellucid]

I had one of the more depressing moments of my pedagogical life the other day. We're reading a book set in Northern Ireland, and it's about the Troubles and such, so I was doing my quick and dirty history of Northern Ireland spiel.

Student: So Northern Ireland is part of England?
Me: No, it's part of Great Britain. England is also part of Great Britain, but it's not the whole country, even though it acts like it. Scotland and Wales are also part of Great Britain but not part of England.
Student: What's Wales?
Me: *cries*

And okay, I sort of get that if you're an 18-year-old, none-too-bright Canadian, you might struggle with the whole four-nations-in-one-country thing, but how do you manage to get into university without ever having heard that there's such a place as Wales??? In any event, I was quite offended on your behalf.

And I've been swamped this week and haven't been replying to this meme, but it's the weekend now, so maybe I'll bite!

[beccatoria]

Awww, okay, yes, that is slightly frustrating, although like you say, it's a long way away, there are probably a depressing number of people in Wales who don't know something as basic as the fact that Canada is bilingual, but I I find it adorable that you were indignant on my behalf! And also, yay, EDUCATE THE MASSES ABOUT WALES, it's the first step on my plan to reclaim our Romantic Celt Cool. :p

YAY MEME TIME!

Okay, in no particular order:

1. Meta
2. Living in Canada
3. Laura Roslin and all the complications of bringing that up, because you understand.
4. Being delightfully easy to tempt (at least on a casual basis) into new fandoms. (i.e. a stand-in for all the fandoms I would LIKE to list here: Attolia, River Song, Babylon 5, Farscape, TSCC, Once Upon A Time, Damages, etc.!)
5. Universities!

You're lucky, I very nearly put "Being top of my list of Vidding Recruits" on there just to make you talk about THAT. ;) (But srsly, try it sometime...)

*hugs*

[pellucid]

I very nearly put "Being top of my list of Vidding Recruits" on there just to make you talk about THAT.

Ha! Excuses, excuses, I know. And I DO still want that vid to exist. But I was already getting a bit discouraged by all the pre-vidding work, and then my computer died, taking with it all my vidding clips (and my, ahem, vidding software). Computer is restored, and I may actually have some free time with which to do things like this after Christmas, but I'm not sure whether I have it in me to start absolutely from scratch. We'll see, perhaps...

[beccatoria]

Yeah, I understand that - I recall seeing that on your LJ and I get the disheartening nature of the whole thing so I wouldn't blame you if you never went back, but OMFG VIDDINGSES! But also, this is why I don't clip. ;) Maybe start with a smaller, more source-specific idea? But then, you also really need to start with the idea you are most excited about. Like you said, maybe later. I shall hope! :)

[spiralsheep]

Erm, feel free to hate me for mentioning this pedantry cos, honestly, there's no reason for you to know this at all, but some Northern Irish people get a bit upset about it so...

UK = Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England (and Cornwall if you're a Cornish nationalist).

GB = Wales, Scotland, England (and Cornwall if you're a Cornish nationalist).

Brittany (in France) means "Little Britain" (hence "Great Britain) and both are relics from the time when what is now Britain had more political interests in what is now France than anywhere in Ireland.

/annoying pedantry, sorry

[pellucid]

Ack, of course you're right, and I knew this (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, duh), and now it's driving me nuts because I can't remember if I got it right or wrong in that conversation with the student. Because we talked about the full title of the country, and I'm much more accustomed to saying "the UK" anyway. Not that students manage to grasp a lot of nuance anyway (so glad I'm not judged too much on what students think I said), but I, too, am pedantic enough that I want to make sure it was right--more so in class than in LJ comments, apparently! :)

[beccatoria]

Yeah, basically the way I remember it is that Great Britain is a geographical term rather than a political one, cus technically it also doesn't include things like the Isle of White, Anglesey off the top of Wales, the Hebrides, and...so on. Which is easyish to remember given the full title of the country separates the two geographic places, so you probably got it right?

Just make your students watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

:p

[spiralsheep]

I still like the Great British Venn Diagram (although it might be a Euler diagram?):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/British_Isles_Venn_Diagram.png

[beccatoria]

See! PERFECTLY SIMPLE! I really don't know how anyone could ever get confused!

[spiralsheep]

Although I note that these days England and Wales should also each have a separate circle inside the England + Wales one, heh. ;-)

[beccatoria]

Or...maybe a dotted circle? Because some stuff is devolved to Wales but not as much as Scotland? So the "England & Wales" legal designation still applies in some cases? But not in others?

...

...

*head explodes*

[spiralsheep]

I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS TO PONDER, such as: when does the under-arch of a rly wide bridge become a tunnel?? What about two narrower bridges rly close together?!?

[beccatoria]

1. After 15 and a half feet.
2. NEVER.

[spiralsheep]

more so in class than in LJ comments, apparently! :)

Hee! ;-)