Comments | calenaldion: What is a country?

calenaldion

What is a country?

Jan 03, 2009 20:31

During a quiz, the question "In which country did Dracula live?" was asked. One person says Transylvania, another says Romania. Answer in quiz book was Transylvania. Cue big argument about what constitutes a country. (Because we were speaking about the fictional character but also the supposed historical inspiration, and thus not just about ( Read more... )

Comments 4

tgwbs January 3 2009, 21:36:36 UTC

You're gone from LJ for 6 months, and this is what you come up with? :P

calenaldion January 4 2009, 11:00:53 UTC

Well, I was the only one wanting to debate and not just shouting "It's not a country! It's not a country! Don't be ridiculous!" so it annoyed me enough to write about it.

Nice to see you though, TGWBS. How's the study going?

tgwbs January 4 2009, 14:48:40 UTC

All is well with me. I have been thinking of you and Cailin a fair bit, mainly regarding how to contact you when you disappear for months at a time. How's it going and what are you two up to?

I like claiming that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland aren't actually countries, merely colonies of the English empire. Mainly to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish friends. I'm not sure what the salient features of a country actually are. Wikipedia seems to say "something recognised as a country by other countries" which is about as unhelpful as you can get.

calenaldion January 10 2009, 12:46:01 UTC

I have a job now, a real one. But I'm thinking about posting a life update soon so watch out for that. I realise that most of my Downs friends still regard me as a 3rd year philosophy student, and it's time to dash those expectations.

What's the English empire? Never heard of it. What I have heard are lots of English greetin about how they are "run by Scots". It's a curious contradiction - you can't seem to figure out who's in charge.