British Vocabulary

[Drake Tungsten]

I hope the thread title adds a veneer of respectability to this otherwise worthless thread. Anyway...

Originally posted by The Stinger
I'm a low to very low grade functionary in a Quango( which is basicaly a government body not directly run by a minister).

The quote is from Lancer's tragically closed resignation thread. So, a quango is a real thing? Can someone explain it more thoroughly? I always just thought it was some nonsense word that Blur made up...

Oh, you should probably discuss other aspects of British vocabulary as well...

[Dauphin]

Its an agency or organisation that is financed by the government but acts independently of it.

Quasi-non-governmental => Quango.

[Zkribbler]

[Please move right along to the next post. Thank you.]

[Drake Tungsten]

Do you know of any American equivalents? I'm drawing a blank...

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Do you know of any American equivalents? I'm drawing a blank...

The U.S. Postal "Service" and the University of California are both "public corporations," i.e. wholly owned corporate subsidiaries of the government. That sounds stupid, I know, but it's the government for Pete's sake--it's supposed to act stupid.

[FrustratedPoet]

At least Drake has a good taste in music.

/me waits for Pattycakes to turn up and say that Blur are ****.

[ThePantaloonDog]

I would like to know who exactly came up with Quango.

It seems to me that the British are always coming up with nonsense words to further confuse American English speakers.

[Drake Tungsten]

At least Drake has a good taste in music.

I'm glad someone finally appreciates it. You wouldn't believe how much crap I took in high school for listening to Blur...

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
You wouldn't believe how much crap I took in high school for listening to Blur...

At high school in England during that time you took a load of crap if you DIDN'T listen to Blur.

[Drake Tungsten]

At high school in England during that time you took a load of crap if you DIDN'T listen to Blur.

Britpop wasn't quite as popular here in Nebraska...

[Dauphin]

All Your Life, All We Want, Cowboy Song and Young and Lovely. Great songs that many non-Blur fans have never heard.

[Drake Tungsten]

All Your Life is my favorite Blur song ever...

Young and Lovely is excellent as well.

[Dauphin]

I prefer All We Want. Beachcoma leads my Windows Player count (out of the Blur category) though.

[Drake Tungsten]

All Your Life is the leader on my iTunes list.

I Love Her, Supa Shoppa, Swallows in the Heatwave, Tame and Ultranol are tied for second.

[Felch]

Is Blur more Oasis or Radiohead? All I've heard was that horrible "Song 2" dogpile.