British Vs. American Verbology

[scionic]

Scionic, is it compulsary to vote in America?Is it true that you cant spend more that you earn and there is special tax authority that can come and check your house to see how it looks like from the inside? (like expensive paintings etc)

I ve never been in the US,too expensive to fly from Greece and also very long trip. After the 9/11 it's also too dangerous. Did you know that that on the day of the crash only 3000 people were in the towers instead of 20000+?

Why they never showed on tv the dead bodies?

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Nope, it's not required that you vote here. In fact, at least 40% or so of us, don't.

You can definitely spend more than you own. We are probably the most over-extended people in the world, credit-wise.

No special tax authority checking out paintings that I know of.

It's not really much more dangerous to fly here now than it was before, statistically speaking. The odd of you getting hijacked with all the measures in place now are next to nothing. Al Qaeda's next attack on us won't be with commercial airliners. It will probably be something we aren't expecting.

The towers weren't very full yet because the planes hit at just before 9 AM. In Manahattan people get to work late and stay until 7 pm or so. Most people weren't in yet.

They did show people jumping from the towers on television. I imagine they didn't show the dead bodies because there wasn't much to see and what there was was far too disgusting for television.

Yeah. That was a crappy day for us.

[dimitrios]

I didnt mean dangerous in terms of flying (hijacking) I mean it is a very dangerous place for tourists etc,& that there could be a terroristic attack on the ground not in the air

I think I remembered that special tax authority,I think they are called IRS.

I didnt mean overspending with credit cards.I meant like black money.I think you cant make black money in the US,cuz they can catch you very easily.

[scionic]

Oh, I see.

Yeah, we do have the IRS, but they don't come to your house and appraise your artwork or anything unless you've been very very bad and haven't paid your taxed forever.

There are LOTS of ways to cheat on taxes here, it's only hard to do if you are poor or middle class and actually need the money. If you're a rich ******, then it's very easy.

I know people who work and get paid "under the table" though, if that's what you mean. They don't declare their income to the IRS, but their employer is in on it so there is no paper record. Very hard for the IRS to find that money. Pretty much impossible, unless it's millions of dollars, but then we're back to being a rich ****** and you can hire someone to hide the money trail for you.

As far as terrorist attacks, well Europe and UK have had them for years. UK has/had the IRA. In Greece you have November 13th or whatever it's called.

We've only had 3 real terrorist attacks in our modern history and two of them happened on the same day.

I lived in Washington DC before I moved here, about 1 mile from the White House and I never worried about it.

You just can't spend time worrying about something so unlikely. Another attack by Al-Qaeda in the US is inevitable of course, but the odds of you being right there in that spot when it happens are astronomical. Especially if you aren't going to any major target. I lived near the White House and wasn't worried. If you visit anywhere other than Manhattan or DC then you have very, very little to worry about.

Come to the sunny United States and spend your tourist dollars, people.

[dimitrios]

Its sunny in Greece too mate.

November 17 was a terroristic team of another kind.They didnt kill innocent people.They killed only politicians and other bad people who were involved in scandals.

Only once, by mistake,1 innocent person was killed because of their action and they gave lots of money to his family.Anyway.

[scionic]

Oh, I know. Greece is beautiful. Been there many, many times.

Actually the climate here is quite similar to southern Greece, except our winters are a bit milder still and we probably have a few more days in the 100f range. We don't have the ocean in Arizona, but it is only a 2.5 hour drive to the seaside in Mexico.

[RedAE102]

lay by is a small section of 'extra road' usually a few miles apart which allow motorists to pull over and stop safely so that others can overtake or sometimes they have toliets / bins etc. in them

hope that makes sense.

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We have 'em, sure enough, but mainly on narrow winding two lane mountain roads where there isn't enough room for a "shoulder." They're called turnouts. And can occur anywhere from ¼-mile apart to 3 or 4 miles apart. Usually no toilets there, those are saved for the "rest areas," "rest stops," or "safety rest stops." These usually occur about 60 to 100 miles apart. For the record, I think the state of Utah has the nicest highway rest stops. Top notch! Spotless inside and air conditioned too! On a side note, even on our freeways and interstate highways in the cities, there are places where the shoulder bulges out to twice or 3 times its normal width, usually about 2 miles apart, and include "call boxes." Another segway... any call boxes over there? Here, they're landline telephones in weatherproof boxes on every state, federal, or interstate highway (exception being the state highways that are actually surface/side streets when they go into cities). They connect directly to the nearest state Highway Patrol, Department of Public Safety, State Troopers, or whatever the police force in charge of the highways in that particular state choose to call themselves, and allow motorists to call for help in emergencies, be it a tow truck or an ambulance. Cellular phones have come close to rendering them obsolete, but there are still vast stretches of highway across the country where you're more likely to see a dodo than to have a cell phone signal of any kind.

Lav'-Bog-Loo--------------                  Can-Head-Latrine

Head-----------------------                              *** ***

Oi!! ------------------------                              Excuse me?

Paper money--------------                Bill folds

Lezbo----------------------                            !Removed!

Puff-------------------------                                Homosexual

Snot-bogie-----------------                      Booger

Diddycoy-Pikey-Gypo---------------              ???

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Hey we use lezbo too, but as slang for a !Removed! in general! I guess this makes me a puff, eh?

My German grandmother, of all people, was the one who insisted I also learn the proper English spelling and pronunciation of most words (minus the accent, since she had a deadly mix of a German and Midwestern American accent). I've kept it in my vocabulary since then, and am always writing colour, analyse, licence (instead of license), et al.

[scionic]

Oh yeah, Turnouts! That would be it.

They have callboxes as well, only theirs can travel across time and space.