Royal Wedding: Kate & Will <3

[ariich]

So, aarich, is Friday a public holiday then?

rumborak

Hell yeah, extra public holiday!

hey ariich, i don't mean to derail the thread, but i asked this in another thread and no-one really knew the answer.

how do you pronounce your username? Air-itch?

it's totally been bothering me, i gotta know the answer.

Ah-reach. But everyone gets it wrong, so don't worry about it.

[lonestar]

So, aarich, is Friday a public holiday then?

rumborak

Hell yeah, extra public holiday!

hey ariich, i don't mean to derail the thread, but i asked this in another thread and no-one really knew the answer.

how do you pronounce your username? Air-itch?

it's totally been bothering me, i gotta know the answer.

Ah-reach. But everyone gets it wrong, so don't worry about it.

Really, I always pronounced it "that cool british dude"

[ariich]

So, aarich, is Friday a public holiday then?

rumborak

Hell yeah, extra public holiday!

hey ariich, i don't mean to derail the thread, but i asked this in another thread and no-one really knew the answer.

how do you pronounce your username? Air-itch?

it's totally been bothering me, i gotta know the answer.

Ah-reach. But everyone gets it wrong, so don't worry about it.

Really, I always pronounced it "that cool british dude"

That is also acceptable.

[faemir]

I don't really care about their wedding, but yes, the whole royal family expense debate has been done the death, and they easily recoupe the money back through tourism.

And you know what the best part about having royalty? They can do all the important opening ceremonies etc. whilst the prime minister can get on with the important decisions - it works great (here, Japan etc.) and I think it's the biggest flaw in republics vs places with royalty (I forget the term).

[Summers]

Ugh, this whole thing makes me sick...

[XJDenton]

Do you realise how much we are getting from tourism and TV rights? It'll be way more than $34m.

Chill.

That might be true, but this is all money that the average citizen won't recoup, since it's all money that is flowing into private hands.

rumborak

I pay £1, I get an extra day off.

Good deal to me.

[faemir]

Ugh, this whole thing makes me sick...

Why?

[Aramatheis]

places with royalty (I forget the term).

Monarchies; albeit the British Monarchy is just for show at this point, is it not?

[XJDenton]

Pretty much. The queen still has powers but in practice could not enforce them.

[Summers]

Ugh, this whole thing makes me sick...

Why?

I have no love for the royals being a proud Welshman, and just the concept of a hereditary head of state (and all the luxuries that come with being born into the royal family) is ridiculous in my opinion in this modern era.  That goes for the rest of the aristocracy as well.  Don't get me started... 

[TempusVox]

How is the Brits little dress up, Cinderella, wedding/tea party any different than the funds spent on the Presidential Inauguration held here EVERY four years? Bush 2's cost a lot. Obama's cost the taxpayers about 50 million in federal dollars; Va, Md, and DC proper spent another 75 million just for police and EMS; and W. before leaving office declared a federal state of emergency as a precaution so that funds could be sought from FEMA---to the tune of another 33 million. So if the Loyalists want to have a wedding once in a while, who cares?

[hefdaddy42]

I understand why this is important in the UK and their territories, but I have no idea why this is big, headline news on every news network in the U.S. 

[faemir]

Ugh, this whole thing makes me sick...

Why?

I have no love for the royals being a proud Welshman, and just the concept of a hereditary head of state (and all the luxuries that come with being born into the royal family) is ridiculous in my opinion in this modern era.  That goes for the rest of the aristocracy as well.  Don't get me started... 

Except that as noted before, the Queen actually has a damn important job that allows the prime minister to function far more sensibly, and bring in money for the country, overall being pretty much a plus to the country.

[AcidLameLTE]

I'm not too interested in the wedding but I'm also not getting really worked up over it (in a bad way) like some people are. The only thing that's annoying me is that people keep going on about how little they care about it and then I see them join about 50 Facebook groups about it and post 5 million status updates complaining about the marriage.

[XJDenton]

I understand why this is important in the UK and their territories, but I have no idea why this is big, headline news on every news network in the U.S.  

It diverts attention away from more horrific matters like war, the budget deficit and Sarah Palin.

[Summers]

Except that as noted before, the Queen actually has a damn important job that allows the prime minister to function far more sensibly, and bring in money for the country, overall being pretty much a plus to the country.

If the UK was a republic we would most likely have a president/head of state as well as the prime minister who would head the government.  The USA is quite unique in that the head of state doubles as head of government as well.  It's true that the royal family brings in revenue through tourism, but if the royals didn't exist anymore I'm sure there would still be a substantial amount coming in from royalty-related tourism, Buckingham Palace wouldn't be going anywhere.  

This is getting a bit too P&R....

[Rina]

I understand why this is important in the UK and their territories, but I have no idea why this is big, headline news on every news network in the U.S.  

It diverts attention away from more horrific matters like war, the budget deficit and Sarah Palin.

This is true.

[kári]

it works great (here, Japan etc.)

Not here in Belgium.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I understand why this is important in the UK and their territories, but I have no idea why this is big, headline news on every news network in the U.S. 

It diverts attention away from more horrific matters like war, the budget deficit and Sarah Palin.

This was really all you needed to say. 

[King Postwhore]

Because of people like my wife.  She wants to waste my valuable DVR space for it.  ARGH!!!

[Tick]

who the fuck cares about their wedding? besides them of course?

My mom keeps going on and on and on about it. I might be a little more interested if I knew them personally

They estimate 2 billion people will watch worldwide! I don't get it? I wonder if prisoners will be forced to watch it? I just don't know why anyone would?

[Aramatheis]

Buckingham Palace wouldn't be going anywhere.  

Yes, but it wouldn't be the same without a living, breathing royal family inhabiting it.


I find the whole royal family thing to be quite interesting, actually. It's really neat that in this modern world, full of democracies and republics and whatnots, that there are still countries with living royal families. To me, it's fascinating that this family are the descendants of kings, and dukes, and earls and all manner of great figures of the past; they're not just figureheads, they're living history.


Also, it's pretty damn fun reading the royal family member's various titles on Wiki

[chrisbDTM]

Buckingham Palace wouldn't be going anywhere.  

Yes, but it wouldn't be the same without a living, breathing royal family inhabiting it.


I find the whole royal family thing to be quite interesting, actually. It's really neat that in this modern world, full of democracies and republics and whatnots, that there are still countries with living royal families. To me, it's fascinating that this family are the descendants of kings, and dukes, and earls and all manner of great figures of the past; they're not just figureheads, they're living history.


Also, it's pretty damn fun reading the royal family member's various titles on Wiki

this is how i feel. we make a big deal here about celebrity weddings in america, and this seems a little more important due to the historical part of it. even though its all figurehead stuff

[antigoon]

who the fuck cares about their wedding? besides them of course?

My mom keeps going on and on and on about it. I might be a little more interested if I knew them personally

They estimate 2 billion people will watch worldwide! I don't get it? I wonder if prisoners will be forced to watch it? I just don't know why anyone would?

Not that I want to incur your wrath or anything, but I've always wondered why you put question marks after sentences that aren't questions

[Summers]

Buckingham Palace wouldn't be going anywhere.  

Yes, but it wouldn't be the same without a living, breathing royal family inhabiting it.

Well the royals are hardly there anyway.  They have various other residences that they prefer as far as I know anyways.  I think the palace would still be a major tourist attraction if there was no royal family. 

[El Barto]

What cracks me up (well, there's actually a ton of stuff, but as for right this second) is that we all know they'll be getting divorced within 10 years anyway.  They're going through all this hoopla over a woman who's going to be a huge source of public annoyance every time she has to be excluded from royal events. 

Something I am curious about relating to the monarchy, though:  Everybody swoons over Elizabeth II.   Since she's been queen for 120 years or something,  she's a holdover from an era where that sort of thing was really important.  Sometime in the next 40 years or so she's going to die, and when that happens, will anybody give a flying fuck about Charles?  I'm kind of thinking this particular queen might be much more important than the monarchy itself in this era.

[emindead]

Yeah, but as the rumour goes... Charles won't be the King. He will step out of the way and let William carry the crown.

God save the King.

[Summers]

Something I am curious about relating to the monarchy, though:  Everybody swoons over Elizabeth II.   Since she's been queen for 120 years or something,  she's a holdover from an era where that sort of thing was really important.  Sometime in the next 40 years or so she's going to die, and when that happens, will anybody give a flying fuck about Charles?  I'm kind of thinking this particular queen might be much more important than the monarchy itself in this era.

Yeah, I'm hoping that once Elizabeth snuffs it there will be debate on whether to bother crowning Charles.  There is a hell of a lot of support for the monarchy in the UK (or should I say mainly England) though, even among young people. 

[XJDenton]

Doubt that will happen. Britain is nothing if not in favour of maintaining the status quo. Although to be perfectly frank out of all the things in this country I think that the existence of the royal family is quite low on the list of things to get worked up about.

[ricky]

I'm an american, so I honestly have no idea but...

what powers does the queen technically have?

[Orbert]

No idea.  But I just wanted to say that even though I'm an American, I think it's pretty cool that there will be a King of England again for the first time in a long time.

Yes, I understand that it will not be right away.  But QE has to die someday.

[Jirpo]

The amount of news coverage this is getting here in Australia is unbelievable!  Today, it got just as much air time as ANZAC Day reports.  That is just absurd.

Yeah I know, most people don't even care about it lol.

[emindead]

Yes, I understand that it will not be right away. But QE has to die someday.

"More poison-- err... tea, mother?"

[EdenHazard]

Just discovered this on facebook and thought you might enjoy this:
In order to get attuned for the royal wedding we'll all turn ourselves into aristocrats. Do as follows: Take the first names of both your grandpas/grandmas, insert an 'of', then take the name of your first pet and the name of the street you grew up in and join those two with a hyphen. Crown your creation with a preposed Lord or Lady.

Forthwith I shall be known as Lord Stanislaus Walter of Fattie-Sall.

[XJDenton]

Sir Ray Jim of Flopsy-Queen Bower

Yeah.....