As someone who as lived in a few corners of the US, it has been great reading this thread, even if i understood only 80% of what was said.

Whats a chav?

There are the Scots, Irish, English, Welsh, and whats the 5th?

Is being called english like when someone is from Boston and when the viset some where people think they are from New York???

I am an Englishman in Wales, I have been here for many years..and with regard to the English they are the most racist people you can meet...and see nothing wrong with it.

They are a sad dreary population, who dwell on glories past like, coal mining and farming. They have a population as big as many large cities and still live in a Celtic past.

To hear them talk you would think there is a Celtic brotherhood but that is bull. When the Romans invaded the Celts were too busy fighting each other to notice. This "peaceful" land of the Celts, was full of fortresses not against invaders but against neighbouring Celts.

Fact is, when the Romans left they couldn't fend for themselves and asked the Saxons etc for help. The Saxons etc, realised the Celts were a bunch of "woosies" and decided to take the land.

I picked up some Welsh when I first moved here but the "natives" can't agree on the correct use of words, semantics etc...so I gave up. A tutor of mine said to me that her and her family often when to the tourist spots and pretended to be English...and she said she was shocked by the snide and racist comments that the tourist industry representatives made towards her and her family. Apparently one of her children had enough and being innocent of the world went up to some guides and spoke to them in perfect Welsh that they knew what they said about them....she said the look of shock on their faces was great!!!

Personally, I now live there to wind them up and if there is anthing I can do to make things difficult...I will oblige. I am thinking of making a campaign for not holidaying in Wales, with it's racists.

On the plus side, the women are easy to lay and cheap to keep...although mostly ugly!!!

Although to be honest it isn't just the English that get it. They hate the fact that English is an international language and will go to great lengths to make sure that English words do not get integrated into their language.

Listen to them talk..you hear themusing English words but they will deny it. I often hear the words pound or quid used instead of Punt for English currency.

Their big hero Owain Glyndwr ran away and disappeared when things got hot and the English beat him in combat. But no, instead of saying he was a coward who ran when things got "hot". They say he disappeared so he can come back, mythically, and fight for Wales again...well he lost last time so why would it be different next time??

Still, what do I care. We won the Celtic / Saxon war and it is our country to do what we want!!!

pffft if some welsh women talked to me i prob would think shes english as well

I had no idea that there was such division within ethnic lines of the kingdom.
When you get right down to it every one has been treated badly by the monarchy in the past. The scots, the welsh, the irish even the enlish themselves have all suffered at the hands of past monarchs.

Thank you for the definition of a "chav", we have the same thing here in the states, and they come in many different flavors as well. I love the magpie thing, my brother call them zombies, or trolls or slugs and I have long talked about how they are drawn to shiny things, whether it be jewelry, clothes or shiny bits for their impossibly tore up '92 honda civic.

There are so many different kinds of people from all over the world living here, that one has to be careful as to not run afoul of some regional animosity.
Years ago when i was young and working in a bike shop, the market across the street was run by a very nice western asian couple. I was in there on a daily basis, and considered the shop keepers as neiborhood friends.
One day I came into the store as he was having lunch, it was an appetizing plate of grilled chicken with veggies on rice, mmmmmm it smelled so good. I commented on how i liked "Indian" food, and he put his plate down and got a look on his face " I am not INDIAN sir I am a PAKISTANI, now leave my store"
I just assumed they were indians by their dress and language.
He came over to the store a few minutes later, and appologized endlessly for losing his cool with me. He had just gotten through having a big fight with one of his suppliers, who was Indian.
Since some people still carry around these silly nationalistic insecurities, in oder as to not offend anyone whom I might consider a friend I learned not to make assumptions anymore.
Ive also learned, the most recently, you dont call a welshwoman english
along with
You dont call an Armenian Greek or visa vera or you dont call a Lebanese Armenian, Greek, or Arab.
You dont call a Lao a Hmong
Or A korean a japanese
Or a Native american a mexican
the list goes on and on
I could personaly care less what someone calls me as long it not late for dinner.

Originally posted by GoToTheLight
I am an Englishman in Wales, I have been here for many years..and with regard to the English they are the most racist people you can meet...and see nothing wrong with it.

...snip...

I don't really understand how you can get annoyed about the fact you found some Welsh people to be racist, then make sweeping generalisations about them such as:

'sad dreary population'
'the women are easy to lay and cheap to keep...although mostly ugly!!!'

easily mistakable and hardly warrants jail time.

since when did someone's nationality equal race?

what a world! unfortunately we have whackier stories in America

Originally posted by kyyuulle

since when did someone's nationality equal race?

For the purpose of the law, bashing a nationality does equal racism.

Usually in the UK, there is a lot of banter between nations and its ok. But its only the Welsh who will burn down homes of the English or the Scots who will attack someone because they are English.

Both have a deep inferiority complex.

Originally posted by skibtz

I know that but the word English is not racist in any way, shape or form. Hence she was not racially abused.

Very true. In many contexts other than this incident.

Alan Shearer is an Englishman is a true statement and not racist in any way. It states a fact.

Nationality was used to verbally abuse someone. That is racism.

Admittedly, noone died and it all appears like a strom in a tea cup, but nevertheless, no matter how minute the inference, racisim was the factor in this case.


It is a perversion of the term racism, the modern definition of racism (in terms of how the law currently stands) is bogus- for example it applies to religion, religion is not a race, and when an adult it is a conscious choice, not a skin colour.

As for nationality, I think we need to wise up, so what if I get called a paddy twat, or a brit twat (Im from Northern Ireland so you can get both)- to try and claim victimhood for the name is just pathetic.

These laws are pernicious wee thought laws- the government insists on trying to get inside our head to decide whether punishment should be even greater for a crime already committed, or whether to punish for a "thought".

I am quite "islamophobic" (another ridiculous false term) and make no bones about it, but I still did not agree with that silly wee airport shop girl who got convicted for her on line "poetry"- the poetry was #e but that is about all I would say about it, it did not deserve to be a police matter

[edit on 7-12-2007 by blueorder]

Originally posted by blueorder

Nationality was used to verbally abuse someone. That is racism.

Even when its not your nationality? Surely the only way it can be construed as racism is if someone has a negative image of the words used, hence the woman and judge must both be racist for considering being called english is a bad thing.

I agree with you that its stupid and something youd expect in a playground and it just devalues the real work against racism,

Originally posted by Flyer
Even when its not your nationality? Surely the only way it can be construed as racism is if someone has a negative image of the words used, hence the woman and judge must both be racist for considering being called english is a bad thing.

Flyer, this is a rather silly statement. So, essentially, no-one can view prejudice or racism as negative behaviour, because they must also be racist for considering that some people do hold unjustified negative attitudes to outgroups.

I know that people use certain words that denigrate outgroups, does that make me racist?

Originally posted by melatonin

I know that people use certain words that denigrate outgroups, does that make me racist?

Im not even sure what an outgroup is but it depends on the words used.

Youll have to give men instances of the context and words used for me to make up my mind.

yeah, don't like the sound of this "outgroup", what is it