British don't take kindly to Oregon comparison

[depakid]

(Sounding a lot like GDP)


The Obamas, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were all smiles when they met Wednesday, but British residents are upset over a U.S. briefing book comparing the size of the United Kingdom to Oregon.
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Great Britain's people and news media had more than enough on their minds Wednesday: The world's most powerful leaders gathered in London to strategize about reversing the global economic spiral; protesters clashed with police in the streets outside the G-20 meeting; and old royalty met new, as Queen Elizabeth II entertained President Barack Obama and the first lady in Buckingham Palace.

So why did the mere mention of Oregon in the news twist the Brits' knickers into a proverbial knot?

Had their corgis turned nippy?

Had their tea gone tepid?

No, our friends across the pond were peeved over a briefing booklet given to journalists accompanying Obama to London. Not only did it describe the United Kingdom in terms suitable for a kindergarten geography lesson -- as "a group of islands close to continental Europe" -- but it also proffered the sort of size comparison that can make even the stiffest of upper lips quiver. The briefing dubbed the United Kingdom "slightly smaller than Oregon."

London's Daily Telegraph blurted the comparison online and readers responded with the equivalent of "Rubbish!"

"Would that be the Oregon basically grabbed from the British in 1846 by a bunch of sabre-rattling Yanks during their big 'Land Grab' known as Manifest Destiny?" roared a commenter calling himself Nick R.

(Note to Nick: Let it go, pal.)

"Typical," wrote another, going by the name pewkatchoo. "The U.S. sees the rest of the world in terms of the size of its own states. That is a pretty blinkered view right from the off because it implies that, whatever these other countries are, they are still pipsqueeks (sic) compared to us."

"The U.K.," a commenter named Cherokee Kid blasted, "is about a quarter the size of Obama's ego. ..."

Blame the dust-up on the CIA, or at least whichever diligent State Department flunky apparently compiled the briefing from information in the CIA's World Factbook. It compares nations by their size relative to U.S. states.

Germany, for instance, is about as big as Montana. The Czech Republic? Think Virginia.

Oregon: about 98,466 square miles with a population estimated at nearly 3.8 million.

The United Kingdom: about 93,278 square miles bearing more than 61 million good eggs.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/british_dont_take_kindly_to_or.html

[mix]

1. The Queen and Prince Whatever

look so small next to the Obamas.

[ShortnFiery]

10. I think we should write a comedy skit entitled: "Honey, I shrunk The Royals!" nt.

[mix]

14. that Prince is a racist fool too

just like his grandson, hairy

[ShortnFiery]

23. That's a shame, because Harry wasn't totally conformist, I was hoping that he would not

turn out that way. :(

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. As an Oregonian, I'm offended by the comparison.

[depakid]

8. No comparison on the beer, mate!

[fujiyama]

15. Mmmmm Oregon Beer!

:beer:

[crimsonblue]

39. with all due respect....

English beer is much better than Oregon beer. But nothing can compare with Bavarian beer. Or Schlitz.

[sharp_stick]

3. Yeah

they should have said that the UK was significantly smaller than the Canadian Province of Alberta, or Saskatchewan, or British Columbia or....

Funny what gets people pissed off.

[redqueen]

4. "Oregon basically grabbed from the British in 1846 "

:wtf:

He's complaining about someone taking land that they took from someone else?

Seriously?

Just goes to show... stupidity abounds.

[Barack_America]

5. Why do you think this sounds like GDP?

I'm not seeing it.

[depakid]

18. A lot of whinging and poutrage

over nothing.

[asphalt.jungle]

6. when will american bloggers learn to ignore toby harnden's wingnut blog on the torygraph?

he's not a representation of the british people. if they were all as whiny and easily offended as him i don't think they would get out of the bed in the morning. his blog has also attracted hundreds of freeptards to his comments section. he throws them red meat and they eat it up. every other blog entry is about how his poor british sensibilities have been offended and the freeptards duly respond with apologies from red america and reminding people that if they had their way those uncouth black people wouldn't be strutting around as america's representatives and they feel so bad.

i feel bad for the british people that their face to american bloggers/journalist is toby harnden's constant whinging.

[redqueen]

9. Are you British, or did you live there?

Thanks for the perspective. Very helpful.

[asphalt.jungle]

12. not british, but i have lived in london in the past

people getting worked up about what the right wing torygraph's washington correspondent says would be like british people getting worked about what faux news' london correspondent (if such a position even exists) says. we would hope that they know those opinions are coming from an insane wingnut perspective.

[redqueen]

13. I've never heard it referred to as the torygraph... heheh.

I would have been one of those unaware that the source was of the insane wingnut variety. Thanks!

You wouldn't happen to be a football fan would you? (I mean real football, not throwball.)

[asphalt.jungle]

17. yes a big fan

fell in love with the arsenal and i have been addicted for over 10 years, long may it continue.

and the comments section of his blog is UGLY reading. you can tell a lot about the journalist/blogger by the type of commenters they attract (nothing has discredited jake tapper more IMHO than the comments section of his blog). another neat nickname the brits have for another right wing rag, the daily mail is the daily heil (because of their facist leanings in the 30's ... oh how they loved hitler).

[redqueen]

22. Yes!

Up the Gunners! :D

Only a fan for a few years, but a big one. :)

[asphalt.jungle]

26. good on ya

jackeens likes man utd, but we won't hold that against her. :)

i wonder when our injury crisis will subside. 3 in 3 out for man city. god, i hate international breaks.

[redqueen]

27. Ugh... yeah, let's just not talk about it.

Walcott is fit again right? Yeesh... imagine how different this season would have been without all that. And full credit to Wenger for putting together a squad that could withstand such losses and still be competitive.

[asphalt.jungle]

31. Fabregas, Adebayor and Walcott are back

but Robin van Persie (groin), Eduardo (groin) and Abou Diaby (thigh) all got hurt on international duty. hopefully those are short term because i was really looking forward to seeing cesc and diaby in the central midfield sometime soon.

[redqueen]

33. Jesus, that Van Persie.

I love him, but he seems so prone to injury.

[asphalt.jungle]

34. he was surprisingly healthy this season

before this. hopefully he'll be back for the trip to spain.

[redqueen]

35. Surprisingly healthy for him, you mean?

But yes... let's hope.

[ShortnFiery]

24. Question: What do the British people think of that "tall Brit" on Anderson Cooper's show?

I saw him last night and he was appalling to me. He seems to yell everything with what seems to be a put-on British accent. Super annoying to me personally.

I'm just curious if he is as popular as he is on CNN, especially now, functioning as Anderson Cooper's tour guide?

[asphalt.jungle]

29. richard quest?

i'm pretty sure they are embarrassed by that meth head scouser (that's someone from liverpool) with his fake posh accent. the reason his posh english accent sounds put-on is because it is put-on, this is how people from liverpool really talk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cph2TnHW4Y

oh and there is no one british accent (like there is no one american accent), there are many. here is a collection of some of them by an impersonator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH_kOjsXakM

[ShortnFiery]

36. Thank you very much for the information and cultural education.

On my mother's side I have a genetic links to a notable British man who was one of the Artists to the Queen - his finest artwork was of "The Isle of Man." I should make a greater effort to understand my British Cousins. :blush:

Thanks again. :-)

[Renew Deal]

7. You lost. Get over it.

:evilgrin:

[qazplm]

19. Twice!

:)

[SemiCharmedQuark]

11. The Torygraph?

Please.

[Enrique]

16. Obama should tell them size doesn't matter

it's what you do with what you've got.

[cherokeeprogressive]

20. Curious as to how the booklet (and whoever authored it) describes the other countries represented.

n/t

[nxylas]

32. That comparison has been in the CIA World Factbook for years

Funnily enough, the British news media never saw it as a source of poutrage before. Other countries are similarly described in comparison to US states.

[TexasObserver]

21. Oh, they do get their knickers in a bunch over nothing, don't they?

[damntexdem]

25. Slightly smaller than Oregon indeed! No, considerably smaller than Oregon.

Over 5000 square miles smaller! How dare the Obama Administration claim that it's nearly as large as Oregon?

[LeftishBrit]

28. Few Brits are even aware of this incident

Please don't take the Torygraph too seriously; it does not represent Britain as a whole.

[JayMusgrove]

30. Like it or not, we have to realize America is super big.

We have states MUCH bigger than 150 countries.

True, one of them is Texas, and another is Alaska, and they don't count.

[Phx_Dem]

37. They probably don't know much about Oregon, which is

definitely one of our better states. I would take it as a compliment.

[crimsonblue]

38. Jesus Christ....

all the pamphlet did was to illustrate in terms Americans could understand the relative size of the UK and other countries. This sort of thing is taught to every grade school child as they learn about world geography. For example, Israel is comparable in size to New Jersey. Does that mean I think New Jersey is comparable in all respects to Israel? Hell no. It just means that they have similar land areas. God, I really hate the English sometimes.... and I am one!

[LeftishBrit]

40. This isn't 'the English' - it's the Torygraph

You have right-wing talkshows and Fox News; we have the tabloids, the Murdoch-owned Times; and the Torygraph.

[AyanEva]

41. That's how I remember the sizes of other countries

I haven't got anything else to judge them by! I understand how big the states are in relation to each other so if I equate them with a specific country, I understand how big that country is.