I must say the unsweetened iced tea confuses me. I mean, yanks tend to sugar coat everything, why not sweeten the iced tea? Furthermore, I am always frustrated when in the US I order a "tea" they say "hot tea"?... Do they really drink so much Iced Tea that anything else is an oddity? Although I note that of late, in a few well known restaurants in Ktown, I have been asked "hot tea"? and have been confused.

And BTW, as we are on the US-Canada theme, I have always been confused and somewhat annoyed that locals (in Ktown) tend to say MELK instead of MILK. We lecture our kids all the time about the white beverage's proper pronunciation thanks to this anomaly. Then I discovered from a friend that across the border, people tend to say MELK as well..

It is spelled MILK like SILK and rhymes accordingly...

Yes, the really drink that much unsweetened iced tea in the north. Dandy stuff and good for you.

I was raised to distinguish between whales and Wales by ensuring I was blowing out when I hit the "h". Even as a child I knew worrying about such things was a total waste of time.

I beg to differ. I think the downfall of a lot of what was good about Canadian society started when people began allowing children to call adults by their first names and when proper speech stopped being the requirement and became instead the quaint oddity. When I was a kid, everyone my parents knew was an Uncle, Aunt or Mr./Mrs to me and respect was instantly afforded. I blame the boomers.

That is modernity not Canada.

Inaugural Speech in full. I was a bit surprised how the presentation was not as powerful as it might have been but I was listening to the radio and did not see it on TV.

The source of the ending imagery, "The American Crisis" by Thomas Paine.

Oh yes, Americans make far better beer.

How dare you?

Actually, you are probably correct. My experience with Natural Lite affects my opinion.

Well, then IMHO, modernity sucks. I want 1951 England, in particular, Yorkshire. Properness.. Civility, stiff upper lips in the face of adversity instead of complaining and whining and blaming everything wrong on everyone but one's self.

I was home sick all day but didn't watch the inagu-thing at all. Pomp, meh.

1951? You forgot disease and the absence of dental care, social inequity and food stamps still six years after the war was over. The very things that drove the clan away.

And if you want that - why do you complain, whine and blame everything on others so much?

"meh" says the man complaining about modernity and the decline of language!

Another awesome dose of irony from Seanie!

If one is homesick its time to head home.

I read the text of the speech twice in the afternoon before seeing it on YouTube this evening. I was much more impressed with it before viewing the performance. A lot was lost in the delivery, but I still got in a fun argument at an innaugural party this evening defending the speech to a young woman who was completely unimpressed with it.

In defense of the president -- it was frickin' cold out there.

Not to mention he was beig made the frikkin President of the United States.

Hey - it's almost 7 am on Wednesday...did he shut Gitmo yet?

Yeeearrrgggggggg!

Mr. Sean has a point. Manners matter. The problem is that we didn't figure out how to shed repression and social stratification without also shedding a sense of responsibility and personal honour.

I disagree completely. There is plenty of civility going around. I don't need anyone to be my better to hold a door. But wallowing in negativity is no way to promote it. It's just the neighbour of bad manners.

I tagged you too: http://nissologypei.blogspot.com/2009/01/seven-things-island-stylee.html

There is a difference between utilizing new words in speech and not speaking politely.

"Meh" disproves that principle. Both uncivil and new.

Seanie,

I agree actually, but how is saying "Melk" instead of "Milk" impolite? That is afterall how this discussion got started.

Different people speak different ways, pronounce things differently; some don't even speak English.

If the discussion is about politeness and civility, can we abandon the argument that "melk" is impolite or incorrect and in general that pronouncing words differently than you do is not a sign of disrespect or laziness but infact just different?

But that would require we recognize that when Erasmus said "man is the measure of all things" (I think) he didn't mean it as a good thing when it means each person.

Dang - that was Protagorus. But it is in there in In Praise of Folly at around paragraph 33:

"...A man dead to all sense of nature and common affections, and no more moved with love or pity than if he were a flint or rock; whose censure nothing escapes; that commits no errors himself, but has a lynx's eyes upon others; measures everything by an exact line, and forgives nothing; pleases himself with himself only..."

Hi Matthew. Sorry, my points are getting mixed up. Saying melk is not impolite at all, just an oddity of the local dialect that bugs me. Not the Queens english hoy hoy and all that.

Children referring to adults by their first name is in my opinion impolite. Yes, I know, some people don't like the title Mister or Missus (?) or even Ms. for that matter, but many children nowadays assume a first name is allowed regardless of being told it was acceptable or not. To me, that breeds a lack of respect because without that modicum of title, the children feel more on par with the adult. It was only an example in my opinion of modern loosening of traditional civility.