Non US Members of the CAA.

[bigsleepj]

Termyt, you have an uncommon wealth of knowledge.

[Mave]

Erm....South Africa. The Republic of South Africa, if that helps. As for it being cool, its only that way in the winter.

Well, the region we live in is called Southern Africa so its easy to get confused. Other countries in SOuthern Africa is Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. But we're the only country that holds the name of the region. Its easy to confuse all this with East or West Africa being a regional name, I suppose. Geography is such a complicated subject - I was never good with it.

(0_0)!! My geography is worse than I thought! Thanks, bigsleepj for clearing things up. I also need to brush up on my Commonwealth knowledge. (-__-);;

Which part of India are you from, Wild Eagle?

[Technomancer]

[quote="Talame"]
You kinda got the definition right, but kinda not at the same time ]

Not quite, whilst Canada and the other dominions still recognize the queen as the head of state, many members of the British Commonwealth do not. As termyt pointed out in his own definition, the member states are sovreign nations held together in voluntary association by certain common bonds.

[Hephzibah]

Once again, I have to disagree

see here: http://www.answers.com/topic/commonwealth-realm

A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen and head of state. In each state she acts as the monarch of that state and is titled accordingly. For example, in Australia she is known as "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia" or simply, the Queen of Australia. (See List of Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Titles)

Upon the "advice" of the nations' prime ministers outside of the United Kingdom, the Queen appoints a Governor-General to act as her Vice-Regal Representative during her absence. The Governor-General in turn exercises almost all the powers of the constitutional monarch with mostly symbolic, figurehead duties, but also reserve powers, called Royal Prerogative.

In countries with federal systems like Canada and Australia, the Queen is also represented by a Governor in each of the states of Australia and by a Lieutenant Governor in each of the provinces of Canada.

Fourteen of the Realms are former British self-governing colonies (including the Dominions) that became independent countries either after the ratification of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the collapse of the Federation of the West Indies in 1961, or at later dates, the latest being Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1983. The two exceptions are Papua New Guinea which was administered by Australia as an international trusteeship before independence in 1975 and the United Kingdom itself.

The Commonwealth Realms are a part of, but should be distinguished from, the Commonwealth of Nations which is an organization of mostly former British colonies, the majority of whom do not have the Queen as their head of state.

So really, it all boils down to which commonwealth we are talking about

[Chocobo777]

I'm from Canada! Yup. you can tell from my location thingy in my user profile

[Dot]

Awesome -- that makes us neighbors! ^_^

i'm from sask too!! howdy doody neighbour!!!

[Aibou]

lol I live in the Netherlands

[sunet]

I used to live in South Africa, but I've been living in Ontario, Canada for a year now.

[termyt]

Thanks, bigsleepj. Most things about me are uncommonly common.

[quote="Talame"]Once again, I have to disagree

So really, it all boils down to which commonwealth we are talking about ]

No need to disagree. Like you said, it depends on which commonwealth you are talking about. We are all right. Mine was a more general definition of what a commonwealth is while you are speak toward a specific organization calling itself a commonwealth.

Pennsylvania is a commonwealth, but it does not fit your definition. That dioesn't make your definition wrong, but it also doesn't mean Pennsylvania isn't really a commonwealth.

[Wild Eagle]

Which part of India are you from, Wild Eagle?

I'm actually what some people call a "cocktail". I was born in western India but my dad is from the north and my mom is from the south. India is diverse because of its many ethnic groups. You have the Indo-Aryans who live in the north and central parts of India. Then the Dravidians (who are the "original" Indians) to the south. Then you have the Sino-Tibetan people along the Chinese border and then the Austro-Asiatic people scattered around the country. Even those groups have their own sub-groups..so yeah, it's a pretty diverse country.

Sorry for this long explaination...I like talking about different countries' ethnic diversity and their history. I plan on going into Anthropology once I get into university...so yeah .

[Photosoph]

That's very interesting, Termyt. I never really knew much about the commonwealth, although I had a vague idea of what it was since New Zealand, like Australia, is also a member of the British commonwealth (*waves British flag*).

[Zane]

I'm sorry if it sounded harsh Ingemar, and it was not mean to be an insult Jeiboku, but rather some (probably misunderstood) advice. And I totally agree that;

It is generally unfair to base your opinion of an entire country on one person

It happens though. Just like a non-christian will look at a 'christian' and be turned off anything christian for the rest of his life.

The US is not the hub of ignorance, stupidity and ineptitude as you bitter Commonwealthers would like to believe.

I know that Ingemar and I was not saying that at all. Plus if anything I was not basing my comments on my Commenwealth ie AUS point of view, (why would they be bitter anyway?), but rather from a European stance. I was living in Germany as the Iraq War went down and boy did all the US expats (many my friends) get an earful from everyone in general. There was a strong "the-US-thinks-they-can-do-anything-they-want,-the-arrogance!!!" vibe going around. Naturally CAA is not a place for this kind of discourse, but looking back, we know who was in the 'right' afterall, (and by that I'm probably thinking on the same line as this thread).

My point is I HATE to see opinions on a country based on one person's actions, one governements decisions etc. Because thats a hasty generalisation and usually wrong. So thats why I suppose I reacted the way I did.

My apologies to both of you.

[Sephiroth]

I be from Scotland over in the United Kingdom. Land of Kilts, haggis & Irn Bru.

[Jeikobu]

[quote="Zane"]Does this not so clearly demonstrate the lacking of the US School Geography class' ? For your own benefit Jeikobu, don't utter such a question outside the US... ever, because the rest of the world will point to your innocent question and exclaim loudly that US citizens 'are' in fact, ignorant and self-centred and think the whole world revolves around them.

Just a little advice. And as for your question]
Ack, how stupid of me. I took Geography and already I'm forgetting. Sorry, I'm just not used to an actual country having a name like that. My bad. ^^;

[mitsuki lover]

The reason I know Talame is Ayeka's Evil Twin is because Ryoko told me so!

Canadians shouldn't count as foreign.They're basically like Americans,
except their money's weird.

[Swordguy]

honestly though when icomes down ot it you are less likly to know as much about another contry than your own, and there are even people who know very little of their own. but honestly how are you to learn if you never take a risk and a sk a quiestion.

[Hephzibah]

Canadians shouldn't count as foreign.They're basically like Americans,
except their money's weird.

And they speak French (some - most of them do anyway ). And they're part of the Commonwealth, whereas the yankies chucked the Pommies tea in a river, so they kicked em out (ok, not exactly true... but dont let facts get in the way of a good story)

[Ashley]

whereas the yankies chucked the Pommies tea in a river, so they kicked em out

Now I'm seriously confused. What did the northerners do to the dogs? O.o;;

That was something I always got a chuckle out of. No matter how far south I'm from, I'm considered a Yankee overseas.

[the_lizardqueen]

Canadians shouldn't count as foreign.They're basically like Americans, except their money's weird.

Sadly, that's kinda true. But I'm very much in denial, I cling to whatever strange little differences I can find. And I like Canadian Money, it has animals ^_^

*wanders off to listen to Great Big Sea, stare at a toonie and mutter about pop and the pronunciation of roof, eh?*

[Photosoph]

I know Canadians are known for saying 'eh', but in NZ we say that a lot too... though it's usually used more like 'eh bro?'
Hmm... parlez-vous francais, Lizardqueen?

[the_lizardqueen]

Oui, je peux parler un petit peu ^_^

But my spelling is rather atriocious, I mostly just understand it. I spent six years in a french elementary school, it's been quite a while though.

*suddenly feeling really old*

[Photosoph]

Ah yes, spelling. *shakes head sadly* it would much easier if there were less silent letters. ^_^ I'm learning French at the moment -and really enjoying it. I'd love to learn Chinese... German... Russian... Spanish... *sighs* but I chose French because out of the three languages taught at my school, French was the easiest.

[mitsuki lover]

German is actually probably easier to learn than French since English is basically a Germanic language.

[Photosoph]

That's an interesting point, Mitsuki. I think I've heard that before -and lately, when I bought two German Asterix comics by mistake, I found that yes, I could actually almost understand some things. Eg, there was something like -Die rominsche!... which was easy to translate to 'The Romans!' etc.
The only thing was, at the school I went to I had a choice of Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin) and French. But if I learn another language it will probably be either German or Spanish. German would be easier, but Spanish is used in more countries worldwide... so it could be a tough decision.

[bigsleepj]

Most European languages are related to each other so if you can learn one you can (or most people who can or bother to) learn the others.

[Chocobo777]

Je deteste le francais... un petit peu. J'ai travaille faire dans un minute pour un projet. C'est tres dificile ci tu ne sais pas comment faire ce.

Feel free to pick out mistakes. I don't know if I said that right!

[termyt]

German is actually probably easier to learn than French since English is basically a Germanic language.

Most of our vocabulary comes from Latin, though. Grammar is Germanic, but you will have an easier time understanding English words from a Romantic language background. I think Spanish is the easiest language to learn from English. The grammar isn't as complex as French or German and many of the words seem familiar. Just my opinion, though. I haven't had much success at learning any other language.