Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: English humor : translation for American readers :-)

Hi Ken,

Just a slight correction, Sheffield is a large centre for steel production
and, even though the city has now lost most of its large common steelworks
which used to make such things as railway lines and armour plate, it is
still the country's main producer of special steels - stainless and tool
steels etc. Until the 1970's, it was also the primary world centre for the
making of cutlery, pocket knives and such like items. Indeed, most of the
earliest and best Bowie and hunting knives originated here ( one of my
uncles was a mirror polisher of Bowie knives at the George Wolstenholms
factory ) along with many of the cultivating and edge tools which
accompanied the first settlers in the US. Tools are another specialty of
the city although many of the original companies were swallowed up into the
Stanleys US conglomerate.
Coincidentally, razor blades were another product of the city and most makes
originated here from where they were sent to the various companies (Gillette
etc.) to have the brand name stamped on them there.

In most of the UK, 'Southerners' are people from the bottom right-hand bit
of England - the area from just above London to the South coast and
extending westwards to where the Cornish peninsula begins. (Cornish people
think of themselves as a different nation called Kernow). If you then draw a
line from the top of Wales (the bump on the left of England) to the Wash
(the top of the right hand bump) you have the line which divides
'Midlanders' from 'Northerners'. Sheffield is almost on this line right in
the centre of the country. Britain has always had strong regional accents
even to the point of locals being able to readily distinguish which city or
even part of a city a person was brought up in ( I can distinguish about 5
different 'zonal' accents within Sheffield itself ). Most of these accents
have remained pretty uniform over the years but, unfortunately, the accent
of the Southerners has deteriorated in a similar manner to that of New
Yorkers where speech has become slovenly and letters are habitually missed
out of words (especially 't'). I often marvel when I travel in Europe, how
well the locals manage to understand us Brits, apparently having less
difficulty with the variations in accent than we do amongst ourselves -
still, I suppose the challenge of extracting money from tourists gives them
an added incentive ;o)

Ian
--
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Jenkins" <kjenkins@...>
> is a dig at Ian being in Sheffield (an old mill town). In England
> "southerners" (not sure exactly where the line is) tend to regard
> "northerns" the way American "northerners" tend to regard American
> "southerners" .. i.e. a bit rustic and unsophisticated.