Results tagged “americalike”

I was about a quarter way through my own post about yesterday's court ruling that overturns California's ban on same-sex marriage when I read a piece written far more eloquently than mine.

So I've used the magic delete key and instead want you to go read Dave's Hater post.

I couldn't agree more.

Update: also go read Derek Powazek's I'm Not Pro-Gay Marriage, I'm Pro-Equality post.

I'm not Pro-Gay Marriage, I'm Pro-Equality. I'm not Pro-Gay Rights, I'm Pro-Common Sense. I'm Anti-Discrimination. I'm Anti-Enshrining Your Queasiness About Buttsex In My Constitution. I'm Pro-When The Constitution Says We're All Equal, It Means We're All Equal.

I'm married, and it matters. It changes the way I look at the world, and the way the world looks at me. It comes with state and federal benefits and rights. Withholding those things from same-sex couples is discrimination, pure and simple. If you support withholding rights from people because of who they are, you're a bigot. Period.

In which I flap on about things I like about America. Today? Spelling.

Ask any Brit and they'll tell you American spelling is the spawn of Satan and jolly well not right at all. I'd agree. But I consider myself a fairly lazy writer and wholeheartedly approve of any and all shortcuts to get words on paper. And America is every lazy writer's dream.

Americans seem to have a perpetual war on vowels. A war, quite frankly, that I can get behind. Those pesky buggers just take up far too much space in words anyway. Who can be arsed with them?

Take that letter a:

encyclopedia vs encyclopaedia
medieval vs mediaeval

And this letter e:

aging vs ageing
argument vs arguement
judgment vs judgement

Have it letter o:

maneuver vs manoeuvre

See ya letter u:

color vs colour
favorite vs favourite
honor vs honour

You see how much time I save on any given day right there alone?

America has also thankfully reversed the British trend of lets add extra letters to words because wouldn't that be fun. Again, I approve.

draft vs draught
plow vs plough
check vs cheque
program vs programme

They're onto something, those Americans. Spawn of Satan their spelling may be, but it sure saves time and effort.

In which I flap on about things I like about America. Today? Plugs mate.

Simple thing plugs. You... (wait for it) ...plug them in and behold, the magic and brilliance of electricity can be yours for the use thereof. But not all plugs are created equally. Some are, in fact, better than others.

In America, plugs are really quite tiny. Which is good. I like that. The kind you get is entirely dependent on whether your gadget requires grounding. If it doesn't then a simple two prong whatsit is all that you'll need.

If it does require grounding then you'll get a slightly larger plug with a third grounding prong thingy. Both plug into the same wall socket. Which is nice.

So let's recap. American plugs are small. And I like small. So that works out rather well doesn't it.

Now, the British design is somewhat different. Somewhat larger lets say. In fact, compared to its American counterpart, it's an absolute giant among plugs. A giant I tell you.

Just look at that thing. Three giant prong doodlies, so large you could have someone's eye out with those things. I believe the British plugs are closely modeled on medieval battlefield weapons.

They're full of fuses, wires, nooks for small animals to live in, and a place where electricians like to keep their bacon. Which I feel is bordering on the ridiculous. Electricians don't even eat bacon.

So, size does matter kids. Smaller is better. After having used both types of plugs for many years, the American plug is far easier to carry around. Just a little less handy for beating up a burglar with.

As an Englishman in America I, for one, would just like to say thanks to Americans for having a holiday in which the sole goal is to eat as much food as is humanly possible. I think it's important that, you know, I contribute to that goal on Thursday. I feel it's the only polite thing to do.

Halloween was never really that big in England when I was growing up. We didn't trick or treat, didn't decorate the outside of the house, didn't wear costumes. Back then, it was always something those Americans did.

These days I'm practically one of those Americans myself and gladly take part in all the Halloween shenanigans. Like carving Pumpkins with my girlfriend's little one.

I do like Halloween.

[Moozik: New Order - Temptation]

Gas stations. Those bastions of transportation worldwide. Terribly exciting places these days aren't they? Fill the car up, buy some dog food, get some frosty beverages, sandwiches, movies, magazines. A shoppers dream.

No? Not feeling it? Well, maybe I'm just easily amused, or just need to get a life. I can never remember which one it is.

In my last post I mentioned how it's those little things that ensure I'll keep going back to a business time and time again. One such place just happens to be a gas station. And as gas stations go, I have to say Quiktrip has certainly got it right.

• They always always say hello to you when you enter. Without fail. I'm sure this isn't because they're super friendly, it's probebly just one of the mandatory things each employee must do on pain on death. But regardless of the why, I still like it. Makes me, Joe Customer, feel important.

• The stores are clean, well stocked with stuff I like, and they have just the right ambient lighting for me. For whatever reason, the lighting in a store is important to me. Bright fluorescent lights really put me off. If a store has the right amount of mood lighting, I'm there. Yes, I really am that sad.

• It seems as though their one mission in life is to get you out the door as quickly as possible. If there's ever more than one person waiting to pay for something, they'll go on some kind of alert. They call for backup and everyone flies around working to get that queue down to a manageable size. I don't think I've ever waited more than 20 seconds to pay for something.

Where you really notice how spoiled you've become is when you go somewhere else. You queue for ages, the staff couldn't care less, dirty floors, and there are unknown smells you're probably better off not knowing too much about.

It's those little things I tell you.