Journal #7445

This is stupid.

A lot of that is confusing "English" with "American".

In English, eggplants are aubergines. Burgers made from beef are called Beefburgers.
English muffins are only referred to as English Muffins in places outside the UK.
Parkway is also an American term. I've never even heard it before.
Pop and Mom are also American.

Never heard half of these. Anyways, recently I have been talking to my British friend a lot, and have started un-intenionally saying some of the things he says. Like Bollocks, I say that a lot, isn't that Scottish or Irish though? I don't know, but he says it a lot, and now I do, and people always look at me weird when it slips out.

Indeed it has some oddities and inconsistencies that are crazy. I laughed at the part about humanitarians.

Loosely related: Why are England and Greenland called countries, Texas and Berlin called states and Qinghai and Quebec called provinces? I've heard the European Union referred to as a country, does that make England a country within a country within a country?

The EU is absolutely not a country. It's a union of Countries in the European continent.
Texas and Berlin are states. Germany, like the USA is split into states.
A province is an area of land within a country which is - or has history of being - in separate control than the governing body of the country itself.
England is a country in the UK - a collection of four countries under the leadership of one governing body and (supposedly) the crown.

Brendan: Bollocks is a glorious word. Use it more! It has Anglo-saxon origin, so it's more English and German than Scottish and Irish, although it's widely used throughout the UK.

"England is a country in the UK - a collection of four countries under the leadership of one governing body"
How is that any different from Berlin-Germany or Quebec-Canada? The UK, USA, Germany, PROC and Canada are countries with one main government and several regions, each with its own secondary government with limited power. If England and Greenland are countries, then so are Texas, Quebec, Qinghai and Berlin. The inconsistency in wording can only be motivated by the wish for historical consistency. What was once a state must always be referred to as a state. This at the cost of logic. This I don't like.

I just want to say that I thought it was funny before this erupts into something terrible.
Carry on (my wayward son)

So who's the president of England?

Not exactly crazy, you just have to know how the words got their names in order for it to make sense. Everything seems crazy when you know nothing about it.

There are massive political and diplomatic differences between states and countries in a union, potatis.

A state is an area with a local government with either full independence or significant power. A country is either a state or an area without government.

Apparently 'quick' can mean liquid. Hence 'quicksand' and 'quicksilver'.

they gave us this list during my secondary graduation, you know. would you rather call it French fries (which aren't french) or Freedom Fries? Americans, you know.