"Ivan" wrote in message
om...
It says on site that GM Michael Adams is from England but how come
they are using a different country's flag:

http://wcclibya2004.com/news/f1/02.jpg

What country is that flag from?

England.

Pierre/

David Richerby wrote in message
...
chapman Billy wrote:
David Richerby wrote:
For bonus marks, discuss the state of the Channel Islands and
the Isle of Man.

Splutter, splutter; Guernsey and Jersey, both in the Channel Islands,
are distinct entities.

Guernsey and Jersey are separate members of FIDE.
Has a match ever been played between their chess teams?
How would a chess-player on Sark be represented in FIDE? :-)

By the way, the Chess21 server (where Spanish is the language of choice)
has an interesting interpretation of British-related nationalities.
A player may specify one's nation as Great Britain, but *not* England,
Scotland, or Wales separately. But a player may specify one's nation as
the Falkland Islands (which is claimed by Argentina) or Gibraltar (which
is claimed by Spain). :-)

I meant state as in status rather than state as in country.
But, here, have a bonus mark anyway. :-)

During her 'viva voce' in Modern History (for which she earned a First)
at Oxford University, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) corrected an Oxford don
who had ignorantly placed a German town on the wrong bank of the Rhine.
The onlookers were reported to have gasped at her womanly audacity.
Autre temps, autre moeurs. :-)

--Nick

David Richerby wrote in message
...
chapman Billy wrote:
David Richerby wrote:
For bonus marks, discuss the state of the Channel Islands and
the Isle of Man.

Splutter, splutter; Guernsey and Jersey, both in the Channel Islands,
are distinct entities.

Guernsey and Jersey are separate members of FIDE.
Has a match ever been played between their chess teams?
How would a chess-player on Sark be represented in FIDE? :-)

By the way, the Chess21 server (where Spanish is the language of choice)
has an interesting interpretation of British-related nationalities.
A player may specify one's nation as Great Britain, but *not* England,
Scotland, or Wales separately. But a player may specify one's nation as
the Falkland Islands (which is claimed by Argentina) or Gibraltar (which
is claimed by Spain). :-)

I meant state as in status rather than state as in country.
But, here, have a bonus mark anyway. :-)

During her 'viva voce' in Modern History (for which she earned a First)
at Oxford University, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) corrected an Oxford don
who had ignorantly placed a German town on the wrong bank of the Rhine.
The onlookers were reported to have gasped at her womanly audacity.
Autre temps, autre moeurs. :-)

--Nick

(Taylor Kingston) wrote in message
. com...
(Ivan) wrote in message
. com...
"What country is that flag from?"

The red cross on a white field is the flag of St. George, which was
(I believe) the English national flag from about 1200 until about 1603,
when James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I and became James I of
England, ruling both countries. Under James, the Scottish flag
(the cross of St. Andrew, a white X on a blue field) was combined with
the cross of St. George. The union of England and Scotland as Great
Britain was formalized by the Act of Union of 1707. Still later (about
1801 I believe), the cross of St. Patrick (red X on white) was added
to represent Ireland. This is the Union Jack of today, the flag of
Great Britain, aka The United Kingdom, composed of England, Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland.

On a historical note, during the Second World War, John Amery (the son
of Leo Amery, a senior official in the British government) founded the
'Legion of St George' (what was the unit's banner?) in his attempt to
persuade British prisoners-of-war in German captivity to volunteer (only
a few of them did) to join it and fight for Germany against the Soviet Union.
After the war, John Amery was convicted of high treason and hanged.

For whatever reason, Adams appears to be identifying himself
as specifically English rather than British.

In his well-known 1914 sonnet, 'The Soldier', Rupert Brooke (who soon died as
a volunteer soldier in the British Army, not the English Army) deliberately
chose to refer to 'England' and 'English', *not* 'Britain' and 'British'.

'If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. ...' (not 'forever Britain')
'...
Her sights and sounds; dreams as happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.' (not 'British heaven')
--Rupert Brooke (1914, 'The Soldier')

If Rupert Brooke had substituted 'Britain' for 'England' and 'British' for
'English', then his poem would have had different cultural connotations.

"There is clear evidence that the concept of Englishness--the 'Englishness'
of the Anglo-Saxons, as opposed to the 'Britishness' of the Celts--circulated
widely in the Anglo-Saxon world. Bede composed 'Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum' (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People), where the 'Gens
Anglorum' were deemed to be a specific and identifiable race sprung out of
Saxon and Old English roots. In Bede's history, 'the English were God's new
'chosen' nation elected to replace the sin-stained Briton in the promised land
of Britain.' (This belief in God's providential choice, most ably expounded
by Milton in the seventeenth century, survived until the later part of the
nineteenth century.) The notion of Englishness itself was a religious one
from the moment Pope Gregory sent Augustine to England with the mission of
establishing a Church of the English, in the light of his celebrated if
apocryphal remark 'non Angli sed angeli' ('Not Angles but angels'). A late
seventh-century biography then declared that Gregory would lead 'gentum
Anglorum' into the sight of God at the time of the Last Judgement. One of
the reasons for the success of the Reformation, and the formation of the
Church of England, lies in this national zeal."
--Peter Ackroyd (Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, p. xxviii)

'I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.'
--William Blake

--Nick

(Taylor Kingston) wrote in message
. com...
David Richerby wrote in
message ...
"Great Britain and the United Kingdom are distinct."

It may very well be so; if I have erred, my apologies.

It's to Taylor Kingston's credit that he should offer his apologies,
yet that hardly seems obligatory (an Englishman has made a similar error
when writing in this thread), even though he is an American. :-)

I am Anglophilic by inclination but American by birth
and so claim no omniscience in these matters. ...

American Anglophiles should take care to avoid too close acquaintance with
English 'football hooligans' lest their cherished illusions not survive. :-)

Here's an article about the state of British university education in English,
'Grammar should be a friend, not an enemy' by Colin Hall and Mark Pegrum:

http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl...191127,00.html

"A recent survey reveals that British university students don't know what they
are talking about....Something, it seems, is rotten in the state of education.
....
At the moment, students often lack the opportunity to develop the tools or
vocabulary necessary to evaluate the tools and vocabulary they have at hand
in their own language. Yes, it's a circular argument.
....
Our respondents' comments suggest that many do not yet have such a grasp of
their own language. Although there are no easy answers, we must at least
begin to respond to and engage with the widespread, limited and limiting
notion that 'english is probably hard...'cos of the grammar and stuff'."

--Colin Hall and Mark Pegrum (15 April 2004, 'The Guardian Weekly')

--Nick

wrote in message
...
"Alan OBrien" writes:
If Michael wins he will without doubt become the most famous Cornishman
in history.

I think Captain Bligh will still have that honour.

William Bligh (who was born in Plymouth) had not yet become a captain
(as a Royal Navy rank) when the famous mutiny on the HMS Bounty took
place in 1789.

--Nick

The Green ******* from Parts Unknown wrote
in message news:A1zHc.988686$Pk3.708941@pd7tw1no...
Ah, but many chessplayers from Quebec play under their provincial flag
rather than the more familiar maple leaf. Is the Quebec flag as familiar
to readers of this group as England's is?

England's flag receives more international attention than Quebec's flag.
Yet I can still recognise Quebec's flag by its four fleurs-de-lis, which
I immediately associate with French culture. :-)

By the way, the flag of British Columbia resembles the conjunction
of the British Union Jack and the Japanese 'Rising Sun' flags. :-)

--Nick

"John Rowland" wrote in
message ...
"Nick" wrote in message
om...
"John Rowland" wrote:
After all, how many of us Brits would recognise the flag of California?

If Arnold Schwarzenegger can do it, then how hard could it be? :-)

But he has a little computer in his brain for selecting answers to questions.
a) California
b) Quebec
c) **** you asshole

My humourous remark about Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California,
and California's flag has a point that seems too subtle for John Rowland.

Yes, I can recognise the flag of California, which has some independent
historical significance in relation to the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt of American
settlers in California against Mexican rule.

Actually, California's flag should not be too hard (even for John Rowland) to
recognise because, underneath a grizzly bear, the words 'CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC'
appear on it. Anyone who can read English (even someone with an Austrian
accent like Arnold's) should be able to make the correct identification.

That was my point. Perhaps I should spell out every detail?

By the way, California is a society with many immigrants (such as Arnold),
including those from the United Kingdom. There seem to be more than a few
British people in California who could easily recognise that state's flag.

--Nick

"John Rowland" wrote in
message ...
"Nick" wrote in message
om...
"John Rowland" wrote:
After all, how many of us Brits would recognise the flag of California?

If Arnold Schwarzenegger can do it, then how hard could it be? :-)

But he has a little computer in his brain for selecting answers to questions.
a) California
b) Quebec
c) **** you asshole

My humourous remark about Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California,
and California's flag has a point that seems too subtle for John Rowland.

Yes, I can recognise the flag of California, which has some independent
historical significance in relation to the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt of American
settlers in California against Mexican rule.

Actually, California's flag should not be too hard (even for John Rowland) to
recognise because, underneath a grizzly bear, the words 'CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC'
appear on it. Anyone who can read English (even someone with an Austrian
accent like Arnold's) should be able to make the correct identification.

That was my point. Perhaps I should spell out every detail?

By the way, California is a society with many immigrants (such as Arnold),
including those from the United Kingdom. There seem to be more than a few
British people in California who could easily recognise that state's flag.

--Nick

David Richerby wrote in message
...
John Rowland wrote:
I don't think we should make fun of Americans for not knowing the flags
of the different parts of the UK. After all, how many of us Brits would
recognise the flag of California?

'Ivan', the creator of this thread, is a troll evidently in the United States.

"That country (Canada) has no culture and they want to be just like the USA
anyway."
--Ivan (19 September 2003, "Bobby Fischer and taxes")

Why should we not make some fun of American *trolls*? :-)

You're right, of course, but the comparison isn't quite fair because
the individual states of the US don't enter international sporting
competitions as separete entities, whereas England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland[1] do.

But Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth of the United States, does 'enter
international sporting competitions (including the chess Olympiads)
as (a) separate entity'.

Admittedly, not in any sport that I can think of that is very popular
in the USA.

Apart from the Olympic Games, the United States sports media tend not
to pay much attention to sporting events outside the United States.

Admittedly, in most cases, England gets much more publicity than the other
three as it has about ten times the population of any other part of the
union so tends to do rather better in sporting competitions.

John Rowland evidently has compared an American being able to recognise the
flags of England, Scotland, and Wales with a Briton being able to recognise
the flags of the fifty US states. Three vs fifty seems an unfair comparison.
Indeed, I suspect that there may be more Americans who could recognise the
flags of England, Scotland, and Wales than there are Americans who could
recognise the flags of all fifty US states.

--Nick