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Anytime when listening to BBC Radio 4 "Today in Parliament", I hear the strong and cloud and clear voice "Order! Order!", well, when they fail to reach agreement within the house and with Brussel over exit of the country, they are mainly concerned about their lunch well in advance when it is still early in the morning,but the problem is are there waiters available to take your order?

Does fish and chip take too much time for ordering? Very ridiculous.

Just a few corrections before we discuss fish and chips.

1. It is Parliament , not Congress . Specifically, you (normally) hear the House of Commons.
2. It is British, not English. Or you could say UK (using the proper noun UK as an adjective). So British Parliament OR UK Parliament.
3. You don't hear "them" shouting "Order!" You hear only the Speaker of the House shouting "Order!". And not because he is hungry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kKRKHJ5k8o

Firefox wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2019 1:48 am Just a few corrections before we discuss fish and chips.

1. It is Parliament , not Congress . Specifically, you (normally) hear the House of Commons.
2. It is British, not English. Or you could say UK (using the proper noun UK as an adjective). So British Parliament OR UK Parliament.
3. You don't hear "them" shouting "Order!" You hear only the Speaker of the House shouting "Order!". And not because he is hungry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kKRKHJ5k8o

Obviously you do not read the above as a figure of speech, it is not necessarily all writings are taken at face value. But the concept of the name of the country is really confusing, how come a country so small in size has so many different versions of a name? Even the USA, with different states under it, do not tell people elsewhere that he is a Californian, he is a New Yorker, he is an Alaskan eskimo or things like that, they call all of these guys Americans. OK, I admit there are a lot for me to learn about, and that's why I am a member here, though the replies are not so many as expected.

I hope this will help you about the name of the UK:
https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/ ... ngland.htm

Thank you for your interesting post.

It seems it's not only over the UK that people get in a tizzy about names.

I think some big international brands in China recently got into trouble with names. Something about mixing up Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and China?? Not sure of the details but something like that I believe. Perhaps you know about it...

soidog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2019 2:54 am Thank you for your interesting post.

It seems it's not only over the UK that people get in a tizzy about names.

I think some big international brands in China recently got into trouble with names. Something about mixing up Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and China?? Not sure of the details but something like that I believe. Perhaps you know about it...

Of course such news has been reported in China's mainstream media outlets too. China is very sensitive about this political matter. Though Hong Kong and Macao are special administrative zones that can run its own political system that is different from that used in the communist-ruling mainland, they have been recovered from the British and Portuguese rules through negotiation, so there is no doubt about their identity of part of China. Those brands of fashion that intentionally mixed the identities of these regions and humiliated the current government have suffered huge economic losses, because Chiense pople now are more patriotism concious than before when they were very poor. South Korea also suffered too for its agreement to install military facilities on its own soil that can be used by the US against China and Russia. All shopping malls and scenic spots of the country suddenly became deserted from a very hustling and bustling business area. Its largest supermarkets Lotte saw all its shops in China closed or without buyers overnight.

Regarding Taiwan, it seems it is justified to be an independent country in the world, but ask around you will find that it is not a country recognized by the United Nations and the United States. It is acutally the leftover (exile)of the National Party, the loser in the civil war in late 1940s. After China (the communist) was accepted as a formal member of the UN in 1970, the republic of China (the name still used by Taiwan) has become illegal in the world. Oct 1 is the National Day of the People's Republic of China, and each year on this day since 1949 our late great leader Mao Zedong and his successors makes a speech on radio or TV, calling on all the mainland people and the People's Liberation Army to unite the country by recovering Taiwan with force if necessary.

That's very interesting, thank you. I didn't know that Lotte is from South Korea.

And also, I wonder why iPhone and Apple can still survive in China. Because of the tensions between China and USA and the American discrimination against Huawei. Seems surprising that iPhone has no problem.

Firefox wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 8:28 am And also, I wonder why iPhone and Apple can still survive in China. Because of the tensions between China and USA and the American discrimination against Huawei. Seems surprising that iPhone has no problem.

Perhaps you have noticed the recent strife between the two allies of the US in east Asia, Japan and South Korea, over commerce. South Korea is actually a copycat of Japan in a lot of things ranging from technology, auto, pop culture, sports, but it doesn't admit its status of a follower, so now they are engaged in a boycott.

But in the case of China and the US, things are not so simple and easy, the two countries are too big in the economic power and size and there are too many interests entangled with each other that cannot be separated clearly like black and white. Top officials and rich people of China all like to send their children to receive good education in the West, with the US being the top destination, and the UK, Canada, Australia hot places too, nobody would send their kids to Vietnam, Russia, East Europe because they were communist countries sharing same ideological background, so you see, it cannot be said in a few words to make clear this matter. Iphone and Apple now decline in China and they are not what they were 3 or 4 years ago when people would sell one of their two kidneys to get enough money to pay for one Iphone. Huawei is better in price, function and look than Iphone. When the US asked Canada to help detain Huawei's big boss's daughter the CFO, she actually owns a very big house in Canada and she doesn't care about staying a long time there. Chinese netizens have a mixed feeling toward that. Some hate the US, some hate the rich people living in a foreign country...etc.