I love my country but there is no way on earth I would get a sofa like that!

hehe, I like it, but I wonder if a Brit having that would be akin to me having one flying the Rebel colors.

On second thought...

we very nearly got one like that for the office. Unfortunately my soft seating area for stolen for more staff space before it happened.

it's not a great pic, but the Union Jack on anything transforms it into something badass...

I think we view or national flags a little differently.

Whether we should, or shouldn't is one of those debates that needs an evening over a few beers to really thrash out, but sadly, for quite a few years the union flag was 'adopted' by some of the extreme right wing (and fairly rascist) politcal movements.

This lead to many otherwise perfectly sane and sensibly patriotic people avoiding overt use of the union flag for fear of being associated with the racist nutters.

This is, of course, wrong on so many levels, but national identity within the British Isles is complex - e.g. a few members of the British football team didn't sing the national anthem 'cos they were Welsh.  'WTF?' you may well exclaim, but then one verse (not sung much these days) of the 'British' national anthem contains the words:

Quote
"Lord, grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the King."

.. that the Welsh footballers didn't sing it was mentioned in the media, but it wasn't much of a big deal.

As I said, it is complicated and confusing even for us Brits.

... of course, my country's flag is now:



... well kind of..... where is live now is Wales, but heavily populated by Mancs and Scousers (ie. English), so I think the threat of a horrible death in a whicker man is somewhat less likely than I feared.

[added]
We can't even agree on whether to call it the 'union flag' or the 'union jack' - both are defensible, but you will get plenty of pub know-it-alls telling you that is is only called the 'Union Jack' when flown on a ship.... don't get me started on that one....

I have a pair of union jack shoes - which I'll be getting as much use as possible out of this next month. It really does only feel appropriate this year though. Not sure I could cope with a sofa, I think most people have limited flag fever to a few cushions and a cake stand!

QuoteWe can't even agree on whether to call it the 'union flag' or the 'union jack'

Quote

In the Olympic ceremony just a moment ago, they called it the "union flag".

A very impressive ceremony, BTW.

>national identity

For Americans it is easier to think of all of Europe as a bunch of tribes, some of which are cohabiting within the same nation-state. Mostly they get along although they often give each other the fisheye.

The couch is pretty cool and I have always liked the look of the Union flag.  Didn't know it had been co-opted by nutters, too bad about that.

The nutters only get to keep it when the rest of us stop using it.

I wish they'd stop wheeling out McCartney for these events. Absolute legend, but getting a bit old to crank out his tunes from yesteryear.

>sofa

It's a setee or couch....shirley! Nice to look at but the white isn't very compatible with my messy 18 month old daughter.

> I wish they'd stop wheeling out McCartney for these events. Absolute legend, but getting a bit old to crank out his tunes from yesteryear.

I (and I think half the nation) agree

> Settee, couch, Sofa

Is there a difference?

Quote from: JasonD on July 28, 2012, 12:11:26 PM

> Settee, coach, Sofa

Is there a difference?

about 1.7 million searches a month

Best damn answer I've ever heard

>> you will get plenty of pub know-it-alls telling you that is is only called the 'Union Jack' when flown on a ship.... don't get me started on that one....

And the know-it-alls would be (mostly) right. If you want to be super-technical, a "jack" is flown by ships, so in another context (such as on land), it isn't a jack, it's a flag. One of my Uni mates is RN, so I've heard this all in great detail...

As a practical matter, unless you happen to be a serving RN officer on diplomatic protocol duty or something, it really makes no difference, since everyone knows what you mean, either way