Rivalries you didn’t know of

[Guest]

Iran and Iraq, India and Pakistan, China and Japan, USA and basically anyone who doesn’t agree with them being in charge of the world by all means, but can someone surprise me with rivalries which isn’t necessarily on the edge of a war being started, but the more relaxed kind, like we in Sweden have with Denmark, the sausage-eating beer-belly, red-nosed buggers, while they call us Asians.

How about Australia and New Zealand?

[WOM]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

I think our long-simmering rucks are only with Spain and Brazil, although we seems to be getting less tolerant of Mexico's bullshit lately.

[Wyatt Earp]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

WornOldMotorbike wrote:

I think our long-simmering rucks are only with Spain and Brazil...

Yeah? What about? It sounds a bit "Australio-Hong Kong border". The missus has never brought it up on our frequent trips to the Comunitat Valenciana.

[Incandenza]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

I just saw a bumper sticker that said "A House Divided" with APU (Azusa Pacific University) and Biola printed underneath that. I had to laugh at the absurdity of it--and I imagine that ursus will probably be the only one that might appreciate this. Let's just say that neither school really register outside of the people that are connected to either, so I didn't know that they had a rivalry.

[Guest]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Bolivians are not very fond of Chileans, because it is due to them they do not have any access to the Pacific, so I've heard

[linus]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

WornOldMotorbike wrote:

I think our long-simmering rucks are only with Spain and Brazil, although we seems to be getting less tolerant of Mexico's bullshit lately.

We'd be more tolerant of Mexico's bullshit if those bogus asylum seekers opened decent taquerias north of the border. If this doesn't happen in the next 3 years I'm moving back to California and seeking culinary asylum there.

What's our beef with Spain? I know we have a big feud with Brazil over soccer dominance in the western hemisphere.

[WOM]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

We've had a number of run-ins with Spain over violations of fishing boundaries off N&L. Known as the Turbot War, I believe.
And with Brazil it was tariffs on beef, to which they responded with sanctions during the BSE scare.
Mexico upped the anti today by imposing visa restrictions on traveling Canadian diplomats.

[Reed John]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Kansas and Missouri don't like each other going back before the Civil War. Now that both of their football teams are sort of respectible, it's become kind of a thing.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

WornOldMotorbike wrote:

We've had a number of run-ins with Spain over violations of fishing boundaries off N&L. Known as the Turbot War, I believe.
And with Brazil it was tariffs on beef, to which they responded with sanctions during the BSE scare.
Mexico upped the anti today by imposing visa restrictions on traveling Canadian diplomats.

That just may be because Canada has imposed visa restrictions on all Mexicans, not just the diplomats.

[Sam]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Captain Beirut III wrote:

Bolivians are not very fond of Chileans, because it is due to them they do not have any access to the Pacific, so I've heard

What you have to remember here is, though, no-one in South America likes each other. Bolivia has an historical rivalry with Chile, as you say. Chileans hate Argentines (Chile was on our side in the Falklands / Malvinas War), and Argentines hate Uruguayans and Brazilians, as well as holding a dislike bordering on the racist (well, in fact not bordering on. It's just racist) towards Paraguayans and Bolivians. The north of the continent I'm not so au-fait with, but basically everyone, from across South America, can't stand Argentines, because all Argentines like to pretend they're European. If they could, they'd have Argentina airlifted into Europe, just so they could all be 'back home'.

Which is amusing in a way, because they can't stand the Spanish, or the Italians (in spite of the fact that they mostly are Italian), or the British (in spite of the fact that they all want to be British). Mind you, no Latin Americans I've yet met are particularly fond of Spain.

Oh, and they all hate the United States of America with the kind of fervour that only the Arab world really matches.

[erwin]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

De Espanha, nem bom vento nem bom casamento

"From Spain - neither a good wind nor a good marriage ..."

(Portuguese saying)

[Sam]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

'Hay solamente tres cosas buenas de los españoles: la mixtura de la cultura con los moros; las chicas bonitas, y la comida.'

'There are only three good things with the Spanish: the cultural mix with the moors; the pretty girls, and the food.'

(An old Mexican bloke who I got talking to in front of the Cathedral in Mexico City)

[Ant van Oviedo]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

SamLKelly wrote:

'Hay solamente tres cosas buenas de los españoles: la mixtura de la cultura con los moros; las chicas bonitas, y la comida.'

'There are only three good things with the Spanish: the cultural mix with the moors; the pretty girls, and the food.'

I'll go with the last two. What else do you want, ffs?

B.t.w., "mixtura" made me laugh. Oh, those crazy Mexicans.

[diabloinglés]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Why do you all seem to have a problem with Mexicans?

[Guest]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

SamLKelly wrote:

What you have to remember here is, though, no-one in South America likes each other. Bolivia has an historical rivalry with Chile, as you say. Chileans hate Argentines (Chile was on our side in the Falklands / Malvinas War), and Argentines hate Uruguayans and Brazilians, as well as holding a dislike bordering on the racist (well, in fact not bordering on. It's just racist) towards Paraguayans and Bolivians.
The north of the continent I'm not so au-fait with, but basically everyone, from across South America, can't stand Argentines, because all Argentines like to pretend they're European. If they could, they'd have Argentina airlifted into Europe, just so they could all be 'back home'.

Which is amusing in a way, because they can't stand the Spanish, or the Italians (in spite of the fact that they mostly are Italian), or the British (in spite of the fact that they all want to be British). Mind you, no Latin Americans I've yet met are particularly fond of Spain.

Oh, and they all hate the United States of America with the kind of fervour that only the Arab world really matches.

You make them sound like the Planters;met loads of South Americans over the years, none of them were ever that paranoid or hateful....
Or maybe something's been lost in translation?

[Beatle Simon]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Jersey vs. Guernsey: we have an inter-island football & rugby match every year to settle our differences.
USA vs. Jersey: that nice Mr Obama wants to shut us down due to Jersey being an off-shore tax-haven. So, if he ever visits here, I'll take him around the more savoury-looking housing estates, which, in his opinion, seem to be dripping in gold.

[San Bernardhinault]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

On the South America thing, I think that Peru and Ecuador hate each other and have occasional wars over a border dispute. Also the same (without the war bit) of Guyana and Venezuela.

[Wyatt Earp]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

SamLKelly wrote:

'Hay solamente tres cosas buenas de los españoles: la mixtura de la cultura con los moros; las chicas bonitas, y la comida.'

'There are only three good things with the Spanish: the cultural mix with the moors; the pretty girls, and the food.'

I tell you what, those three'll do for me, to be getting on with.

WoM, I'm not sure fishing disputes and the like really count, mate. I think you Canucks simply have to face up to the fact that no-one really hates you.

[Wyatt Earp]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Does the Arab world really hate the US the way Latin America does, I wonder? Except among the out-and-out crazies, Arab attitudes to the US often seem quite nuanced: rightly incandescent about Israel and Iraq, while envying the US its internal democracy and lack of oppression.

Whereas with iberoamericanos there's this visceral dislike, isn't there?

[Guest]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

SamLKelly wrote:

'Hay solamente tres cosas buenas de los españoles: la mixtura de la cultura con los moros; las chicas bonitas, y la comida.'

'There are only three good things with the Spanish: the cultural mix with the moors; the pretty girls, and the food.'

(An old Mexican bloke who I got talking to in front of the Cathedral in Mexico City)

I hope you do not count Tapas as food here.

[George]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

The more conservative Arab societies dislike the US for the perceived nefarious influence of its popular culture, probably just as much as they do for the US dealings in the region and its closeness to Israel.

Because of this, they apparently all stand at the risk of becoming raving sodomites overnight.

Of course its just certain sections who indulge in such desk thumping.

[Guest]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Why on Earth... wrote:

Does the Arab world really hate the US the way Latin America does, I wonder?

I've spent loads of time with Latin Americans (here in Sweden), lived with a Chilean for many years, basically all of them praised Castro, and were very clear about their hate towards USA.

I've met loads of people from Middle East, have many friends from there, and they've not at all been as outspokenly anti USA.

[Wyatt Earp]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Captain Beirut III wrote:

I hope you do not count Tapas as food here.

Well, I've always responded to tapas by eating them. Don't tell me I've been doing it wrong.

I brought a load of charcuterie stuff back from Salamanca, so we've just had a family lunch based on jamon iberico, chorizo, salchichon and fried blood sausage. Fucking gorgeous. Beat that, Mexico.

[Guest]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

Why on Earth... wrote:

Captain Beirut III wrote:

I hope you do not count Tapas as food here.

Well, I've always responded to tapas by eating them. Don't tell me I've been doing it wrong.

I brought a load of charcuterie stuff back from Salamanca, so we've just had a family lunch based on jamon iberico, chorizo, salchichon and fried blood sausage. Fucking gorgeous. Beat that, Mexico.

It's great to eat, no doubt about that, but it's a bit like calling a sandwich a main course, is what I meant to say.

[Wyatt Earp]

Rivalries you didn’t know of

No, it's a bit like calling a sandwich food. Which, I mean, it is.