I have decided that there is indeed a cheer more irritating than hearing "USA, USA, USA," ad nauseum; it is hearing the battle cry of "Come on England," at every phase of a match. And everyone yells it in the same deep grunt whether they be male or female.
This has been a rough week for Scottish rugby fans. First a controversial defeat to Argentina, then losing the lead against England in the dying minutes of a match and finally the hope extinguished as Argentina came from behind against Georgia (coached by Scotland's own Richard Dixon no less) to take the second place seat for the knockout round.
In local rugby, my club's top tier men's team is looking good so far after two pre-season warm up matches. The second division team is not looking as good but I will attribute it to over-exuberance of players trying to break into the first division lineup and hope the discipline improves once everyone calms down and the season begins. In the break between matches SB called me over to the lower pitch at King's Park where a softball game was progressing so that I could take some photos of two of his ice hockey teammates who play softball. One of the guys eventually looked up and noticed us. "Hey [insert SB's last name], what's up," he called out and strolled up the stairs toward us as SB returned his greeting. The British lady who was standing nearby told us that she liked how casual we were. I assume she was referring to North Americans because we are American and Bob is Canadian. I also assume she was referring to our easy greetings of each other and not our countries' diplomatic relations. Because politically I don't think they like us very much and we might not like them either if we knew anything about politics.
Later that night we were expressing our sorrow for the Scottish by patronizing Carnegie's before the fireworks when one of our English friends came over with a "Are you alright?" Even though I now know that this is a greeting in similar vein to 'what's up,' and not a question regarding my health or personal woes I still freeze when responding. This leaves a nice, awkward silence as I try not to ask why he is asking me if I'm alright. Luckily this time SB jumped in to save me with a, "Right as rain," response. Now it was our friend's turn for the weird look. Yes, these international colloquial relations are going swimmingly.
This has been a rough week for Scottish rugby fans. First a controversial defeat to Argentina, then losing the lead against England in the dying minutes of a match and finally the hope extinguished as Argentina came from behind against Georgia (coached by Scotland's own Richard Dixon no less) to take the second place seat for the knockout round.
In local rugby, my club's top tier men's team is looking good so far after two pre-season warm up matches. The second division team is not looking as good but I will attribute it to over-exuberance of players trying to break into the first division lineup and hope the discipline improves once everyone calms down and the season begins. In the break between matches SB called me over to the lower pitch at King's Park where a softball game was progressing so that I could take some photos of two of his ice hockey teammates who play softball. One of the guys eventually looked up and noticed us. "Hey [insert SB's last name], what's up," he called out and strolled up the stairs toward us as SB returned his greeting. The British lady who was standing nearby told us that she liked how casual we were. I assume she was referring to North Americans because we are American and Bob is Canadian. I also assume she was referring to our easy greetings of each other and not our countries' diplomatic relations. Because politically I don't think they like us very much and we might not like them either if we knew anything about politics.
Later that night we were expressing our sorrow for the Scottish by patronizing Carnegie's before the fireworks when one of our English friends came over with a "Are you alright?" Even though I now know that this is a greeting in similar vein to 'what's up,' and not a question regarding my health or personal woes I still freeze when responding. This leaves a nice, awkward silence as I try not to ask why he is asking me if I'm alright. Luckily this time SB jumped in to save me with a, "Right as rain," response. Now it was our friend's turn for the weird look. Yes, these international colloquial relations are going swimmingly.
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