OT. City fathers?
londonguy
Breathe, breathe in the air
In the U2 video of 'Where the streets have no name" filmed on the top of a single storey building in LA in the early 80's the dialogue refers to the 'city fathers' not being happy about the event. Who or what are the 'city fathers' and do other U.S. cities have them?
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In this sense, city fathers are usually the people who founded the city and/or its major institutions.
Your question made me think of a reverse situation I had where I've wondered about some British slang. I'm a big fan of the 1996 British-made film, "Brassed Off." See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassed_Off
When I was watching the DVD of it, I made a list of 12 terms of British slang that I noticed, with the intention of looking them up later. Most I could tell what they meant with the context of the film, but I don't recall that I found any of them in my very American English dictionary!
I find it fascinating how much the English language changes from one side of the pond to the other!
@club_goer. Let me know what the terms are and I'll let you know? The title of the film is a phrase itself. Brassed off is a north of England term, mainly from Yorkshire and is a more polite way of saying 'annoyed', 'unhappy' or more strongly 'pissed off'
@che. Many a true word spoken in jest. And very appropriate at the moment. Tossers.
To londonguy: How much of the American Revolution is studied by school children in the UK? Does "Lexington and Concord" have meaning to most English citizens?
@ Che: Hilarious story !!!
As I have discovered and as many Yorkshireman knew before me:
"Where there's muck, there's brass."
(You had better explain "tossers" to the Yanks.)
tosser (ˈtɒsə)
— n
slang ( Brit ) a stupid or despicable person
[C20: probably from toss off (to masturbate)]
@jackslash. that was funny, she got straight to the point with you.
@ mothorhead. As much as I hate to say it, very little if anything is taught about the American Revolution. This is thanks to left leaning politics within teaching that doesn't have a love of America, it's history or it's present (unlike me). Having said that they don't teach a lot about our history either, some kids don't know how many wives Henry the 8th had and some think Churchill a fictional character. It breaks my heart at times to see how uneducated our kids are these days.
You may be interested to know that the house where George Washington's ancestors once lived is still more or less as it was when they left it. The family gave their name to the town and the house is now a tourist attraction in Washington, England. It has many visitors from the U.S.