Shadowe

Solitaire, I think there may be a certain point being missed between you and some of us - I'm not sure if this is a cultural difference, or a misunderstanding, but I'm going to take a stab at explaining it from my perspective:

1) I'm straight.

2) I know some people.

3) Some of those people are homosexuals or bi, and I know at least one trans-gender individual - possibly more.

4) What they are like as people matters more to me than their sexuality.

5) I quite literally have no comprehension as to how a man can feel attracted to another man, but that doesn't mean I refuse to accept that other people feel that way.

6) I flat out do not care about someone's sexuality, as long as they are a pleasant individual.

7) Because of all of the above, the decision to advertise sexuality is something that I just don't understand.

A person's sexuality is their business. It has no bearing on my relationship with them, unless they let it. I like to think I'm pretty tolerant, but I also know that there are people who aren't. Well, those people are bigoted pigs who don't deserve the time of day.

I'm not suggesting that LGBT people hide their sexuality - I'm saying that since their sexuality is entirely secondary to their worth as a person, I do not see why it matters so much. I'm proud of being a God-fearing, white, middle-class, heterosexual male in a stable marriage, with a tortoise in the back garden, a cat who went missing a few weeks ago, and who loves and respects his country and Queen - I have precisely zero interest, though, in joining a "group" of any sort that is specifically tailored to any of those features of my life, for the simple fact that I also love the wide diversity of human culture, and THAT is far more important to me than the other stuff.

Mostly fair points, but to my mind there is a significant difference between "segregation" as a result of a language barrier (I simply cannot communicate effectively with a French person in French), and segregation within a single community as a result of social choices.

I would not begrudge any group the right to create a SG that caters to their individual preferences - what I do question is why they feel it necessary to segregate themselves by actively excluding people who do not meet those preferences. An all-homosexual SG sends a message to non-homosexuals, which is "WE DO NOT WANT YOU". That may not be the intention, but that is the implication. Just as an all-white, or all-black group would be offensive to me. I want to meet people of all social, ethnic, social and economic backgrounds. I've made some good friends that way, including people that definitely do not fit the criteria I would normally choose for my own friends.

At the end of the day, I don't care if someone's homosexual, straight, white, black, asian, purple, polygamous, puritan or prostitute. I just care if they're a nice person or not, and I don't care if they're any of those things. But anyone that feels the need to shout about it strikes me as a bit pretentious, which is guaranteed to make them slide a little closer to "not nice" on my personal scale of their worth.

Grrr... Less than a week on the new forums, and already my main's reputation is being besmirched! Oh, woe is me! Fie, fie!

Seriously, though (if I can remain that way for more than a few seconds), for anyone who doesn't know - FFM's taking the mickey. And while it might look like that's an accurate description of ol' Dicky-boy (at first glance), it is, in fact, a load of old cobblers.

Not that I mind people RPing as if it was true, of course.

Heh. Everyone else gets their hero names - why don't I?

It was totally worth it. She's hawt. But I'm a bit peeved to have lost the title.

Of course, it's wikipedia, so take it with a pinch of salt - for example, the wold "balmy" in British English does NOT mean "insane" - for that we use "barmy" which is basically pronounced the same, but is a completely different word.

You are not along in this feeling, though mine is for my US counterpart - who joined the forums after I did, and only posted once, back in '05.

I am assured that they're working on it, though.

Exactly. How else could we plot our plan for world domination in peace?

Nah, coz your lot stole our Avatea, so she's not going to be sneaking us quick previews any more - I leave work at about the time she's starting to go to work.

So unless we manage to butter her up some...

Hunts around for a giant tub of Utterly Butterly

I knew it was only a matter of time before people started shouting abuse.

ABUSE! ABUSE!

There's a place near where my mum lives that Americans seem to love pronouncing "Bow-dee-coat-ee". It's hard to write phonetically, but roughly it's meant to be "Bodycut" - Bodicote.

Oh, and the "shire" on the end of our counties? Is pronounced "shur". "Oxfudshur". Not "Ox-ford-shire". And Worcestershire? It's "Wuss-ter-shur".

Why, oh why would you want to do that? Do you have any idea what a Southern (US) accent does to (some, myself included) men from this part of the world?

/e melts.

[Edit: Ah... can everyone promise not to tell my wife I said that? Cheers.]

It's all one forum, now.

Say, Lady Athyna, are you trying to get adopted as an honorary EU player?

^This.

That's the Nike "swoosh". Which is the sound something non-powered makes when it goes past you really fast.

Swish, as others have said, means "fancy, fashionable, smart, cool".

Lemme see... things measured in Imperial units in Britain...

Distance: Inches, Feet, Yards, Miles.

Mass: Ounces, Pounds, Stones

Area: Square feet, Square yards, Square miles, Acres

Volume: Fluid Ounces, Pints

We tend to use Metric for scientific and architectural measurements (and, for some reason, we buy petrol (gasoline) by the litre, not the gallon), but in everyday use, we're still with Imperial for pretty much everything you'd care to mention.

Unionverse handbook thread is still there, oh great mistress of all she surveys. That might be a good spot.

Click the little down arrow to the left of the Thread name.

You rang?