Off-topic discussions in English related to Romania, Romanian language and culture...

Originally Posted by smfc_stevo_smfc

I really sympathise with you on the gypsie thing. I think people can be so unfair to just stereotype and automatically think a gypsy is from Romania.
To me, it seems as if a lot of people look at their own countries through tinted glasses.
Like they might look at another country and think, "Wow! That's bad!" as if their own is perfect but they forget how bad their own country is.

Oh thanks. You know many Romanians started to hate gypsies more and more because on the reportages shown in western countries, they show the gypsies kids begging for money in the western capitals. You know I'm not racist , I had a gypsy colleague in high school and we got along very well. They're not all the same.But there are also Romanians that do bad things in the West.
And on the documentaries they show on the western channels they only show the bad things that this country has like orphanage and so on. Bu I don't know how many channels show the beauties of Romania .....

Originally Posted by Crisa

Oh thanks. You know many Romanians started to hate gypsies more and more because on the reportages shown in western countries, they show the gypsies kids begging for money in the western capitals. You know I'm not racist , I had a gypsy colleague in high school and we got along very well. They're not all the same.But there are also Romanians that do bad things in the West.
And on the documentaries they show on the western channels they only show the bad things that this country has like orphanage and so on. Bu I don't know how many channels show the beauties of Romania .....

I think people have a distrust of them because of what they have heard. Just prejudging them. Which is quite unfair.
But on the other hand, the travelling type which have no home address, no national insurance number or landline phone number etc. can be quite hard to trust. Like if doing business with someone who can be untraceable quite easily if they want to be.

It is quite unfair that they never report on the beauty of it but that's news for you.
Haiti never featured in the news until the earthquake. Africa only gets a mention when it's AIDs, poverty, war etc.
India only gets a mention when it's kids working in sweatshops.
Bad news gets attention. People would rather read about some war torn country or something like that to make them feel better about their own country rather than country that makes theirs feel inferior.

Yes, all countries have beautiful girls but some do stand out more than others. Well I have my eyes wide open even in the USA but I don't run into a lot of girls with Blue/green eyes which in romania it seems there are more of. And when I go to another country I do not compare it to the USA I visit to see something different. I have been to a few places in europe so I will stick that so far I have seen more Beautiful girls in romania LOL . I don't think there are alot of touristic things to see in Bucuresti. That is why Bucuresti doesn't have a Tour Hop on/off Bus like other touristics places. But some sights in bucuesti are Palace of Parliament, The old Princely court, the arch of Triumph , Royal palace and Lipscani area etc. Anyways, Let's enjoy the good things about romania and do not concentrate too much on the negative.

Laterzz,

Un Angel Caido

Yep, I agree ^_^

Originally Posted by smfc_stevo_smfc

I think people have a distrust of them because of what they have heard. Just prejudging them. Which is quite unfair.
But on the other hand, the travelling type which have no home address, no national insurance number or landline phone number etc. can be quite hard to trust. Like if doing business with someone who can be untraceable quite easily if they want to be.

It is quite unfair that they never report on the beauty of it but that's news for you.
Haiti never featured in the news until the earthquake. Africa only gets a mention when it's AIDs, poverty, war etc.
India only gets a mention when it's kids working in sweatshops.
Bad news gets attention. People would rather read about some war torn country or something like that to make them feel better about their own country rather than country that makes theirs feel inferior.

I think it is disgusting how much truth there is to what you are saying.

Right, I totally agree with you guys Unfortunately...

'Tis sad.

Slightly off-topic but I just noticed and translated your location, Dragonfly.
I done a Dantes Inferno quiz the other day and it says I'm going to level 5.

A Dantes Inferno quiz? Is it online? can you post the link?

Oh, you want the link? I took it too... I was also Circle 5, Stevo LOL!!

http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv

Stevo, is this what you took?

Yeah. Exact same one.

Why is your location "To hell where I melt" anyways?

i think dragonfly's location translates as "i am melting in hell". because she lives in florida and it is foarrrrrrte hot down there!!

I'm also a 5th leveler. So.. I guess we'll see each other soon!! :P

Loooool that's so funny

Haha, I guess you both get to melt with me LoL

sorry our british(UK) folks here for your match with Germany and that it didn't work out.
congrats to the panzers for the victory, may the world cup go to a european team.
P.S.:i'm glad Ireland had their revenge and France went home early, after that farce of game where they cheated to reach South Africa.

you guys mind if i ask what are the stereotypes or sayings about other countries circulating in media or popular culture in your country...all those nasties or flatering remarks either newish or historical in origin; neighbours or otherwise.

to exemplify: there's a saying here that goes like this "Romania has 2 good neighbours:Serbia and the Black Sea", that pretty much sums up our "historical love" for the nations around us.
"nemtii sunt ai dracu"...which loosely translates as germans are totally badass,as Germany has always been viewed as a model to emulate.altho we love our latin roots and our latin brethren we're dissapointed about this negativity towards us in those countries.
we used to call our bulgarian friends "castravetari"=cucumber eaters and they called us "mamaligari"=polenta eaters (haha),now that's starting to change.
we get along far better with our historical muslim enemies, the turks, than with our "allies" in NATO and EU: Hungary,Bulgaria.
we view Ukraine as Russia's lapdog and we hate to the core russians, which fight for first spot with hungarians for that honor.
we see Republic of Moldova as OUR territory not as an independent country and moldovans as brainwashed fools.
we love anything western: clothes, movies, etc and we're often so caught up in the trend we forget about our traditional cultural heritage.
all i've stated is ofcourse true to a certain degree and does not go for everyone.

Haha, yes, I'm sure Love the "cucumber eaters"

Moldova is a bit politically strange...It strikes me as how China sees Taiwan as its territory, while the rest of the world recognises its independence (which apparently is hard to define these days )... I know that the current political leaders consider Moldova to have two languages, Russian and moldovenească, but it's sort of BS, because "Moldovan" is clearly Romanian with a regional accent, and at most considered a dialect of Romanian

the difference between Romania and China and our respective posibility of retrieval of former territories is that they can work toward getting it back with a greater ease through soft and hardpower,blackmail etc...we're too small and insignificant and besides, we wouldn't want Moldova back by force anyway.
currently there's an intense "courtship" from us to pull Moldova away from the ruskies into the EU area of influence. the plan is to "free" them of Russia and eventually integrate them in the EU with us, and who knows maybe unify when old wounds are healed and full dialogue re-established.
the thing that hurts the most is that they were sovietized for 50years to hate us...they call us "fascists" in relation to our alliance with Germany in ww2 and we call them "rusophils" and "commies"(for their inclination toward Russia and because they had communists lead them til 2008).

waiting for something spicy on my question above

Originally Posted by mike123

i think dragonfly's location translates as "i am melting in hell". because she lives in florida and it is foarrrrrrte hot down there!!

I'm also a 5th leveler. So.. I guess we'll see each other soon!! :P

Damn Google translator!

Yeah. I've been to Florida. - It's the only place I've been to where you have to go IN the car to cool down! And I've been to Spain, The Balearics and Tenerife before!

Yes Mike. We'll finally get to meet. Not in ideal circumstances though LOL

Originally Posted by dragonfly93

Loooool that's so funny

Haha, I guess you both get to melt with me LoL

"Level 5
----------------------------------------------
The river Styx runs through this level of Hell, and in it are punished the wrathful and the gloomy. The former are forever lashing out at each other in anger, furious and naked, tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. The latter are gurgling in the black mud, slothful and sullen, withdrawn from the world. Their lamentations bubble to the surface as they try to repeat a doleful hymn, though with unbroken words they cannot say it. Because you lived a cruel, vindictive and hateful life, you meet your fate in the Styx."

Doesn't really mention melting there. Dante Alighieri had a different idea of hell from the bible.

"Level 9 - Cocytus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the deepest level of hell, where the fallen angel Satan himself resides. His wings flap eternally, producing chilling cold winds that freeze the thick ice found in Cocytus. The three faces of Satan, black, red, and yellow, can be seen with mouths gushing bloody foam and eyes forever weeping, as they chew on the three traitors, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. This place is furthest removed from the source of all light and warmth. Sinners here are frozen deep in the ice, faces out, eyes and mouths frozen shut. Traitors against God, country, family, and benefactors lament their sins in this frigid pit of despair."

Ice? - If Florida is sooooooo hot at the moment, you wouldn't mind a wee day trip to level 9 then?

Originally Posted by kamadeva

sorry our british(UK) folks here for your match with Germany and that it didn't work out.
congrats to the panzers for the victory, may the world cup go to a european team.
P.S.:i'm glad Ireland had their revenge and France went home early, after that farce of game where they cheated to reach South Africa.

Don't appologize. I'm British and I don't support England. I'm Scottish and British. Not English. Like most Scots, I do NOT support England.

I'm in 2 minds about Scotland being independant, but one thing that really swings me in one direction is that hopefully the world would realise how Britain and England are 2 different things.
If England are competiting as a seperate nation, then mostly just English people support them. If Great Britain is competing as a nation, then usually it is backed by all of the British nations (Scotland, Wales, England).

England may be knocked out of the World Cup but I can assure you that the majority of British people supporting England will be just English. There are a small number of English supporters in Scotland and Wales but not many.
If anything, the rest of Britain will have been cheering as Germany hammered England today!

I'm not a fan of Ireland, however like yourself, I also feel France got what they deserved for cheating their way to South Africa.

Originally Posted by kamadeva

you guys mind if i ask what are the stereotypes or sayings about other countries circulating in media or popular culture in your country...all those nasties or flatering remarks either newish or historical in origin; neighbours or otherwise.

to exemplify: there's a saying here that goes like this "Romania has 2 good neighbours:Serbia and the Black Sea", that pretty much sums up our "historical love" for the nations around us.
"nemtii sunt ai dracu"...which loosely translates as germans are totally badass, as Germany has always been viewed as a model to emulate. altho we love our latin roots and our latin brethren we're dissapointed about this negativity towards us in those countries.
we used to call our bulgarian friends "castravetari"=cucumber eaters and they called us "mamaligari"=polenta eaters (haha),now that's starting to change.
we get along far better with our historical muslim enemies, the turks, than with our "allies" in NATO and EU: Hungary,Bulgaria.
we view Ukraine as Russia's lapdog and we hate to the core russians, which fight for first spot with hungarians for that honor.
we see Republic of Moldova as OUR territory not as an independent country and moldovans as brainwashed fools.
we love anything western: clothes, movies, etc and we're often so caught up in the trend we forget about our traditional cultural heritage.
all i've stated is ofcourse true to a certain degree and does not go for everyone.

Now this is the interesting part I shall share with you some stereotypes, sayings and attitudes of Scotland etc. with you.
But first, please tell me what a "polenta" is?

Scotland is seen as a country with beautiful landscapes, castles, lochs (lakes) etc.
We are part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, the majority of us take great pride in our nationality and because the majority of English people (wrongly) see England and Britain as the same place (along with many foreigners), we really do get upset when being mistaken for English and when asked if we are British, we usually say, "No. Scottish."

A common misconception is that we hate England and the English. That's not entirely true. Yes we do support whoever England are playing against in sporting events and there are a few racist thugs (like you get in any country) but in general, it is just banter or a friendly rivalry.

We support whoever England play against because the British media (which is so bias that it's practically the English media) always go on about England winning the World Cup when everyone else knows that they won't (today being a good example). Also because England fans and the "British" media always go on about 1966 (if you're lucky enough not to live in Britain and experience it's media, that's when they last won their only World Cup... At home).

In foreign media we are often portrayed as pale white, ginger haired people who talk funny. - Yes we are in general, quite pale but ginger hair is a minority here too. Just more common than say... Latin America.
Our own media can at times portray us as an alcoholic nation of fat, obese people who like lots of unhealthy food. - In certain cases, this is true. However, in comparison to our European neighbours, we definately do like getting drunk more.
When visiting foreign countries, we usually get on really well the locals. Supporters of our national team (the Tartan Army) are well known for their friendly atmosphere and are welcome practically anywhere around the world.

Originally Posted by dragonfly93

Haha, yes, I'm sure Love the "cucumber eaters"

Moldova is a bit politically strange...It strikes me as how China sees Taiwan as its territory, while the rest of the world recognises its independence (which apparently is hard to define these days )... I know that the current political leaders consider Moldova to have two languages, Russian and moldovenească, but it's sort of BS, because "Moldovan" is clearly Romanian with a regional accent, and at most considered a dialect of Romanian

I've read some things about Catalan and Valencian. They are the same language, just called a different name depending on which region of Spain you are in.
Ukrainian is considered a dialect of Russian by some.
And there's the whole Serbo Croatian language debate along with Bosnian and Montenegrin.

But yeah, as you said, it's BS but people have their own opinions I suppose.

Originally Posted by kamadeva

the difference between Romania and China and our respective posibility of retrieval of former territories is that they can work toward getting it back with a greater ease through soft and hardpower,blackmail etc...we're too small and insignificant and besides, we wouldn't want Moldova back by force anyway.
currently there's an intense "courtship" from us to pull Moldova away from the ruskies into the EU area of influence. the plan is to "free" them of Russia and eventually integrate them in the EU with us, and who knows maybe unify when old wounds are healed and full dialogue re-established.
the thing that hurts the most is that they were sovietized for 50years to hate us...they call us "fascists" in relation to our alliance with Germany in ww2 and we call them "rusophils" and "commies"(for their inclination toward Russia and because they had communists lead them til 2008).

waiting for something spicy on my question above

Like a lot of old people with their old ideas and prejudices, my grandfather has views on certain countries based on previous wars. He doesn't really like Japan after their treatment of British soldiers during WWII. And with reference to your comment on Romania being allies with Germany during WWII, he isn't keen on them for that reason.
I on the other hand, recognize that in todays world yesterday's enemy can be tomorrow's ally. Also with Germany being a superpower at the time, I can't blame Romania for joining them to protect their own country.