Courteous Discourse
One of my favorite moments in Pride and Prejudice is when Lady Catherine visits Elizabeth in an attempt to get her to call off her rumored engagement to Mr. Darcy. The discussion is witty (if weighted to one side) and yet fairly polite and adhering to some of the social mores of the day. And really, isn't it much more interesting to watch (or read) a discussion where the points are made with intelligence and courtesy. So, with thanks to ChaliceChick for the link, I present an exchange of letters between the US Embassy in Britain and the British Embassy in DC with regard to the World Cup.
(And yes, normally we would go with my rant about the use of England where people mean Britain, but for the purposes of soccer, there are in fact separate English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland teams. Sadly, only the English team advanced this year. And by the way, recognizing that the US's history with soccer is bumpy, but still, can we get a team for Hawai'i and Texas since they used to be sovereign countries? Okay, according to Wikipedia - there is a Puerto Rico team.)
Rants About New (and old) Things
