Americans...

[chrisjk]

Let's test your knowledge of things outside your shores...

I made a bet with someone that any American would not be able to tell me the names of 5 current world leaders (not including your own)...

Prove me wrong!

[crptcblade]

are there only 5?

[chrisjk]

no, there are more, but 5 is a good number.

[crptcblade]

well, there's that guy in Russia, you know, with all the drinkin...

[filburt1]

Tony Blair
uh, uh, buh...

You win.

[chrisjk]

well if nobody gets at least 5, I made a cool £10

[filburt1]

Tony Blair (UK sortof)
John Howard (Australia)
Jacques Chirac (France)
Jose Maria Anzar (Spain)
Ariel Sharon (Israel)

Your turn.

[nishantp]

Originally posted by filburt1
Tony Blair (England)
John Howard (Australia)
Jacques Chirac (France)
Jose Maria Anzar (Spain)
Ariel Sharon (Israel)

Your turn.

You missed a business opportunity Arien. You could have made a deal with Chris for 5 pounds for shutting up...

[denniswrenn]

Bill Clinton
Montezuma
Hitler
Napoleon
Charlemagne


thinking is hard

[nishantp]

Charlemagn wasnt a national leader i dont think. And Napoleon wasnt either (officially) even though he had all the power. Not to mention none of these are current. It would seem thinking is hard this late at night...

[crptcblade]

Originally posted by denniswrenn
Bill Clinton
Montezuma
Hitler
Napoleon
Charlemagne


thinking is hard

Lest we forget Hammurabi

[siyan]

Ariel Sharon
Yasser Arafat
Saddam Heussein
(do you sense a pattern? )
Jean Chretien
Vladamir Putin

Methinks so..its late, music is loud...forgive my incoherence..blech.

-C

[denniswrenn]

Originally posted by nishantp
Charlemagn wasnt a national leader i dont think. And Napoleon wasnt either (officially) even though he had all the power. Not to mention none of these are current. It would seem thinking is hard this late at night...

I was just trying to display how stupid us Americans are... Sheeeeeesh, you all say we're the ones without a sense of humor.....

[beachbum]

Chris u made the qtn unnecessarily difficult. You should've just asked for 5 other countries and after say 20 mins followed up with hints that Texas, California and Hawaii are not in fact countries... nor are AT&T or Microsoft.

Now i can go and put my lederhausen on, drive down the autobahn and get some bratwurst mit brochen und sempf. Ahh me love Osterreich

[InvisibleDuncan]

Originally posted by filburt1
Tony Blair (England)
John Howard (Australia)
Jacques Chirac (France)
Jose Maria Anzar (Spain)
Ariel Sharon (Israel)

Your turn.

Technically incorrect. Tony Blair is the leader of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England has no leader, as such.

Picky, picky, picky.

[CiberTHuG]

Okay, with out having read past the first post, I will give it a shot. Mind you, I used to know the Canadian President, the French President, the Japanese Prime Minister, the German Chancellor, the Isreli President, the King of Jordan, the Egyptian President, and the Mexican President. But that was back when I actually watched the news. Now I don't care.

General F Castro, Cuba
Prime Minister Tony Blair, UK
Boris Yeltsin, Russia
Sadam, Iraq (easy one)
Secretary Kofi Annan, UN
President George W. Bush, USA

Mmm... I would like to come up with five not counting Secretary Annan, but I can't think of another. I guess I could count His Excellency Pope John Paul II. Regretably I can't think of the name of Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of England.

[filburt1]

Originally posted by denniswrenn
Bill Clinton
Montezuma
Hitler
Napoleon
Charlemagne


thinking is hard

Last time I checked, Hitler and Charlemagne weren't current.

[InvisibleDuncan]

Um, Filbert...

Originally posted by denniswrenn


I was just trying to display how stupid us Americans are... Sheeeeeesh, you all say we're the ones without a sense of humor.....

[CiberTHuG]

Okay, now that I've read the other posts:

Someone said Putin for Russia. Is Putin the leader, or just leader of the Polit Bueareau?

And yes, I think it is fair to be picky about UK v GB. In which case I should clarify that it still isn't Russia as an idependent state, but the Commonwealth of Soviet States. Atleast, I think that is the correct title.

[nullus]

Originally posted by CiberTHuG
General F Castro, Cuba
Prime Minister Tony Blair, UK
Boris Yeltsin, Russia
Sadam, Iraq (easy one)
Secretary Kofi Annan, UN
President George W. Bush, USA

tut tut, Boris isn't in charge of Russia anymore, it's Mr. Putin

[chrisjk]

Looks like filburt wins, damn it I lost £10!!

Travis: Boris Yeltsin was russian president a few years ago, now it's Vladimir Putin.
Kofi Anan doesn't count, he's secretary general of the UN, which isn't a country
Bush-babes doesn't count either, I said excluding him.

And Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is her name, but you already had Tony Blair. Not only england either, she's Head of State for all (most?) commonwealth countries.

So there , not that you really care

[InvisibleDuncan]

Nah - Filburt didn't get it right...

Originally posted by InvisibleDuncan
Technically incorrect. Tony Blair is the leader of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England has no leader, as such.

So, you're still alright. Nobody's got it completely correct, yet.

[filburt1]

Now I did (I edited it).

[InvisibleDuncan]

Y'know - I'm pretty sure that's cheating...

[filburt1]

Grr...*strains his small American brain to think of more leaders*

[barrk]

Chris.......are you saying that every single Brit would pass this test if you just stopped him on the street and asked??? I'm surprised you spend your time taking bets with your friends about how stupid us Americans are.......sounds like you need a hobby! It must be wonderful to be so superior in every way! I wish I were just like you.

[chrisjk]

no of course not, but you do have a reputation for not knowing what goes on outside your own country...

[CiberTHuG]

Damn.... Katie kicks ass.

Originally posted by chrisjk
Looks like filburt wins, damn it I lost £10!!

Travis: Boris Yeltsin was russian president a few years ago, now it's Vladimir Putin.
Kofi Anan doesn't count, he's secretary general of the UN, which isn't a country
Bush-babes doesn't count either, I said excluding him.

And Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is her name, but you already had Tony Blair. Not only england either, she's Head of State for all (most?) commonwealth countries.

So there , not that you really care

Like I said, I don't watch the news, so I missed when Yeltsin was replaced. I remember when he had heart problems and Putin wanted him to step down. But anyway. Like I said, I would've preffered to have done that without Secretary Annan, but I think he deserve more respect than most national leaders, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair included. And Bush was number six. You asked for five, he was just extra credit since he didn't count.

But wait... since Elizabeth II is Queen Elizabeth, isn't is Her Royal Majesty, and her husband, Prince Phillip, isn't he just His Majesty? What about the Crown Prince? That is something I'm not sure of. I'm still assuming that Charles holds the Principality of Wales, which makes him the Crown Prince? *shrug* Guess that's what I get for being American.

I could be wrong. I also get Excellency and Emminence mixed up. I think it is Pope and Cardinal, respectively, but I'm never sure.

[InvisibleDuncan]

Prince Phillip is the Queen's consort, not the King. He's therefore "His Highness", not "His Majesty". Charles is the same until he becomes King.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it?

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by CiberTHuG
Damn.... Katie kicks ass.

No, she neds to go back to bed and get out the right side, it's only a bit of fun.

But wait... since Elizabeth II is Queen Elizabeth, isn't is Her Royal Majesty, and her husband, Prince Phillip, isn't he just His Majesty?

They don't put the Royal in, and prince phillip isn't His majesty because he is not King.

I'm still assuming that Charles holds the Principality of Wales, which makes him the Crown Prince?

Yes, and no idea.

I could be wrong. I also get Excellency and Emminence mixed up. I think it is Pope and Cardinal, respectively, but I'm never sure.

Don't ask me!

[InvisibleDuncan]

Oh - and incidentally, she's only Queen Elizabeth II of England and Wales; she's Queen Elizabeth I of everywhere else.

(Before anyone wades in, by that I mean everywhere else that she's Queen of.)

[CiberTHuG]

Ah. Yes, it is very hard to keep track of the addresses when you aren't a subject. It is very interesting about Elizabeth I/II. I'm guessing that if America were still subjected to the Crown we would call her II, since we endured I?

I could swear I thought Royal was added somewhere. Perhaps it is His Royal Highness Prince Charles and His Highness Prince Phillip, since Charles is in-line (Crown Prince).

I was thinking Royal went with Majesty, though, because of the non-warships: RMS. But when I think about it, warships are just HMS, and not HRMS.

I think the only address we preserve in America is Honorable for Judges and various Congress members. I can't think of any others, which is a shame, since I don't mind addresses and titles.

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by CiberTHuG
Perhaps it is His Royal Highness

Yep, that's it!

[filburt1]

Stupid archaic royalty system. If they don't have any power anymore, why do they still exist?

[CiberTHuG]

Originally posted by filburt1
Stupid archaic royalty system. If they don't have any power anymore, why do they still exist?

Mascots.

[chrisjk]

Don't diss it. I'm not dissing your two-party crap...

[simonm]

Stupid archaic royalty system. If they don't have any power anymore, why do they still exist?

The Queen does have powers. She must appoint the party to govern the country in the houses of parliment and does not necessarilly (although she generally does) have to heed the majority vote in the election.

She may also decide to disolve the government any time she sees fit.

[InvisibleDuncan]

Originally posted by filburt1
Stupid archaic royalty system. If they don't have any power anymore, why do they still exist?

I'd rather have Royalty than a President. It's much better to have a symbolic figurehead with a fully accountable parliament than it is to invest so much actual power in one person - who doesn't even have to have been voted for by the majority.

Besides, you'd be surprised at how much influence they still have.

[Guv]

You should win your bet. I read newspapers regularly and am well educated, but could not name 5 current leaders of foreign countries. I doubt that one out of ten randomly chosen Americans would do any better. Hell, most of us cannot name all 48 (or is it 50 now?) States, and few can name the senators and representatives from their own state.

I could do much better that 5 if you did not want current leaders.

I know of Sharon and Arafat, Hussein, and maybe Gadifi is still in charge of Lybia or some other North African country. I know they assassinated Sadat a long time ago, and I think that Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Charlemagne, Louis 14, Mao, and Nehru are all dead..

Now that I think about the subject, I am surprised that the only ones I know are in the Middle East (BTW: I am neither Jew nor Muslim). No knowledge of who is in charge of China, Russia, England, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, et cetera.

[filburt1]

50 states.