Why Vanilla????

jackl · October 16, 2003, 11:46

Just a quick question

Can anyone tell me why the original Civ 3 game is reffered to as "the vanilla game" or "vanilla civ3" etc. I don't get it.

GhengisFarb™ · October 16, 2003, 11:52

Vanilla refers to "plain" or "common" or "simple" or "standard" in Anglish (American English).

Its derivative of Vanilla being the simple or easiest flavor, ie Vanilla Ice Cream.

jackl · October 16, 2003, 11:59

why thank you...i not only learned what vanilla means but a whole new word.."ANGLISH" american english...and i thought youguys couldnt do anymore damage to our language...now i discover youve renamed it and claimed it as youre own.

asleepathewheel · October 16, 2003, 15:00

Its the finest of the flavas

Theseus · October 16, 2003, 15:54

Datajack Franit · October 16, 2003, 16:06

SirOsis · October 16, 2003, 18:03

Not French Vanilla?

Shogun Gunner · October 16, 2003, 21:12

That's "Freedom Vanilla"

Tassadar500 · October 16, 2003, 21:16

Damn these one smiley posts

Theseus · October 16, 2003, 21:40

GhengisFarb™ · October 16, 2003, 21:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
That's "Freedom Vanilla"

You got that right.

Silly "pre-colonials" and their so called English Ka-niggets.......

Harovan · October 17, 2003, 05:21

Quote:

Originally posted by jackl
...and i thought youguys couldnt do anymore damage to our language...now i discover youve renamed it and claimed it as youre own.

If you think it's bad what the Americans did to your language, you should hear what the Dutch did to ours... ummm, or the Swiss, Austrians, Bavarians, Saxonians and "Fish heads".

jackl · October 17, 2003, 05:43

Sir Ralph....What language you speakin??? Last time I was in holland i never heard no one speaking Mauritian (is that what you speak in Mauritius?)? And whos a Fish head...you got my mind set a reeling???

Harovan · October 17, 2003, 05:53

Well, my language is German. Don't look at the flags here, they say nothing. And "Fish heads" is a slightly snide name of northerners (living near the coast) given them by the southerners (living near the mountains), who are called "Canyon yodelers" in return.

We all love each other here.

jackl · October 17, 2003, 06:08

Ahh i see...I got one for you then. A good friend of mine from Gutterslough near Frankfurt sent me this joke last week.

Euro-English Instead of German

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as Euro-English (Euro for short). In the first year, 's' will be used instead of the soft 'c'. Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard 'c' will be replaced with 'k.' Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced by 'f'. This will make words like 'fotograf' 20 per sent shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent 'e's in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.
By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' by 'z' and 'W' by 'V'. During ze fifz year, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou', and similar changes vud of kors; be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.
After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil b no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

Harovan · October 17, 2003, 06:57

The last sentences sound almost like American English

.

Jaybe · October 17, 2003, 14:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Sir Ralph

The last sentences sound almost like American English

.

ESPECIALLY as they are often typed on the 'net!

Datajack Franit · October 17, 2003, 16:25

LOL!

Arrian · October 17, 2003, 16:48

That's hilarious.

-Arrian

GhengisFarb™ · October 17, 2003, 19:27

That's it. I'm reporting this thread to George W. and he's gonna annex all your nations next month.

Shogun Gunner · October 17, 2003, 20:27

Quote:

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
That's it. I'm reporting this thread to George W. and he's gonna annex all your nations next month.

Are you referring to our "BEEFMAN"??? See the last paragraph at the end of the article

news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059480682836

jackl · October 17, 2003, 21:19

Now Now guys lets just calm down. We dont want no talk of anexations here. Other wise we English might have to revoke you guys "free nation" status and start refering to you as "the colonies" again.

Then the problems of two contries divided by a common languge would be the least of our worries.

sabrewolf · October 18, 2003, 08:31

i know it's completely off-topic, like the thread, but this one was hilarious at the time of the elections 3 years ago:

London, 8th November 2000.

To the citizens of the United States of America,

In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The rt. hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed".
2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys.
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.
Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005.
7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "****".
8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day".
9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.
11. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation and... have a nice day!
RE: Notice of Revocation of Independence

To the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

We welcome your concern about our electoral process. It must be exciting for you to see a real Republic in action, even if from a distance. As always, we're amused by your quaint belief that you're actually a world power. The sun never sets on the British Empire! Right-o, chum.

However, we regretfully have to decline your offer for intervention. On the other hand, it would be amusing to see you try to enforce your new policy (for the 96.3% of you that seem to have forgotten that you have little to no real power). After much deliberation, we have decided to continue our tradition as the longest running democratic republic. It seems that switching to a monarchy is in fact considered a "backwards step" by the majority of the world.

To help you rise from your current anachronistic status, we have compiled a series of helpful suggestions that we hope you adopt:

1. Realize that language is an organic structure, and that you aren't always correct in your pronunciation or spelling. Let's use your "aluminium" example. Sir Humphrey Davy (an Englishman) invented the name "aluminum" (note spelling) for the metal. However, in common usage, the name evolved into "aluminium" to match the naming convention of other elements.
In 1925, the United States decided to switch back to the original spelling and pronunciation of the word, at which point we dominated the aluminum industry. We'd also like to point out that the process of actually producing aluminum was developed by an American and a Frenchman (not an Englishman).
However, we'd like to thank you for the Oxford English Dictionary. It's an interesting collection, considering that over 10,000 of the words in the original edition were submitted by a crazy American civil-war veteran called Dr. William Charles Minor.
2. Learn to distinguish the American and Canadian accents, and then we'll talk about the English and Australian accent issue.
3. Review your basic arithmetic. (Hint 100 - 98.85 = 1.15 and 100 - 97.85 = 2.15.)
4. If you want English actors as good guys, then make your own movies. Don't rely on us for your modern popular culture. We liked "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels," "Trainspotting" and "The Full Monty." We've also heard good things about this "Billy Elliot." But one good movie a year doesn't exactly make a cultural powerhouse. However, you're doing pretty well with music, so keep up the good work on that front.
5. It's inefficient to have a national anthem that changes its title whenever your monarch dies. Let's not forget that your national anthem has an extremely boring tune. We suggest switching to that Rule Brittania ditty; it's toetapping. Or maybe Elton John could adapt "Candle In The Wind" again for you guys.
6. Improve at your national sport. Football? Soccer? This just in: United States gets fourth place in men's soccer at the 2000 Summer Olympics. United Kingdom? Not even close. By the way, impressive showing at Euro 2000. You almost managed to get through the tournament without having your fans start an international incident.
7. Learn how to cook. England has some top notch candy. Salt 'n' Vinegar chips are quite yummy. However, there's a reason why the best food in your country is Indian or Chinese. Your contributions to the culinary arts are soggy beans, warm beer, and spotted ****. Perhaps when you finally realize the French aren't the spawn of satan they'll teach you how to cook.
8. You're doing a terrible job at understanding cars. The obvious error is that you drive on the wrong side of the road. A second problem is pricing. It's cheaper to buy a car in Belgium and ship it to England than to buy a car in England. On the other hand, we like Jaguars and Aston Martins. That's why we bought the companies.
9. We'll tell you who killed JFK when you apologize for "Teletubbies."

Thank you for your time. You can now return to watching bad Australian soap operas.

P.S. - regarding WWII: You're welcome!

Outsider · October 18, 2003, 12:15

On the WWII issue... I'd like to say "thankyou" to the UK (and the Russians) for keeping the Germans busy for a smidge over 2 years while we got our act together on this side of the pond.

I'd also like to thank the British Army specifically for taking the tougher, slower, nastier side in our joint operations after we did get in the war. The right side in Sicily and the left side in Normandy were the harder sides of those operations. (In Sicily the right was very difficult and constricted terrian-wise, and in Normandy, the left was the side that had the preponderance of the German armor. In both cases, the British side of the front was the side more likely and able to get reinforcements, too.)

I'm an American and even I am getting tired of hearing my fellow Americans ask (even jokingly) that the Europeans continue to thank us and defer to us because of WWII. It was almost 60 years ago now that we piled up that goodwill, and we've been drawing off it ever since. At some point it runs out. In my book, that has pretty much already happened as the generation who were direct participants in the events of the time have mostly passed away.

PS :

In Civ 3 terms :

UK Infantry 6-10-1 (Standard Civ3 Infantry)
US Infantry 6-10-2 (Motorized, rather than Mechanized)
UK Armor 16-14-1 (The infamous "Infantry Tanks")
US Armor 16-10-2 (Standard Civ3 Armor)

UK units also tended to have more experience than their US counterparts. Relatively more veterans and elites, and relatively fewer regulars and conscripts.

Of course you use your UK units to hold the strong side and your US ones to sweep the weak one.

Turrosh Mak · October 19, 2003, 10:46

Not to stereotype, but in the Korean war, the British gained a reputation for being mediocre on the offensive but tough as nails defensively. The exact opposite of the reputation of the Turks.

jackl · October 19, 2003, 14:32

I think that the major diffrence between your "stereotypical" British army unit and a US unit is that we brits go for quality over quantity every time.

Turrosh Mak · October 19, 2003, 16:17

Quantity has a quality all its own

Shogun Gunner · October 19, 2003, 21:27

GhengisFarb™ · October 19, 2003, 22:24

Quote:

Originally posted by sabrewolf
7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "****".

We're already on it.

Quote:

Originally posted by sabrewolf
10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

We did. It seemed the most effiecient way to correct a bad decision. Unfortunately Richard Nixon had an inhuman ability to dodge bullets and we had to get rid of him the long way............

jackl · October 20, 2003, 04:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Turrosh Mak
Quantity has a quality all its own

Only in America turrosh mak. Only in America.