Salut/Hi D. Gerasimatos,

le/on Sun, 5 Oct 2003 06:51:29 +0000 (UTC), tu disais/you said:-

>In article >,
>Ian Hoare > wrote:
>>
>[snip!]
>>
>>No arrogance to say that "Venice" unqualified implies Italy, just as
>>"Washington" unqualified implies the capital of the USA and not a town in
>>the UK _even_ if the UK one is by far older.
>
>
>Washington unqualified is probably more likely to mean the state of
>Washington rather than D.C. in the United States. See how different
>people can have different ideas of things that might seem so obvious?

Fair point. And if I were (shall be) travelling to Washington I'd
_probably_ (though I'm as perfectly capable of forgetting to add DC as I am
of forgetting to drink the coffee I've got in front of me!) either say
"state" or DC. But if I didn't, I'd live with someone answering either, and
accept I'd been ambiguous! BUT, my point is more that no way would I expect
you or any one else to think that I meant Washington in NE England. And
that's really my point. Venice - internationally speaking - is so far more
significant than the towns in FL or CA, that it's perfectly reasonable to
assume Italy - especially on an _international_ NG. Honestly, even if afw
were purely american, I'd be prepared to bet that more than half would take
Venice (unqualified) to mean the city of the Doges.

If I quote MT's original comment

>Mmm, granted I am not objective, Venezia being my city, but it seems
>to me that if someone does not specify, Venice is in Italy, just as
>Berlin is in Germany and London in England... ;-)))

I don't think anyone reading that can claim it was arrogant, contentious or
or other than made with a "friendly wink"- hence the emoticon.

In that context therefore, I felt (and feel) that your subsequent posts
have been unhelpfully chauvinist.

>That may be true. No one was comparing the cities. Unfortunately, there is
>more than one city named Venice that springs to mind when the name is
>mentioned.

No, Ed, ONLY to an American. To anyone else in the world, Venice FL and
Venice CA are is insignificant and irrelevant as Washington Tyne & Weir and
Washington West Sussex are to anyone outside the UK. And you make that
point brilliantly.

>only, option. Asking for clarification does no harm, except apparently to
>the egos of Europeans who are aghast that their great city might be mistaken
>for any other by name. Well, it can be.

Only by an American, and I think it's fair to riposte that only in America
would anyone make such an ill tempered issue of it, without becoming a
laughing stock immediately. It's not about European's egos, it's about
keeping a reasonable international perspective, which would NOT appear to
be a strong point amongst several contributors here.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare

Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
Sometimes oi just sits.