BS: British Passport

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 01:48 PM

Thank you very much, Nigel. And I really like your pedantry. I agree that I should take out a copyright on the word Ukadian. If only standards of accuracy were as carefully maintained in the national press. I still have the mad habit of correcting the Daily Mail with my trusty red pen. I only get the thing for the puzzles, but the spelling mistakes and grammatical horrors make me twitch. And as for 'idealic' on TV, I groan out loud every time. Pedants do suffer dreadfully!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 01:32 PM

And before I totally derail this thread, CONGRATULATIONS to Ibrahima & Eliza

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 12:35 PM

And while I have my pedant's hat on:
From: Peter K (Fionn) - PM
"Ukadian" is brilliant. If there's anyone here who understands Twitter, the idea should take off within about five minutes.

From: GUEST,Eliza - PM
Ah, Peter, could I perhaps patent it and make a fortune?

Ideas for physical items can be patented. Words can be copyrighted.

:)

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 11:54 AM

Sorry, I'm a pedant, but Musket's comment has me flummoxed:
I bet sturgeon is a hoot at parties. We all enjoy pendants eh?

Unless you go around saying you massed yourself on the bathroom scales etc there is no need to be such an arse. A pedant has to be consistent in order to be credible. And then still not be invited to too many decent parties.

Why would anyone say they 'massed' themselves. Surely the word means "assembled in force". I don't understand how it is being used in the above example!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 12:37 AM

what Noreen said

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Noreen
Date: 09 Dec 12 - 03:34 PM

Thanks for sharing your happiness with us Eliza.

The best of luck to you both :)

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 09 Dec 12 - 04:43 AM

Thank you very much everybody for all your good wishes. My sister tells me Bruges is lovely. I do hope Ibrahima has to show this adored Passport, he's bursting to do so. It's cost us literally thousands of pounds so far. The various Applications are each usually just short of a thousand. Marriage Visa, the Appeal, Further Leave to Remain, Indefinite Leave to Remain, Citizenship, plus return airfares for Ib to travel backwards and forward to Ghana from Ivory Coast, as the British Embassy had been evacuated during Gbagbo's regime. It must be not much short of ten thousand pounds. But we both feel it was all worth it. And now we can help his struggling parents and siblings with their monthly rice bill and medical problems. They're all so grateful, and I feel very blessed to have been given this little task and to do a bit of good. I'm so relieved and happy!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Fossil at work
Date: 09 Dec 12 - 02:38 AM

Hey Eliza, I know *all* about trying to get a residence qualification in a country of which you are not a citizen.

I am married to a NZ citizen, and still my application to live here took about six months to assess and cost a lot of money. Not to mention the compulsory medical examinations, the police certificates of good behaviour from two countries, and ya de ya da.

But you get through it all eventually. And yes, you will enjoy Bruges, it's a beautiful old place. And genuinely old, not ersatz as so many European cities are. And you *will* have to show the passport, either at the Eurostar station, or the airport or the ferry terminal. But you won't get any stamps in it!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 08:22 PM

For the record, I'm a republican living in the UK (and the real world). I'm also a pragmatist, just like those republicans in Ireland who voted so overwhelmingly to relinquish their claim on Northern Ireland.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Megan L
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 03:01 PM

This was a really nice thread about Ibrahima's joy at getting his passport having watched how hard he worked to get his citizenship I was delighted for him. It is such a pity that there are really sad people on mudcat who go out of their way to be negative and confrontational such small closed minds.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,sturgeon
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 02:22 PM

'I bet sturgeon is a hoot at parties. We all enjoy pendants eh?'

Well, you just keep me hangin' on, Musket.

For the record, as a Republican from that part of the world designated as 'Northern Ireland', I find the assumption that any part of Ireland should be regarded as 'British' as deeply insulting.

Mind you, it's not surprising to see comments such as Peter's here since so many of Mudcat posters appear to be living in the nineteenth century.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 01:49 PM

Ah, Peter, could I perhaps patent it and make a fortune?

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 10:16 AM

"Ukadian" is brilliant. If there's anyone here who understands Twitter, the idea should take off within about five minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 07:45 AM

I hate my new passport, all my Argentina/Peru/Ecuador/Bonaire stamps are in my old one!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 06:33 AM

In Brudges, don't miss out on trying the moules frites!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Musket sans cookie
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 06:31 AM

Like good news stories.

I bet sturgeon is a hoot at parties. We all enjoy pendants eh?

Unless you go around saying you massed yourself on the bathroom scales etc there is no need to be such an arse. A pedant has to be consistent in order to be credible. And then still not be invited to too many decent parties.

Those of us who take our citizenship for granted don't realise what it really represents. You must both be over the moon.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Allan Conn
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 04:28 AM

Ah Bruges is lovely. I'm sure you'll have a great time

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 04:25 AM

It is indeed very complicated, Allan, and tied in to many old enmities and resentments. But Ibrahima is nonetheless very very proud to be British now. The coach company we're travelling to Bruges with ask that one has a Passport, so perhaps it will be required. I've been looking at it again (when my husband lets it out of his hands for a minute) and there's the most gorgeous drawing of a dragonfly on one of the pages. It really is a work of art. Mine expires in 4 years, so 'if I'm spared' I may yet have one of these new and delightful ePassports!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Allan Conn
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 04:18 AM

British is one of those words that has various meanings and may mean different things to different people. In this context the term British is the adjective for people or things within the UK and let's face it you are likely to upset as many people in Northern Ireland should you exclude it as you are likely to upset people if you include it. No win situation! Plus of course politics and prejudice aside the term British for Ireland (ie as in the British Isles) predates its more closer association with the larger island only, and long predates the British state itself. There are different definitions within Scotland too. Unionist commentators in some newspapers don't seem to understand and even laugh at the SNP;s stance that after independence we would still be British. The commentators view the political side of being British as the defining factor whilst some nationalists say throw away the politics and we are still British in geographic and cultural lines! Like Norwegians are Scandinavians etc.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 08:13 PM

Hooray. I want one too. But, sigh, I don't qualify for one.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 05:37 PM

Eliza, I doubt whether anyone in Bruges wants to see your husband's pretty passport - sorry to disappoint you. In former times we had those colourful stamps in our passports, so that we could prove to be persons of international importance. All gone ...

Welcome to Europe.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 05:16 PM

Well, Fossil, not many Ivorians would qualify for a UK Passport! My husband has had a five-year long journey of applications, stages of leave-to-remain, Citizenship and now this final step. He's only got there by marrying me, and even that was fraught with problems, including a lengthy Appeal costing £1400. We feel an enormous sense of relief after the endless struggle. You have to convince the Border Agency that you're genuine at every stage. (I quite see why, they have their job to do) But now it's full steam ahead, and our trip to Bruges will take us through the Channel Tunnel. Should be super!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 05:05 PM

Perhaps we could coin a word 'Ukadian' which would correctly encompass the people of the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Fossil
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 05:04 PM

Enjoy the passport, Eliza: liked your enthusiastic description of it. May you and the Mr. enjoy many happy travels with it.

And while you are doing that, spare a thought for those poor benighted souls who won't ever qualify for one. Americans, Irish, Canadians, Kiwis, Ockers - the rest of the world, in fact.

I'll get me coat....

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 04:20 PM

" British" was fine in the context, Eliza. Sturgeon was being a pain. People (and bits of landscape) pertaining to Northern Ireland are British whether they like it or not, if only because there is no comparable adjectival derivative from "The UK." Perhaps this usage lingers on from the days when Canadians, Australians etc were also deemed British, in their case on the strength of their membership of the British Commonwealth, which of course no longer exists.

It would of course be wrong to say that Northern Ireland was part of Britain, or part of Great Britain. It is just part of a union with that entity, which is why "union" and "unionist" are such charged terms in that part of the United Kingdom.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: fat B****rd
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 04:17 PM

gat ?? Sorry. Get yourselves a great holiday.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 04:16 PM

Congrats!

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: fat B****rd
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 04:16 PM

Lovely news, Eliza. gat yourselves a great holiday.
Charlie

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: gnu
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 04:12 PM

Kinda brings a tear to me eye. Congrats Mr. Eliza!

You too, Eliza.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 02:07 PM

Very sorry, Sturgeon, I had no wish to offend you, and you're right of course, N Ireland is part of the UK, not Britain. Very ignorant of me, sorry. We've booked a trip to Bruges in 2013, just to 'christen' his passport.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Kampervan cookie gone
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 02:07 PM

Hi Sturgeon

I think that you'll find that the single word 'Britain' is commonly held to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

So the Giant's Causeway is a part of Britain, but not of Great Britain.

PS congrats to Mr Eliza on getting his passport.

Regards

K/van

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,sturgeon
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 01:45 PM

'There are a few thousand Orange folk who would disagree Sturgeon.'

Fine, but the Giant's Causeway is part of the UK, not Britain. Do pay attention at the back.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 01:12 PM

There are a few thousand Orange folk who would disagree Sturgeon.

Enjoy the moment Eliza.
You will need a holiday to try it out.
keith.

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,sturgeon
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 01:08 PM

The Giant's Causeway is not 'British'.

Are you perhaps describing the new UK passport?

Subject: RE: BS: British Passport
From: Megan L
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 12:58 PM

Well done Mr Eliza :) May you always be as happy as you are today.

Subject: BS: British Passport
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 12:46 PM

My husband at last received his British Passport today and he's still dancing around the house hugging it and singing in Malinke. I just wondered, has anyone else seen these new-style ePassports? They're absolutely beautiful, with scenes from British landscapes drawn on every page, wildlife, lakes, mountains, the Giants' Causeway, a windmill etc. I'm a bit jealous as mine isn't as nice.