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   BBC Stephen Fry and the Great American Oil Spill x264 AC3 HDTV

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[#145961] Written by: Worpe [08/11/10, 16:44]
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'American. oil spill? Tisk tisk, I expect better from Stephen Fry.
[#145965] Written by: Loudsavlon [08/11/10, 17:20]
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The Great American Oil Spill
Stephen Fry loves Louisiana. Four months after the BP oil spill, dubbed the worst ecological
disaster in the history of America, Fry returns to the Deep South together with zoologist Mark
Carwardine, to see what the impact has been on the people, the vast wetlands and the species that
live there. What they find both surprises and divides the travelling duo.

Thanks to artistharry in the other thread.
[#146000] Written by: KillingTime [09/11/10, 00:42]
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Quote by Worpe
'American. oil spill? Tisk tisk, I expect better from Stephen Fry.


It happened 40 miles off the Louisiana coast, what the hell else would you call it?
[#146018] Written by: karry [09/11/10, 03:57]
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"what the hell else would you call it? "

USA oil spill ? Since this mystical "America" doesnt even exist. Countries have proper names, and
only uneducated buffoons call USA - America, despite American continents having a dozen of countries
on it.
[#146022] Written by: Mazairasta [09/11/10, 05:03]
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"The Great 40 miles off the Louisiana coast Oil Spill" has a nice ring to it

From wikipedia

"America/Americas In many parts of the world, America in the singular is commonly used as a name
for the United States of America; however, (the) Americas (plural and generally with the definite
article) invariably refers to the relevant lands and regions of the Western hemisphere. Use of the word
America to refer to this collectivity also remains fairly common;[63] for example, for unofficial
purposes the International Olympic Committee considers "America" one of the five populated
continents, as represented by the five rings on the Olympic flag.

While many in the United States of America and other countries generally refer to the country as
America and the citizens as Americans, many people elsewhere in the Americas resent what they
perceive as misappropriationof the term in this context and, thus, they avoid this usage and prefer
constructed terms derived from "United States" or even "North American." In Canada, its southern
neighbor is often referred to as "the United States", "the U.S.A.", or (informally) "the States," while
citizens are generally referred to as Americans. English dictionaries and compendiums differ regarding
usage and rendition."

If people living in the area call it america no wonder there's confusion. Alot of the TV shows i see refer
to it as such and the inhabitants as americans. Anyways i agree that it is not the best name. BP owned
the facility
[#146041] Written by: SimonM [09/11/10, 15:04]
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Quote by Mazairasta
Anyways i agree that it is not the best name. BP owned
the facility


No they didn't. BP owned the oil field, i.e. the rights to the oil from that well. But the drilling platform was
wholly owned and operated by Transocean, which is a US oil drilling company.
[#146049] Written by: jlatx [09/11/10, 17:37]
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It happened in the Gulf of Mexico, which is an American (referring to the area - not the country)
body of water. Just like the North Sea is a European body of water. The incorrect thing would be to
call it the United States oil spill. If it happened in the North Sea, it would be called the
"European Oil Spill", not the "British oil spill", or the "German Oil Spill." Therefore the title is
completely accurate. It also doesn't matter if the company is from Bangladesh. The title refers to
the place it happened, not who the spiller was.

PS - People in (or from) Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, etc., are all Americans. That is because they
live in the Americas. Just like Italians are also Europeans because Italy is in Europe. The United
States is in America. That is why it is called "The United States OF America". As in "the states of
America which are united". When did this start being complicated? You should have mastered this
before High School.

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." - Ambrose Bierce
[#146058] Written by: KillingTime [09/11/10, 21:34]
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Quote by karry
"what the hell else would you call it? "

USA oil spill ? Since this mystical "America" doesnt even exist. Countries have proper names, and
only uneducated buffoons call USA - America, despite American continents having a dozen of countries
on it.


Sure, there is no _country_ called simply "America", but why do you assume that the show's title
isn't referring to the _continent_?

Quote by Mazairasta
Anyways i agree that it is not the best name. BP owned the facility


As SimonM pointed out, that is factually incorrect. However, I suspect you were going for the angle
that BP is a British owned company, but that would also be factually incorrect. BP _used_to_be_
mostly British owned until the late 1990's when it merged with Amoco. Nowadays, U.S. and British
financial interests in the company are roughly equal.
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