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| What the? That's not what it means here.; what words mean in your country | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 24 2007, 05:24 PM (7,346 Views) | |
| Cassandra | Jun 20 2007, 09:58 PM Post #361 |
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And somehow I don't think you would take a blind bit of notice if I did!! That phrase always seems a bit uncanny to me. Off topic alert ..... Oh heck! ... Happy 'Ice Cream Soda day' to you microsofty ... and Good Night! :lol: |
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| aj57 | Jun 20 2007, 11:19 PM Post #362 |
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A note to Tassiedevil2 - I was watching Jeopardy last night and found out that Errol Flynn was born in the capital of Tasmania - Hobart. You do learn a lot from watching tv. microsofty - if that's the case you're doing pretty well on the price of gas. Where does South Africa get its oil supply from? |
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| tassiedevil2 | Jun 21 2007, 04:03 AM Post #363 |
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aj57- Errol Flynn was in deed born in Hobart. Merle Oberon also said she was born in Tasmania, but there is no proof of this. Rachael Taylor, from the new Transformers movie, is a local Launceston girl. |
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| microsofty | Jun 21 2007, 06:40 AM Post #364 |
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I'm not too sure, but there is a local company called SASOL that produces petrol locally. However, they have to compete with the international giants like BP, Shell, etc. To ensure that the competition is fair, petrol costs the same no matter where you fill up - although, technically SASOL petrol should be considerably cheaper, being produced locally. I've been meaning to ask: is 4th of July celebrations in America reallly as big as they make it out to be on TV? All these scenes with family picnics, fairs, flag waving, and fireworks. And if so, why? Our equivalent ("Freedom Day") always seems to go by unnoticed. |
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| solitasolano | Jun 21 2007, 05:44 PM Post #365 |
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Yes, microsofty, 4th of July IS the day...the biggest national holiday here in the US...also called Independence Day because it was the day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was signed by representatives of the orginal 13 colonies...The Declaration of Independence of often quoted from the first sentence of the second paragraph: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It's summertime now so it's picnics, bbqs, corn on the cob, parades (well not so many anymore), and definitely, fireworks.....it's illegal to sell fireworks in my locations and states...small displays maybe ok but not the big ones...although somehow we always manage to have some neighborhood sized (go no higer than one story house) fireworks in our area...so the big shows are in public locations....always very crowded to get to. This year July 4th falls in the middle of the week on a Wednesday....means no threeday wkedn unless you take off work extra. This US holiday has been celebrated since the first anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Indepence, since 1777, which may be why it seems like such a big deal compared with Freedom Day which does not have such a long history. |
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| ekny | Jun 21 2007, 07:32 PM Post #366 |
In love with a prisoner
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Commercially, actually, Halloween is the second-biggest holiday in the US. Because we're all so, ya know, substantive & into the deep & meaningful. --e |
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| microsofty | Jun 21 2007, 08:35 PM Post #367 |
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So what do ya all do with Halloween? Do you really dress up and go out stalking strangers for sweets? Weird... |
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| solitasolano | Jun 21 2007, 11:34 PM Post #368 |
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Well, in my neighborhood, the people who dress up are young kids. We carve pumpkins, put candles in them, set them out on the front steps and wait for packs of kids "trick or treat"ing to come knock or yell at our door...People give out wrapped candy and the kids go from house to house as fast as possible to get a huge haul.... I haven't dressed up in quite a while, but the option is always there...many people dress up and go to work like that...depends. Candy is the operative word. In Southern California, Day of the Dead is a big deal as well. Mexican celebration remembering the dead. Great shrines and alters abound. What do you all do in South Africa? All Saints Day included. Seems to be all the same holiday with different manifestations. |
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| microsofty | Jun 22 2007, 07:56 AM Post #369 |
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We do absolutely none of these things! No really, we're quite a boring country that way. We don't celebrate All Saints Day at all. In fact I had to look it up on Wikipedia! (You can go now) We also don't have Thanksgiving, although I really like the idea behind it. Our holidays only gets as interesting as this: On the 16th of June we celebrate Youth Day to commemorate the youth uproar in Sharpeville on this day in 1976, which is believed to have resulted in democracy some 18 years later. For months before Youth Day they would advertise on TV that on this day you have to wear your old school tie as a symbol of commemoration, but of course no one ever does. On Freedom Day, you can turn up at sports stadiums, but only to listen to some politician make a speech. Very few people bother. No fireworks there. I think it has to do with a lack of a collective South African identity. We have 11 official languages and as such 11 (and even more) different cultural groupings here, which mean that every culture pretty much have their own way of doing things, no solidarity amongst groups. But it's getting better, I would say. Although we all do our own thing and have our own believes, there is more acceptance and integration than there ever was in the past. The only holiday that is big is Christmas, like it is around the world. But again these celebrations are mostly family orientated and based. |
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| aj57 | Jun 23 2007, 04:17 PM Post #370 |
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Speaking of different traditions worldwide and still thinking about quality of life, etc., I was wondering what the different labour traditions are in your various countries. Specifically (being the lazy sod that I am) I was thinking about vacation time. In Canada, typically when you start a job, you are entitled to two weeks vacation, that may go up to three weeks after, say, five years. I have a feeling that in the U.K. employees get more time off. |
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| microsofty | Jun 23 2007, 06:43 PM Post #371 |
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Urgh! *&^%$#@! I had this really looooong and informative post prepared on labour traditions in SA for you, aj57. It had all the buzz words in like maternity leave, paternity leave, annual leave, compassionate leave, sick leave, mass action, and toi-toi!!! Hell, it even had an image to beautifully illustrate my points! But then, when I clicked "Add reply", my internet connection did a dip or something and the page couldn't be displayed. In my panic I went for the "refresh" button and lost my entire post somewhere in cyberspace!!! I was crushed. I still am. ETA: Oh, no wait! I found it again!! So here it is: We have 13 official public holidays in SA. Normally if a public holiday falls on either a Tuesday or Thursday, they would declare the preceding Monday or following Friday, whichever is the case, a public holiday as well. Most companies here offer two weeks paid leave, but you don't start in leave credit. You have to build up your leave, so you would get about 1.2 days per month that you work. Some companies permit you to carry your leave over to a following year, others don't. I'm one of the lucky few who get 2 days added to my leave balance for every month that I work. For sick leave you get something like 10 days per year. Compassionate leave is something like 5 days. Maternity leave is between 3-4 months, but very few companies in the private sector offer paid maternity leave. I know that the government sector offers paid maternity leave for the first 2 children, thereafter it is unpaid (Buttons, correct me if I'm wrong!) Nowadays most companies also offer paternity leave of up to 2 weeks! And then, over here, when you're not happy with something in the workplace and you can get a huge group together, it is quite acceptable to take mass action, or simply put, go on strike. However, you have to work through a recognised labour union and declare your intention to go on strike. If you do that, your strike is considered as legal. If not, your strike is considered an illegal strike (but it doesn't stop the masses from striking in any case!) Currently most of our government employees are on strike and have been on strike for the past 3 weeks. They are petitioning against the 6% salary increase offered. Initially they wanted something like a 10% increase, but it sounds like they will now settle for 8%. Of course to get there takes weeks and weeks of negotiations between the employer and the labour union... and while their negotiating, the employees strike. Strikes are a very active business, you have to toi-toi with your placards through the inner city streets, sing songs from the struggle era and shout freedom slogans. ![]() The scene of a typical South African strike, illustrating the toi-toi (well it would have if it was animated!) |
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| aj57 | Jun 23 2007, 11:56 PM Post #372 |
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microsofty
Wow, that's a lot. Especially if you get ADDED days if the holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday. Actually, I'm trying to calculate our public holidays. Two days for Christmas. One day for New Year's. One day at Easter (public sector gets two days), Victoria Day (which is the third Monday in May), Canada Day July 1st (if it falls on the weekend, we get the Monday). Civic Holiday is the frst Monday in August, Labour Day is the first Monday in September, then our Thanksgiving which is in October (whereas in the States it's in November). I think that adds up to 9. Government Maternity/Paternity leave totals one year. (Unfortunately, in my day it was only 17 weeks). It can be split between the mother and the father. They collect federal government benefits at approx. 2/3 of earned income. Unlimited number of children though. microsofty
That sounds like a pretty substantial pay increase compared to over here. Though I don't know what the inflation rate is in s.a., but there have been news stories about the INCREDIBLE rate of inflation in Zimbabwe. Something like 1000 per cent? microsofty
toi-toi must be like our picketing? ![]() Your paid leave sounds very similar to ours. |
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| solitasolano | Jun 24 2007, 01:53 AM Post #373 |
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I'm a union worker who works project by project...if you are so lucky to be working when a holiday goes by...yippee, you get a paid holiday...if not, you're unemployed anyways....here are my "union" holidays.... MEMBER HOLIDAYS - Holidays—West Coast There are nine holidays during the year: New Year's Day Presidents Day (third Monday in February) Good Friday Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Thanksgiving Day day after Thanksgiving Christmas Day If a holiday falls on a Saturday it is celebrated on the Friday before. If a holiday falls on a Sunday it is celebrated on the Monday after. The small print not shown here is that you to get a monday hoiiday you have to have worked the preceding Friday and to get a Friday you have to work the following Monday. How pathetic is that? You don't get sick days or "personal" days...the jobs are weekly guarantees so you just make sure you get your work done is you need to take care of some personal busines....enough rope to hang yourself...so far I've managed for more than 20 yrs with this routine.... Notice that Good Friday is a holiday....it wasn't this way when I started...it's the film business....the industy empties out for seders and somewheres along the way Good Friday became a union holiday... Academy Awards used to be another defacto holiday...a Monday....so so many people emptied out after lunch (you know those limos start dropping people off at 3pm)...then Oscar night was moved to Sunday...lost one, dang. As for all the other stuff, family leave, etc. I don't have a clue what regular 9 to 5ers do. |
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| Cassandra | Jun 24 2007, 11:08 AM Post #374 |
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Official government directive in Great Britain* states
Maternity leave changed radically this year. Statutory maternity leave is now up to 52 weeks with statutory maternity pay for the first 39 weeks. Depending on your company you might receive full pay for the first few weeks. Only one question. Why on earth does Dundee and Edinburgh celebrate Victoria Day, which is essentially a Canadian holiday? It is classed as a public holiday in both places. Seems a bit bizarre to me. *Implies Northern Ireland is different |
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| microsofty | Jun 24 2007, 11:52 AM Post #375 |
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WOW! 52 weeks for maternity leave! Up to 6 weeks paid leave! Being paid in pounds! I think I'm moving to the UK. Do you guys ever work?! South African Public Holidays: New Year's Day - 1 January Second New Year's Day - 2 January (but only observed in the Western Cape) Human Right's Day - 21 March Good Friday - normally the first Friday in April Family Day - the Monday after Good Friday Freedom Day - 27 April Workers' Day - 1 May Youth Day - 16 June Women's Day - 9 August Heritage Day - 24 September Day of Reconciliation - 16 December Christmas Day - 25 December Day of Goodwill - 26 December When the new government came into power, we lost a few public holidays, which were: Ascension Day - third Thursday in May Republic Day - 31 May Kruger Day - 10 October But we gained Human Right's Day, Freedom Day, Youth Day, Women's Day, and Heritage Day. All in all I think it was a good trade! Day of Reconciliation just changed names, but remained on the same day (16 Dec). It used to be called Day of the Vow, which went back to the Boer history where they apparently made a vow to God to observe the day as a Sunday if God helped them to win over the Zulus. A bit ridiculous, since I don't think that God is a racist. PS I was under the impression that 1 May was observed as Worker's Day around the world - is it not? ETA:
Zimbabwe we are not! Our interest rate currently stands at 11%. |
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now) We also don't have Thanksgiving, although I really like the idea behind it. 


8:50 AM Jul 11