As someone wrote above, there’s a rainy season and a dry season; during the dry season, you can pretty much set up anywhere you can deliver electricity. Then of course it’s the dust you have to worry about …

They’ve even gone to the trouble of putting in dummy power lines!

Thing here is, that Britain was ruled by the English, so historically “England” was very commonly used to refer to the UK/Great Britain. It was only the relatively recent rise of Scottish (and Welsh) nationalism that made that use fall out of favor.

“Great Britain” was also an interchangeable term. In fact, a number of languages (e.g. Polish, Scandinavian languages) don’t even have a commonly used name that corresponds to “The United Kingdom” – the name for the UK in those languages _is_ “Great Britain” (or a translation of it)

So there’s nothing at all wrong with saying “Americans fought England during the Revolutionary War”, because “England” was the commonly used term at that time.

These things aren’t so simple as people often believe. For instance, it’s NOT the case (as one might think) that “Bombay” was some colonial corruption, and “Mumbai” the original name. In fact, “Mumbai” is a Marathi neologism and the name change was passed by Hindu nationalists. The change was not embraced by many non-Hindu/non-Marathi residents. In other words, “Bombay” is actually more politically neutral.

In a similar vein, the name for Burma was changed to “Myanmar” by their military dictatorship. Burmans who regard that regime as illegitimate tend not to use that term.

What about when the English refer to themselves as being from England? I know several English people that consistently refer to themselves as English. And being from England.

Now, I realize it was a joke being played on me as a rube United Statesian. Dang.

The photo is real, there are arcades like this all over Kinshasa, especially in this neighborhood (Bandal). We walked by at least three others that day. I’ve never seen people playing anything except FIFA soccer.

The dry season is just about to end here; there hasn’t been rain for three months. When the rain starts the arcades get covered or move inside.

It costs 200 Congolese Francs for three games, that’s around 25 cents.

The previous photo in the stream is staged, it was taken during filming for a TV show I’m working on here.

Thanks, and I’m glad you liked the photo!
Tomas

English people are of course English. It’s the Scottish, Welsh and Nothern Irish people who make up the rest of the UK that aren’t.

And no, the divisions are not just arbitrary lines on a map – the nations might share a lot of similarities but there there are many cultural, historical, linguistic and ethnic differences between their people.

I invite you to prove me wrong… just visit the streets of Glasgow, Cardiff or Belfast on a Friday night and start calling everyone you meet “English”.

Not that this has anything to do with The Congo, of course. I’ve never been but for what it’s worth, if someone says to me “The Congo” – I think of the RoC – i.e. the former French bit as opposed to the bit that used to be Zaire.

What about when the English refer to themselves as being from England?

You miss the point. It’s the people who live in Scotland, Wales, Ulster etc who particularly object to the whole of the UK being referred to as ‘England’.

Has Congotronics been mentioned here before?

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the info!

It brings happy memories from my childhood, however.

Also. Check out the picture entitled ‘Fight’, just before ‘Arcade’.

I call Stageificaton Dexteriousis.

Somehow, the blood spatter just doesn’t look right.

That photo’s description is “on the set” and it’s tagged with “actors.”

I know this may seem tedious and anal, but referring to it as “Congo” is like when Americans refer to the UK as England. And there are some horrific reasons why that distinction between the two countries exists.

The reason for that distinction is not horrific. The French and Belgians decided that what was north of the river was French, and what was south, was Belgian. True, the history of Belgian Congo was incredibly cruel, even by 19th century colonial standards. But that didn’t have anything to do with the partitioning itself.

Saying “Congo” for the DRC is wrong, but only because “Congo” has always referred to French Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville. The usually refer to themselves as “Le Congo”.

The DRC was Zaire, and before that, “Belgian Congo”. Not simply “Congo”.

I’m currently in Pointe Noire Congo, (Republic of Congo) and what I’ve realized is most people call this place Congo but specify Congo DRC when referring to the other Congo..

Also, I have seen these arcades, a couple weeks back I was in Gabon and saw similar arcades but they had actually built cabinets to house the TV and Playstation. It’s pretty neat.

As for the rain, there are 2 seasons, rainy and dry.. so for the most part they probably are not too concerned. You can actually see people watching tv outside quite often..

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=51471935&l=9ed59354ae&id=8629512

Yeah, coz that’s the salient point.