UK callers

[PepperElf]

Book him in the middle of nowhere next to a sheep

[bunnyboy]

Book him in the middle of nowhere next to a sheep

Why not Cardiff, heard the Weevils are lovely this time of year.

[CloserToSane]

Cardiff that's good, over the other side of the bridge from me. Also if he really meant England (not the UK, I've heard them used interchangeably and it's sad) it's also the wrong country, though I doubt he'd know.

I'd recommend the Brecon Beacons for sheep in the middle of nowhere, smells like grass and has these nice villages of cannibals. He might make the Weevils sick (Torchwood dork).

[Pixilated]

Why is Gordon Ramsey trying to book a hotel through your resevation service?

Just started watching some of his shows on YouTube.

Chef would know better then to act like that on the phone.

Yeah, I've seen him actually act quite nicely at times.

I was thinking the caller thought all of England was one big city myself.

Which made me wonder about all the pastoral scenes I've seen in the travel books.

They're all Hollywood lots.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Really, if you can book the room, what does it matter where you are? Here's hoping he couldn't find a single empty room in whatever city he was heading for ...

[Mr Hero]

"No, sir, I'm from England. Kiss my arse, wanker. Was that convincing enough?"

Of course, you wouldn't really say that, would you?

[Gizmo]

The UK does have a fair few cities. Some of the towns, however, are bigger than some of the cities - compare Preston (a town) with Lancaster (a city) for example. Your caller might have wanted a hotel that happened to be in a town.

He still sucked hard.

Nah. We don't get annoyed over that - we tend to call everything cities and if we want to get snooty we'd say "its not a city, its a town/hamlet/village!!".

I think he must have got confused with a site that has many hotels and thought it was a single hotel he was ringing. Even still he was an ass since often those lines divert to a central office and they still don't know which 'city' you want to book into.

[Merriweather]

Actually to be a city you *don't* need a cathedral, although the correlation is high. Sunderland, for example, doesn't have one - and if Lancaster has one, I must have missed seeing it while I lived there. (The university and the castle are much more prominent, and nearby Morecambe is also a bigger town.)

What you need is a Royal Decree. Which is why it's so apparently arbitrary.

The Queen recently decreed that two more cities were to be considered such, in connection with her Jubilee.

Thanks for the clarification, I figured there was more to it, but I knew it was the case most of the time.

And definitely different from the US, where there's no official designation at all.

Also if he really meant England (not the UK, I've heard them used interchangeably and it's sad) it's also the wrong country, though I doubt he'd know.

I'd recommend the Brecon Beacons for sheep in the middle of nowhere, smells like grass and has these nice villages of cannibals. He might make the Weevils sick (Torchwood dork).

I have to admit, I've gotten into saying UK a lot more than England or Wales, because when talking to another American, often the subject is some aspect life in general, which would be true of either country. Easier to say "when I lived in the UK" if it would apply to both the years I spent in Wales, and the years I spent in England. And of course, to a lot of Americans, saying "Wales" gets a bit of a blank look - they sort of know it exists, but would be awfully hard put to tell you where in the world it is

And yaay, Torchwood references. I SO love that show.

[MoonCat]

they sort of know it exists, but would be awfully hard put to tell you where in the world it is

There are some people here in the US who would be hard put to tell you where they are---even if you gave them a map, a GPS and spotted them the first two letters of the name of their location.

[Teysa]

There are some people here in the US who would be hard put to tell you where they are---even if you gave them a map, a GPS and spotted them the first two letters of the name of their location.

Yeah, especially when they're ordering pizza.

[RootedPhoenix]

I thought town = unincorporated and city = incorporated in the US, but maybe I'm wrong.

[Gidgetdigit]

I thought town = unincorporated and city = incorporated in the US, but maybe I'm wrong.

It varies from state to state.

[wolfie]

Me: Hi this is Dave, can I help you?

Guest: I'd like to book a hotel room

Me: which city?

GUest: what do you mean which city? It's in fucking England

Me: I know but which city in England?

Actually, he's got the country wrong - you should have booked him a room in Fucking Austria.

[Pagan]

Wonder what Mr. Douchecanoe would have done if you were an American living in the UK and working at the call center there?

Cardiff that's good, over the other side of the bridge from me. Also if he really meant England (not the UK, I've heard them used interchangeably and it's sad) it's also the wrong country, though I doubt he'd know.

Drives me up the freaking wall that people think that the UK and England are interchangeable. Sorry, but while Scotland is a part of the UK (for now), it's not the same as England!

I thought town = unincorporated and city = incorporated in the US, but maybe I'm wrong.

It varies from state to state.

You beat me to it!

And there's the habit some of have of, even though we live in a city, of referring to something being on the other side of town!

[EricKei]

And definitely different from the US, where there's no official designation at all.

The only places I've seen the distinction made in the US are on detailed maps (so they can use different icons for each) and the occasional government document -- both of which base the distinction purely on population.

As for unincorporated areas -- yup, these things do vary. In my state, the main distinction is that a City (such as New Orleans or one of its suburbs, Kenner) has a Mayor and police/fire department that are specific to that city. Metairie, another suburb, is an "Unincorporated Municipality" or "Census-Designated Place" (even tho it's bigger/more populous than Kenner, iirc), has a Council rather than a Mayor, and uses Parish police/fire services. It sometimes gets left out of maps as a result, because UM doesn't neatly fall into the "village/town/city/megalopolis" naming scheme.

[Ironclad Alibi]

They're all Hollywood lots.

We're speaking of England. They're the back lots at Pinewood Studios.