Ask er/uk, first installment

You've been waiting for today, because today is the inaugural posting of the highly anticipated "ask er/uk"! Let's get right to it.


Dear er/uk,
What is your favorite book? What is your favorite band?
You're the best, Eric

Great question me! My favorite book is The Brothers K by David James Duncan. It's just got everything. So epic and so inclusive of all these great ideas and locations and context.

Favorite band would be Broken Social Scene -- so nuanced and honest, so eclectic and complex. They can save the world. Every time I listen to them (whole-album listening only, they'll do little to impress on a one-off basis, at least initially) I feel hopeful.

No Brothers K. No Broken Social Scene. No Eric.
Know Brothers K. Know Broken Social Scene. Know Eric.

For good measure, my favorite city is Seville, Spain; my favorite Tshirt manufacturer is Loomstate; my favorite soccer boot is the Copa Mundial by Adidas; my favorite pronunciation of Adidas is "ah-dee-das"; and my favorite movie is The Royal Tenenbaums. By now you should all know my favorite magazine and my favorite nationality. Oh, and blue.

Warmest regards,
er/uk


Dear er/uk,
Who would win in a fight, a Chav or a roaming pack of SWAGs?
Yours in blogging, Brad

As background, here are some definitions:

Chav or Charv/Charver is a mainly derogatory slang term in the UK for a subcultural stereotype fixated on fashions such as gold jewelry and designer clothing. They are generally considered to have no respect for society, and be ignorant or unintelligent.

[S]WAG was an acronym used particularly (but by no means exclusively) by the British tabloid press to describe the [Soccer] Wives And Girlfriends of the English national football team. But by now it's become a universal acronym, and generally just identifies all rich wives of athletes who enjoy shopping and fame by association. The full history of the acronym and all of its iterations can be found here.

My answer: I'm always keen to go with the numbers, so score one for the SWAGs right off the bat. Additionally, SWAGs are known to be ruthless and tenacious. And they have long fingernails and sharp teeth. True, most of them are skinny (size zeros as we say here in Briton), but I would envision them adopting a similar attack pattern to wild dogs, which you can watch for yourself on the Discovery Channel in the Planet Earth series. SWAGs win.

Hugs and kisses,
er/uk


Dear er/uk,
Why hasn't the London real estate market cooled considerably? I am looking to put down roots, and I don't want to put them down in Surrey.
Your loyal reader, Andrea

London is so hot right now. It is literally the center of the universe. Or at least the central metropolitan hub connecting the U.S., Europe and Asia. Which means it's so awesome that no one can afford to live here!

Just saw this bit of research last week, which looked at the affordability of houses for five different key workers -- nurses, teachers, firefighters, the police, and ambulance workers.

Nurses and firefighters face the biggest difficulties, with the average house price being unaffordable for nurses in 99% of areas, while firefighters were priced out of 97% of London's boroughs.

So that sucks. Also interesting that nurses apparently get paid jack here. I think I also saw the statistic that the average home in London has gone up by £8k so far in 2007 (or $16k).

I hear Surrey is beautiful this time of year.

Your truly,
er/uk


Dear er/uk,
Why did William dump Kate?
Me again, Andrea

Like it was so obvious that William was like, not ready to settle down and Kate was all, I want to be royalty now William, we're supposed to be together forever cuz we love each other so much and I want to have ten thousand of your Royal babies.

But when you're already Royalty you realize at some point that like, your roving eye will be rewarded pretty much 100% of the time so why am I wasting my glory years with this chick who is just suffocating me when I could totally be pulling game even on my off nights?

I guess really she was just too middle class. Which some consider an insult, but which I see as a positive indicator/predictor into whether you will be cool and fun and have common sense. That and if you were an only child (which doesn't bode well).

Happily hoi polloi,
er/uk


Dear er/uk,
I hope you are getting paid in sterling.
Economically, Jeff

Sadly, not the case. It's as if they've just started a nationwide 1 for 2 day sale here for Americans -- buy 2, get 1! (no not 1 free, 1 total) But hey, everyone loves a sale! I'll even wait in line for it if you put it on the day after Thanksgiving.

Yours in consumerism,
er/uk


So that wraps up the first installment of "ask er/uk". Hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to continue submitting questions and I'll run the column whenever enough interesting questions collect (and there are no bad questions, only bad people).