Re. the:
thing, the way I understood it (I think from a brief description in the story before we actually saw what Lois had written) is that Lois actually drew a heart. And, since hearts aren't characters which can be presented in standard ASCII, Rat just used L. Now, I may be completely wrong, but... well, Rat can correct me.
Lynn asked:
I know this isn't a grammar thing, but I'd love to have the UK folks explain to me the "shire" system. For example, is Devonshire a county? A region? A township?
A shire is a county. Britain (and Ireland) is divided up into counties, which are units of local government and also regional identity. They're larger, I believe, than US counties. A shire/county will have its own elected councillors, who set local taxes and organise local services, including police, fire service, ambulance service, schools, refuse collection, social services, child protection, road maintenance... you name it. All within a national framework of minimum standards. And then towns within each county have their own town councils, to which there is more devolution of services and local taxation.
(I am generalising here quite a bit; for example, I'm ignoring unitary authorities, in case any UKer points that out!
).
Some counties are called shires: Yorkshire, Devonshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire Staffordshire (where I used to work), Shropshire, Cheshire (where I used to live), and others. And others are called counties; some use 'county' in the name - eg Co. Durham - and some don't - eg Kent, Middlesex, Northumberland.
I'm sure that there is a historical explanation for the use of 'shire' rather than 'county', and I'm equally sure that someone will post it - but here's the administrative explanation anyway.
As for regional identity, it's very strong in some areas. You ask a Yorkshireman where he's from, and he will say Yorkshire before he will say England or Britain.
Oh, and you mention 'township', Lynn - before I moved to Canada I had never heard of 'township' outside places like poor parts of South Africa, and so my mental image of a township was of a shanty town, with makeshift housing and no amenities. But in the US and Canada there are townships everywhere. What is a 'township' in this part of the world? And why a township rather than a village or suburb or rural area?
Wendy
