To wonder if most of the Commonwealth will understand the opening ceremony

[Bearbehind]

It's very, well.....Scottish?

How many people will recognise a Tunnocks tea cake or understand the cone on the head of the statue?

Not sure everyone will even be able to understand what Karen Dunbar is saying.

Was staring at kilt in pathetic desperate hope that some random wind would lift it...

Off for a lie down.

Sorry for being snippy. Am tired and too hot and now cheated by lack of kilt-lifting breeze.

No worries MM, we can both drift of dreaming of a gentle strong breeze

Fuck that, mines a hurricane!

It just all seems a bit political. Though not in the way one might have expected (Scotland independence )

Fuck that, mines a hurricane!

I'm loving it. Very proud to be Scottish!

Did I miss something? What was the point of the message in the baton? What did it say? Did anyone read it? It started with the Queen and ended with the Queen, but who else knows what it says??

Well isn't everyone in a lovely critical mood tonight.....

They should have blown up the skyscrapers. That would have been cool. And the person who got to press the button should have been the winner of a lottery: all proceeds to UNICEF.

I didn't get the message either, she didn't bother to open it so didn't read the reply to her message or is it like a message in a bottle thing? I was expecting her to light something with the baton then realised it didn't work like that. Seems a bit mental that they hadn't had a trial run of "how to open the baton". If they used the same design every time queenie could have just grabbed it off them and got on with it herself.
I thought turning it into comic relief with athletes was a bit cheap and inappropriate. I get pissed off when people expect anyone doing a sporting event that lasts longer than 10 minutes to be doing it for charridee without turning the commonwealth games into a charity event as well. It was jumping on the kids charity bandwagon as well, supporting parents in poor countries so they can raise their own children and live longer and stronger themselves would make more sense. 50% of the commonwealth being under 25 didn't sound like a statistic to be proud of.

God...moan, moan, bitch, bitch, nitpick, nitpick, complain, complain....can't anyone just enjoy something for what it is any more without over analysing everything!

If we weren't coming up to the referendum do you think there would be no tartan/pipes/rod stewart/stupid wee dogs?

Oh it would be just as tacky, referendum or no. I don't see any of it but it sounds exactly how I imagined it.

What did Susan Boyle sing?

Not sure everyone will even be able to understand what Karen Dunbar is saying.

Really? Just really? Newsflash: people have different accents and this is OK.

Have spent the evening ranting to a captive audience about how the UK (mostly England) rampaged over 70 countries, enslaving the people, stealing the resources, weakening and destroying everything that would have enabled progress and success - and now never misses an opportunity to send a celeb to be filmed surrounded by "poor but happy" smiling black faces. "Look how wonderful we are to be offering them such charity "

It pisses me off more than almost anything I could name.

Loved the Scotties though.

Susan Boyle sang the Wings song, "Mull of Kintyre". I felt a bit sorry for her, she was obviously nervous and forgetting the words must have really upset her.

YANBU. Never mind the teacakes, I can't be the only one baffled why they keep wheeling out London born and raised Rod Stewart as 'Scottish'

Well said Zerosome! I'm English & have been telling my DC' s that when we're not marching into other countries, killing thousands & taking their land, that will be a truly Great Britain.

Also, the ordinary English person didn't do well out of the land-grab. My Gran was running under the looms collecting slub aged 11 & my great Grandad was working in the coal mine aged 6. He was afraid of the dark & when he was 7 his big brother was killed next to him. The industrial revolution & Empire didn't lay privilege & riches at their door......that was only for the top echelons, funny that.......!

Rod's father was/is Scottish.

I couldn't understand it in places and I'm Scottish.

i think it was in keeping with the current Scottish trend of exaggerating the slang, the slightly casual, uncouth approach, because that's what currently passes as scottishness. Words have to be deliberately and exaggeratedly mispronounced almost. Fashion is equated with loud and colourful. Not cut or style.

it was ok in places but lacked subtlety and finesse. I could never imagine something like the Swedes making fun of themselves as at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Mind you, the exaggeration of the glottal stop, most noticeably in "Sco -unt", has interesting parallels with the way the Danish language is going, no?

Susan Boyle seemed a tad overrated.

My westhighland terriers are furious at the snub.

ChelsyHandy I think that's a sweeping remark. Maybe to you, that is 'Scottishness' these days, but I don't think the majority of Scots are uncouth. If we're talking about Glaswegians then yes, there are many who are, but I would say the majority are not.

With regard to fashion, I really don't care. Clothes are clothes, and if what I'm wearing isn't 'in', or the latest season, correct cut, whatever... who cares? I must be wearing clothing that is acceptable to keep my job, no-one complains about it, that's fine by me.

I think that in the run-up to independence, many of us are proud of our little country, and the ability to make fun of oneself is regarded as a Scottish trait.

The glottal stop would probably depend on which dialect you're talking about. It is heard a lot though, which also draws parallels to some Spanish dialects. :)

YouGotTime Aww! Westies are lovely.

Scotland played a huge part in some of the worst excesses of our empire - particularly shipping slaves from Africa to the Caribbean and all the scots with their massive sugar plantations which paid for so many of the very grand Scottish houses. Let us not suggest the English were the sole prime movers in things bad about our empire. We were very much in it together.

I intensely disliked the Olympics opening as it was so down market and left out so much that is great which is British for dumbed down rubbish so I'm glad I have missed the Scottish thing.

If it helps the coverage of the opening ceremony in NZ was positive, especially the part with the Scotty Dog leading the teams out although 95% of the coverage was only about our team anyway