>>>>Incidentally, I get the impression that a realtor is a respected profession in the US; their UK equivalent, estate agents, are considered vermin, one step above paramecia. You'd never get a TV play or movie where the main protagonist is an estate agent; the only TV we have involving them is in the form of fly-on-the-wall, but we're all waiting for them to be given enough rope to hang themselves.
>>>>
>>>>They never talk English either:
>>>>
>>>>"I would consider that, in the cuyrrent market, this property would be able to command a price in the region of £200,000"
>>>>
>>>>rather than:
>>>>
>>>>"The house could fetch about £200,000 at the moment"
>>>
>>>Realtors are far from a respected profession in the U.S. beyond envy of the money some of them make. You prove again your ignorance of the U.S. Why don't you stick to subjects you actually know something about?
>>
>>No need for the curt reply. If you read my statement it said "I get the impression ..." and for the reasons I stated - how the creative media portray such, and you snap my head off. Quite often the heroin in peril of a film is a realtor. If that were in the UK no-one would give a damn if she lived or died.
>>
>>And if you opine I'm ignorant of the US then the purpose of these exchanges is to help enlighten me, not insult me.
>>
>>I wish you wouldn't blow hot and cold all the time. One minute you're sharing a joke, or discussion, the next your biting my ankles. I have this mental image of you now as a wee terrier dog.
>>
>
>I am not wee -- although I'm working on it with a new home gym! -- nor do I resemble a terrier. (More like a slightly overweight beagle). But I do want to apologize to you, Jos, Jean L., Walter (grudgingly in Walter's case), and Dragan for the combativeness of my remarks the other day. I do not appreciate reflexive anti-Americanism or what comes across as a sense of European superiority, and for those feelings I do not apologize. But I do apologize for my tone. A very wise woman told me a long time ago that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. I will try to abide by that, even if it means I occasionally have to perform the unfamiliar act of biting my tongue. In general I will try to keep a humorous and curious attitude, which IMO is the only real reason to be here. Peace.
>
>Mike

No problemo Mike. All countries have good and bad. C'est la vie (which is French for "eat my shorts" :)