What characteristics define country music?
I was A2A this question so please pardon the liberties I will take in answering this question. Nowadays Country music is defined by other genres in that if something is not hip hop, alternative, dance, pop, R&B, or rock then it might be country."We all have difficulties in defining Country Music. The genre has been expanding to include many different styles from traditional bush ballads right through to something called 'Alternative Country'. At the Country Music College, we approach the definition from a different angle. Rather than trying to define what is Country Music, we keep our minds open while having a general consensus about what is not Country Music. Our staff and students accept that method of definition."--Peter Winkler, Director of the College of Country MusicWhile you could just cop out at saying we know it when we hear it, there are some characteristics that can help. I will try to rephrase some of these in the vein of popular comic Foxworthy's, "You might be a Redneck" routine. In other words, after the following phrases, you should hear Foxworthy saying, "It might be a Country song."If it is sung by a white person and you can understand the lyrics....If it has a simple cord progression, one that you could learn in a given afternoon....If it tells a story that you can follow...If you can remember and sing the chorus after your first listen....If you can make out what the instruments playing are...If the singer has a Southern accent....If the song sticks to simple metaphors about life and nature....If it mentions either Cowboys, horses, or doggies....If you find yourself waiting for the "twang"...If you can't wait for the part with the fiddling...If the lyrics mention a monosyllabic man or woman's name...To me, Country Music is the song of White America. It can rock like Skynyrd did, make us dance like Billy Ray did, or make the whole world stand up and buy their music like Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood did, but it is the folk music of our nation, telling the story of our earliest immigrants and how they still persevere in this place called America.
What are the characteristics of developed countries?
Obviously development of a country is an abstract concept that a lot of people have different criteria to distinguish. The most common are:Corruption: Less corruption means a good stable political system where the checks and balances are functioning properly. Most 3rd world countries have corruption as the biggest issue and corrupt politicians mess up other aspects of the country so it’s probably the most important one.Infrastructure: Good infrastructure that allow access to every part of the country that needs itPublic Transportation: There should be a public option for every transportation need. That doesn’t include waiting an hour for a bus or once-an-hour subways, it has to be rapid.Economic Stability: A stable economy that’s based on private companies is a key part. Developed countries handle anything that doesn’t make profit themselves and let corporations take care of the rest. Governments focus on regulating the entire private sector where corruption comes in again. A high GDP is a very good indicator of development as it’ll be one of the most important factors in distinguishing powerful vs developed. Countries like Russia, Brasil, Turkey all catch the eye among top 20 economies but none of them are really developed and all of them are known to be severely corrupt.Public Services: Public education and health services are at a high level for developed countries as those are the major areas of spending.Even those these are some obvious traits of development vs developing countries, there sure are some more detailed comparisons that are up for debate.
In Europe, what is the closest culture/country in terms of culture?
Language: If you have absolutely no knowledge of other languages than English, I would say Dutch would be the easiest to figure out. Any of the germanic languages will have a lot of similarities (German, Norwegian, etc). Food: The central European countries have food the most similar to the UK, but there are still a lot of differences. There aren't enough similarities to the US to really compare. If you mean the fast/processed food culture of the US, the only one close is the UK. Other countries have a lot of fast food, but the food people make at home is often very different. Architecture: Anywhere that's rebuilt in the last 100 years and is thus more modern will be most similar to the US. Maybe some German cities, there are more highrises there than in most countries. Traditions: Since the US is a big mix, it depends on specifics. Culture/ways of life/mentality: None of the European countries that I've been to are remotely similar to the US. US pop culture is common here (music, films, etc) though. You can't really put these countries on an overall scale to compare, because all are very different from one another and from the US.
What would it be like if France and the UK united into one country?
Le Bordel ! A mess.Nothing is more contrary to common sense than the idea of a united kingdom of France and England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.Already because the English would speak of a united kingdom of England and France, etc.And then that the previous attempts (cf the war of one hundred years) have not been fruitful, to say the least.That said, the idea could have been interesting in the Middle Ages when the English elites still spoke French.It is this language that would then have become the lingua franca of the world.
Why is birth-rate higher in developing countries as compared to developed countries?
A high birthrate was the traditional fate of humanity for most of its existence. It had to be because of the sicking death rate, especially among young children. Most children failed to reach their first year. As a result women often had a dozen children and many died in childbirth.This was the fate of everybody as little as two centuries ago.Never mind birth control, parents had to have such large families so that some children made it to adulthood.It was only with improved hygiene, sanitation and potable water that the situation started improving. Even in the 1950s the typical western family had five or more children. Deadly childhood diseases like measles were only just coming under control.It is only now that these high rates of infant mortality are coming under control in Africa. Parents whose siblings and friends mostly died young still expect their own children to do the same. It is only when those children mostly survive, as is happening now, that the family size falls.The adjustment takes generations, which is why developing countries in Africa are still responding. The next generation should have two or three children per women. By the mid century Africa should have the same birthrate as countries like Bangladesh have now.
If a country is in debt to whom does it owe the money?
It owes the money to whomever owns the debt. In the case of the USA, that means:Its own social security system. People paid in, the system bought government debt, and that debt will pay off to support the people in their retirement.Domestic private investors, pension funds, etc. They want a safe return for some of their money, and getting it from their own government is a useful thing.Foreign investors and governments. Maybe they are willing to pay for an investment more stable than their own bonds. Maybe they are running a trade surplus and neither want to go on an asset-buying spree in the US nor disrupt the foreign exchange and local bond markets.Those are the big three, all the same order of magnitude. As an bonus, note that as the US debt was getting paid down during the Clinton administration, there was real concern that eliminating the US debt would cause domestic and global financial disruption as a major asset class would cease to exist.
Why was each Greek polis like a tiny independent country?
Because they WERE tiny little independent countries back then , the Geography of Greece is characterised by flat , fertile well watered plains , good for farming , seperated by steep ranges of hills and mountains , often thickly forested back then . At first , seperate villages on any one of these plains were independent , this is typical of the Argos Plain , with the seperate communities at Nafplion , Tiryns , Mycenae , Argos , each with its own local petty ruler , in the epoch of the early " Mycenean " culture . As time went on , places like Athens and Sparta and Thebes came to dominate the whole of their local plain . Further expansion had them conquering neighbours , and founding new colony cities elsewhere , and so the nation-states came into being . ( Please ignore the obscene Troll , just another sad case of " Care in the Community " gone wrong )