History Main / EaglelandOsmosis

** Of course, American political philosophy maintains that their Constitution ''enumerates natural rights'' rather than ''giving'' rights, and that all people have those rights by birth, whether their governments recognize that or not. This stance seems to be often forgotten in America, however, and whether or not these rights apply to non-Americans in American proceedings (e.g., trials vs. tribunals for enemy combatants, or rights of the accused for illegal immigrants) can be the subject of debate.
*** In proceedings it would be irrelevent as the philosophy you mentioned is in the Declaration, which is not actually a part of the Consitution.
*** ''Certain schools'' of American political philosophy hold that the Constitution enumerates natural rights. Note that the Declaration of Independence provides as a non-exhaustive list of rights with which all men have been endowed by their Creator as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," saying nothing about any other rights.

** Japan uses 119, the exact opposite. Not sure if it was chosen intentionally because of this trope or if it is just a coincidence.
*** 119 is the number for fire and ambulance. The number for the police is 110.

* The first emergency number in North America was in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which used 999. It was changed to 911 to match directory assistance (411), services for translation for the deaf (711) and the number called to report problems with telephone service (611). Depending on the area, in the US and Canada, 211 is local health and human services, 311 is non-emergency municipal services, and 511 is road weather and traffic information. 811 used to connect directly to the business office of the telephone company; this is being phased out for Internet, 1-800 hotlines or merger of service with 611. 011 is used to dial international calls, and 111 isn't used because 11 is used to access certain hotline options from rotary-dial telephones.

*** Same goes for search warrants, sometimes. A warrant is required in most cases under the Fourth Amendment, but certain Supreme Court cases (like Katz v. US or Terry v. Ohio) provide exceptions for a warrantless search. Oh, and if you allow a law enforcement officer to search your home, no warrant is required (so you can't call them on a "technicality" later if they find something).

* Felony

The most common forms of this concerns the legal system, with people expecting to be "read their rights" if they are arrested or expecting that police should have a search warrant in cases where they do not need one under local law. Another one is expecting 911 to be the number for emergency services, even when the actual number is usually displayed prominently on phonebooks and phone booths.

** In Hawaii, there are actually signs telling people to call 911 instead of Hawaii Five-O(50).

* Though British judges don't use gavels, they often show up in court-room sketches on British comedy shows written by people who have presumably seen too much Perry Mason. Many British people get confused when they go to court and the judge DOESN'T use a gavel

* A frightening number of Germans seem to think "Euer Ehren" (Your Honor) is the proper way to address a judge.
** TheOtherWiki seems to indicate that the proper address would be "Herr Vorsitzender/Frau Vorsitzende", literally meaning "Mr./Ms. presiding [judge]". Then again, it seems to be a common problem that various countries fail to educate their own citizens in the workings of their legal systems.
** Same thing for France: many people address judges as "Votre Honneur" ("Your Honor") instead of the proper "Monsieur le juge" or "Monsieur le président" ("Judge" or "President"). Using "Your honor" in court will earn you sneers and a very irritated judge.
** And in the RepublicOfIreland, judges are simply addressed as "Judge" or "The Court" (Irish: ''A Bhreithimh'' / ''An Chúirt'') (except for the Chief Justice and the President of the High Courts, who are "Chief Justice" and "President"), although the British/American "Your honour" is often used in error.
* Baseball analogies (such as "step up to the plate" or "out of left field") sometimes crop up in countries that don't play baseball or rounders) and have no idea what those analogies actually refer to.

*** In the UK we dig through to Australia (although the China thing isn't unknown, especially when it comes to fusion meltdowns...) - rather surprising the Aussies don't have their own variant.

** Irish criminals don't do this much, but as a side note, they can request to be arrested in Irish, leading to [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]] if the garda is less than competent in it and stumbles over a memorized speech.

** And in the RepublicOfIreland, judges are simply addressed as "Judge", although the British/American "Your honour" is often used in error.
* Baseball analogies (such as "step up to the plate" or "out of left field") sometimes crop up in countries that don't play baseball and have no idea what those analogies actually refer to.

* A fair portion of people outside of America assume the colours red, white and blue specifically refer to America, and question why their country is celebrating America if that colour scheme is used for decoration. It's a surprise how few Britons realise that's also the colour scheme of the Union Flag. It's also on the flags of France, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Liberia, Iceland, Russia, Chile, Panama, Cuba and several Slavic countries.
* One thing that has not yet gone through EaglelandOsmosis is the use of red to denote the political right. In the rest of the world, red is the colour of the communist movement and its offspring, and hence denotes the political left.
** Blue represents Conservative tendencies here in England, Scotland and Wales as well (I'm not sure about Northern Ireland). So we have the exact opposite political colour system to America.

*** In Northern Ireland, predominantly BLUE with red and white = CONSERVATIVE unionist. That's when the similarity to the rest of the UK ends. Predominantly green with orange and white= liberal nationalist. (All unionist parties are conservative, all nationalist parties are liberal.) The liberal neutral party (Alliance) is more similar to the US being predominantly blue. We're weird here.

* A fair portion of people outside of America assume the colours red, white and blue specifically refer to America, and question why their country is celebrating America if that colour scheme is used for decoration. It's a surprise how few Britons realise that's also the colour scheme of the Union Flag. It's also on the flags of France, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Liberia, Iceland, Russia and several Slavic countries.

*** That's not what "the Fifth" is, anyway. When someone "pleads the Fifth" they are using their right to avoid self-incriminating statements. The "right to remain silent" is one of the "Miranda Rights."

** Yes, but… safety is the primary motivation for speed limits everywhere.

* When an American media association (RIAA and/or MPAA) sent The Pirate Bay a {{DMCA}} threatening letter, The Pirate Bay was quick to mock them, pointing out that an American law doesn't apply to Sweden. It took a while for the Americans to get it but years later they contacted their Swedish lawyers and nabbed The Pirate Bay on other charges.
** Which still hasn't put them out of business, since they have friends and associates all over the world.
** I'm nowhere near an expert, but there may have been a justifiable reason for making US legal complaints against a non-US organization. For example, the De Beers diamond monopoly was sued in 1994 by the US government for antitrust violations. De Beers, a South African company, simply ignored the suit, but it did force the company to go through legal gymnastics for a decade to sell and advertise in the US. Eventually, they gave up, settled the suit, and paid a few million dollars in fines.
*** This is of course true for companies who want to do direct business within the US jurisdiction. Similar cases abound with international companies trading on the NYSE who did nothing wrong within the laws of their own country still being fined and paying it, because they would be having troubles in the US if acting otherwise. Still, Pirate Bay surely does not have official physical presence in the US, so ther's no need for them to comply.
* This trope is actually part of what is referred as "Soft Power" which means, to put it simply, country A influencing country B not through military or economic power/coercion but cultural means and making certain elements of A's culture become acceptable and even desired in country B so that the social climate in B becomes friendlier for A to operate in. As the US has been the dominant power, it had plenty of opportunity and desire to have such influence. One example this troper read in an article was how Chinese people starting going to courts more because they saw it on American shows.
* This Spanish troper is kind of tired of seeing fellow countrymen act like the Age of Consent is 18 in his country. ''It's 13''. It's not even 18 in some USA states (Nor most of Europe)!
** It's only 18 in twelve of the fifty states. One of them is [[SoCalization California, where most of the movies come from]]. Many Americans seem to think this is the standard as well, even though it's 16 in most states.
** However, the voting age is 18 and so is the "legal" age to buy tobacco products. Generally, it is considered the age of emancipation from parents. (IE, you're an adult) Thus the confusion is understandable because so much in the legal code is 18. Now the drinking age........
** Most Americans are aware that the various "legal ages" vary from state to state, but the actual laws are a complex labyrinth of conditionals that are different in almost every state in the union. It's just easier to say 18, since that age, at least, can legally consent in all 50 states.
** It also has to do with the fact that throughout the entire United States, the age to consent to being in pornography is 18. Interestingly, this can result in an odd situation in the states with a lower age of consent where it may be legal to have sex with someone, but not to record the act or take pictures.
*** And technically in most of the United States and much of Europe it's legal to have sex with a sixteen-year old, but showing them porn can at least theoretically lead to fines or imprisonment.

* An interesting reversal happens when people assume that a certain right is ''unique'' to the United States. On a news article commentary thread, this troper saw somebody had tried to justify the possible repeal of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution (the one that says that anyone born in the US is automatically a citizen, among other things) by saying that if you tried to claim Mexican citizenship after being born in Mexico, they'd laugh in your face. Actually, Mexico is one of 33 countries that do practice ''jus soli'' or birthright citizenship. It's hard to find a country in the Americas that ''doesn't''.

*** Same goes for search warrants, sometimes. A warrant is required in most cases under the First Amendment, but certain Supreme Court cases (like Katz v. US or Terry v. Ohio) provide exceptions for a warrantless search. Oh, and if you allow a law enforcement officer to search your home, no warrant is required (so you can't call them on a "technicality" later if they find something).

* Sometimes happens within the United States itself. Texas, for example, specifically prohibits the enforcement of speed limits in its constitution, specifically stating the speed limit is a suggestion based of the average speed of an area of road plus 10. The only exception to this is safety. It does not stop police from pulling people over and asking for license and registration, or from certain regions creating lower speed limits for environmental regulation.

* A fair portion of people outside of America assume the colours red, white and blue specifically refer to America, and question why their country is celebrating America if that colour scheme is used for decoration. It's a surprise how few Britons realise that's also the colour scheme of the Union Flag. It's also on the flags of France, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Liberia, Iceland, Russia and several Slavic countries.

*** "Start from scratch" means to begin from the starting line (as opposed to being granted the advantage of starting in front of it) [[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sta4.htm]]. "Behind the eightball" in pool means that the next shot is obstructed by the eight ball (which must be pocketed last) [[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/behind%20the%20eightball]]. "Hat trick" is from various sports but originally from cricket[[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hat+trick]] (and thus properly LimeyOsmosis).
**** The term "hat trick" originated in juggling. It was a standard trick (trope?) for a juggler to start the well-known three-ball cascade, toss all three balls in the air, whip off his hat, and catch the balls in the hat. Subverted by "that [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKE1ttRTG1k jolly juggler]], Bullwinkle!"
**** Au Contraire. According to the other wiki: ''HH Stephenson was the first cricketer to be awarded a hat for taking three wickets in consecutive balls, the origin of the hat-trick. He performed the feat for the All-England Eleven against the twenty-two of Hallam at the Hyde Park ground, Sheffield in 1858. A collection was held for Stephenson (as was customary for outstanding feats by professionals) and he was presented with a cap or hat bought with the proceeds.''
**** In hockey, the term "hat-trick", from Wikipedia : "According to the Henri Henri hat store in Montreal, before 1967 when there were only the Original Six teams in the NHL, the store rewarded players who had scored three goals or more in one game at the Montreal Forum with a free hat, which brought the "Hat Trick" expression into the world of hockey."
*** "Knocked for six" is also from cricket, meaning the cricketing equivalent of a home run that's worth six runs. Possibly "caught out" as well, but that's just a guess.
***** Not to mention how few people know where "stumped" and "a sticky wicket" come from.
*** "Brought up to scratch" is another sporting term, originating from bare-knuckle boxing. If a boxer couldn't stand up in a chalk square drawn in the centre of the ring (the "scratch") then he lost the fight, so the boxer must be brought up to scratch at the beginning of each round.
*** That's also the root of "Toe the line". Yes folks, it ain't "tow" it's "toe". Wrong line.