Hopalong

[Pajarita]

I was listening to Christmas Carols and singing along when the It´ś beginning to look a lot like Christmas one came on and made me think how many people would understand the reference to ´a pair of Hopalong boots´ meant so WITHOUT cheating by searching the internet, how many of you know what this means and what the complete name of the character was? Spoiler alert: only old people would

[Navre]

I know the name of the character, but not a whole lot more about him, as he was mostly before my time.

[Pajarita]

Well, I guess that because I lived in a third world country which, back then, was way behind USA when it came to movies and TV programs, I got to know him better than you, John. His name was William -Bill- Cassidy and he was a cowboy hero. Not on the scale of The Lone Ranger but pretty up there, too.

[Navre]

I always wondered about the term "third-world."

If Europe is the old world, and the Americas are the "New World," doest that make Africa and developing places elsewhere the "Third World?"

You grew up in the New World, as far as I see it.

[liz]

You have it right

[Pajarita]

Actually, originally, Third World countries were the ones that were not aligned with USA and its allies , the First World, OR with Russia and the communist countries, the Second World, but, as all of them were poor, the term became a synonym of 'poor'. Now they are called 'developing' countries but they were Third World when I was growing up. And, in all honesty, there are developing countries that are better for their people than the developed ones... In my country, everybody gets medical insurance and people 70 years old or more get it for free as well as a small pension from the government even if they never worked in their lives. People there don't have as much as they do here -people don't have walking closets full of clothes and shoes or four TV sets for 2 people- but everybody eats very well, there are hardly any homeless at all, education all the way to high school is obligatory and free all the way to PHDs -and students can use public transportation for free- and anybody with a job can take a nice vacation because, by law, they have to be paid what itś called a 'vacational salary'. There are hardly any children in 'the system' because people take in the ones that need it and old people are taken care of by the family or even friends. And everybody is very well informed about social and political issues because voting is obligatory. The country is poor and we still need to make improvements in issues like animal law, for example, but itś a beautiful place, full of good people.