english history in 10 min: what's galois' multipack?

[Xah Lee]

so, am making annotations to the popular edu vid
〈The History of English in 10 Minutes〉
@
http://xahlee.org/lit/english_history_in_10_min.html

in chapter 2, they mentioned “Galois's multipack”, but i couldn't find
what that refers to.

A friend on g+ mentioned it's reference to smuggling french Gauloises
cigarette across the english channel (e.g. people buy multipack of it)
… but i tried google for 10 min, and it's hard to verify, except
finding the wikipedia article about the brand. (i've never been to
europe)

anyone knows? or can give me links so that uninitiated can reasonably
be assured that's correct interpretation?

Xah

[bert]

Misprint for "Gauloise multipack" - probably
containing ten packs of 20 Gauloise cigarettes.

Gauloise are the only French cigarette brand
that most British people have ever heard of.
--

[Peter Moylan]

Xah Lee wrote:
> so, am making annotations to the popular edu vid
> 〈The History of English in 10 Minutes〉
> @
> http://xahlee.org/lit/english_history_in_10_min.html
>
> in chapter 2, they mentioned “Galois's multipack”, but i couldn't find
> what that refers to.

The French cigarette brand is Gauloise. Galois - different spelling -
was a famous mathematician.

This doesn't answer your question, because I don't know the answer, but
it might help narrow it down.

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[Xah Lee]

hi Peter, and bert, thanks for help.

Indeed, i've confirmed, that it refers to Gauloises.

here's original text: «1066. True to his name, William the Conqueror
invades Britain, bringing new concepts from across the channel like
the French language, the Doomsday book and the duty free Galois's
multipack.»

duty free ⇒ tax free.

Galois's multipack ⇒ Refers to Brits crossing the channel to buy
cheaper French cigarettes. (Gauloises is a popular brand, and you
would buy multipacks of them if you were a Brit in a Calais
hypermarket)

keywords use to search to confirmed this is this: “day trip to calais
cigarettes multipack”. A friend provided.

apparently, the closest point between england and france is between
Dover and Calais, just 34 km. Once that's known, and Gauloises being a
cig brand, and the phrase "duty free" right in front is decipher, the
whole thing makes sense.

btw, interesting is that Gauloises as a cig brand has quite some
significance in writer/artist circle. See Wikipedia.

Xah

On Dec 23, 3:43 pm, Peter Moylan <inva...@peter.pmoylan.org.invalid>
wrote:

[Dr Nick]

Xah Lee <xah...@gmail.com> writes:

> hi Peter, and bert, thanks for help.
>
> Indeed, i've confirmed, that it refers to Gauloises.
>
> here's original text: «1066. True to his name, William the Conqueror
> invades Britain, bringing new concepts from across the channel like
> the French language, the Doomsday book and the duty free Galois's
> multipack.»
>
> duty free ⇒ tax free.

No.

In this case they aren't tax free as you'll have paid French tax on
them. They are duty free: you'll not pay British import duty on them if
you are importing them for your own use.
--
Online waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu
Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk

[Xah Lee]

On Dec 24, 4:43 am, Dr Nick <3-nos...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
> Xah Lee <xah...@gmail.com> writes:
> > hi Peter, and bert, thanks for help.
>
> > Indeed, i've confirmed, that it refers to Gauloises.
>
> > here's original text: «1066. True to his name, William the Conqueror
> > invades Britain, bringing new concepts from across the channel like
> > the French language, the Doomsday book and the duty free Galois's
> > multipack.»
>
> > duty free ⇒ tax free.
>
> No.
>
> In this case they aren't tax free as you'll have paid French tax on
> them.  They are duty free: you'll not pay British import duty on them if
> you are importing them for your own use.

dear Doctor Nick,

Duty in english means obligation. For example, it's my duty to inform
you your errors.

However, you may not be aware, that duty also means tax. This sense
came from the word's origin, which is “due”, “debt”.

So, your ignorance of tax subtleties is wrong.

yours truely,

Xah ∑ http://xahlee.org/

[Peter Duncanson (BrE)]

On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:30:15 -0800 (PST), Xah Lee <xah...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Dec 24, 4:43 am, Dr Nick <3-nos...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
>> Xah Lee <xah...@gmail.com> writes:
>> > hi Peter, and bert, thanks for help.
>>
>> > Indeed, i've confirmed, that it refers to Gauloises.
>>
>> > here's original text: «1066. True to his name, William the Conqueror
>> > invades Britain, bringing new concepts from across the channel like
>> > the French language, the Doomsday book and the duty free Galois's
>> > multipack.»
>>

>> > duty free ? tax free.

>>
>> No.
>>
>> In this case they aren't tax free as you'll have paid French tax on
>> them.  They are duty free: you'll not pay British import duty on them if
>> you are importing them for your own use.
>
>dear Doctor Nick,
>
>Duty in english means obligation. For example, it's my duty to inform
>you your errors.
>
>However, you may not be aware, that duty also means tax. This sense
>came from the word's origin, which is “due”, “debt”.
>
>So, your ignorance of tax subtleties is wrong.
>

I think Dr Nick's point is that the Gauloises cigarettes were not
completely tax-free. They were free of one particular tax, UK "import
duty", but they were not free of French taxes.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Dr Nick]

I do know that. Nevertheless:
a) the cigarettes aren't tax free as French taxes (including at least
VAT) will have been paid
b) Common and semi-official (at least) British usage distinguishes
between "tax" and "duty" where "duty" is used of specific taxes applied
to certain goods - including alcohol - at the time of manufacture or
import.

On the latter, see for example:
<http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_RatesCodesTools>

where you'll see a mixture of taxes and duty - this isn't random
variation but is used systematically. See also the fact that high
street shops offering VAT exemptions for foreign visitors advertise "tax
free shopping" but port shops offering alcohol and tobacco duty free
shopping call it "duty free".