TLDR: Americans tend to say LASS-o, while speakers of British English (UK, Australia & some but not all Canadians) say la-SOO. Speaking as someone who grew up in Western Canada, I say la-SOO. Vinny is something of an anomaly.
@drewbert The flower is a poppy. It's a symbol of remembrance of military war dead used in the UK & Commonwealth countries. It has become all but mandatory to wear a red poppy in the weeks leading up to Nov. 11 (Remembrance Day), with proceeds from sales going to veterans' groups. It actually started out as an American Legion thing, but it seems to have been semi-forgotten in the US.
Fun(ish) Fact: When I was a child growing up in Canada, we had to memorize the poem that inspired the wearing of poppies, In Flanders Fields, & recite it at school assemblies for Remembrance Day. I still remember most of it some thirty years later.
I wonder if @vinny & @alex realize that going off-road to avoid traffic (laws), is about as Russian as it gets. It instantly made me think of these comrades:
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