Anglo-Saxon Attitudes

"What is a Primary?" You Ask

This one's for you, Mr  Rumcove!

Rumcove plaintively asked  during a telephone chat last week, "What the fuck's a primary?" Where to begin?  I told him I'd get back to him.

Luckily, BBC News has published What is a primary?  at its website here.  Here's a 1 minute, 10 second video report for anyone interested who doesn't understand the process. 

International Relations: W Royally Entertains the Queen (and The Daily Mail).

 

Shades of Martin Chuzzlewit!.   W winks---yes, winks--at the Queen at his very first white tie white house gala.  To read my note, go to Versus/Reversus.

 

The Sour Taste of Diplomacy? Brits "Humiliated" by Iran?

It beats the hell out of me why, when an international incident and the need for military action is averted, all the Brits join with American neocons and hawks in bemoaning the rancid aftertaste.  The biggest problem in the world today is men who STILL think that the best way to deal with a swaggering schoolyard bully is to drop bombs on civilians or engage in some sort of counter-swagger.  Why?  Why?  I mean, there is definitely a time and a place for intervention, but Iran's capture of British sailor and speedy return of them unharmed wouldn't seem to be the time OR the place. 

Who cares if he pretended to be doing Britain a favor?  Does anyone with a brain really believe that this was the case?  I mean, JESUS.  Anyway, I was pretty sheepish at having rejoiced prematurely that the whole farce had ended without blood shed, and I said so here.  Geoffrey Wheatcroft at Slate schooled me in the correct, dour view.

I felt better when I saw Mickey Kaus (also at Slate) shared my bemusement.  "Didn't Iran blink?" he asked.  Seemed so.  Seemed so.

Finally, my husband (also a Brit) weighed in with his own opinion (and dour view).  In addition to feeling humiliated because Blair didn't engage in a more "robust" display of swagger, he was also disappointed at the deportment of the hostages.  Colditz, John McCain, duty to escape, a sense of dignity:  his disappointment, and my continuing efforts to understand, are all discussed here.

More Lessons in British Culture from an American in England. Instructive!

More funny if rather unkind observations on English culture by Jon Tillman....

As a follow-up to his previous note, "Thirteen Things I Have Learned About America from the British," Jon Tillman has now posted "Thirteen Things I Thought I Knew About England."  Brits and Anglophiles should check it out.  Two of the things he has noted particularly matched my own experience, so I have quoted them here.  (Just because I love the English in general doesn't mean I don't notice things about them I don't like).  But most of the experiences he has had are not the same as the ones I have had.

[quote begins from Jon Tillman, "Thirteen Things I Thought I Knew About England"]

• 2.  Multiculturalism: As an American there is a special type of shame we carry for our recent openly racist past and the lingering inequalities in our society. I expected the UK to be something of a model for racial/cultural integration and harmony, especially given how much the British press seems to go on about being the first to abolish the slave trade and how many languages are spoken in London. What I wasn’t prepared for was that in all of those 300 or so languages, the most oft-uttered phrase in London is “Fuck off back home, then!”...

• 4.  Anti-Americanism: ...I expected quite a bit of overt anti-American sentiment, and all I have encountered is bemusement and disbelief at the idea that someone would voluntarily move out of the States and into the UK, and London at that! Of course, there could be tons of anti-Americanism thrown my way by cultured Brits that I, as an American, am too daft to notice, British disapproval consisting mostly of thinking nasty thoughts about someone while not looking at them or changing one’s facial expression.

[quote ends]

One American's British Education: 13 Valuable Lessons (at Jon Tillman.Com).

This is the most interesting entry I read in last week's meme game, the Thursday 13.  It's called "Thirteen Things I Have Learned About America from the British," and it's posted at Jon Tillman.Com ("Part of the Problem Since 1976"). 

Jon Tillman is living in London and many of his notes address his culture shock.  As he's hanging out with Essex people, he's probably getting a bit of a warped view, particularly about the accent.  (PS.  This is straight from Mr Rumcove, who is from Essex).   Cf. his item 8:

[quote begins from "13 Things I Have Learned About America from the British" at Jon Tillman.com]

8.  Americans Butcher “The Queen’s English”: For instance, did you know that there is no hard ‘A’ sound in the English language. Well, there certainly isn’t in the UK. Nor is the ‘TH’ sound pronounced as you do. It is more of a ‘VV’ sound, as in “I can’t be bovvered to learn to enunciate.

[quote]

As I'm on record as saying I prefer an estuary accent to any accent on the planet (to my husband's disgust, since he speaks only the finest Public School).   And I have to differ with Mr. Tillman about the  hard "A" sound;  just ask one of them to pronounce "taco." 

I have enjoyed reading his politely restrained exasperation with the British in their homeland.  As I'm in a mixed marriage with a Brit, and have a British stepdaughter in her twenties, I have long since adapted to the ways in which they are not at all---AT ALL---like you and me.  We are divided by more than a common language.

English food, American tourist (Part 2): English candy

My sister-in-law Sarah ruined American candy for me with two fell sentences.  "All you can taste is sugar," she said.  "It's too sweet."   I'm sure I've heard people say that before, but I guess I never took it in or fully realized the truth of it.  And I had never before had English candy.

Until fairly recently, when I developed a painful and no doubt karmic allergy, my approach to chocolate would have furnished material for any number of Cathy cartoons.  While I've gone through extended chocolate-free periods over the years, the disciplined times have been interspersed with no-holds-barred chocolate binges.

My sister-in-law Sarah ruined American candy for me with two fell sentences.  "All you can taste is sugar," she said.  "It's too sweet."   I'm sure I've heard people say that before, but I guess I never took it in or fully realized the truth of it.  And I had never before had English candy.

Until fairly recently, when I developed a painful and no doubt karmic allergy, my approach to chocolate would have furnished material for any number of Cathy cartoons.  While I've gone through extended chocolate-free periods over the years, the disciplined times have been interspersed with no-holds-barred chocolate binges.

An update on the Cirencester problem.

If the Cirencester town council thinks they can shut down the debate over the correct pronunciation of their town name with this, they have another think coming.  I will never give in.

I get far more hits at my Salon weblog from queries as to "Cirencester pronunciation"  than I do my other topics.  Almost every day some poor soul ends up at my site trying to find out the right way to pronounce the name of this beautiful and historic city.  Doesn't that tell you something, people of Cirencester?

English food, American tourist (Part 1)

[published in "The Flatland Oracles" on July 29, 2006]

* CAVEAT: not designed for people interested in fine dining.  If that's you, check out this site.

[1]  The myth.

Years ago, when I was first a bride and was trying to choose a  china pattern for my gift registry, I saw an advertisement in one of those bride-directed magazines that made a tremendous impression on me.  It was an ad for Royal Doulton china.  The ad featured a surpassingly beautiful plate with bits of unappetizing glop on it.  I can't remember what the food looked like, other than that it was mainly brown or brownish; and there may have been some extremely bright green beans or peas as well.  Underneath it said:  WE PUT THE WORLD'S WORST FOOD ON THE WORLD'S BEST CHINA (or perhaps it was "the world's finest" or "most beautiful" china).  The thing that stuck with me was the description of the food.

Estuary Englishman.

  [published on July 5, 2006 in "The Flatland Oracles"]

For Rumcove's amendment, click here.

1.  The Estuary Beat

As I have mentioned elsewhere, Mr. Rumcove and I met over the internet in 1997.  We didn't talk on the phone till after we'd been exchanging daily emails for a few months.  When we did speak, I was totally unprepared for the trouble I had understanding him.  "I have an estuary accent," he'd said in an email.  As he is very interested in accents, he went on to explain some of the characteristics of estuary English:  the glottal stops, the use of "w" in place of "r" for some words and "f" in place of "th" (e.g., "Orwite" = "All right"), and a highly arbitrary tendency to drop H's.   [For details, see the delightful Gary's Estuary Homepage by another native speaker].

He DIDN'T explain, because I imagine he and other English people don't notice, that another characteristic is talking at high speed  and often lowering rather than raising the voice for emphasis.  Though maybe that is just Mr R. 

The Very Cruel Poll & Mr. Rumcove's 4th of July

[published on July 4, 2006]

Actually the title of the Yahoo.com article from which I am preparing to quote says it all: "Britons Tire of Cruel, Vulgar US:  poll."  The results of the poll, published in the Daily Telegraph, include (but are not limited to) the following:

[quote begins here]:

As Americans prepared to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the poll found that only 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.

A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

With much of the worst criticism aimed at the US adminstration, the poll showed that 70 percent of Britons like Americans a lot or a little.

President George W. Bush [link in the original] fared significantly worse, with just one percent rating him a "great leader" against 77 percent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.

More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said President George W Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.

US policy in Iraq was similarly derided, with only 24 percent saying they felt that the US military action there was helping to bring democracy to the country.

[quote ends]