Re: [NTLK] OT - Do you speak BBC English?

From: Andy Hill <adhill_at_fastmail.co.uk>
Date: Mon Sep 03 2007 - 03:24:41 EDT

The thing I find funny about 'them and us' debates is that I've never
found an example of a 'them' or even in fact an 'us'.

Virtues that I used to bestow on the true Englishman, for example your
word being your bond, standing firm in the face of adversity (the
positive side of 'stiff-upper-lip', i.e not complaining) and most
importantly (the ultimate measure!) the ability to wait your turn in a
queue. (Man we love to queue, even in battle - I'm thinking red coats!).

Unfortunately my quest to find a particular quality that was essentially
'Englishness' failed miserably because ever virtue I bestowed on us is
of course available worldwide to all nations.

Going back to the comment below, I've never met an American I didn't
like. The only ones I think I don't like are the ones on the telly.
(President Bush and Ruby Wax to name two).

However having been to America (and loved the geography/ sense of space
/coffee / openness of people) I would adjust the phrase below as
follows: 'The British and the Americans, separated NOT by a common
language, but by the fact that we use irony in every day speech without
meaning to offend and the fact that they eat things called corn dogs
which we definitely do not and hopefully never will.

Genuinely - have a nice day one and all!

Andy

On Sun, 2 Sep 2007 19:16:38 -0400, "PaulMmn" <PaulMmn@ix.netcom.com>
said:
> There's an old saw that goes-- "The British and the Americans--
> separated by a common language."

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Received on Mon Sep 3 03:24:45 2007

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