A lesson on Britian for AMERICANS

reply to post by hthjason

When I started reading the histories from the OP my first reaction was a typical nonchalance. However it made me think of how deep my ties are to the " fog shrouded isles". Frankly, it was a coarse handful of pebbles thrown into my genepool. A strole down ancestor lane.
It's my thought, I did steal a sentence from "the lord of the rings", must have been the OPs avatar, although it was Galadriel saying, " I shall diminish, and go into he west".

Thank you for your kind words. For some reason the creator had a fit of humor and saddled me with dubious word skills. Tricksy fellow.

YouSir

reply to post by stumason


YES!!! Go Stu!
It's the LONDON-Based Media that's causing all the problems!!

Let's Annex London!!

It's now the UK-L (United Kingdom Minus London!!!)

Problem solved! Everybody happy!

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


Ah, people do read my posts

Yeah, lets just say my dad and my mums sister are "interesting" to watch after they've had a couple..... My Dad being pure bred Cornish and my aunt a stereotypical Scottish...erm..."hag"?

I think I might have to add this thread to my favorites list on my profile page. Whew. What a relief it is.

I've always thought of Brits as very proper and polite (well except for that one family --- oh, nevermind).

But now I see you fight like cats and dogs just like we do.

Okay here's a silly question I'm just curious about. Do you call lunch "high tea"?

That's so cute.

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


We have a couple of guys from Nodnol working in our place and their knowledge of the world outside the M25 is lacking.

Silly things like having to wait for more than 4 minutes for a bus is really astonishing for them, but out here in Reading, we have to wait a whole 5-7 minutes which they find unacceptable!

Or local traditions, customs or the like, they just don;t have them in Lodnon so they look upon us as if we've just stepped out of an 18th century novel.

London sucks, but unfortunately most of our lives are decided by people who rarely leave the wretched place.

reply to post by Haydn_17


You left out many instances from your list but the most important one would be 1690 and King William's victory over King James at the Battle of the Boyne.
A very important date and battle which is often overlooked but not by Northern Irish Protestants.

Anyone can find Texas, they wear them giant hats, and talk and walk funny because of those girly pointy toed high heeled boots they like to wear. Now if you can find Illinois on the map, then you got navigation skills.

Isn't Britain near England, and Scotland, and Ireland, and apparently Argentina, because they had a territory dispute not too long ago?

I thought Whales was near Iceland where the whales are.

The British had some sort of Empire, but Kernel Jackson beat the bloody British at the battle of New Orleans.

We were allies in WW II, but we stormed the beaches of Normandy, so if Normandy is in Britain, why did we have to storm their beaches. Why couldn't we just, you know, lay anchor? They have some funny traditions, but it must have been one heck of a party.

Apparently the British must be successful, as they like to wear Tuxedos, are typically spies, and do very well with the ladies. For some reason they have a fondness for the name James, and they like to bond a lot.

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
I've always thought of Brits as very proper and polite (well except for that one family --- oh, nevermind).

We can be...Sometimes

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
But now I see you fight like cats and dogs just like we do.

All 4 nations have been slapping each other about for centuries. It's what we do when we don't have an external group of people to slap about. Good practice I suppose ..

But woe betide anyone who takes on all four nations.

The cunning of the English, the warrior spirit of the Scots and the downright plucky attitude of the Welsh, no matter what you may throw at them (Wlesh troops were present in South Africa fighting the Zulus).

Then, there be the Irish.... Wind them up and point them in the right direction, they'll take care of the rest!

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
Okay here's a silly question I'm just curious about. Do you call lunch "high tea"?

That's so cute.

Never heard anyone say that outside a Jayne Austin movie! Lunch be lunch here.

Although some Northern types might call it dinner and others will call it dinner if it is cooked and lunch if it is sandwhiches or the like. Depends were you're asking, really.

The UK might look small on the map, but there are so many distinct groups on this island that everywhere is different, even if only seperated by a few miles.

reply to post by itchy_tartan_blanket


" especially the French Canadians. Just joking. "

Can't speak for the Quebecois (I only married one) but they never seem to take kindly to such a jab, unless it's in both French and English.

reply to post by Haydn_17


Why? Because without the USA you'd be speaking German now. When do British films gross a billion dollars? Never. You watch our movies, listen to our music, and try to copy us daily. So, that is why I care to learn nothing about the nanny state. By the way, immitation is the purest form of flattery.

P.S. You suckers shouldn't have given up your guns!

reply to post by NEWclearMind


Ahem...

Mamma Mia grossed over £500 million, which in your mickey mouse currency would be just about the arbitrary billion dollar mark you asked for, so you can hardly say "never" can you?

(EDIT: Harry Potter films were filmed in the Uk and starred British actors..do they count?) What exactly is a "British film"? What is a "US film" for that matter?...)

Oh, and we'd not be speaking german. Most likely we'd have kept our tongue but even so, the Russians would have steamrolled Europe with or without US/UK intervention..

Lets also not forget that the UK had more men on D-Day than the US, had over 90% of the Warships in the channel and provided the US troops with landing craft, despite what Saving Private Ryan might have you believe. Even the bulk of Allied Air power was British, with the US bombers missing their marks on Omaha, leading to the massacre there.

And so on and so on....

Lesson here, if you're going to talk crap, be prepared to be corrected.

[edit on 3/4/10 by stumason]

Just to add my 2p... Has anyone noticed that outside the UK, a lot of people forget about Wales

This isn't apparent across my international ATS brothers and sisters but I've lost count about the amount of other times people - in my experience - have referred to the good ol' UK as England, Scotland and NI... and that's it.

On multiple occasions, far from home, natives have queried my strong (and obviously UK based) accent. Irish? No. Scottish? No. Actually, I'm Welsh. English? No, Welsh. Tom Jones, Catherine Zeta Jones, Shirley Bassey, Bertrand Russell? Ah, same part of England? No...

I know this is the exception rather than the rule, but honestly in my experience, even where people know the Scottish, Irish and English, they often forget about us Welshies. And with us being so bloody fantastic too

reply to post by lizziejayne


How can you forget about the Welsh? Cracking bunch of people, although a tad on the "anglophobic" side of life in the Valleys...

Had to work their once upgrading mobile base stations. Got lost and asked some old duffer for directions to the top of a hill where this mast I was supposed to working on was...

Never did understand what the chap said, but I am damn sure it wasn't the directions I was after!

[edit on 3/4/10 by stumason]

reply to post by lizziejayne


Who are the Welsh anyway?

I have read the Mabigonion, brilliant stuff, but know nothing about their history.

reply to post by poet1b


They're the Cornish who took a wrong turn....

Seriously though, they are what is left of the post Roman but pre-Anglo Saxon culture of years gone by... As the Anglo-Saxons pushed west, the shoved those who didn't want to be ruled by them further out. They became the Welsh, the Cornish and even the people who now live in Brittany in France.

reply to post by stumason



Ah, you're right there:



But it's all in the vein of good old-fashioned sibling rivalry... I promise

And if it helps, half the time, I can't understand the old folk in the valleys - and I'm from there!

reply to post by lizziejayne


You say that, but I saw a BBC article a couple of years back that had some poor Welsh sap from Cardiff move to the valleys to start a farm, only to be abused and bullied by locals who thought he was English!

They even sprayed graffitti on his cows!

Priceless...

reply to post by stumason


Which one of you over there allowed David Tennant to move on to other things and leave Dr Who behind?? The new guy looks too much like Harry Potter, without the glasses, and suspect sexual orientation.

Well then, Stu. I think then y'all should begin calling lunch "high tea" if you don't. You have an image to maintain. Virginia Woolf, and all that tea in the garden image. Drunken Thursday nights and prosmiscuity.

My father once had our family tree done, and he said "best he could determine" our family migrated from Wales. Our family had been here in the US for so long it was hard to track down.

Plus, this video LJ put up....one of the players looks much like my nephew. So maybe I still have some ancestors over there, somewhere.
In the Mother Country.

Probably the guy you tried to get directions from.

[edit on 4/3/2010 by ladyinwaiting]

reply to post by stumason


Unfortunately, in all countries there is an uber nationalist element (e.g. see Meibion Glyndŵr) - Not something the majority of us are proud of, I can assure you.

However, there is a historically deeper vein for some: Welsh Not

Personally, I believe what's gone is gone. Unfortunately, it seems that some seem to take longer to forgive

[edit on 3/4/10 by lizziejayne]