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NorthernGent -> RE: For the attention of the English. (2/2/2008 12:34:48 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Darcyandthedark
Ah NG,don't be so sure I am finite... [;)]
But as for your question - Hallmarks of Englishness? Tea - and afternoon tea at that. Full English Breakfast and a proper sunday lunch with everyone around the table, not the tv on armchairs - a small carton of free milk to every child in junior school 5 days a week, a knife in the back pocket or in the boot - a new carry on team and lots and lots of purest, non pc comedy - a revamp of our film industry would rock - keeping telephone boxes - considerable government subsidy of public transport, boris as Mayor, youth clubs, backing of 11 plus again, weekly dustbin collection, doing away with so many universities and the reintroduction of proper and traditional apprenticeships.
And my knife doesn't leave me.[;)]
the.dark.
This is more like it.
For all of our faults - a propensity for casual violence and binge drinking, a people stricken by the gambling vice, a people who've allowed their government to spy on them in the public sphere - we have something going for us of which others can only aspire. And, part of the English charm is that no matter how good things are, we tend to think we're doomed. Well, let's redress the balance here with some positives......
A love of books and words - did you know that one English publishing company churns out more books in a year than the entire American publishing industry (300 million people)? An innate ability to laugh at and criticise ourselves, an unswerving belief that nationalist ideals are dangerous and serve no more purpose than to be mocked - the Fatherland?! I mean, the fuckin' Fatherland!....have you ever heard anything so ridiculous in all of your life? A complete and utter devotion to the 'I know my rights' concept. A people of modest ambitions and a land of home comforts. Cricket washed down with warm ale. Village life in Southern England and the rivalry and identity of Northern towns and cities where you can walk 5 miles down the road and people have a different accent and a different take on life. The creativeness of the English, who still export more ideas per capita than any other nation on this planet - this creativeness exemplified by extraordinary place names in England - High Easter, New Delight, Kingston Bagpuize, Sleeping Green, Tiptoe, Nether Wallop, Pity Me, Christmas Common, Ryme Intrinseca, Huish Champflower, Buckland-tout-Saints, Wyre Piddle, Nortan-Juxta-Twycross. The literary and intellectual history of England that shouldn't need explaining. A private people where when someone invites you to their home or kisses you, you know it means something. A place with an astonishingly low rate of killings: the murder rate in England and Wales is below that of Japan, less than half the rate for France or Germany, one eighth of the rate for Scotland and Italy - for all our readiness to drink and fight, we still have a considerable respect for one another. A place where the principles of limited monarchy was conceived. A place of inordinate politeness where a conversation between buyer and seller will consist of 26 pleases and infinite thank yous, a place where if you walk into a shop on a Saturday morning you'll be greeted with "hello love/flower/pet". A place with a spark that spourned punks, rockers, mods etc. A place where, more than anything, the values are so deeply embedded in the culture as to be almost unconscious.
Let's just say, it could be a lot worse.
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