Miscellaneous Thread V

Swear Britain is the only country that doesn't understand its own culture.. and seems always perplexed by the idea of such an old/historical/influential country even having a culture..

Reply 1163

I mean, I asked a chinese class what is british culture and I got a list of (copying from my notes of the lesson (paraphrased by me))

Politeness/manners
Aristocracy + monarchy
Stupid and silly traditions that we still do
A combination of lots of elements from different cultures
Like an old dog, who has had its day, but still believes it can do everything
Rock + pop music, beatles etc.
Acceptance + tolerance
Complaining + passive agressive attituteds
Sarcasm
A love of the looser rather then the winner
Stiff upper lip
James bond, sherlock holmes, harry potter, lord of the rings
A more mature america

In short they had a lot of respect for england, and a clear idea of england as a melting pot of different cultrual ideas from all parts of the world. A country where we identify with tea, british lions, currys, rock music - all things that originate elsewhere, but end up mixing with the uniquely british attitude to life to create our wierd little country, where we all act a bit funny and love a good looser.

- Then I come on TSR this morning and there is a whole raft of students saying:

'oh my god, what even is british culture?'
'Its impossible to say what british culture is, it probably does not even exist'
'British culture is a horrible history of colonialism'
etc. etc.

Honestly, leave england and look back - and you will see what british culture is. Distance and clear comparison improve perspective.

Reply 1164

difeo

18

Original post by fallen_acorns

- Then I come on TSR this morning and there is a whole raft of students saying:

'oh my god, what even is british culture?'
'Its impossible to say what british culture is, it probably does not even exist'
'British culture is a horrible history of colonialism'
etc. etc.

edgy teenagers

Reply 1165

Original post by fallen_acorns

I mean, I asked a chinese class what is british culture and I got a list of (copying from my notes of the lesson (paraphrased by me))

Politeness/manners
Aristocracy + monarchy
Stupid and silly traditions that we still do
A combination of lots of elements from different cultures
Like an old dog, who has had its day, but still believes it can do everything
Rock + pop music, beatles etc.
Acceptance + tolerance
Complaining + passive agressive attituteds
Sarcasm
A love of the looser rather then the winner
Stiff upper lip
James bond, sherlock holmes, harry potter, lord of the rings
A more mature america

In short they had a lot of respect for england, and a clear idea of england as a melting pot of different cultrual ideas from all parts of the world. A country where we identify with tea, british lions, currys, rock music - all things that originate elsewhere, but end up mixing with the uniquely british attitude to life to create our wierd little country, where we all act a bit funny and love a good looser.

- Then I come on TSR this morning and there is a whole raft of students saying:

'oh my god, what even is british culture?'
'Its impossible to say what british culture is, it probably does not even exist'
'British culture is a horrible history of colonialism'
etc. etc.

Honestly, leave england and look back - and you will see what british culture is. Distance and clear comparison improve perspective.

You seem to be using England and Britain interchangeably. Stop that.

Reply 1166

Original post by The Wavefunction

You seem to be using England and Britain interchangeably. Stop that.

true, that is a big mistake I do make - especially over here, where students do it all the time.

Reply 1167

Zerforax

21

Original post by fallen_acorns

I mean, I asked a chinese class what is british culture and I got a list of (copying from my notes of the lesson (paraphrased by me))

Politeness/manners
Aristocracy + monarchy
Stupid and silly traditions that we still do
A combination of lots of elements from different cultures
Like an old dog, who has had its day, but still believes it can do everything
Rock + pop music, beatles etc.
Acceptance + tolerance
Complaining + passive agressive attituteds
Sarcasm
A love of the looser rather then the winner
Stiff upper lip
James bond, sherlock holmes, harry potter, lord of the rings
A more mature america

In short they had a lot of respect for england, and a clear idea of england as a melting pot of different cultrual ideas from all parts of the world. A country where we identify with tea, british lions, currys, rock music - all things that originate elsewhere, but end up mixing with the uniquely british attitude to life to create our wierd little country, where we all act a bit funny and love a good looser.

- Then I come on TSR this morning and there is a whole raft of students saying:

'oh my god, what even is british culture?'
'Its impossible to say what british culture is, it probably does not even exist'
'British culture is a horrible history of colonialism'
etc. etc.

Honestly, leave england and look back - and you will see what british culture is. Distance and clear comparison improve perspective.

Maybe the English who travel but the modern chav ruins any notion of politeness these days.
Yes the Queen. Don't think people will care so much about the royals once she dies.
Not sure what silly traditions they mean
Isn't this combination of many different cultures what makes having a specific list difficult?
Mentality seems to be more about taking part than winning imo.
Music is pretty diverse here but you also have a heavy American presence.
TSR seems to often show the opposite of acceptance. I think society has moved away from that in the last decade or two.
Yes 100% agree with the complaining. In fact I'm complaining about your students' list in this post :colondollar:

Sarcasm is the greatest form of wit :biggrin:

Not sure about the loser - we do love an underdog here though.
Yes most of them are in popular culture.
Not hard to be more mature than America.. see D.Trump

The reality is that your perceived English/British culture will stem from which cross-section of society you are exposed to most. Living in a white village full of old people up north is very different to being in central London which has a bit of everything which is then different to the mini-towns of other cultures (e.g. Bradford). Even the chav culture vs. the hugely posh Etonian culture are worlds apart.

Reply 1168

Original post by fallen_acorns

true, that is a big mistake I do make - especially over here, where students do it all the time.

It's fair enough with the students and foreigners in general, slightly odd that you've become accustomed to doing it

Reply 1169

ClockEnderAFC

17

If only the daft Americans who think England is some kind of posh tea room country where everyone wears a pocket watch walked down the streets of Bradford or Hull, being approached by some Jamie Vardy esque chav with a can of Stella in one hand and the other hand in the pocket of a pair of baggy grey joggers being asked if "you got a lighter bruv?".

Reply 1170

Original post by Zerforax

Maybe the English who travel but the modern chav ruins any notion of politeness these days.
Yes the Queen. Don't think people will care so much about the royals once she dies.
Not sure what silly traditions they mean
Isn't this combination of many different cultures what makes having a specific list difficult?
Mentality seems to be more about taking part than winning imo.
Music is pretty diverse here but you also have a heavy American presence.
TSR seems to often show the opposite of acceptance. I think society has moved away from that in the last decade or two.
Yes 100% agree with the complaining. In fact I'm complaining about your students' list in this post :colondollar:

Sarcasm is the greatest form of wit :biggrin:

Not sure about the loser - we do love an underdog here though.
Yes most of them are in popular culture.
Not hard to be more mature than America.. see D.Trump

The reality is that your perceived English/British culture will stem from which cross-section of society you are exposed to most. Living in a white village full of old people up north is very different to being in central London which has a bit of everything which is then different to the mini-towns of other cultures (e.g. Bradford). Even the chav culture vs. the hugely posh Etonian culture are worlds apart.

I dont disagree with your bottom paragraph at all. England is a country that is hugely diverse, and I always tell my students/parents that my experiances of english are not representative of the country as a whole.

However, this is true of almost all countries above a certain size. They look like one entity from the outside, 'india' for example to many british people who have never been or know any one from there, would seem like one large single culture.. but from the inside, is made up of a huge diversity of experiance/sub-cultures/ideas

Its the difficulty of finding any common ground in all countries cultures, but one we can still try and work through.

Reply 1171

Original post by The Wavefunction

It's fair enough with the students and foreigners in general, slightly odd that you've become accustomed to doing it

its not just being over here - I can use that as an excuse for it being worse, but not for the root cause..

Where in the Uk are you from?

Using england/britian interchangeably is something I notice far more when I am down south, then up north.. and ofcourse not at all in Scotland/wales. Its an awful habbit ive inherited from the arrogance of the upper-middle-class south.

Reply 1172

Jimmy Seville

16

We're not arrogant

*Feasts on Waitrose Essential Pheasant and Caviar*

Reply 1173

Original post by fallen_acorns

its not just being over here - I can use that as an excuse for it being worse, but not for the root cause..

Where in the Uk are you from?

Using england/britian interchangeably is something I notice far more when I am down south, then up north.. and ofcourse not at all in Scotland/wales. Its an awful habbit ive inherited from the arrogance of the upper-middle-class south.

I'm Welsh.

It's quite the opposite here, no one would use Welsh and British interchangeably. Christ, a lot of people don't even like identifying as British, which I disagree with.
I think the areas you've mentioned, the North, Wales and Scotland perhaps feel they have a different identity and culture to that associated with Britishness, so don't like being tarnished with that brush.

Reply 1174

Original post by The Wavefunction

I'm Welsh.

It's quite the opposite here, no one would use Welsh and British interchangeably. Christ, a lot of people don't even like identifying as British, which I disagree with.
I think the areas you've mentioned, the North, Wales and Scotland perhaps feel they have a different identity and culture to that associated with Britishness, so don't like being tarnished with that brush.

I get what your saying.

I can see why people from those areas would not want their culture to be assosiated with britishness, considering (as I have demonstrated) the south + london view does tend to absorb/erase parts of the UK, into one big blob of culture that conveniently fits into a southern experience.

Its a shame that its this way though because in theory having regional/country specific culture, but then a larger label that can be used for parts that overlap, should be able to work.

For instance X aspect of welsh culture that is unique and different to english culture would be defined as welsh culture, but an aspect that is common to both english/welsh/Scottish, would be defined as british culture.

Reply 1175