Those funny Brits.......
 

There are many things about the British that are so endearing and make them so loveable...for example: Once, we stayed at a hotel that had a column in the middle of the counter to the ceiling. We asked the the only person there behind the counter if she would put our money in the hotel safe (visible behind her) and she said, " Oh, you have to ask that on the other side of the counter (on the other side of the column)" So we walked the four steps to the other side and so did she, and then she asked again if she could help us (like she didn't remember talking to us three seconds ago). So we asked her again to put the money in the safe, and this time she took it and put it in the safe. Then we asked for directions to someplace and she said, "oh, you have to go to back to the other side for directions." So we walked back the four steps to the other side of the counter and so did she, and again she asked, "may I help you?" We felt like we were in a Stephen King novel. <BR> <BR>Any other stories out there?........... <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

Gosh, they really are loveable, aren't they? I always fondly remember the time that British soldiers called my Irish husband a stupid f*ing Paddy. Ah, memories.

Gulp! Wow, Karen...sounds like you have a good story there...want to share it?

Laura <BR> <BR>Thanks for the compliment but I am not sure I want to be thought of as endearing.... not by complete strangers anyway. <BR> <BR>And the hotel woman sounds psychotic to me not endearing!!!! <BR> <BR>Kavey

Sounds like an episode of Fawlty Towers to me....

That's what we like to see Karen, sweeping hatred towards all Brits on a national scale. It's always useful to blame an entire nation for the actions of a shameful few, isn't it.

To Kavey: you're welcome, and I want to compliment you on your Mum's recipes...they look wonderful. <BR> <BR>Still looking for more stories.... <BR> <BR>

Thanks Laura... <BR>Hope you find them useful... <BR>We have had 176 visitors to the site now (we're counting unique visitors rather than hits). <BR>No one has signed the visitors book yet, so please do... <BR> <BR>I think the thing is that people will always be more friendly and open if thats the vibe they get from you, so if you come to UK expecting us to be quaint stiff upper lip people or all complete nutters a la fawlty towers you might be disappointed but if you come with a smile and openness you will hopefully get that in return... <BR> <BR>Kavey

Kavey.....you're right about visiting Great Britain with a smile and openness. We have been there over twenty times in twenty years and have thoroughly enjoyed each trip, meeting truly warm and wonderful people (including a few "stiff upper-lip types" and some "complete nutters"...all of whom have enriched our visits. :)

Ha haaa <BR> <BR>Sadly I think I fall into the complete nutter category... <BR> <BR>My accent used to be a strong Luton accent (to outsiders not far of a cockney but to locals different enough) but years away from home in the midlands and then france, have dulled it into a fairly standard SE/ london accent... <BR> <BR>which means more people can understand me these days <BR> <BR>the teenage I aint got none has become I havent got any <BR> <BR>!

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Kav <BR> <BR>Do you raise the pitch of your voice at the end of every sentence a la many Se/Londoners? You know, as if you're constantly asking a question, yeah? <BR> <BR>

I just have to join in here. This habit of ending a sentence as though it is a question really originated in Australia. <BR>It isn't really a London thing at all. If you hear it maybe the person talking is an Aussie or is a person who watches the prolific number of Australian soaps on daytime TV in UK. If Iam wrong and lots of people think we speak this way I would like to hear about it. One thing I love about the way British people speak is working out which part of the country they are from. Originally I came from Liverpool and that accent is most distinctive.

Tony, eeeuch, no I dont... <BR> <BR>Actually not that many Londoner's do, mainl those who have a lot of Antipodean friends. But whereas this sounds fine where it is native to accent (as in Australia) it just sounds like a pretentious affectation on Brits. <BR> <BR>Actually its something I really really hate as it just doesnt work with a British accent... <BR> <BR>There is actually a proper linguistic term for it but I forget... <BR> <BR>PS Tony, I thought you were going to ask about the nutter credentials for a moment there... <BR>

Hi Kavey, what is URL of your web site? I am ALWAYS on the look out for new recipes and even returned the favour on this forum a year or so ago re almond slices. Promise to sign the visitors book!

I realised it's an Antipodean creation but maybe it's big in London owing to the number of Australian and NZ bar staff? <BR> <BR>

That rising inflection at the end of the sentence is also very characteristic of teenage American girls. The theory is that it's a mechanism to elicit approval, agreement and consensus. But that thing about ending a sentence with a follow-on question is very London-ish, i'nt it?

Any more funny or weird stories about the people from that fabulous country?

Re anniel's comment: "Originally I came from Liverpool and that accent is most distinctive." <BR> <BR>I'd read somewhere that one of the things that made the Liverpool accent so distinctive in England was the number of Irish immigrants arriving in England via Liverpool. And this interesting article I found on the web -- "Scouse is threatened by the rising tide of Estuary English", from The Independent (London), 1 June 1999 -- seems to confirm that. <BR> <BR>http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/marks.htm

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Oh, dear surely the "aren't foreigners funny" thing went out with Queen Victoria. English people are no more endearing, quaint, agressive etc. than any other people and as for nutters, I've visited California (only joking). That woman was either barking mad or pulling your leg.

Ha, I'd never heard that before about Australians raising the end of their sentences..I'm going to be really paranonid now checking myself for whether I do or not....

Lucy et al - The rising inflection thing at the end of sentences seems to be a common phenomena with a lot of English speaking youger people - but it's true - we Australians have caught the habit badly! <BR>If you've read Bill Bryson's latest offering "Downunder" you'll have noticed his comments on the practice. <BR> <BR>Anyway - back to the original posting ... <BR>When we were in the UK in April, the garage man put everything about the UK into perspective for me -my husband had just been drenched with about a litre of patrol from a faulty pump- <BR>'It's a quaint little place once you get used to it!' <BR> <BR>I quoted that phrase back to myself many times during our trip! <BR>

Jan, it is www.mamtaskitchen.com, thanks for asking... <BR> <BR>Tony, yes I think the questioning inflection has come from the large number of antipodeans in London these days, and seems to be taken up by younger teengaers as a way of distinguishing their speech from their parents generation... <BR> <BR>I also tend to pick up other's accents easily and have to be careful people dont think I am taking the piss...

Tony, Anniel, others: my cousins from around Philadelphia always ran their sentences up at the end. Drove me nuts, what with my being accent-less and all ;). What I noticed in England was the lilting manner of speech South of London, not so much sliding up as moving up and down. Took two weeks to lose it after we returned home. I thought it to be a lovely, gentle manner of speaking, so didn't mind picking it up. I'm one of those empaths (chameleons) who pick up speech mannerisms unconsciously - and you should have heard my sister after two years in Tennessee! Totally unintelligible to the rest of the family.

I've found many older people in the UK end almost all of their questions with "no?" <BR> <BR>Also, I get tired of hearing my name said 64 times in a sentence when I'm over there. Every sentence starts with Jason, ends with Jason, and there are a few Jasons in the middle.

Jason, listen mate, it's what makes Britain great, no?

Thank's Wendy I've been meaning to borrow Bryson's Australian book from my parents & I'm definitely intrigued now!

Lucy -do! <BR>And while you're at it, see if they (or your local library) have "Notes from a small island" by the same author. <BR> <BR>The whole book really encapsulates everything this posting is about, yeah?

Hi Wendy - I actually brought 'notes from a small island' for my Dad's birthday a while back so I'll be able to borrow it too. I did read his one about traipsing through Europe which was great ('Neither here nor there' i think it was?)

I don't know if this is an endearing or loveable but my first trip to England 10 years ago I was quite startled when asking the taxi driver about the royal family he was amicably chatting about them, then paused and said with all seriousness: "You know, Fergie is a whore." I do love the Brits!!

<BR>&gt;the hotel woman sounds psychotic to me <BR> <BR>I'm sure she was just acting in accordance with EU directives about hotels acting as banks. <BR> <BR>;-) <BR> <BR>

<BR>Oh no! We're not going to start discussing _accents_ are we? <BR> <BR>How about some 'loveable American tourist' tales, just to keep things even? The behaviour of American visitors can be so endearing. . .

I live in Wales, U.K. and was stopped in a town by an American couple who asked me the way to the coal mines. They said they wanted to see the miners coming up from the pits. The wife said she hoped they would be singing. I think they had seen 'How Green Is My Valley' or something similar. I directed them in the direction of the Rhondda valley but gently explained all our mines had closed some years ago and all we have is Heritage Centres run by ex miners who would probably give you a tune for a few bob, if asked.

Well, there was the American tourist who asked why Stonehenge had been built so far from the airport, the one who was surprised that the Queen had built Windsor Castle under a busy flightpath. An American was overheard in the theatre at Stratford saying, "The Merchant of Venice, that's the one with Fagin, right?" <BR>We have noticed another quaint thing recently, a family of children can be armed to the teeth but a grown woman can't drink a glass of beer without being arrested.

&gt;Well, there was the American tourist who asked why Stonehenge had been built <BR>&gt;so far from the airport, the one who was surprised that the Queen had built <BR>&gt;Windsor Castle under a busy flightpath. <BR> <BR>These are probably urban myths, but they are in keeping with the _spirit_ of comments we hear from Americans. <BR> <BR>I remember a rather loud conversation between to young American tourists on a train in Berkshire that went something like this: <BR> <BR>"Where ya goin' today?" <BR> <BR>"To see Stonehenge." <BR> <BR>"Aw, I been there. It's just a pile o' rocks!" <BR> <BR>It made me wonder if many Americans think of Westminster Abbey as 'just an old church'!

Two American tourists were driving through Wales. As they were approaching Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town's name. They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch. <BR> <BR>As they stood at the counter, one tourist asked the employee, "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are... very slowly?" <BR> <BR>The girl leaned over the counter and said, "Burrrrrrrrrrrr, gerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Kiiiiiiiiiiing."

<BR> <BR>We once took an American friend of ours on a tour of the Brighton Pavilion. For those of you who don't know, it is the sea-side palace of King George IV, built to look like Taj Mahal on the outside and very ornately decorated in a Chinese motif on the inside. <BR> <BR>As our fried walked through the exotic, ostentatious rooms (click the little icons at http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/bhc/...on/index3.html to see them), she kept exclaiming how 'fabulous' they were and saying how she wanted to decorate her house like that! <BR> <BR>But the real clanger came when she asked me, "So how did this guy make all his money, then?" <BR> <BR>After blinking a few times to regain my composure - and heroically suppressing a belly laugh - I answered as patiently as I could, "Well, he was King of England!" <BR> <BR>"Oh," she said with a note of disappointment. <BR>

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Author: Stoney ([email protected]) <BR>Date: 6/10/2001, 6:34 am ET <BR> <BR>Message: I recently heard a conversation bewteen a rather loud American woman and her English friend. Part of it went like this: <BR> <BR>Englishman: "Has your furniture arrived yet?" <BR> <BR>American woman: "Yeah, but I had to sell my dining set. The table wouldn't fit in the tiny apartments you have over here!" <BR> <BR>I guess she couldn't afford a decent sized flat!