[TAG] (Not-TAG) Kate Fox's _Watching the English_

[Mike Orr]

On 6/29/06, Thomas Adam <thomas at edulinux.homeunix.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 29, 2006 at 04:39:18PM -0700, Mike Orr wrote:
> > Brooklynese is always amusing. "How you DOOOIN?" "cwoffee"
>
> Hehe.  I'm having fun trying to imagine that.   But then, *any*
> introductory sentence involving coffee is good in my book.

They don't say it *together*, dunderhead!

> > That's the quintessential British stereotype: people wanting to talk
> > but they don't because they haven't been introduced. I don't know how
> > much it's true. I can't say I've noticed a difference between British
> > and Americans, but I don't talk to passing strangers a lot either.
> > I do say "Hi" sometimes to people in the city, like some others do
> > to try to keep alive the small-town customs; that may be an American
> > thing.
>
> It depends.  In tightly-knit rural communities (such a farming
> communities)  acknowledging one another is always done for this very
> reason alone.
>
> > I did get chewed out twice by British toughs on the train. Once on
> > the tube when I accidentally spit in a guy's direction. And once in
>
> That doesn't surprise me, most find such acts rude.

I understand he was upset.  I just didn't understand why he kept
harping on it after I said I'm sorry.  What did he expect me to do?  I
can't undo it.

> Heh.   I can't help but chuckle at that.  Note that it's not your
> question about what the Severn is, but more that you asked if what you
> had passed was a mountain.  :)  We don't have anything close in Britain
> to a proper mountain -- the only places you are going to lay claim to
> any prominent ones is "Ooop North" in The Lake District, and Scawtland
> (sic).

The only time I've seen tunnels is when they plow through mountains,
of which there are a lot here.

-- 
Mike Orr <sluggoster at gmail.com>