elliemay|1334653369|3173126 said:
AprilBaby|1334603940|3172543 said:I thought I had read somewhere Europeans consider diamonds "night time" jewelry? Such as black tie, special event jewelry?
Pandora|1334658296|3173145 said:I love Lidl - amazing marzipan, wine and as you say... pheasant! I also enjoy the random stuff - horse blankets one week IIRC.
The other day I mentioned in another group online that my 2 year-old is developing a Cockney accent. Not unsuprising since we live in that area of London and the staff at her nursery speak that way. I find it very funny now, but I wouldn't want her to have it when she's 10. Amongst my family and friends from my own class it would be a source of amusement now but they would all understand exactly why I wouldn't want her to speak that way when she's older.
The group I mentioned it to was almost entirely people from the USA and a couple of them didn't really understand why it should be a problem or why I would care, which threw me a bit as it's hard to explain how much accent matters here without it sounding terrible. Mind you, that works both ways too - you certainly won't get a job as a TV presenter if you speak RP these days!
Jennifer W|1334661210|3173156 said:AprilBaby|1334603940|3172543 said:I thought I had read somewhere Europeans consider diamonds "night time" jewelry? Such as black tie, special event jewelry?
In England, I believe that diamonds are correctly worn by married ladies, and never before luncheon. Essentially, you don't see them being worn out and about because properly, they are evening wear and would only be worn at private functions. Engagement rings are not traditionally diamond because you wouldn't give an unmarried lady a diamond to wear all day. It isn't proper.
Lots of the cultural and class-related rules don't apply to the whole of the UK or Britain, but to England and the English. I don't know about Wales or Ireland, but in Scotland, there are different sets of rules and alternative minefields to navigate, with traps for the unwary...
I think the most unforgivable social sin in Scotland is arrogance. We really don't like that here and collectively seem have a sort of in-built compulsion to take a pop at it on every available occasion. It's a sort of national sport or pastime.
elliemay|1334661590|3173159 said:Pandora|1334658296|3173145 said:I love Lidl - amazing marzipan, wine and as you say... pheasant! I also enjoy the random stuff - horse blankets one week IIRC.
Yes! The have the most random things in -- lately there's been lots of ski equipment, which always looks funny next to the huge plastic 2-liter bottles of cheapo cider.
The other day I mentioned in another group online that my 2 year-old is developing a Cockney accent. Not unsuprising since we live in that area of London and the staff at her nursery speak that way. I find it very funny now, but I wouldn't want her to have it when she's 10. Amongst my family and friends from my own class it would be a source of amusement now but they would all understand exactly why I wouldn't want her to speak that way when she's older.
The group I mentioned it to was almost entirely people from the USA and a couple of them didn't really understand why it should be a problem or why I would care, which threw me a bit as it's hard to explain how much accent matters here without it sounding terrible. Mind you, that works both ways too - you certainly won't get a job as a TV presenter if you speak RP these days!
I'm very interested to see what happens when I have children. I still have a pretty strong southern US accent and my husband tends to err on the side of RP (mostly trained into him in radio and BBC work) with a light northeastern accent if he's talking to friends. Our kids will probably have crazy Geordie accents when they're outside the house and either sound like the Marlboro man or the queen when they're at home!
Pandora|1334662747|3173165 said:elliemay|1334661590|3173159 said:Pandora|1334658296|3173145 said:I love Lidl - amazing marzipan, wine and as you say... pheasant! I also enjoy the random stuff - horse blankets one week IIRC.
Yes! The have the most random things in -- lately there's been lots of ski equipment, which always looks funny next to the huge plastic 2-liter bottles of cheapo cider.
The other day I mentioned in another group online that my 2 year-old is developing a Cockney accent. Not unsuprising since we live in that area of London and the staff at her nursery speak that way. I find it very funny now, but I wouldn't want her to have it when she's 10. Amongst my family and friends from my own class it would be a source of amusement now but they would all understand exactly why I wouldn't want her to speak that way when she's older.
The group I mentioned it to was almost entirely people from the USA and a couple of them didn't really understand why it should be a problem or why I would care, which threw me a bit as it's hard to explain how much accent matters here without it sounding terrible. Mind you, that works both ways too - you certainly won't get a job as a TV presenter if you speak RP these days!
I'm very interested to see what happens when I have children. I still have a pretty strong southern US accent and my husband tends to err on the side of RP (mostly trained into him in radio and BBC work) with a light northeastern accent if he's talking to friends. Our kids will probably have crazy Geordie accents when they're outside the house and either sound like the Marlboro man or the queen when they're at home!
Yes, that will be quite an interesting mix! Do you find it hard to understand Geordie? I was at University in Newcastle and thought the accent there was fantastic but very hard to do.
Pandora|1334662747|3173165 said:elliemay|1334661590|3173159 said:Pandora|1334658296|3173145 said:I love Lidl - amazing marzipan, wine and as you say... pheasant! I also enjoy the random stuff - horse blankets one week IIRC.
Yes! The have the most random things in -- lately there's been lots of ski equipment, which always looks funny next to the huge plastic 2-liter bottles of cheapo cider.
The other day I mentioned in another group online that my 2 year-old is developing a Cockney accent. Not unsuprising since we live in that area of London and the staff at her nursery speak that way. I find it very funny now, but I wouldn't want her to have it when she's 10. Amongst my family and friends from my own class it would be a source of amusement now but they would all understand exactly why I wouldn't want her to speak that way when she's older.
The group I mentioned it to was almost entirely people from the USA and a couple of them didn't really understand why it should be a problem or why I would care, which threw me a bit as it's hard to explain how much accent matters here without it sounding terrible. Mind you, that works both ways too - you certainly won't get a job as a TV presenter if you speak RP these days!
I'm very interested to see what happens when I have children. I still have a pretty strong southern US accent and my husband tends to err on the side of RP (mostly trained into him in radio and BBC work) with a light northeastern accent if he's talking to friends. Our kids will probably have crazy Geordie accents when they're outside the house and either sound like the Marlboro man or the queen when they're at home!
Yes, that will be quite an interesting mix! Do you find it hard to understand Geordie? I was at University in Newcastle and thought the accent there was fantastic but very hard to do.
The thing with Cockney is that it is very much a working-class accent, where as many regional accents are more wide-spread socially, there are many very solidly middle-class people with strong Yorkshire, Manchester, Sunderland, insert area of choice accents. It's less likely among the upper-classes where RP is more prevelant, but when I was at Newcastle I had a lot of friends who were studying Agriculture - quite a few of whom were training to run the family estate. They spoke RP but often with a touch of Yorkshire dales in there.
My husband's family are from Birmingham - DH and his older brother speak RP but the youngest speaks RP with definite traces of Brummie which is quite strange to hear.
Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents are also classless - although there may be different vocabularies and particular pronunciations used by different groups. But you wouldn't think, oh Welsh accent, they must be upper-class.
Jennifer W|1334664902|3173173 said:Only to English people, to whom I suspect they all sound much the same. In the way that most English people sound much the same to us. I have this conversation regularly with my English husband and his family, who all claim to have no accents / RP. To Scottish people, they have strong, immediately obvious English accents (and we don't hear much difference between cockney and RP, in all truth, it's all just "English accents").
Jennifer W|1334661210|3173156 said:I think the most unforgivable social sin in Scotland is arrogance. We really don't like that here and collectively seem have a sort of in-built compulsion to take a pop at it on every available occasion. It's a sort of national sport or pastime.
TravelingGal|1334678071|3173280 said:Jennifer W|1334661210|3173156 said:I think the most unforgivable social sin in Scotland is arrogance. We really don't like that here and collectively seem have a sort of in-built compulsion to take a pop at it on every available occasion. It's a sort of national sport or pastime.
It seems the same in Australia...TGuy talks about the tall poppy syndrome a lot.
I actually think the national pastime is mocking the English specifically, but what do I know?
Pandora|1334679306|3173299 said:TravelingGal|1334678071|3173280 said:Jennifer W|1334661210|3173156 said:I think the most unforgivable social sin in Scotland is arrogance. We really don't like that here and collectively seem have a sort of in-built compulsion to take a pop at it on every available occasion. It's a sort of national sport or pastime.
It seems the same in Australia...TGuy talks about the tall poppy syndrome a lot.
I actually think the national pastime is mocking the English specifically, but what do I know?
Oh, you are quite right TGal... but then we regard them all as as former convicts so it's all fun and games and everybody is friends really
elliemay|1334606666|3172602 said:I soon settled in, though, and love it now. It's very much home and suspect it will be even more so after I've had children. I moved from the southern US to northeast England, and I think that was the perfect fit for me -- both are full of loud, nosy, friendly people who will tell you how to live your life if you give them half a chance!
elliemay|1334606666|3172602 said:Ah, there'll always be those people, won't there? Not long ago we had a BNP candidate come to the door and go through his big anti-immigration speech and I nodded along with it. When he finished, I asked him (in my best Steel Magnolias accent) if he was referring to ME, since I'm an immigrant. He looked like he'd swallowed a toad and said no, of course not, he meant "the other kind" of immigrants. I called him some distinctly unladylike names and slammed the door in his face. Bastard.
It gives us something to do in Scotland, while we're watching the drizzle fall...TravelingGal|1334678071|3173280 said:Jennifer W|1334661210|3173156 said:I think the most unforgivable social sin in Scotland is arrogance. We really don't like that here and collectively seem have a sort of in-built compulsion to take a pop at it on every available occasion. It's a sort of national sport or pastime.
It seems the same in Australia...TGuy talks about the tall poppy syndrome a lot.
I actually think the national pastime is mocking the English specifically, but what do I know?
Jennifer W|1334688440|3173414 said:It gives us something to do in Scotland, while we're watching the drizzle fall...TravelingGal|1334678071|3173280 said:Jennifer W|1334661210|3173156 said:I think the most unforgivable social sin in Scotland is arrogance. We really don't like that here and collectively seem have a sort of in-built compulsion to take a pop at it on every available occasion. It's a sort of national sport or pastime.
It seems the same in Australia...TGuy talks about the tall poppy syndrome a lot.
I actually think the national pastime is mocking the English specifically, but what do I know?
ETA I won't say that the Scots don't like the English, that would be a gross generalisation. I will just say that when I got engaged in my early 20s to a man many years my senior, who had previously been married and had almost adult children, my mother wept bitter tears. Because he was English (and for no other reason).
Perfectly said. It simply boils down to this for me.Smith1940|1334672596|3173220 said:For example, if someone from an old family with an ancient seat behaves in a despicable manner, I just find it impossible to think of them as upper-class. They become low-rent in my mind. Similarly, if I meet someone who would be identified in the UK as working-class, but who has beautiful manners and a lovely personality, then I think very well of them indeed.
I suppose what I'm saying is that to me, quality of character trumps class every time.