Category Archives: Culture
Pony country
Meet Snob, my sister-in-law's latest pony
England is a pony country. Before putting together this blog post, I wasn’t really not sure how expensive it was to keep a pony or buy a pony, but I couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot of people who have them, and I’m not just talking about the Windsors.
Regular folk.
My sister-in-law grew up with a pony. Her parents bought one for about £400 and then paid about £10 per week for boarding. Not extortionate, by any means. In fact, she remembers that there were about 10 people in her class at school who owned ponies. The rich kids had two ponies. No joke.
In the US, a pony will run you well over $1,000 and stable costs are an average of $700/month.
It really does beg the question: Why would anyone come to the US if they had a pony? Who leaves a country packed with ponies to live in a non-pony country? Seinfeld was so right. It doesn’t make sense.
The Californian’s definition of cold
This week, we’ve had terrible rain in California. And by terrible, I mean about 3/4 of an inch of rain in a day. Highs in the 60s Fahrenheit (around 17 degrees Celsius). Nothing crazy. Certainly nothing to warrant the medley of parkas and ski caps that I’m already seeing around here.
Last week I blogged about how Brits put on their summer’s best when the weather reaches a balmy 70 degrees. By the same token, Californians are guilty of dressing like New Englanders the moment temps dip into the low 60s.
One of my favorite parts of LA Story is an LA weather report from Steve Martin’s character Harris Telemacher:
Harris: And when the weather dropped down to 58 degrees this weekend, how did you cope?
Man on the Street: I went to make sure all the windows were shut.
Harris: And, what about your pets? Were they outside? What happened?
Man on the Street: Well, the cats were out till around ten. But it got a little too cold for them and they came in.
Harris: The cats were out till around ten. But it got a little too cold for them and they came in! Well, that’s how LA coped with that surprise low of 58 degrees that turned the weekend into a real weenie shrinker!
And on that note, may your weekend be warm and rain-free! Have a good one!
The Pluralization of Lego
This weekend Lego KidsFest will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can bet there will be a lot of talk about Legos there.
This weekend, we’ve been invited to a friend’s son’s 6th birthday party and when I asked my friend what her son might like for a toy, she told me that he was “really into Legos.”
Legos.
Yes, she pluralized it. It might just be the eighth deadly sin in Britain.
I think I speak for all Americans – every single, red-blooded one – when I say that we all pluralize Lego. We can’t help ourselves. We know it’s a brand name. We know you need more than one block to properly play Lego. So it just makes sense to us to add that s.
And to be fair, we don’t just do it with Lego. We do it with Barbie and with G.I. Joe and My Little Pony. We add s’s to every one of them.
But for some reason, the Lego thing in Britain is a thing. It’s always referred to as Lego, which is actually the correct pluralization of Lego. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a handful of them or a giant British army of them.
It’s like the way moose is the plural of moose. Or sheep is the plural of sheep. Or deer is the plural of deer. Americans just never got the memo.
Do you say Lego or Legos?
Hot fun in the … autumn time?
A heatwave has hit the UK. It's sizzling at 84 degrees!
It is positively balmy in the UK right now with temperatures reaching the mid-80s. South Yorkshire reports the hottest Sept. 29th (or should I say 29th Sept.?) on record with temps at 29 degrees Celsius (that’s 84 degrees Fahrenheit for Celsius-phobes).
For those of us who are don’t blink an eye unless it’s triple-digits, let me gently remind you: That’s HOT, people! Most Brits don’t have air conditioning and opening a window just doesn’t cut it. Most Brits strut around in shorts at the first sign of sunshine. If you look up the word “balmy” in a British dictionary, I’m pretty sure you’ll find a description of a temperate 70 degree day.
One thing I do find funny is that the heat doesn’t affect their consumption of hot tea. I’ve been told multiple times over the years that hot tea actually cools you down. It’s counterintuitive, they recognize, but they swear by it.
Now I’ve had hot tea in Britain on an 84 degree day and it has not cooled me down. But then again I’m not British so I don’t question. Nor would I dare suggest iced tea with lemon. Just let sleeping dogs lie. Even if those dogs are lying in sweltering temperatures sipping hot tea.
Divided by a common language?
My mother in law sent me an amusing article last week that I wanted to share here: “Divided by a Common Language – A Lighthearted Look at Linguistic Differences Across the Atlantic.”
Perhaps my favorite example is the fact that Brits call erasers “rubbers.” I died laughing the first time I heard that one, particularly since British parents are so insistent about packing rubbers in their children’s pencil cases before they head to school.
British rubbers - not to be confused with American rubbers.
It’s almost as funny as the British phrase “Keep your pecker up,” which means of all things, “Cheer up!” A friend of mine’s father worked with a Brit a few years back and still recalls how jaws dropped when he would naively use the phrase in the office.
A special thank you to Sue for sending this my way.
Does my butt look greedy in this?
Gordon Gekko has never been to a Hometown Buffet.
Greed is good. Gordon Gekko’s famous line from Wall Street still rings true in restaurants across the US.
When I first lived in the UK, I was struck by the concept of greed as it relates to food. I was at a Christmas party and the host had set out a delicious spread of food so guests could help themselves, buffet-style. A British woman in front of me commented on how greedy she was for trying a little of everything. Her plate was modest. She was slim. But still, this concept of greed overwhelmed her – or at least commonplace decency welled up, enough for her to make that comment.
Over the years, I’ve heard these kinds of comments over and over by Brits. Most Americans simply aren’t programmed to think this way. We think of greed in terms of money and possessions, but not in terms of eating too much or supersizing our meals. Gluttony may have been one of the seven deadly sins, but the message seems to have evaded our collective conscience.
I challenge you to visit any all-you-can-eat American restaurant like Golden Corral or Hometown Buffet in search of this distinctly British mentality. I can already guarantee there will be no such modesty and no apologies, aside from “I’m sorry that I couldn’t have made room for that second piece of cobbler” or “I’m sorry I didn’t wear my fat pants tonight” variety.
The Britishism Invasion
So, we might be to blame for the fact that Americanisms like “my bad” and “you do the math” has entered the British lexicon, but Slate writer Ben Yagoda has been chronicling the Britspeak, or what he has coined Britishisms, that have been showing up on our sandy shores.
Here are just a few examples:
Advert (instead of advertisement or ad), bespoke, bits (instead of parts), brilliant, called (instead of named), chat show, chat up, cheers, a coffee, cookery, DIY, early days, fishmonger, full stop (instead of period, as in the punctuation mark), ginger (a red-haired person), gobsmacked, had got (instead of gotten), Hoover (as a verb), in future, keen on, kerfuffle, mobile (as in mobile phone), on holiday, one-off, posh, presenter (a television host), queue, sell-by date, shite, short-listed, snog (passionately kiss), sort out, spot on, starter (instead of appetizer), straight away, take a decision, top up, twee, wait for it, wanker, and whilst.
And you can read more in this week’s Slate article.
A special thanks to @RichAppy who tweeted me this story.
Lohs Angeleez
Last night, we watched the series premiere of The X-Factor, which spotlighted auditions in Los Angeles.
Or should I say Lohs Angeleez? Because that’s what host Steve Jones, as well as British judges Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole were calling it repeatedly. LohsAngeleezLohsAngeleezLohsAngeleez.
An aerial view of downtown Lohs Angeleez. Photo credit: Marshall Astor.
But why? What’s wrong with Lahs Anjuhles? Or at least the original Spanish Lohs Annhelles?
I don’t think it’s a turn of phrase that is difficult to say with a British accent so I have to wonder … How do these sorts of national mispronunciations get started? Is there a British pronunciation handbook somewhere that decides these sorts of things? Is it written by the Queen? And can I buy it on Amazon?
X-tatic
For years, I’ve been hearing about The X-Factor from my British friends.
But despite America’s clearly insatiable hunger for a) reality-based singing shows and b) caustic British judges, America has been an X-Factor desert.
Until tonight!
It is with bated breath that I count down the hours to the series premiere of the American version of The X-Factor and the return of Simon Cowell to the telly.
This winning TV formula, which originated in the UK seven years ago, has already spread to over 30 countries and has finally landed on our shores.
I am looking forward to the smorgasbord of talent and trash, as they comb the country in search of that one individual or band with the so-called X-Factor. The addition of Paula Abdul as a judge is just icing on the cake.
Here’s a sneak peek to whet your appetite.
Hen night
Last weekend, a good friend of mine and her fiance got married in a beautiful ceremony in South Lake Tahoe.
In classic tradition, on Friday night, she had a bachelorette party or what Brits would call a “hen night.”
To protect the innocent, I'm going with this generic shot from "Bridesmaids."
I’ve been searching online to find something about the origins of “hen night” and could only come up with a few theories – but the most popular has been that it originated in Scotland where women are termed “hens.”
I actually prefer the British term. Bachelorette party just has a sordid connotation, don’t you think? It just sounds like it would have to involve a bow-tied Chippendale leaping out of a cake or worse. I also think that if American guys can have a stag party, then we should also be given a term with a female animal equivalent. But what? Doe party, perhaps? Sow night? Bitch ‘do?
Yeah, I’ll pass and stick with a free-range hen. Cluck. Cluck.
BRITRISH.COM 