I'll agree with some of those labels, disagree with some, but honestly the dreamed-up romantic London that has been brewing in my mind since I was little simply does not exist. There isn't a perfect nirvana across the pond. BUT THANK GOD FOR IT. London and the British are gritty, edgy, comical, sharp, and just plain cool. Sometimes it's disgusting. Sometimes it's wicked. (As in the british slang use of the term. Think Ron from Harry Potter saying it.) Let me explain:
1. A lot of British men do not clip their nails. This was revealed to me by a Norwegian friend at my workplace, but I had noticed it beforehand. It's gross and makes no sense. Dear god, am I missing metrosexual America?
2. In general, they don't rinse the suds when they are cleaning dishes. They leave a sudsy plate to dry on the rack. WHY??
3. They are hilarious. Everyone knows about the original British office, Ricky Gervais, the Monty Python troupe, etc. (At least to me. Shelby can't see the brilliance of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. "There are some who call me............. Tim.") Their adverts are hilarious and their commercials make me laugh more than an American comedy. An excerpt of my absolute favorite one can be seen below. Have yet to find the full version.
4. They curse-- a lot. And at work. But somehow when they say it, the words sound musical. It rolls of the tongue in a pleasant way. Those accents... I swear it could save them in a murder trial in the US. They could be like, "yeah, I bloody did it." You're free to go.
5. The tube is a great place to write a novel, or complete a full sleep cycle, or ponder any existential crisis you might have, because it is SO QUIET. Never mind that like 4 million people use it to commute and get around every day. No one will bother you, or even make eye contact. The Brits are typically reserved when doing their day-to-day tasks. Go to a pub or club that night, and they will absolutely not be reserved.
6. Nothing is open 24-hour except for random chicken strip joints (or something like that..) Grocery stores? No. Boots? No. (It's like a pharmacy/drugstore/beauty joint) I can only pray their ERs are 24-hour.
7. The class structure is still quite visible and silent judging is happening constantly. I can just feel it. A very common term used here is "posh." Like, "oh, that's quite posh." Or, "Nah, I don't go there, it's too posh." They treat it like it's a bad thing to be rich and successful. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, tries to act more like the common man and hide the fact that he went to Eton and is super rich. Someone told me he tried to get people to call him Dave. People don't like the posh, even the posh.
8. They love their soap operas here. And their reality TV. Spiedi (Spencer and Heidi from The Hills) has slithered across the pond to participate in Big Brother, and we all caught them on the telly yesterday. They are already well-hated. I guess horribleness translates well. Also, while in the US soaps are centered around the rich and fabulous, beautiful and privileged, here they focus on the poor underdogs, wonky-teethed families and neighborhoods. So while our TV shows make us feel like crap, theirs make you happy for what you have.
9. Kerri mentioned this in her last post, but I think it is worth another mention: they have naked girls in their newspapers. Not like in small boxes in the corner-- like huge, taking up the whole tabloid-sized sheet. We were shocked. They're called "Page Three girls." I believe they are in The Sun and Daily Star, which are two leading newspapers in the country. All small campaigns to get them off the papers by feminist and church groups were all for naught. The only successful reform was the promise of using girls with real, perky breasts as opposed to fake.
10. They really do drink tea all the time. It's always at work, in their homes, at their friend's. Anywhere you step foot in this place, tea is assured to be there. The tea aisle at Sainsbury's is extensive.
11. They love to drink (and get drunk.) Even during the weekdays. My British Life and Culture teacher said when he was at his first real job, him and his co-workers would go to the pub in the afternoon, drink 3 pints, then go back to work. Sometimes the men never went back to the office.
Hopefully you all have a better idea of the people who surround us every day in the tube and in the pubs. They are delightful people with musical voices and floppy hair. We are loving it.
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