Watching the English: Mailcopiesto: never

The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour' by Kate Fox. It's rather good (that's rather English), very useful for people (including native Englishpersons) who know they don't understand when and how to do some very English things. She makes a persuasive case for many English habits being due to a fundamental social dis-ease: the English are simply not good at communicating one to another, and therefore have many rules for these encounters. When the rules do not apply or are removed (apparently the English belief that alcohol reduces inhibitions is so deeply engrained that they become drunk on placebos), then violence or, more usually, mock violence is likely.

I like the notion that house numbers-names are not displayed prominently on so many houses because making your house hard to find is the modern equivalent of a moat.

As for the social implications of food... apparently back bacon marks you as upper-clbutt. Eggs and chips are individually clbuttless, but Egg-and-chips is working clbutt (although the upper-middle and upper clbuttes are allowed to display boundless eccentricity provided they do so with confidence). Rice salad is lower clbutt, even worse with sweetcorn in it. Food-faddishness is a very upper-middle cult, which spreads downward (food intolerance is aspirational?) "While I have every sympathy for anyone with a genuine food allergy, the fact is that only a very small percentage of the population actually have such identifiable medical conditions -- far fewer than the number who believe they are affected. These English chattering-clbutt females seem to hope that, like the Princess and the Pea, their extreme sensitivies about food will somehow demonstrate that they are exquisitely sensitive, highly tuned, finely bred people, not like the vulgar hoi polloi who can eat anything. In these rarified circles, you are looked down upon if you have no difficulty digesting proletarian substances such as bread and milk."

Good fun, and very thought-provoking.

regards sarah

-- Think of it as evolution in action.