# Are you an Anglophile? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545 "2014-07-07T15:16:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Weeping\_Wyvern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@Weeping\_Wyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeping_Wyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/21 "2014-07-07T19:26:54Z")
I’m an Anglophile in that I’m obsessed with the Anglican Church and the monarchy and English history and literature, but oddly enough, I don’t drink tea. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/22 "2014-07-07T20:14:33Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Growing up in Pakistan, there was a lot of dissonance, and 27 years after emigrating to the US, I’m still struggling with this. Historically we hated the British for colonialism and the racism and dehumanizing treatment “we” suffered (the “we” is really my grandparents who worked in the Indian Civil Service during the Raj). But then of course we studied in the “Cambridge” system of education, took O-levels and A-levels, played cricket, followed the FA Cup and Wimbledon, thought you weren’t properly educated if you didn’t know Shakespeare inside and out, and drank tea with milk and sugar. And of course the BBC was the pinnacle of journalistic excellence. > > I’m still a Republican (in the British sense) and was absolutely horrified at the Americans going gaga over the royal weddings. But I still watch britcoms and masterpiece mystery. I still got a chill taking my daughter to visit Lords Cricket Ground. I still say “bloody hell” and my daughter chides me “I wish you wouldn’t say that. It’s so vulgar.” So I seem to have infected the next generation. Not to mention, kept English as an official language, despite swearing up and own that we would be rid of it. If you are Pakistani, you have to be an Anglophile. Damn, British, first they conquer you, then they make you like them.:p:D ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/23 "2014-07-07T21:25:06Z")
I could give a list of terrible, sickening things done by the British, but unlike similar lists of other nations, my main citations would be from British sources. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/24 "2014-07-07T21:48:06Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Not to mention, kept English as an official language, despite swearing up and own that we would be rid of it. > If you are Pakistani, you have to be an Anglophile. > > Damn, British, first they conquer you, then they make you like them.:p:D I just knew you would be the one to respond. I don’t think younger people in Pakistan are as succeptible to this as we were. They are more Americanized. One of my teenaged cousins (once removed) actually was familiar with Tennessee Williams. My father was considered positively freakish for being fond of American literature. But I haven’t been to Pakistan since the 1980s, so you may know better. I suspect you are also younger than I am. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/25 "2014-07-07T21:53:30Z")
I’m an anglophile. Blame my grandparents, who happened to be born there. Though, being of the second generation away is a little annoying; I got the bad teeth but not the accent, for example. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/26 "2014-07-07T22:07:55Z")
It’s making me sad, the good people in this thread who feel they would be at home in England but can’t come and live here. If I could I’d marry all of you! Sorry we didn’t let you stay! ☹ As an aside, I always find it funny that Americans call us all British. It’s not much of a thing to me: I am English. I am a Cymrophile, perhaps, but not Welsh. (Obviously I am also British, but Americans tend to use that term so much more than we do.) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/27 "2014-07-07T22:54:33Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Programer? You can’t just do that, can you? It hurts to read that. And “judgment.” Jud-ug-ment? No, it’s “judge-ment.” Obvious spelling. Americans are crazy. “Traveler” looks like it would be pronounced “Trav-EEL-er.” “Traveller” is so much better a word. “Worshiped” looks like it would be pronounced “Wor-SHIPEd.” “Worshipped” is much better. And, formally and technically, “aluminium” is correct. An American abbreviated it without academic consensus. “Aluminum” is a trade-name, not the proper name. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/28 "2014-07-07T23:04:06Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > It’s making me sad, the good people in this thread who feel they would be at home in England but can’t come and live here. If I could I’d marry all of you! Sorry we didn’t let you stay! ☹ Hey, maybe you can’t marry _all_ of us, but one person asked first (see post #10). So… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/29 "2014-07-08T00:08:17Z")
It’s the tea. After I lived in the UK for a couple of years as a student, I came home with a tea addiction and Lipton’s just doesn’t fulfill the need. Not to mention scones and clotted cream. It’s also the television shows. I especially love those nice, old-fashioned BBC period dramas with cheap sets and production values, but fabulous actors. And it’s the green countryside of England. I go over about every year or so and spend a lot more time walking than I do here at home even though there are several large woodland parks nearby. It’s a different experience when there are narrow hedgerowed lanes and stone walls with an incredible variety of sheep-proof gates and stiles to go through/over when you’re crossing fields on public pathways. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/30 "2014-07-08T00:59:29Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > As a Cymrophile, no. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. 🙂 The Piper grandmother, a Jones of Joneses, gave us a healthy respect for both Wales and Britain as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/31 "2014-07-08T01:05:15Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > For all their faults, the English left behind a legacy of republican government and a reverence for education wherever they went. I beg your pardon? “Republican government” as a British legacy? I believe you’re confusing “constitutional government” with “republican.” (Says **Piper** , a proud subject of Her Majesty living to the north. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/32 "2014-07-08T01:06:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The two aren’t mutually exclusive. 🙂 The Piper grandmother, a Jones of Joneses, gave us a healthy respect for both Wales and Britain as a whole. True enough. I am fond of England and its history, literature, and culture, but too conscious of the darker side to call myself an Anglophile. I generally think all countries are interesting, though, and I know they all have their dark sides! Plus I’m part English, though it’s a ways back—a three- or four greats-grandfather. So maybe “restrained Anglophile” is fairer. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/33 "2014-07-08T01:09:02Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Movie heroes and villains always sound better in a posh RP accent. I once commented to Piper Mum that really, both the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer sound best when read by an English priest. She nodded sagely and said “I know, dear.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/34 "2014-07-08T01:10:34Z")
As for why, I come by it honestly: my background is entirely Scots, Welsh and Irish (Belfast), with a smidgen of English. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/35 "2014-07-08T01:23:19Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > As an aside, I always find it funny that Americans call us all British. It’s not much of a thing to me: I am English. I am a Cymrophile, perhaps, but not Welsh. (Obviously I am also British, but Americans tend to use that term so much more than we do.) My British significant other almost always refers to himself as British. I asked him about it once, and he said that he’d usually only refer to himself as English if he were in a gathering including other people from the UK, i.e. Welsh, Scots, etc. I’m not really an Anglophile, though I suppose I should be, considering my personal life. I like a lot of British culture, but not more so than a lot of American culture. I don’t find it inherently more interesting or better, really. It’s just… different. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/36 "2014-07-08T01:32:04Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Programer? You can’t just do that, can you? It hurts to read that. Yes, I can. There’s a spelling rule in both American and British English that says you don’t double the final consonant of a polysyllabic word when adding suffixes like “-ed” and “-er” unless the stress is on the final syllable. American spelling is just stricter about that rule than British spelling is. I like consistent rules, because I hate memorizing exceptions. Still, I admit that particular one looks a little weird to me too. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/37 "2014-07-08T01:36:14Z")
But the stress is on “-gram” so by that rule the “m” should be doubled. ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/38 "2014-07-08T03:01:05Z")
I am an anglophile. I lived in the midwest and when I was about 13 my dad gave me a radio to listen to pop music on. It had AM, FM, Police Band and SW. I didnt know what SW stood for (and for some reason never bothered to ask my dad) I used listen in bed at night, mostly to AM, some FM and always before I fell asleep I switched the dial to SW and spun the knob back and forth one time just to see if I might get something. Several months into this routine one night on SW I hit on something. It was a faint tune that I identified much later as Oranges and Lemons followed by the announcement that I was tuned to the World Service of the BBC. It was love at first sound. Monty Python, Masterpiece Theater, The Avengers and English mystery novels followed shortly thereafter. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/39 "2014-07-08T03:19:12Z")
I guess? My favourite bands are all English (well…one’s Welsh) and the history of the area is an interest of mine. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545/40 "2014-07-08T03:32:44Z")
May Anglophobes chime in? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-anglophile/692545.md?page=3)