# How can we ban a 'non-british' person from a job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885 "2011-08-16T11:48:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/21 "2011-08-18T22:07:08Z")
There’s another factor: the political one. The various factions in the Tory Party are jockeying for power and the players here are David Cameron, the PM; Boris Johnston, the Mayor of London; and Theresa May, the Home Secretary, who has the final word. And the citizenship requirement is one she is refusing to waive. Either she is cocking a snook at Cameron, or she is providing him with plausible deniability in his battle against Boris. I’m insufficiently Machiavellian to decipher it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/22 "2011-08-18T22:29:43Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > cocking a snook Please translate. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/23 "2011-08-19T06:41:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Please translate. Just a guess, but it might be in reference to drawing the pool cue back before taking the shot, which in this case would be to snooker someone. Declan ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/24 "2011-08-19T07:43:09Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > But the problem is that the school needs to sponsor you for the work visa. It was nearly impossible to find a school in London that both had a Certificate of Sponsorship AND needed teachers. That and I’m not QTS because of being an “overseas trained teacher”. It would be great if one could get QTS status before emigrating. Most of the foreign nationals I know who teach in the UK do it through agencies, even some that are working full-time jobs that seem exactly like regular permanent jobs. That might be worth looking into if you’re really eager to migrate. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Please translate. Showing that you do have control over your own actions and don’t need to kow-tow to someone in authority, nyer. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/25 "2011-08-19T09:07:46Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Even here in the EU we don’t always get to vote in national elections of our neighbours. Here in Sweden I can vote in local elections (I also got to vote in the Euro-referendum) but not national ones. In my native UK Irish people can vote in national elections if they are resident in there. Not only Irish citizens, but also those of any Commonwealth country. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/26 "2011-08-19T09:09:58Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Please translate. Translate into what? The expression (and the gesture it describes) isn’t specifically British. To cock a snook is to hold your thumb to the tip of your nose and then spread your fingers wide. It’s a gesture of mockery and defiance, and is widely understood as such throughout the Western world. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/27 "2011-08-19T09:56:56Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Translate into what? The expression (and the gesture it describes) isn’t specifically British. To cock a snook is to hold your thumb to the tip of your nose and then spread your fingers wide. It’s a gesture of mockery and defiance, and is widely understood as such throughout the Western world. It may not be specifically British, but it isn’t American. Most Americans aren’t that familiar with the gesture, either. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/28 "2011-08-19T10:03:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It may not be specifically British, but it isn’t American. Most Americans aren’t that familiar with the gesture, either. Having grown up watching American TV and not infrequently seen that gesture used, I must question the veracity of your claim – at least the second part of it. (The name for it I didn’t learn until I was much older, though I suspect British people are equally unaware of it.) ---
**Author:** ![JerseyMarine2092](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyMarine2092](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyMarine2092)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/29 "2011-08-19T10:07:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It may not be specifically British, but it isn’t American. Most Americans aren’t that familiar with the gesture, either. We are, but we call it the much more straight forward “thumbing your nose” at someone. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/30 "2011-08-19T13:42:51Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Translate into what? The expression (and the gesture it describes) isn’t specifically British. To cock a snook is to hold your thumb to the tip of your nose and then spread your fingers wide. It’s a gesture of mockery and defiance, and is widely understood as such throughout the Western world. I am familiar with the gesture, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard the term “cock a snook,” and I have more than average familiarity with British pop culture. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/31 "2011-08-19T14:09:06Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I am familiar with the gesture, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard the term “cock a snook,” and I have more than average familiarity with British pop culture. Again, the term is not a British regionalism—at least, it’s not marked as such in any American dictionary I’ve checked, such as Merriam-Webster. The closest concession I’ve found is in the American Heritage Dictionary, which claims that the term “is more widely used in Britain but is not unknown in America”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/32 "2011-08-19T14:16:04Z")
“Not unknown in America” isn’t saying much. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/33 "2011-08-19T14:23:40Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Not unknown in America” isn’t saying much. Neither is “more widely used in Britain”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/34 "2011-08-19T14:25:12Z")
Well, now I don’t know what you’re arguing. Are you saying that I’m pretending not to understand the phrase? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885/35 "2011-08-19T14:29:19Z")
No, I’m just agreeing with you that the American Heritage Dictionary’s statement is extraordinarily vague. “Not unknown in America” could well mean that only, say, 2% of the population there is familiar with the term, but “more widely used in Britain” could just as easily mean that 3% of the population there is familiar with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-ban-a-non-british-person-from-a-job/592885.md?page=1)