[QUOTE=Steve Wright]
Look at Cardinal Wolsey, if you can stand it.
[/QUOTE]
I beg your parden. Ipswich has to have something to be proud of 
[QUOTE=GorillaMan]
I beg your parden. Ipswich has to have something to be proud of
[/QUOTE]
Well, how about that it’s not Felixstowe?
[QUOTE=Quartz]
Well, how about that it’s not Felixstowe?
[/QUOTE]
‘Proud of’ != ‘thankful for’
[QUOTE=Antonius Block]
Una, are Fierra’s relatives members of the British nobility? If not, IMHO it’s bizarre that they would refer to other people as “commoners” in a derogatory manner. AFAIK its only usage is in phrases such as “Princess Anne married a commoner”.
[/QUOTE]
Well perhaps the bizarreness is why it seems offensive to me when I hear it used. It’s typically in the context of “Oh well, he married a commoner so he got what he deserved” or “Well, they’re just commoners anyhow, so who cares?” Fierra herself would never use the term, and never has used the term. As to the status of her family, the only thing I will say is none of them are titled nobility.
As I said before, I’m not English, I have no English experience, and the only English I have on me is what rubs off of Fierra onto me. The term as I hear it used sounds like a filthy derrogatory word straight from a movie, like how someone would use to dismiss “all those dirty savages in the colonies”.
[QUOTE=Una Persson]
Well perhaps the bizarreness is why it seems offensive to me when I hear it used. It’s typically in the context of “Oh well, he married a commoner so he got what he deserved” or “Well, they’re just commoners anyhow, so who cares?” Fierra herself would never use the term, and never has used the term. As to the status of her family, the only thing I will say is none of them are titled nobility.
[/QUOTE]
This sounds very odd usage, considering Fiera’s parents sound like they’re ‘commoners’ themselves. Blimey, even Lady Di herself was considered a ‘commoner’ when compared with the Royal family. Her parents aren’t some dusty old expats living in a plantation house on some south pacific island are they?
Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is that they’re making a joke with their tongues firmly in their cheeks. I know a few ‘forreigners’ who find British humour sometimes difficult to spot, and think we’re being rude when we’re just having a laugh.
[QUOTE=Una Persson]
the only English I have on me is what rubs off of Fierra onto me.
[/QUOTE]
Fierra doesn’t sound like a very English name
[QUOTE=SanVito]
Fierra doesn’t sound like a very English name
[/QUOTE]
Nor does SanVito.
[QUOTE=GorillaMan]
I beg your parden. Ipswich has to have something to be proud of
[/QUOTE]
Well it sure aint the football team old cock 
Me? common as muck matey and damn proud of it, you’ll 'ave to excuse me now coz it’s my turn up the chimney.
Could be worse, could be the barrel :eek:
[QUOTE=SanVito]
Fierra doesn’t sound like a very English name
[/QUOTE]
It’s her SDMB Board name, not her real name. I doubt more than 1% of the people on here post under their own name. Her real name is as English as Sloane Street.
hmmm, got me there
[QUOTE=glee]
Getting into Oxbridge (Oxford + Cambridge, our top two Universities) is far easier if you have money for private education.
[/QUOTE]
True, but that’s because the private education system provides a far better education than the state system, not because of any bias by the universities in favour of privately educated pupils.
[QUOTE=Quartz]
True, but that’s because the private education system provides a far better education than the state system, not because of any bias by the universities in favour of privately educated pupils.
[/QUOTE]
But if private education is expensive, the net effect is that rich kids have a better chance of getting into Oxford or Cambridge.
[QUOTE=Quartz]
True, but that’s because the private education system provides a far better education than the state system, not because of any bias by the universities in favour of privately educated pupils.
[/QUOTE]
In itself, it’s proof of neither assertion.
[QUOTE=Quartz]
True, but that’s because the private education system provides a far better education than the state system, not because of any bias by the universities in favour of privately educated pupils.
[/QUOTE]
If this is so, all the other universities should be full of privately-educated pupils too, as they spill over from Oxbridge.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
If this is so, all the other universities should be full of privately-educated pupils too, as they spill over from Oxbridge.
[/QUOTE]
I understand that certain universities on the South Coast are favoured, as is St Andrews.
[QUOTE=Quartz]
I understand that certain universities on the South Coast are favoured, as is St Andrews.
[/QUOTE]
That seems to contradict your assertion that Oxbridge candidates are only getting there on merit…
[QUOTE=ultrafilter]
But if private education is expensive, the net effect is that rich kids have a better chance of getting into Oxford or Cambridge.
[/QUOTE]
Kids with successful parents have a better chance of succeeding in life anyway. But you’ve still got to have the intelligence. For the record, my brother (a genius)went to Oxford, I went to Manchester.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
If this is so, all the other universities should be full of privately-educated pupils too, as they spill over from Oxbridge.
[/QUOTE]
Edinburgh is (I think around 40% of our student population came from private schooling, the highest in Scotland). Durham is traditionally the Oxbridge reject university, St. Andrews and Bristol are also full of privately educated students, I hear.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
That seems to contradict your assertion that Oxbridge candidates are only getting there on merit…
[/QUOTE]
??
Lots of privately educated people simply aren’t clever enough to go to Oxbridge.
Sorry, I’m having problems matching the statement above with the previous exchange:
[QUOTE=Quartz]
True, but that’s because the private education system provides a far better education than the state system, not because of any bias by the universities in favour of privately educated pupils.
[/QUOTE]
Perhaps it’s because I only have the benefit of a state education…