I’d heard it used in Scotland and nobody had been able to explain it, and you gave a much-better explanation than any of my coworkers. Excuse me while I go in search of a hat to tip to you, ma’am…
ETA: whether the origin was what she said or not, it’s still a much better explanation than any of my coworkers were able to give
Because I have no experience skiing in the French Alps. All I know is that their resorts are infamous for being butt-ugly concrete eyesores of the “dump a metric ton of concrete in the place in the landscape where it will fit worst and make it a hotel for 500 people” type.
the USSR stand in line thing goes back to teh 50-90’s when a store that had a shipment of goods would sell a certain qty. to each person. Thus a line meant that a valubale good was in the store. If you bought a good you didn’t one, you simply trade it with a neighbor for something he had. (toothpaste, soap, a radio, whatever)
I’m not sure about the answer to the OP but I was verbally assaulted by a Brit who got out of his car and challenged me to a fight and gave me a thorough dressing down about queuing after I picked the right drive through lane at a McDonald’s double drive through; after sitting behind him as he waited literally a car length behind the car ordering in front of him and made no attempt to take advantage of the wide open lane to the right. He was seriously pissed. I dunno in America when a new lane opens up we wait for the person to take advantage of it, and if they don’t I see no problem with taking it as the next in line.
Was this anywhere near Sheringham, Norfolk? The same happened to me, although it was because he had backed into my car in traffic and I got out to inspect the damage (there was none, luckily). People in Norfolk are nationally renowned for being unusually attracted to their cousins.
Otherwise it was probably just a case of bad luck; we Brits usually will do anything to avoid confrontation which is why queuing seems like a natural part of British life.
OTOH that doesn’t seem to apply to queues inside McDonald’s, on the very rare occasions I’ve visited them in the UK. This I’d attribute to the sort of British people who often frequent that particular chain. The last time I visited (for a coffee while family were shopping nearby) I was surprised how ill everybody in there looked, but that topic is for another thread.
Oh do stop with the “we Brits” bollocks.
I dont understand this sentence.
Sorry. Present company excepted?
S/he finds Roman people worse at letting people off subway trains than Parisians.
ETA: I agree the word order is tortuous. I had to read it twice to parse it.
Aw, right, lack of punctuation can lead to confusion.
Yeah, Latins in general are horrible at queuing. From an European Latin point of view, the ability to queue properly is something Northern Europeans do, it’s not a specific British thing.
And from my own experience, Brits actually queue more badly than Scandinavians.
P.S: as for the food thing, it has been there forever. Why do you think the French moniker for English is Rosbifs?
according to this reference, they use that term now to refer to the tendency of the British to turn the color or rare roast beef when exposed to the sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_names_for_the_British#Rosbif.2FRosbeef
I live in Orlando, Florida and there seems to be an element of truth in this description, but we usually compare British tourists to boiled lobsters.
“An Englishman, even if alone, forms an ordely queue of one.” George Mikes
This is the important bit. The reason the stereotype is not familiar to Americans is that Americans and British have similar queuing behaviour - because it’s something you have in common, it is unremarkable.
It is not an external stereotype where people say “those crazy Brits, always standing in line”. The stereotype exists primarily among the British themselves, defining the national self-image by contrasting the orderly, civilised British character with the supposedly chaotic and impulsive behaviour of people in Mediterranean cultures.
There’s an old Soviet-era joke that a Muscovite, after standing in line for four hours to buy something he didn’t even really want, said in disgust, “That’s it! I hate Communism. Enough is enough - I’m going to go shoot Brezhnev.” The rest of the folks in line cheered as he stomped off.
Not long afterwards he returned and got back in line, explaining, “The line to shoot Brezhnev was even longer.”