On reading the first of these two paragraphs, I was about to bring up race…and then you did! The way class is deeply set into our society is similar to the way race is in America.
And chowder, I don’t think I’d realised you were City…I’ve got some sky-blue sympathies, although none that’ll ever threaten my real loyalty 
Well liked?
I think a lot of us take it for granted that you guys know it! You are like family. You’re the older brother that has a little more perspective and gets us out of jams. You’re wickedly funny and seem to be one of the few countries that notices that the people and the government here aren’t at all the same thing.
When you aren’t playing the USA at soccer games, I always cheer for you you at World Cup and sing Rule, Britannia right along with you. It seems the most natural thing in the world.
In most English classes in America, we study world literature in the 10th grade, American literature in the 11th, and British literature in the 12th grade. British lit is usually the most revered.
In a Victoria’s Secret box under my bed are newspaper clippings that I’ve kept since I was four years old. They are of a lovely princess on her wedding day to a handsome blond. I believe he was Greek. Just a few years later I watched a film that was rushed to the United States and broadcast on American television on the evening of her Coronation as the Queen of England. I remember it so well. Her little boy and girl were just a little younger than I.
Behind me on the shelves are countless books about English country houses, the royal family, Lord Mountbatten, British literature, London in the early part of the Twentieth Century, and my first: The Little Princesses, the story of the children Elizabeth and Margaret Rose as told by their nanny.
There’s even the last of a bit of clotted cream in the refrigerator. I pretend it might still be good and just don’t throw it out.
I’ve never been to any of the British Isles. I came close in 2004 when I flew over the coast of Normandy!
Less than a hundred miles from where I live is a strange and wonderful small town that was founded by a Victorian English aristocrat specifically for younger sons of British society. The name of it is Rugby, Tennessee. You have to love settlers that built a tennis court before they built shelter for the night!
Someone asked if there is anything that you have there that we would like here. Most of the things you have would be out of place here. But there is one thing that I would truly love. If you could send the shop W. Bill Ltd. on New Bond Street in London I would be most grateful. They have had the most beautiful selection of tweeds. I hope they are still open. Just send the entire store – facade, sales staff and all.
Love,
Zoe
Eee… I’m not American, but the food in any non-ethnic restaurant in the UK still tends to suck.
Except for breakfast. Whomever came up with the notion of “continental breakfast” should be hung upside down from his/her genitals and left there to dry, but English breakfast takes itself as seriously as a good old peasant-style Spanish breakfast and has enough punch to bring me to lunch (whereas those skimpy Continental things move into another dimension at midmorning). Love me an English breakfast any day.
I’ll go along with the ‘Continental breakfast’ quote but not with the statement about food sucking in non-ethnic restaurants.
Sure there are places that serve utter crap but in the main I think our hoteliers/restaurant managers have realised that if you want people to come back then you have to give them something to come back for.
If you want a proper English breakfast then there is no better place than a ‘Greasy Spoon’ truckstop.
These establishments serve HUGE breakfasts and the greasy spoon image is a thing of the past. They are well run, clean and the toilet facilities are no longer as ahem crappy as they once were.
You can also phone ahead to order thus avoiding standing in a queue 'cos believe me there will be one.
You’re not paying enough then.
ferzackly
It’s probably a much better place to be poor than a lot of countries.
That’ll be Manure then will it seeing as how you don’t live in Manchester :dubious:
There’s a clue in his location field…
I know, I know…observe the smiley.
I’ll bet he supports Ipswich
I’ve heard the expression ‘Bob’s your uncle’ far more than ‘as happy as Larry’.
The derivation of the latter is uncertain:
'Larry - certainly the best known character in the world of similes. Most likely to be an Australian or New Zealand expression.
…
There are two commonly repeated contenders for the derivation. One is that it refers to the Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847 - 1917). Foley was a successful boxer who never lost a fight. He retired at 32 and collected a purse of £1,000 for his final fight. So, we can expect that he was known to be happy with his lot in the 1870s - just when the phrase is first cited.
The alternative explanation is that it relates to the Cornish and later Australian/New Zealand slang term larrikin, meaning a rough type or hooligan, i.e. one predisposed to larking about. ’
I don’t know if my opinion is what is being looked for in this thread since, though I am an American, I have lived in the UK for two years (and head back on Sunday).
Nava is so right about breakfast.
The main thing that bugs me about the UK are that there is not really such a thing as a ‘cheap, good’ restaurant, of which there are many in all parts of the US (even places where it is very expensive to live).
The people in the UK are much friendlier than I ever expected; salespeople in shops perhaps excepted.
jjimm, I have noticed some bad teeth here, but nothing too excessive. Informal surveys of my friends suggest that some Brits have a more ‘relaxed’ attitude towards oral hygiene than most Americans…
The class issue is something I have had to deal with (in Oxford it is a looming part of everyday interaction). As a ‘foreigner’ I am not easy to place in the ‘pecking order’ which has led to some bewildering interactions.
All in all I love the UK and if I wind up staying here permanently I will not mind it one bit.
Kind of an aside…
Any time it’s come up, all American men who’ve expressed an opinion have wholeheartedley agreed that a British or Australian accent (most of us can’t tell the difference) can turn the average woman into The Most Desirable Woman Ever[sup]TM[/sup].
So, please send us your women.
Thanks.
Seriously, I don’t know what a curry is, and I find that I’m in the top 3% or so of awareness around me.
Sure, I could use Wikipedia, but that would ruin the effect of saying that. My point is the difference between the two countries.
I love Top Gear, though. If Richard Hammond is permanently injured, I might cry.
[QUOTE=
I love Top Gear, though. If Richard Hammond is permanently injured, I might cry.[/QUOTE]
Latest update is that he has been out of bed and is walking!
We haven’t agreed on much in the past but I’m with you on this.
I like the programme and hope Hammond fully recovers from his injuries
You don’t know what a curry is???
Strewth :eek:
Top 3% of awareness?!? What does that mean? 
Doesn’t know what a curry is?!! Syntax error. Abort/retry/ignore?
Here you go: a curry is any one of a large number of Asian dishes, usually comprising meat and/or vegetables in a fragrant, spicy sauce.
Agreed! Except that I can tell the difference, and additionally, a Scottish accent is absolutely knee-melting.