Sunday,
January 28, 2007
British Admit to Low Self
Esteem; Long to be Italian or French
The
ANNOTICO Report
Maybe
it is All that stiff upper lip/chaps don't cry/better to lose than be seen
trying to win/don't argue with matron stuff.
It's
not Jade (Goody) we should blame. It's "Bertie Wooster's"
fault. PG Wodehouse's creation blithered about the place, dropping appalling
social gaffes, getting into scrapes with gals and forever being fished out of
the soup by his butler, Jeeves. He is a
bumbling idiot who needs another bloke to tell him which way round his
underpants go.
Lots
of people blame our rather chequered past as an
empire.
Maybe
we got so tired of the imperial overtones associated with Britishness
that we were happy to be portrayed as sexually repressed clots who got stuck in
the 50s. A bloke who spends his life wandering round pre-war train
stations in a tank top carrying a brown suitcase full of scones and teabags
while talking to yourself politely about Mummy, Nursey
and the weather.
It's
much easier for our European cousins to live up to their national stereotypes
and still exist in a modern world.
If you're ITALIAN , eat pasta, watch football and chat up everyone you meet.
If you're French, you can tell the world simply by having a great lunch with
friends.
Note:
"Jade Goody" made celebritydom by having a
very Angry, Obnoxious, Potty Mouth, as a contestant on British
"Big Brother" TV Reality show.
"Bertie" might be
a "made up" word combining "British" and "Dirty",
and /or cartoon character "Bertie"
BRITISH
IS NOW A BERTIE WORD
The
Mirror.
Richard
Hammond
27
January 2007
WE
heard this week that we're no longer happy to call ourselves British. And there
are plans to teach Britishness in schools. But what
exactly is Britishness?
People
living in
Maybe
that's
So
people who aren't Scottish feel all put out and don't want to be a member of a
Of
course, it's mighty tempting to blame Jade Goody for our current reluctance to
call ourselves British. Who wants to be a member of a club that admits that
monstrosity?
But
it seems the concept of Britishness has been hijacked
by antiquated traditionalists - the tweedies have
stolen our national identity.
To
live up to what it's been made to stand for, you would have to spend your life
wandering round pre-war train stations in a tank top carrying a brown suitcase
full of scones and teabags while talking to yourself politely about Mummy, Nursey and the weather.
We've
got an image of Britishness so fixed in the 50s that
it's impossible to see how anyone under the age of 100 who wasn't born in a
crumbling pile in the country can belong.
All
that stiff upper lip/chaps don't cry/better to lose than be seen trying to
win/don't argue with matron stuff is hardly encouraging new membership.
It's
not Jade we should blame. It's Bertie Wooster's fault. PG Wodehouse's creation
blithered about the place, dropping appalling social gaffes, getting into
scrapes with gals and forever being fished out of the soup by his butler, Jeeves.
If
you're British, 18, of Asian descent, work in an IT company, listen to a bit of
gangsta rap and drive a hotted-up
Citroen Saxo, how could you identify with a bumbling
idiot who needs another bloke to tell him which way round his underpants go?
NO
wonder we don't call ourselves British - we're embarrassed to.
Anyway,
how could anyone live up to the stereotype we've saddled ourselves with and
still exist in a modern world?
How
can we be Bertie Wooster and still shop at Ikea, eat takeaway food, buy
PlayStation games on a Sunday and hug our friends when we say goodbye?
It's
much easier for our European cousins to live up to their national stereotypes
and still exist in a modern world. If you're French, you can tell the world
simply by having a great lunch with friends. If you're Italian, eat pasta,
watch football and chat up everyone you meet.
Lots
of people blame our rather chequered past as an
empire.
Maybe
we got so tired of the imperial overtones associated with Britishness
that we were happy to be portrayed as sexually repressed clots who got stuck in
the 50s.
When
your forebears spent centuries stamping all over the place trying to take over,
it's not surprising if you take up clowning to lighten the mood.
Either
way, it's time to reclaim Britishness. We are modern,
we are culturally diverse. But hardly any of us wear tweeds any more. Bertie
Wooster, Basil Fawlty and Basil Brush all have their
place. But let's stop pretending that's who we are.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline
=british-is-now-a-bertie-word-&method
The
ANNOTICO Reports
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