getting crazy over football , thinking all muslims are terrorist , sleeping with as many girls as possible, taking drugs and not giving a crap about anything , hating your parents , it means getting pissed out your head and go looking for sum pakies to beat up :roll:

thats why i dont feel british

Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner. You must be eating some of what’s on that plate. Being here in Britain doesn’t make you an British. Being born here in Britain doesn’t make you an British.

Being British is something that I only experience when I’m far away from Britain. Such as clean water, free NHS and Education, lack of bribery and corruption in our markets and the legal channels that you can work through when you’ve been wronged, as well as the cultural and religious diversity in this country.

Being British also means to moan about everything and anything. Be it the weather, the traffic, street crime or the unpredictable bus and train service!

This would eb the perfect thing to send to the egroup... unless you only want views of the few that visit the forums?

What does it mean to me?

I pay my taxes, I get my services. nice and simple.

It also means freedom from oppression, and freedom to do many many things.

"NAS786" wrote:

getting crazy over football , thinking all muslims are terrorist , sleeping with as many girls as possible, taking drugs and not giving a crap about anything , hating your parents , it means getting pissed out your head and go looking for sum pakies to beat up :roll:

thats why i dont feel british

What a shame. All those traits are evident here and there but I don't know a single person like that. Think well of people. Some day a lager lout might save your life. British culture often includes a strong element of pride in civility, wearing impeccable qualities modestly and facing challenges with quiet fortitude, the stiff upper-lip, which is why you don't have as strong a picture of the all-British superheroes who surround us as you do of the occasional loudmouth or street-rat. At the same time you make a profound judgement of people who like a party. While I can understand it may be your observation, say if you live in a rough area, your comment is extremely BNP-ish, akin to saying Muslims are a bunch of arrogant, subversive fundamentalists and gangsters. In other words expanding a stereotype that does exist in some proportion to represent the humble outstanding mass. Increasingly my Britishness induces a great sadness at finding people who talk that way.

Go on 100.

What does being british mean to you?

I think my post was pretty positive.

I am british and happy to be so.

However thinking up reasons is not that easy. You have to decuide wether the reasons you think up are uniquely british or just human traits.

"TheRevivalEditor" wrote:

Every tom, dick an dharry from Blair, brown, cameron.... is defining britishness...

but what does it mean to you?

anything?

pls discuss....

Bad food, worse weather, an unintelligible accent and Mary freaking Poppins.

last comment before bed, i love mary poppins every xmas i ask my bro to tape it for me coz i have no tv. a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down in the most delightful way...i can just hear her now night night.

Sweet dreams yashmaki!

Bad food?

The national dish is now a (fake) curry. Things have improved.

Fish are Chips are brilliant. With beans or mushy peas. Or carrots. Or Ketchup. Or on their own.

Can't argue about the weather, though it was pretty warm today during daylight hours.

and Mary Poppins should be shot.

Britishness does not have an accent.

We have loads of diffwerent ones for different regions.

Apparently the glaswegian accent makes people trust you more. Call centre's are thus moving to Glasgow.

Only downside is noone can understand them!

Better than the welsh accent though. I like the Irish accent.

Don't like cockney, scouse or brummie.

Mancunian is ok. In Yorkshire they call you duck, so forget the accent. They are weird.

:twisted:

"Admin" wrote:

Bad food?

The national dish is now a (fake) curry. Things have improved.

Fish are Chips are brilliant. With beans or mushy peas. Or carrots. Or Ketchup. Or on their own.

Oh geeze you're right! How could I have forgotten beans and mushy peas with carrots and Ketchup??

:roll:

Quote:

Can't argue about the weather, though it was pretty warm today during daylight hours.

You guys just shared a hurricane with Deutschland. That's bizarre...

Hey at least you know what it feels like, SC gets em all the time! They suck don't they?

Quote:

and Mary Poppins should be shot.

I liked Mary Poppins. I jumped off our pool house with an umbrella when I was a kid... didn't work out. One of many early failed attempts at human flight.

Quote:

Britishness does not have an accent.

We have loads of diffwerent ones for different regions.

Apparently the glaswegian accent makes people trust you more. Call centre's are thus moving to Glasgow.

Only downside is noone can understand them!

Better than the welsh accent though. I like the Irish accent.

Don't like cockney, scouse or brummie.

Mancunian is ok. In Yorkshire they call you duck, so forget the accent. They are weird.

:twisted:

They're all unintelligible! I can understand a frenchman speaking english better than an englishman speaking english.

"TheRevivalEditor" wrote:

Every tom, dick an dharry from Blair, brown, cameron.... is defining britishness...

but what does it mean to you?

anything?

pls discuss....

Eastenders

fish n chips

weak tea

unpredicatable weather

law and order

being civilised

not airing ur dirty laundry in public

"Admin" wrote:

Go on 100.

What does being british mean to you?

I think my post was pretty positive.

I am british and happy to be so.

However thinking up reasons is not that easy. You have to decuide wether the reasons you think up are uniquely british or just human traits.

My post was responding to NAS786, not you. I agree your post was pretty positive.

Yes, I know.

That don't mean I am not interested in your opinion.

What do you define as 'british'? Is ti even somethign you give a thought to? I have no idea what otehrs think as this question is normally aimed at 'foreigners' or 'muslims'.

I have no idea how others define as britishness. What qualities they admire and what ideals they try to hold to as 'British'.

Apart from the NHS, which is 'better' on mainland Europe. :?

People with British residency are British. Also there are policies and legacies in the world such as free speech and other liberalisms that could be considered British. British institutions and civic designs like the red pillar box are obviously British. Whatever holds universally within Britain, such as British law, is British. A range of stereotypes can also be called British. I think it is futile and perhaps nostalgia, although I have done it here before, to identify which positive stereotypes are British, but whatever is or recently was practised here that is good should be considered a positive reflection on Britishness and one's identity generally. Above I referred to modesty about one's strengths. There is a certain conservatism in Britain that is being lost amid the high pace of contemporary society, which phenomenon is also global. Responding with anti-globalisation riots might be considered especially un-British, being as Britain has always prided its institutions on their ability to spearhead reform rather than tempt revolution.

"Mr Honey's Day Out" wrote:

People with British residency are British. Also there are policies and legacies in the world such as free speech and other liberalisms that could be considered British. British institutions and civic designs like the red pillar box are obviously British. Whatever holds universally within Britain, such as British law, is British. A range of stereotypes can also be called British. I think it is futile and perhaps nostalgia, although I have done it here before, to identify which positive stereotypes are British, but whatever is or recently was practised here that is good should be considered a positive reflection on Britishness and one's identity generally. Above I referred to modesty about one's strengths. There is a certain conservatism in Britain that is being lost amid the high pace of contemporary society, which phenomenon is also global. Responding with anti-globalisation riots might be considered especially un-British, being as Britain has always prided its institutions on their ability to spearhead reform rather than tempt revolution.

To correct you, Brits subscribe to the [i]French[/i] concept of liberalism and Free Speech is an [i]American[/i] development that has greatly affected the uncodified political leanings of England. Also if architecture remains monolithic you're looking at a future creative potential that rivals... Nazi Germany. (Das Gallerie des entartete Kunst)

I'll agree with you on that last bit though, British institutions and developments like Social Contract theory, Common Law or Westminster Parliamentarianism are constructed to allow change in an orderly manner.

"Admin" wrote:

I have no idea how others define as britishness. What qualities they admire and what ideals they try to hold to as 'British'.

:?

fairness

law and order

Whales in the Thames?

i found this somewhere online some bits ring a true bell others just made me laugh...

[b]Being British[/b]

Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of all things foreign!

Only in Britain can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in Britain do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in Britain do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a
DIET coke.

Only in Britain do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters.

Only in Britain do we leave cars worth thousands of pounds on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.

Only in Britain do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

Only in Britain are there disabled parking places in front of a skating
rink.

NOT TO MENTION..

3 Brits die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue.

142 Brits were injured in 1999 by not removing all pins from new shirts.

58 Brits are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of
screwdrivers.

31 Brits have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the
fairy lights were plugged in.

19 Brits have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate.

British Hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year after Xmas
cracker-pulling accidents.

18 Brits had serious burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit
cigarette in their mouth.

A massive 543 Brits were admitted to A&E in the last two years after trying to open bottles of beer with their teeth.

5 Brits were injured last year in accidents involving out-of-control
Scalextric cars.

and finally...
In 2000 eight Brits were admitted to hospital with fractured skulls
incurred whilst throwing up into the toilet.
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