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pensnestBeing British [what it means to you, how to do it, things you love/loathe about it- whatever hits you!] from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
msktrnanny
Hmm.
I've been pondering this one and haven't really come up with a good answer. I suppose I don't really think about being British, particularly. It's a fundamental part of who I am, but it doesn't need attention. I'm proud of it, but not in a way that needs to be expressed. I wouldn't want to be anything else and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else (although, I dunno, sometimes I get so *cross* with my government).
I like my country's shape. Temperate climate, compassable size. (I like, in particular, this little bit where I live, that's not too hilly and not too flat and not too windy or rainy or snowy... Goldilocks land.)
I like my country's history—not, I should add, that I like all the details. We've plenty to be ashamed of as well as plenty to be proud of. But there's a lot of it, and pre-history, too, and it is interesting. I like that there's a lot of it left lying about the place, in the shape of tumbled castles and monuments and cobbled streets and stately homes and ruins and round blue signs and horses carved into hillsides and peculiar traditions. I like the way all this history everywhere makes me feel rooted.
I like my country's language, and the millions and millions of wonderful words written in it by incredible people. Though I also like the way it has mugged other languages and rifled through their pockets for more exact ways to express concepts it didn't have its own words for. I like the way the language has spread across the world and mutated in all kinds of ways, and that the English spoken here has reabsorbed the mutations. It's a bit of a giant sucking monster, but it's mostly a good one.
I like our traditions of theatre, professional and amateur. I like the idea of pantomime (interactive theatre!) even if I don't like panto very much...
I like... hats at weddings. Talking about the weather. Doctor Who. Radio 4, which is a national treasure. The Proms. Red double-decker buses. I like sub-post offices in shops. I liked the volunteers at the Olympics. God, that's a middle-class list. I'm not sure that I like the infinite fine gradations and signifiers of class, but they're interesting, and I do like the way they're quite a lot irrelevant nowadays for practical and everyday purposes.
I don't like the newspapers. I don't like the way our educational system works. I don't, I really don't like politicians who keep trying to pick the NHS (another national treasure, albeit somewhat tarnished) to pieces while pretending to be trying to improve it. (I don't consider "making it more like what the Americans do" to be an improvement.) I don't like our national tendency to xenophobia or the whining fools who don't want to be a part of Europe.
I do like the general tolerance I perceive in the society around me. It's not a perfect place, but it is improving, it really is. I like the understatedness of the British character, and the self-deprecating humour, and even the way we're embarrassed to be thanked. I like the way most of us are slightly puzzled by overt patriotism—because that sort of thing just doesn't need to be said.
To pick one of the remaining days, go here.
msktrnannyHmm.
I've been pondering this one and haven't really come up with a good answer. I suppose I don't really think about being British, particularly. It's a fundamental part of who I am, but it doesn't need attention. I'm proud of it, but not in a way that needs to be expressed. I wouldn't want to be anything else and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else (although, I dunno, sometimes I get so *cross* with my government).
I like my country's shape. Temperate climate, compassable size. (I like, in particular, this little bit where I live, that's not too hilly and not too flat and not too windy or rainy or snowy... Goldilocks land.)
I like my country's history—not, I should add, that I like all the details. We've plenty to be ashamed of as well as plenty to be proud of. But there's a lot of it, and pre-history, too, and it is interesting. I like that there's a lot of it left lying about the place, in the shape of tumbled castles and monuments and cobbled streets and stately homes and ruins and round blue signs and horses carved into hillsides and peculiar traditions. I like the way all this history everywhere makes me feel rooted.
I like my country's language, and the millions and millions of wonderful words written in it by incredible people. Though I also like the way it has mugged other languages and rifled through their pockets for more exact ways to express concepts it didn't have its own words for. I like the way the language has spread across the world and mutated in all kinds of ways, and that the English spoken here has reabsorbed the mutations. It's a bit of a giant sucking monster, but it's mostly a good one.
I like our traditions of theatre, professional and amateur. I like the idea of pantomime (interactive theatre!) even if I don't like panto very much...
I like... hats at weddings. Talking about the weather. Doctor Who. Radio 4, which is a national treasure. The Proms. Red double-decker buses. I like sub-post offices in shops. I liked the volunteers at the Olympics. God, that's a middle-class list. I'm not sure that I like the infinite fine gradations and signifiers of class, but they're interesting, and I do like the way they're quite a lot irrelevant nowadays for practical and everyday purposes.
I don't like the newspapers. I don't like the way our educational system works. I don't, I really don't like politicians who keep trying to pick the NHS (another national treasure, albeit somewhat tarnished) to pieces while pretending to be trying to improve it. (I don't consider "making it more like what the Americans do" to be an improvement.) I don't like our national tendency to xenophobia or the whining fools who don't want to be a part of Europe.
I do like the general tolerance I perceive in the society around me. It's not a perfect place, but it is improving, it really is. I like the understatedness of the British character, and the self-deprecating humour, and even the way we're embarrassed to be thanked. I like the way most of us are slightly puzzled by overt patriotism—because that sort of thing just doesn't need to be said.
To pick one of the remaining days, go here.
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no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 05:55 pm (UTC)I also like charity shops - which they don't have in some countries.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 04:30 am (UTC)Hats at weddings are fabulous, and the custom should be adopted worldwide! I very much enjoyed seeing them all at
Wonderful answer, thank you!
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 08:54 am (UTC)One of the reasons I enjoyed the royal wedding a couple of years ago was the parade of excellent hats! Sadly, I cannot wear the kind that looks as though a collection of lace and feathers just landed in the hair, I have to wear Substantial Hats. But these are good.