What Makes You Proud To Be British?

[Saddleworth2]

Interesting one. Not having lived in England now for most of my life (although I go there regularly, to see my blue lads), I have a huge distance from the country I grew up in. It would be easier to say “Things I like about England” (you notice I'm not saying Britain, which has now become quite a loose polity, I think — maybe it always was):

Most particularly, a good pub, usually out in the countryside, out on the moors, maybe. Maybe with a fire going in winter. Good ale, maybe some decent food. No screaming kids. A beaten up, tatty settee here and there, over in a corner. A place where the locals stare at you a bit. That's ok, that's normal. You're not from round there.

Secondly, without question, the English (British?) sense of humour, and specifically, banter. Banter with a complete stranger, a ticket inspector, a shop assistant, someone who asks you for directions in the street. It'll last for twenty, thirty seconds, a minute at the most. You'll never see them again. That's not the point.

I'd say that those two things are things I've found nowhere else on earth. Many, many other good things, but not those. Not in concentrated form.

I could add — the English language. The English one. Not the Americanised version of it which has crept in over the last forty years and made itself so thoroughly at home, especially among the young. The one that's full of idioms and expressions and weird words that, whenever I use them with an American friend (I do have them!), they just gawp at me.

Brexit? Best to keep my mouth shut. I've said, right from the start, that's it you people's business. I know one thing, and it's incontrovertible. Half of you voted for it. Half voted against. (And a dismayingly significant number of people didn't turn out at all). That — in itself — is a mess.

I quite like your list other than banter being a uniquely English 'nowhere else on earth' behaviour. That paradoxically is typically English ;-)

 

[Shirley]

Having amazing fellow citizens such as….Ronnie Pickering

 

[Saddleworth2]

From the tip of Cornwall to the Shetland Islands we have a unique, varied, beautiful land (when we look after it) properly. For every item of pride like this there is a 'Water Industry/Sewage counter point.

The things we should be proud of are the very things we seem to be hell bent on destroying.

 

[mexico1970]

Your definition of culture is largely administrative arrangements. The rest has changed significantly in my lifetime. We are way more informal. (Christian/forenames the norm, which used to be unthinkable. Much more touchy/feely. It's now quite common for men to hug one another in greeting. This just did not happen fifty years ago. Many men now wear cosmetics - used to be nowt but soap, and maybe aftershave on special occasions. Even funerals are less formal and less religious than they were.)

So what we have is a mixture of admin policy (some of it guided by law, like shop opening) and a fluid social tradition that is unrecognisable from what it was when I was a boy. And given another fifty years, it will have changed again.

How interesting! My idea of an 'uncultured' person is someone who is uninterested in the arts and/or intellectual pursuits.

However, it's a matter of definition and I know of no one with the authority to speak ex-cathedra on this matter.

The point I was making is that a persons culture can be more local than it is national, nothing to do with wrapping yourself up in a flag just how you live your day to day life 24/7.

You can talk to someone who lives the same life as you using shared experiences, using public transport, the posties uniform, how we drive on the wrong side of the road ;-)

I remember going into a London chippy when I had just turned 17 and asking for a lot of chips at a chippy and was corrected by the lady serving that it was a "portion" of chips I wanted, small things like that that add up to your overall life experience.


Being a City fan for me is a huge part of my culture, and ALL city fans whoever they are and wherever they are born are part of that culture and we can relate to each other using that as the central starting off point.

 

[xmusampa]

- The AONBs (esp Peak & Lake Districts)
- The appreciation of our contribution to the world in such areas as civil service, engineering, music, culture, history
- The education I received in state schools
- The original Land Rover Defender
- The Full English
- Roast beef & Yorkshire pudding
- The simple, all occasion, cup of tea
- Galaxy chocolate
- Lion’s Wine Gums

I must be getting hungry…!

I thought galaxy choc was American ?

 

[xmusampa]

The sas

 

[xmusampa]

The British stiff upper lip albeit it’s a thing of the past as we are all encouraged to share our inner most thoughts and feelings and exude oestrogen.

 

[johnny crossan]

I thought galaxy choc was American ?

UK company bought out and degraded by US hedge funds, their inferior product is now licensed to be manufactured wherever labour is cheapest to max profit - Egypt, Poland, Bangkok etc while at the same time changing the content accordingly. Same happened with Nestle buyout of Rowntree and other brands.

 

[dronefromsector7G]

So proud I was ejected from my mum’s fanny on this part of Earth instead of another one

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

- The AONBs (esp Peak & Lake Districts)
- The appreciation of our contribution to the world in such areas as civil service, engineering, music, culture, history
- The education I received in state schools
- The original Land Rover Defender
- The Full English
- Roast beef & Yorkshire pudding
- The simple, all occasion, cup of tea
- Galaxy chocolate
- Lion’s Wine Gums

I must be getting hungry…!

Funny how yer can't order 'a full British'! Go to Wales 'n it's 'a full Welsh', Scotland it's 'a full Scottish', 'n the Irish have 'a full Irish'. Thing is, they are practically identical! I suppose that the bacon isn't Danish!