Foreigners! What have you learned most about the British from your time on ILE?

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Have you been surprised by anything? Any preconceptions popped? Any prejudices confirmed?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

you're all so smart.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Shut up, you are British and banned from this thread.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:29 (twenty-two years ago)

You use funny words.

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 10 March 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

you guys are always being mugged and knifed and getting your cars stolen.

― Aaron A., Monday, 10 March 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I fear you have fallen to prey to the dave q propaganda machine.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

you talk funny

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:34 (twenty-two years ago)

)-:

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

you are a bunch of crankyheads

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

)_:

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

y'all a bunch of poopy-pants!

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

we're all so smart.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:46 (twenty-two years ago)

my mama's a brit!

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:48 (twenty-two years ago)

You all like to go on marches in cold weather to protest pre-emptive warfare

― Millar (Millar), Monday, 10 March 2003 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

you never learned how to make punctuation men correctly . :-(

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

your women are all v. well-endowed

― Millar (Millar), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

bobbins

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

generally speaking you seem more chuffed with yourselves than you deserve to feel - which from my time in england (MA study at LSE), i would say seems to be one of your more obvious collective cultural deficiencies. you seem to think you are 'witty' when you're not really. there are of course others, which you lot here seem also to display. i certainly prefer americans. may america cripple your rotten economy one day - if her's ever recovers.

― alli (alliok), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

)))-:

(I don't know what that is, even the 'right' way around)

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

perhaps i can help: i also noticed that - like that unhappy face - a lot of you were grumpy and fat. all that's missing from your formulation above is the fucked teeth you all have.

― alli (alliok), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I think you're all lovely.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

is momus british ?

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"lovely" is practically a meaningless word and i'm disappointed that someone with almost my name would use it. it's a thread killer - it's soft and damp because it's been washed of descriptive potency. rather like the brits, really.

― alli (alliok), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Egads, the British have no descriptive potency! That's an insult, that is.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:05 (twenty-two years ago)

i think this is dave q's girlfriend!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:06 (twenty-two years ago)

You are a noble race. Long may you prosper.

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Enlgish people seem nice enough. They haev a good sense of humour and are generally polite. But their cuisine is really twuffy. They sure hate when their prime ministers try to blow up Iraq.

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

very much into crisps!

― Aaron A., Monday, 10 March 2003 04:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"god bless the people of england and the terrible food that these people must eat!"

good curries, though.

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:40 (twenty-two years ago)

call sweaters "jumpers"

(i mean we call jumpers "sweaters")

― ron (ron), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)

That they are very subtle. And nice. They are playful in that they seem to enjoy a secondary level of meta-humour where they pretend to misunderstand what one writes and then make a joke on the pretend misunderstanding, although they understand perfectly well. So if you attempt in earnest to correct the pretend "misunderstanding" they are polite although continuing to make fun of you although it is all in good fun. (I think?) They are smarter than us but do not need to lord it over us. They enjoy American hip-hop. And they don't have "jocks."

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 10 March 2003 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't really learned anything new -
just that most of yer think yer little island is pretty
darned important, and think of yourselves as Tom Cruise in
_The Rain Man_ (no prize for guessing who you think
is Dustin Hoffman)

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Monday, 10 March 2003 05:06 (twenty-two years ago)

felicty, you poor thing - brits are not subtle! meta-humour! (whatever that *actually* is). they are not smarter than americans - if that's what you are and mean. it's more likely they are not actually listening to you or they actually do misunderstand what they read/hear. america is a superior nation with superior brains.

(i'm not american, btw)

the brit = of "jock" is "lad" - they watch football, drink beer, eat curries while abusing the waiter and go to prague for piss-all and fuck slav prostitutes cause it's cheap and they can't get it at home cause they're all so fucken fat and ugly and smelly (all that old curry and pie rotting in their crooked-as-fuck teeth).

could "meta-humor" actually be their sickeningly patronising manner?

― alli (alliok), Monday, 10 March 2003 05:35 (twenty-two years ago)

you could say the same for certain American bozos. maybe that should be a thread -- "TS: Brit 'Lads' v. American 'Fratboys/Rednecks'"

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 10 March 2003 05:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm with felicity - they seem much smarter than the rest of us. then again, perhaps this is only the innately servile part of me that adores british accents, grew up in canada and was never particularly bothered by the fact that their queen was still on our money.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 10 March 2003 06:01 (twenty-two years ago)

the ones from oxbridge are like the nobility of ilx

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Monday, 10 March 2003 06:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Welcome back becky lucas.

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 10 March 2003 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Your PM seems bent on the UK displacing Canada as America Jr.

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 10 March 2003 06:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Leee, GO FUCK YOURSELF!
We are not America Jr and hopefully never will be.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 10 March 2003 06:45 (twenty-two years ago)

People whom you thought were American/from the Americas but actually are British:

Stage Name: Birth Name:
Elizabeth Taylor Leonora Tufts-Spankworthy
Charlie Chaplin Zandra Smyth-Withersmiggle
Bob Hope Alastair W.O.F. Bottswopper

Britney Spears Nigel Charmondsley
Christina Aguilera Simon Snobbs-Holloway
Justin Timberlake Cassandra Thrall-Smirchcastle

And many others. You'd be surprised. Oh, very!

― Skottie, Monday, 10 March 2003 06:55 (twenty-two years ago)

you guys and girls who like british accents and think brits are smarter are about as sophisticated as madonna: brits probably are smater than you, in short. from my experience, oxbridge people aren't actually that smart.

― alli (alliok), Monday, 10 March 2003 07:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The Stooges could, under a certain light, MAYBE pass for being English. The Crue never, ever, ever, ever could be mistaken for being English in a million years. Therefore they are both more 'rock' and 'better'.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 10 March 2003 07:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw some Pearly Kings and Queens in central London yesterday - do they have THOSE in America, eh eh?

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 10 March 2003 08:07 (twenty-two years ago)

no but they have don delillo and paul auster and bite back sprays

― alli (alliok), Monday, 10 March 2003 08:16 (twenty-two years ago)

We like to bang on endlessly about buses and trains. In fact, I hadn't even noticed this until my time on ILE.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 10 March 2003 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

you have creative uses of the word "pants"

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 10 March 2003 09:15 (twenty-two years ago)

we have jocks. and geordies.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 10 March 2003 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

And some of you have bad breath.

― Lara (Lara), Monday, 10 March 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

b-but i'm using Lysterine night and day

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 10 March 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Upthread, further proof that postgrad LSE = pay your fee, here's a B.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 10 March 2003 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 164 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Grounded for Life is great.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

America and Britain suXor! U R all gay!

― OBL (Oops), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

they need to do a 'where are they now?' on Small Wonder

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

i love that there are payphones at truck height.

― aaron (aaron), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

they need to do a 'where are they now?' on Osama bin Laden.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:42 (twenty-two years ago)

hstencil, that would be filled w/a lot of: "I dunno..do you know?...no I don't know" followed by Arabic mumbling.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Are there really payphones at pickup truck height or was that a joke? funny either way

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

It's true, at least in the Midwest.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Shhhh Dan, icsnay on the itishbray attackray
Oh No! Attackray! Oh No!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 23:12 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought there was a ruckus in here, due to many posts. alas, no ruckus

― ron (ron), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Could you describe the ruckus, sir?

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 03:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, could we go back to Aaron Blank-Man's comment? The general perception on both sides is that the U.S. is more violent than other nations, but ILE has indeed led me to believe that British people in my social bracket get attacked, beaten, or robbed much more than their American counterparts.

Is is just that American cities are more socio-economically segregated?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

(I mean, not that socio-economic segregation means less violence, it just means that certain brackets can isolating themselves from it more effectively.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I think nabisco is probably right re: segregation. I've lived in NYC, L.A., and Washington, D.C. and have never know anyone* who was the victim of violent crime. You know where not to be, by and large. And the people who choose/are forced to live in those places (where you "know not to be") suffer some of the worst crime statistics in the country.

[*with one or two exceptions, over 15 years]

― Skottie, Wednesday, 12 March 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, in the course of work, members of my family (not counting the police lieutenant) have been cornered at gunpoint about four times in the Minneapolis suburbs.

Guns are illegal here unless you hunt, which convinces me of British sanity. I know only two people who have been through a violent crime experience here - both women. Otherwise British crime is mostly alcohol-induced aggro, house-breaking and teenagers stealing phones.

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 09:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I have never been a personal victim of crime, i.e been present when the crime was coimmited against me, I've had enough car stereos knicked off me though. I don't think I know anyone who has been a victim of violent crime. (this may have something to do with being 1m88 with dreadlocks, fear me)

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 09:27 (twenty-two years ago)

ILE has indeed led me to believe that British people in my social bracket get attacked, beaten, or robbed much more than their American counterparts.

I think this is almost certainly an ILE-induced myth.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 09:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I have, but only the once and according to the police the guy was targeting young women in student areas, so ...

― Anna (Anna), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 10:07 (twenty-two years ago)

two kids tried it once with me. But they didn't get anything apart from a few bruises.

― chris (chris), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 11:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I pulled a complete Buffy on some ruggerholes in the tube once.

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 11:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Things I have learned about America from ILE and nowhere else:

1) The washing machine thing.
2) The tipping in pubs - I mean bars - thing.
3) The MOON CAKE thing!
4) The 'jumper' thing.

No one is gonna phase me when I want to do laundry, buy a drink, eat Easter candy or purchase leisurewear in the States!

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 11:18 (twenty-two years ago)

is momus british ?

Momus is wandering scotch.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)

blend or single malt?

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Suntory

― Mooro (Mooro), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 13:30 (twenty-two years ago)

3) The MOON CAKE thing!
No one is gonna phase me when I want to do laundry, buy a drink, eat Easter candy or purchase leisurewear in the States!
-- Archel

What's a Moon Cake? You mean Moon Pies, made in Chattanooga? Do you know about Goo-Goo Clusters?

― Jess Hill (jesshill), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Goo Goo Clusters? The old vaudeville star?

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah MOON PIE! Haha I didn't learn so well after all...

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

S'all right...Moon Pies, they're microwavable and even more delicious!!

― Jess Hill (jesshill), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

My English co-worker kills for Moon Pies. I think it may be what keeps him stateside.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The Goo-Goo Clusters are staples of the Grand Ole Opry. Backstage, a shot of Old Crow and a traditional peanut-goo-and-chocolate cluster go down right easy before one has to perform...especially if you're 104 years old with a 28-year-old for a wife, like former Opry regular Little Jimmy Dickens...they come in pecan for those who feel it's time to move out of the country...

Have a Goo-Goo! They're good!!

― Jess Hill (jesshill), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

you are suspicious of clothes dryers. i never knew that before.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 May 2003 04:26 (twenty-two years ago)

They don't like to post half as much as I originally thought. :-(

― Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 5 May 2003 04:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i am confident that it is eating them up inside

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 May 2003 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

and tumbling their emotions into threadbare tatters

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 May 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Foreigners! What have you learned most about the British from your time on ILE?

mmm.... some of dem/yo brits, apparently, ain't that enlightened 'bout european geography...

― t''t, Monday, 5 May 2003 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

Revive.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 26 March 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I quite dislike, the word, 'foreigner'.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

they wanna know what love is, they want you to show them

is that so wrong?

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

check out my clause, dude.

I actually quite like, the word, 'foreigner', as a word (of letters), but not its use, as a word (of meaning).

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone other than Brian Clough use the word 'foreigner' any more?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

you think nick has changed his ways, in one year and sixteen days?

or he was being funny, in those days?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

foreigner is not a xenophobic word

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

it's too relative.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 26 March 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Duh. RJG, you surprise me.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 26 March 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

no, I don't.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 26 March 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

it was a command

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 26 March 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I prefer 'alien' to 'foreigner'. Acid for blood innit.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Friday, 26 March 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

That's what I liked best about living in the US. I was a "resident alien". It said so on my green card. Like I was going to turn green and start spewing acidbreath at any minute or something.

― Psycho Kate (kate), Friday, 26 March 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder whether the 'alien' figures larger in US culture because the word has greater currency there. I means 'not us' as a general category, as opposed to here where it means green acid blooded thingy from outer space.

― Dave B (daveb), Friday, 26 March 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

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