St George's Day

[Bonzo Dog]

Today April 23 is St George's Day, the English national patron saint. George slew a dragon I believe.

Big politician inspired efforts this year to make a meaningful day of it. As normally it passes with barely a mention. Talk of trying to find 'Englishness'. Whereas Scots, Irish and Welsh have an readily identifiable national culture and identity, the English do not. We really are confused mongrels.

How do the N. Americans see the English? What are we?

I Wiki St George and see we share him as a patron saint with Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the region of Catalonia (Spain) and the city of Moscow.

Aw welll here's my bit of flag waving

 

[Lisa in Katy]

We in the states know that the English are weird, as proven by the National Enquirer! And of course, you guys know that we are all fat, eating our McDonald's hamburgers every meal!

Texas had a holiday pass a couple of days ago with hardly a mention - San Jacinto Day - which commemorates the final battle in the Texas Revolution where we won our independence from Mexico. Many more people know about the Battle of the Alamo, which we lost!

In many ways, it is good to have things that set us apart from the normal, boring crowd. In other ways, being a mixed up mongrel is great!

 

[Bina]

My husband was born in England....I tell him often that he is weird.

 

[gadgetman]

How do the N. Americans see the English?

Wif dang strong binoculars ah guess!!!!!!!

Other than y'all talk funny, drive on th' wrong side of th' road an' doesn't ice yer dang tea, y'all jest like us.

Bubba

 

[Ross]

I see the English as strange counterparts of ourselves. Honestly Bonzo, we know so little of the English culture here, that it's disturbing.

 

[Curtsmum]

omg weird and i always thought i was normal
do we get some feedback on this?

 

[hensylee]

well, I just want y'all to know that I knew it was St George's Day and I sent a card over the pond.

St George musta been a popular guy to have so many countries celebrating his life.

My family loves Britain and all its parts. Daughters were there during my heart surgery and had a wonderful time. Nephews go often - one of them studied there and came back talkin like them.

Love y'all Britishers..............

 

[Wise]

Love y'all Britishers..............

Me too.

Sadly though, as Ross says, I don't know much Brit-wise.

We have been to England for a couple of weeks once. We didn't really get into much, unfortunately. We stayed in Ramsgate for a week with American friends who were there for a year. Then we stay a week at the home of a wonderful couple in London (a connection made through our American friends). They were delightful and very gracious hosts.

Steak and Kidney Pie was my favorite British dish that we had while we were there.

Lexington, Kentucky has a "British" pub aptly called The Pub. It probably wouldn't impress a Brit as far authenticity, but it's enough to please us. I've seen peas there, but I don't think they're mushy.

 

[Wise]

CINDY SAYS:

We thoroughly enjoyed talking with British folks we'd meet in stores, restaurants, on the bus, or just walking. We found them to be friendly and polite. They seem to be more respectful of other people in their conversation than Americans are. They're not all cold and snooty as the American stereotype would indicate. We enjoyed discovering this about the Brits. We also enjoyed trying authentic British foods. We enjoy those aspect as much as visiting the landmarks.

A funny side note. We visited England in March/April. We took raincoats with us and wore them. We were probably the only two people in the whole country wearing them. We felt weird.

 

[Dina]

I LOVE English History, always have. And I feel like England is the only country that the United States can really trust, since we are England's
errant offspring(though with the way things are going politically and otherwise in the U.S. , I cant see ANYone maintaining any trust in US )
One of my favorite books;"Sarum",dates from pre-historical Britain ,on
Salisbury Plain and covers each 'era' up until the '40's. It is well researched and entertaining.Also I enjoy vintage English horror and sci-fi- like 'Professor Quatermass'
and Hammer Studios' movies-Great Stuff:

 

[Gnusgal]

I didn't realize it was St. George's day, but I am familiar with St. George. There's a picture book that won a Caldecott Medal years ago called St. George and the Dragon. I used to read it every year to my theatre students when we did our tech unit. I wouldn't show them the pictures and I'd let them design a set and costumes as if we were putting on a play of the story. They enjoyed it...

Anyway, as for my view of Brits... Hmmm... I just see them as people. We went to London in 1998 for a week and I loved it. Hubby and I both want to go back (he'd been once before that even). We did find ourselves talking like you all by the time we got back, but the same happened when we were in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic. I mostly want to go back without a group (we were with my old high school theatre group, even though I'd graduated). We want to be able to do what we want instead of being tied to a schedule. Some day...

Oh, I think one of my favorite parts of being in London was happening upon the "Texas Embassy" (a restaurant on the location of the actual embassy when Texas was its own country). We had to go in just to say we'd been. We didn't eat there, though.

 

[Bonzo Dog]

CINDY SAYS:

A funny side note. We visited England in March/April. We took raincoats with us and wore them. We were probably the only two people in the whole country wearing them. We felt weird.

As the first to reply in the thread equated English to weird you should have felt comfortable.

Raincoat needed today for our area. Just a few miles west of Leeds, right in the midst of blue bit, is the site of Bonzo Towers.