Best way to Learn British English?

Damian in EH12   Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:13 pm GMT
Wow CANDY.....living with a Scot.....once a Scot always a Scot no matter how old he was when he was kicked ou.....erm....when he emigrated. Half of all Canadians seem to be of Scottish origin....Nova Scotia was not called that for nothing......I'm happy with Olda Scotia right now. Anyway...you could do much worse.....Paisley is ok...better than Cowdenbeath any day...and I bet he's a good lover....... :-)

ROLLS......ok chum....some enlightenment. "One lump or two old bean?" Sugar lumps...how many do you want in your tea...Indian or china....right. Old bean...that's you, mate...just an upper class 1920s style expression of mateyness.....don't ask me how come ....I have abso-balla-lutely no idea, old bean.....I just got it out of a book of old quotations. It just seems to suit you, old bean...a sort of image thingy....like you're wearing spats and peer through a monocle.

Cucumber slices....paper thin so that you can read your Times of London through them in the taxi on the way to Fortnum and Mason.....a store in Piccadilly, London, W1......where they can supply you with abso-balla-lutely everything your Lordship requires from quails eggs to caviare...should go well with your cucu sarnies.

Pip pip.....a toff's (another expression for your kind of guy) way of saying Cheerio! Simply a farewell greeting.....ultra posh. Just remember to yell out Pip Pip as you leave F & M.

If you're reasonably dressed you should be ok for sitting it out at the Hilton......just keep your London Times clearly in view and don't scoff your cucu sarnies there...do that before you go in.

Meateaters.....LOL.......we call those guys Beefeaters. Watch out for those ravens in the T of L.......they take a fancy to cucu sarnies.

God...I wish I could be a fly on the wall.

RIKO...what you described sounds just like the smackhead/dopehead scene...it sort of happens that way. You had a bad time in London then? I speak from observation and not personal experience btw........

All airport officials/immigration people are specially trained to be gruff, unsmiling, scary, discrimination practising prats. The more expert they get at it the more brownie points they get.
Rick Johnson   Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:16 pm GMT
I think all large cities are impersonal and I haven't found New York to be any different. I don't think there's any cultural difference in the people themselves, but people generally become more reserved when they find themselves as very small fish in big ponds........take the city dwellers out of the city and they will chat and be as friendly as any rural person.
RoLLs   Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:24 am GMT
Rick that is so true, I have seen on many occasions people who leave the urban environment are much more relaxed.
Candy   Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:45 am GMT
Sorry you had a bad time in London, Riko, but the way you described the situation sounded hostile to me, that's all. I personally didn't find NY or NYers any less impersonal or more friendly than London.

London is now (how they measure such things I don't know) the most multicultural city in the world.
Yes, homeless people are a tragedy. But the situation is far, far worse in other cities.

Damian.....good lover comment, ooh, you've no idea!! ;-) He is a proud Scot, some of the time, despite not being able to remember the place whatsoever.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:21 am GMT
**Damian.....good lover comment, ooh, you've no idea!! ;-)**

Hee hee......CANDY.....I have every idea! The guy's a Scot for goodness sake! :-) Anyway, typical of me being so cheeky to mention it....couldnae resist...

RIKO...a lot of what you say makes sense. London is a huge city and as Candy says, it is hugely multicultural It teems with tourists - more or less all year round. I've been to London several times and from what I saw, and from what I've heard and read, it can be very impersonal. I was born and bred in a city..large by Scottish standards but with a population not much larger than some single London boroughs.

London is constant rush, hustle and bustle...people seem to focus on one thing only...how to get from A to B as quickly as possible. Just stand at Kings Cross train station in the rush hours and you'll see what I mean. It may be a really sad reflection on big city life but people can really pass by someone lying on the ground and either not see that person or deliberately ignore him (or even her) probably thinking that it's ok to leave it to someone else to find out what's wrong. If that never happens in NYC then it's all to the credit of New Yorkers. London with near on 8m people can be the loneliest place on the planet. Hell can be a city.

Not so long ago GMTV (an early morning news program) tried an experiment to test people's willingness to "get involved" in London. They got this lady to lie on the edge of a pavement (sidewalk in NYC) with some of her personal belonging actually lying on the roadway. It was a very busy street in South London. She was smartly dressed so she could not really be taken for an alky or a druggie. Hidden cameras were focussed on her. Anyway, loads and loads of people literally walked by...most of them looked down at her but carried on walking by. Traffic passing by all swerved past her stuff in the roadway. Several people did stop and tend to her but it was amazing how many people didn't. I guess those that stopped to see to her were then told about the experiment, so it must have been some relief to them that there was nothing wrong...except the obvious callousness of all those people who simply walked by.

Of the traffic going by and swerving round her gear, the cameras showed a BUS swerving and then coming to a stop and the conductor jumping off his bus and running back to see to this lady! We never saw a car driver doing the same, but of course we only saw those extracts actually shown in the program. It was enough to show how an unwillingness to get involved is so common in a large city like London.

A lot of those people lying outside Victoria Station could be all sorts....a lot of people sleeping rough in London have bad problems....drink, drugs or with mental conditions. Large cities attract people like that.

Edinburgh has a drugs and drink problem people for sure.....the city attracts them but here it's not anything like London as here it is mostly hidden from view. But I tell you one thing...that TV experiment conducted here in Edinburgh would show something quite different, I'm certain about that. Anyone collapsing in the street here would have instant attention.
Candy   Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:02 pm GMT
<<Hee hee......CANDY.....I have every idea! The guy's a Scot for goodness sake! :-) Anyway, typical of me being so cheeky to mention it....couldnae resist... >>

Much as I'd love to continue this, (yeah, really!) maybe this isn't the best place! ;) Talk about the two of us lowering the tone....honestly.

I just think everything is magnified in big cities. Big cities are more....everything. More exciting, dirty, impersonal, frightening, callous, whatever....

Just don't judge England (or Britain) by London. It's TOTALLY different. As Damian says, the experiment would achieve very different results in Edinburgh, and it'd be the same anywhere else.
Depraved Damian   Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:02 pm GMT
**Talk about the two of us lowering the tone....honestly. **

Well, speaking for myself ONLY Candy....aye, I agree.....gross. But I'm going to spend my working life (hopefully) in a profession many would describe as just that. If I see a cap that fits I wear it. :-)
Rolls   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:45 pm GMT
Daminen mate, I like the word toff - that would be me...

As regards quails eggs, yum - I will remember to read the times often when I am there. I want to look like a proper blue-blood.

Questions on some words -

What is a pratt, heard that in a movie one time also

also spat?


Also could you explain this term further

cucu sarnies

And when I am there, I defintley will check out Picadilly and that store F&M.

What about Harvey Nicks, any good?

Any other stores you would recommend?
Rolls   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:46 pm GMT
London Jewelers...

Like 2 in NY lol
Adam   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:47 pm GMT
In yesterday newspaper it said that Scotland is the most violent country in the developed world, three times more violent than the US.

England/Wales is second.
Rolls   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:48 pm GMT
London Times - if I have that with me often and dress in a suit, I should look like a proper London businessman, eh?
Adam   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:49 pm GMT
"What about Harvey Nicks, any good? "

A woman was murdered in a London Harvey Nicks store last week. She worled their, and her ex-boyfriend came in, shot her 7 times in the ehad behind the counter, then turned the gun on himself.
Rolls   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:49 pm GMT
Scotland really? Wow, Damien you rough mate?
Rolls   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:50 pm GMT
Adam are you serious?

Do you have a weblink?
Adam   Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:50 pm GMT
"Paisley is ok..."

That's where my granddad is from.