Brendan

That's a good point. What is with the trousers?

Pearl diving was a backbone of the economy in the ancient Celtic world Tony. Keep up.

Although seriously. What's with the skirt thing?

Ted Max Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Tony, red hair = Viking invaders. Very successful > genetically in Scotland, Ireland and North East > England. > > Celts = dark haired wiry types. Often found > playing open-side flanker in 1970s Welsh rugby > teams. Well the genetics behind things like red hair, height, penchants for alcohol and punch-ups were already very mixed up amongst the people of Western Europe millennia before the similarity between the different ?Celtic? peoples was first recognised by the Ancient Greeks. It really refers to a set of diverse yet related languages with similarly related culture that were common from Southern France, Across the Iberian Peninsular and up the maritime trade routes to Cornwall, Ireland, Wales, Cumbria and Western Scotland. Apart from their languages and culture they were probably as divers in appearance as the people from these areas are today.

Ted Max Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, you make a subtle point there. But I would > argue that English as spoken by most Scots people > reflects a divergence in the path of the language > in both countries from a common base (Old > English). Facetiousness aside it is interesting that Old Scots, a Germanic language coming from the same Germanic/Scandinavian roots as Old English, is more influential historically and culturally than any Celtic languages are in Scotland. Scots Gaelic is more of an Irish import than an endemic language.* I?m not saying that the Scots and English are the same just that they are different in a different way to the way say the Welsh and the English are different. *I'm not saying that there haven't been celtic (or other) languages endemic to Scotland thought out history.

It is not PC no and hopefully there wasn?t any malicious intent. But let?s leave it out for now and not let this thread deteriorate off topic into another bile filled rant over nomenclature. I agree with your points about dangerous breeds but there are so many grey areas when it comes to enforcing any regulations on them.

Well they certainly don't speak English.

Surely it is for the Scots to decide how they see themselves culturally?

Just say, ?Continence.? and look a bit teary. They?ll quickly move on to the next question.

You could say, ?Answering stupid generic interview questions thought up by uncreative HR types with too much time on their hands.?

A type of universal culture manifests on provincial high streets on Friday nights across Britain.

Yeah but the ?we? you are referring would be to any people whose ancestors where living one this island in the 14/1500s when people started hurling balls at each other and making up hugely complex rules about the whole business. So therefore a large portion of the populations of the counties I mentioned and some others.

Surely launching an attack of someone else?s culture does not somehow validate yours? It does however expose some sense of insecurity or defensiveness that is perhaps quite common since the terms English and British ceased to be synonymous.

Cassius Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was going to say cricket; the love of a game > that can last for 5 days and end in a draw, where > you can have almost as much fun sitting under an > umbrella during a rain break having a drink as you > can watching the actual game, and actually wanting > the best team, not necessarily your team to win; > but maybe that's English and not British. Or Australian, South African, Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, West Indian, Kiwi, Bangladeshi, Zimbabwean, Kenyan? Which brings me to answer Brum?s request to give a list of how an ?outsider? perceives British culture. Although for someone who comes from one of the old colonies it is difficult to separate your culture from that of Britain because the bulk of your history and therefore culture is shared. It is only a brief period of less then 200 years that they have been diverging. Even over this time the cultures of Britain and the rest of the English speaking world have been very interdependent and influential upon each other. So for a true outsider, say a fellow from the Mongolian Steppes, they would seem almost indistinguishable. Anyway reflection aside, I would say I could only define it by its exports, some old some new, which are both positive and negative and sometimes polar opposites, - Eloquence - Fair play (some people would call this tolerance but I prefer not to because the term implies a whole bunch of ideological yet unworkable ideas rather than just giving your fellow man a fair go) - Humour - Superficiality (This refers to pop culture, celebries, material obsession etc.) - Entrenched privilege/exploitation - Self absorbed neurosis

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ?the gorgeous northern lass? If you guys are letching over my wife there are going to be words.

Mike I refer you to a piece of research I did a few days ago. My extrapolations have as much logical basis as the Beeb?s. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,227495

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Brendan...that's cos British culture is an > aggregate, so includes Welsh, Scotch and > Cornish...if it was solely English we'd clearly be > more cultured than you Surely then there should be some kind of Gestalt Effect producing a "super culture"? Perhaps one that wears spandex. http://www.boston.com/ae/music/blog/justin_hawkins_pa.jpg

Not being British I wouldn?t consider myself qualified to comment on British culture. I do however consider myself infinitely more cultured than the British which ironically may be quite British of me.

Not for Lent. I'm afraid I may run into people I know.

Asset Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Moderation in all things all the time. Bollicks! Everything to excess moderation?s for monks. I?m giving up dogging in Battersea Park.

Shit. Now I wish I had got the bottled stuff.

There is precedent for this,

Heheh. Read the whole thread Hannah. I do actually make then but was offering a viable and quick alternative to jaybee. Although to be honest I came very close to buying the bottled stuff this afternoon mainly because I?ve never seen it before and I?m a sucker for advertising.

Or you can do what I actually do. Eggs, flour, milk and a pinch of salt. Mix them together until the look like pancake batter. Make pancakes from it.

No, no don?t get the packet get the Jiff stuff. It comes in a bottle and is pre-mixed. You just pour it out.