things I discovered; The Anglo Files

[tempestsarekind]

Things I discovered (or re-discovered) yesterday:

1. Grilled Nutella sandwiches on sourdough are AWESOME. (I knew this, but this is the first time in a while that I've actually had both of these things on hand at the same time.)
2. Apparently I still know the theme song to Doogie Howser, M.D. (And this is the second time I've mentioned Doogie

Comments

[lareinenoire]

I've done grilled Nutella sandwiches before, although never on sourdough -- I wouldn't have expected those two to work well together, but now you've convinced me I at least need to give it a try. Nutella on oatmeal bread, however, is to die for.

That book sounds like a fascinating social experiment. Although I am absolutely baffled at her conclusion that Americans have no hangups about sex. We are, after all, the country of Proposition 8 and abstinence-only education. So I have no idea where she's finding that information.

And class? We've got a class system in the US. We just don't call it a class system.

I won't argue that there are fundamental cultural differences between the US and the UK. That being said, the book does sound incredibly simplistic and -- more importantly -- outright inaccurate.

[tempestsarekind]

I suppose it wasn't incredibly *sour* sourdough, really... more like Trader Joe's "Tuscan" bread, if that means anything. I had a grilled Nutella sandwich once on brioche, though, and it was a little too much for me--good, but definitely had to be shared with other people! Oatmeal bread sounds yummy.

The book was something of a disappointment. It's just peculiar--she's an American expat, but her take on Americans makes me doubt her take on the UK. And I suppose some people do have the luxury not to think about class in the US--but many of them *are* still aware that it exists!

I hear Kate Fox's Watching the English is good, though, and I recently purchased a copy at a book sale, so there's that to look forward to.

[lareinenoire]

Oooh, I could see how that would work. The slightly sour bread balancing out the sweetness of the Nutella. Mmm. I do still have half a jar of Nutella left here too. Must buy bread.

And I suppose some people do have the luxury not to think about class in the US--but many of them *are* still aware that it exists!

I would have thought so, but apparently this author is an exception. ;) I hope you post about Watching the English when you do read it; I'd be curious to see a comparison.

[tempestsarekind]

It probably won't be any time soon, alas, but I'll certainly try to post on the book when I do read it.

[zbg97]

Well, if she went to Exeter and Yale, she may really be oblivious to many of the things you point out, there. Which, coincidentally, makes her a pretty bad choice for writing such books. =7

[tempestsarekind]

Perhaps--though I would still, at the least, expect her to recongnize that fancy schools are often proud of their pedigrees! But if she's spent all of her time around one group of people, she may not have any idea how other groups operate, true.

[skirmish_of_wit]

Can products, vocabulary, clothes, and pronunciation instantly mark you as one thing or another? Beats me

This ENRAGES me. Let's give her a John Deere, have her start saying "you'ns" and various other markers of Appalachian dialect, dress her in Dale Earnhardt paraphernalia, and drawl her vowels a bit, and see whether she gets "marked" as one "thing" (i.e., class) or another in the US.

There's nothing quite as infuriating as the willful ignorance of the privileged.

[tempestsarekind]

Well, exactly. That part astonished me; especially as the author is a correspondent for the New York Times, and surely some part of that job description should require being observant! I'm trying to imagine what that must be like, to be that unaware. I mean, even if she's somehow managed to avoid any scrap of firsthand knowledge here, does she just fail to get jokes that involve different social groups? Is she puzzled by articles that discuss differences in fashion, and can't grasp the concept of knockoffs? Does she go to different parts of the country and have no idea why people are speaking "funny"?

Or is she--which is what I actually suspect--adopting a naive persona, for reasons I can't understand? Especially when the book would have been much better for that sort of honesty.

[a_t_rain]

The chapter on class is particularly odd in this regard, as Lyall seems bemused by the whole *idea* of class from the outset: shocked (shocked!) that the private schools she's looking into brag about their famous parents and alums; bowled over by the idea that goods and garments can mark out different classes.

Bwuh? Is she from Mars?

[tempestsarekind]

Apparently--it's as good an explanation as any!