I lived in England for six frightening years. Everything is expensive and nothing really works except their language. Humans have lived on that island for over 10,000 years and they still cannot make a commode that will flush a turd away on the first or second try.
Americans living in England abide by an unwritten and unsaid rule to pretend that everything there is wonderful. It isn’t.
English people who come to visit America sometimes get a clue but only if they visit family or friends and experience the real America of a middle class life.
Generally speaking the English have some of the worst teeth on the planet. Their nostrils are reforestation projects. They wear the same clothes for days on end. They stink.
That aside, they just do not realize that the standard of living of their middle class is more akin to that of just below the poverty line in America.
They do not understand the American expressions, “redneck” or “white trash” the same way Americans do. When they say “cowboy” they traditionally use it like we would uses “jack-leg” as in jack-leg plumber or jack-leg electrician. They use it in the sense that they hired a cowboy plumber instead of a certified plumber and got questionable results. They don’t understand that an American cowboy is a hero in the sense of a man assuming responsibility for himself.
Because they still have a class system in their society, they use redneck, white trash, religious right and cowboy as pejorative terms. We don’t. They have not done their homework about our usage and about our culture.
The Guardian, The Independent and the Times generally all make these cultural mistakes. Surprising, The Sun, sometimes gets it right. Maybe this is because The Sun has Page 3 with tits and appeals to working class blokes. A lot of our cultural values comes from hardworking blokes.
When I read Freedland or others of his ilk, I am mostly amused at the ignorance of his basic assumptions, regardless of the position he might take on any particular subject.
Yep, he’s another snot-nosed socialist, but who cares? He would miss the mark every time even if he liked Palin and McCain. He doesn’t understand our culture.
