- •К.В.Голубина
- •Introduction the cultural impact of a foreign text
- •Unit 1. Think global, speak local (Tape)
- •Unit 2. Basic brit-think and ameri-think
- •The most important things to know
- •1. I’m gonna live for ever
- •2. New is good
- •3. Never forget you’ve got a choice
- •4. Smart money
- •5. The consensus society
- •‘Them ‘n Us’
- •(Brian Walden The London Standard)
- •6. ‘Me-think’ vs. ‘We-think’
- •7. Good Guys and Bad Guys
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 3. Brits and yanks abroad
- •Amer-Executive
- •Ameri-wife
- •Brits on us hols ... A word of warning
- •A Brit goes Stateside
- •Mrs Brit
- •Brit groovettee
- •Us / uk guide to naffness-avoidance: What not to do in each other’s countries
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Shopping (uk)
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 4. Strictly business
- •Succeeding in business
- •Intimidation and desks
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 5. Brits and yanks at home Home as backdrop
- •Home as bolt-hole (‘Don’t tell anyone I live here’)
- •1. For the affluent, aspirational, or upwardly mobile:
- •2. For everyone else:
- •Some like it hot
- •Brits on heat
- •Ordeal by water
- •Beddy-bye
- •American dreams
- •Closet needs
- •Comprhension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 6. Going places (Film)
- •Unit 7. What do they aspire to? ‘Having It All’
- •Brit soap
- •Strike it rich
- •Success story Double standards
- •Nothing succeeds like success
- •Failure: Anglo-American excuses Making dramas out of crises
- •Delegating blame: ‘It’sa notta myfault!’
- •Bouncing back Recovery from adversity
- •Set-backs
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •The Neasden connection ... Place-names
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Writing
- •Unit 9. Patriotism (Multi-media support available)
- •Eco-chauvinism
- •Buy British:
- •Dollar allegiance … big bucks
- •Pound of flesh
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 10. The establishment
- •The Brit-Establishment includes anyone who:
- •It does not include such instruments of the Establishment as:
- •Amer-Establishment
- •America’s Haute-Establishment – Anyone who:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 11. Yes, prime minister. The smoke screen (Film)
- •Unit 12. A better class of foreigner ‘Foreigner’
- •The foreign menace
- •British league-table of foreigners (reading from most to least reliable)
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 13. Class The thorny question of Class Gotta Lotta Class
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Labour if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Conservative if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Liberal, sdp, or sdp-Lib. Alliance if:
- •Class Act
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 14. Only fools and horses (Film)
- •Unit 15. The food connection
- •Eating in Britain: Things that confuse American tourists
- •The importance of sharing
- •Brit guide to Ameri-portions
- •British/american food
- •Unit 17. The importance of being cute
- •Other cosy things Brits do
- •1. Extol the amateur
- •2. Obstruct mPs
- •3. Fill their national newspapers with ‘Around America’ columns
- •4. Cultivate their gardens
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 18. Goods and services Consumer durables and vice versa
- •Conspicuous Ameri-consumption:
- •Attacking the problem
- •Example:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit19. Doctor doctor Medicine
- •Moi first, doc
- •Doctors
- •Perfect Brit patients
- •The perfect Ameri-patient
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 20. Laws of the lands
- •Comprehension and language
- •Unit 21. Rumpole and the age of miracles (Film)
- •Unit 22. Judging a nation by its television Meet the Press: The media we deserve
- •Ameri-vision: You are what you watch
- •Brit-tv: They’re watching me
- •You are what you read
- •1. Brit tabloids are more explicit.
- •2. Brit papers declare political affiliations.
- •3. Yanks don’t have national newspapers.
- •Snigger Press
- •The international co-production deal: Brit-mogul meets Yank-mogul
- •The 8 commandments of international co-production
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 23. Good sport
- •Fair play
- •American football is:
- •Brit-footie is:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Unit 24. Oxford blues (Film)
- •Unit 25. Humour travels? Transatlantic laughs:
- •To be funny in America, you have to be:
- •To be funny in Britain, you have to:
- •Comprehension
- •Unit 28. One foot in the grave (Film)
- •Unit 29. East-enders (Film)
- •Unit 30. The final solution: or, whatreally counts
- •1. The Royal Family
- •2. The Pub
- •Double raspberry ripple to go
- •Appendix I The Special Relationship
- •Yanks (on brits)
- •Brits (on yanks)
- •Appendix II Glossary of us-uk equivalents
- •Glossary (and translation) of Anglo-American weather terms american
- •British
- •Appendix III The ones that don’t translate
- •Appendix IV The very, very best things in America
- •The best of British
- •Contents:
Nothing succeeds like success
AMERI-THINK:... which is onlyone of the catch-phrases relating to success. Others include: Having It All / You’ve come a long way, baby / You’re only as good as your last picture / All that counts is the bottom line. Success is literal, tangible. It usually brings material rewards. You can’t be successful in a vacuum since success must be apparent, and recognized by all. There are exceptions (‘I’m a good mother’) though, to be frank, Americans find self-proclaimed success less convincing.
Yanks have no problem with the ambitious, or financially acquisitive. Society’s resources (like its opportunities) are infinite; therefore, you can climb to the highest heights without appreciably harming me. There’s plenty for everyone, more for smart guys. Moral: be a smart guy.
Americans favour a pragmatic approach to success. Do what you have to do as long as:
it’s legal, and
it works.
When it stops working, get out quick with a blanket over your head. Yanks have little patience for failure.
Failure: Anglo-American excuses Making dramas out of crises
BRIT-THINK: Since no one expects things to work, they are very tolerant of explanations for why they haven’t. ‘It can’t be helped’, they shrug, resigned. Brits like things that can’t be helped. The weather, for example. Or train derailments. Or power-failures, or national strikes. They are very fond of acts of God – or indeed any situation which allows them to ‘soldier on’, vowing to muddle through somehow. Brit Brownie-points for ‘making the best of a bad job’. (This of course relieves you of any obligation to do agood one).
Brits are adept at making the most of even minor setbacks. Because they have so few natural catastrophes on a grand scale (earthquakes, typhoons, volcanos, blizzards), they’ve learned to make full use of the ones they’ve got. The whole nation grinds to a halt because of delays in first-class postal services. Or points failure on Southern Region.
When business fails to profit, Brits are glad to accept ‘acts of God’ explanations. The problem is not poor planning, or woeful decisions; it’s the unexpected rise in interest rates / devaluation of the Yen / monsoons in Sri Lanka / collapse in oil prices. Less is mentioned of inaccurate research, failure to predict trends or contain damage. It’s ‘victim syndrome’ – otherwise known as BRITVIC. Ask a Brit what he wants to be when he grows up, and the honest answer is ‘a victim of circumstances’.
Delegating blame: ‘It’sa notta myfault!’
A UK press report on the Queen’s visit to California commented on the ugliness and inappropriateness of one be-ribboned evening dress in the official wardrobe. ‘In choosing it’, the journalist concluded, ‘the Queen was badly advised’. IT’S A NOTTA HER FAULT!’ She was but a passive victim, unable to influence events. Never let it be said that Her Majesty made an error of judgement. Off with a minion’s head.
Brits are masters at delegating blame, which is why ‘advisors’ are so handy. Royal families seem to have zillions. In all walks of life ‘professional advice’ is highly regarded, and generally deferred to. In this way individuals are separated from the responsibility for their own decisions. ‘Counsel’ tells you whether or not to bring a court case, and you seldom seek a second opinion. Nor do you question ‘professional’ judgement: ‘the doctor booked me in for an operation / teacher says Trevor’s not university material / my bank manager told me I’d be able to afford the payments’. There’s no need to do something difficult like think. Your fate is in someone else’s hands. That way, there’s always someone to behead when things go wrong.
AMERI-THINK: Americans only pretend to delegate. Anything. As Harry S.Truman once said, ‘the buck stops here’. They suffer from a pathological fear of ‘losing control’, and a paranoid suspicion that, given a half-a-chance, others will ‘screw you up’. Or at least treat your interests more casually than they would their own.
They’re happiest keeping a firm grip on events, and asking a lot of questions. It’s the boss’s job to choose the right advisors, and his fault if they goof. (This is occasionally true in Britain as well, but only in the case of politicians – where a Ministerial faux pas can bring down the Government – or in football, when the team loses games and the Manager gets sacked).
Yanks adore results, and have scant interest in the rationale for failure. They do not consider it ruthless to discard something – or someone – that hasn’t worked. There’s little sympathy for ‘bad luck’, or even ‘Acts of God’. Furthermore, Yanks do not believe in ‘accident’. There is simply no such thing, and here they are hard-boiled. ‘You should’ve seen it coming. You should’ve been better prepared.’
Fault is always attributable. Occasionally, there are such things as extenuating circumstances (‘I fired in self-defence’) but, in general, mainstream Yank-think sees most excuses as lame ones. ‘I was knocked unconscious at the material time.’ No good. You should’ve been more alert, or in better physical shape. Yanks associate failure with malingering ... or crass stupidity. Either way, they don’t like being taken for a ride. And they don’t like paying for what they don’t get.
So who gets credit for success? A good business decision for example, or a wise choice of girl-friend / boy-friend or employee? You do, of course – because there’s no such thing as ‘accident’. If you are merely lucky, you will nevertheless be declared ‘smart’. And how do you know when something’s worked well? You know when someone else tells you. Anyone else. In general, Yanks lack confidence in their own tastes and decisions, and long to know that all choices are officially ‘approved’. (Hence the popularity of Gucci belts, initial scarves, Nike sports shoes, Burberry raincoats and designer jeans). It follows that a good decision is one that’s endorsed.