- •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:
Speaking
Exercise 9.Use your outside reading, personal experiences, TV and video-watching, etc. to support, expand on or question the points and observations made in the chapter.
Writing
Exercise 10.Write a 350-word commentary explaining the cultural things and stereotypes involved.
Unit 10. The establishment
BRIT-THINK: Whom, then, do Brits unreservedly love? They love entrenched members of THE ESTABLISHMENT. These are the people who have assured Brits for two generations thatNothing Is Wrong ... despite all appearances to the contrary. They are, of course, society’s winners; the ‘I’m-Alright-Jack’ set, with a stake in the status quo. They are fortunate in the character of the British proletariat, since average Brits are not inclined to follow malcontents with axes to grind – even when provoked, frustrated or impoverished. They’re content to allow ‘top people’ to run the show, as long as wage-packets keep rough pace with inflation, and the Clapham Omnibus runs on time.
If the Establishment’s track record is less than dazzling, it is nevertheless unchallenged. Brit-prol is not by nature revolutionary – (or even evolutionary) –and generally takes the view that ‘better the devil you know’. There’s a world-weary acceptance of Empires lost, opportunities unfulfilled. Would-be political agitators have ever found that Brits are civilized pessimists, given to constant recrimination – but no action. Top People are utterly safe, and can rest easy ... if they can stand the carping.
Yanks – who lack Brit-radar – may be hard-pressed to identify members of said Establishment. By definition, these are the Chosen People at the apex of the class system. Appearances can deceive, since they may have money or may not; but what they all share is influence. Many were born great, some had greatness thrust upon them, and a very few achieved greatness.
Indeed, the definition is fairly vague in Brit-minds. Some refer to ‘the Establishment’, and mean anyone who votes Tory and earns more than £20,000 a year. Some narrow it down to power-brokers – people with real political clout, like captains of industry, Fleet Street proprietors, and cousins to the Queen. There are, of course, worrying grey areas. Is Bob Geldof a member of the Establishment, or not? If in doubt, try this simple litmus test:
The Brit-Establishment includes anyone who:
shops for basic groceries (cornflakes, Fairy Liquid) at Harrods;
is regularly mentioned in Tatler, Dempster’s column, the business pages of the Daily Telegraph, the FT; and/or Private Eye; or has been cloned in latex by Spitting Image;
is related to the Royal Family (however distantly), had relatives who were equerries (however briefly), is a hereditary or life-peer (regardless of political affiliation);
ever attended Oxford or Cambridge (Yes, anyone);
sends children to private schools (day or boarding);
is (or whose father was) ‘something in the City’;
appeared in the LIVE-AID concert;
has an unearned income which tops £5,000 a year;
does not work, and is not in receipt of social security;
owns a national newspaper; has shares in – or sits on the Board of – a broadcasting company;
has ever attended a Royal Command performance of anything;
knows where to park in Knightsbridge.