Cyprus-Forum.com

by **Magnus** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 5:53 pm

I'd say these are quintessentially English:

Chavs
Elizabeth Duke at Argos
The Jeremy Kyle Show
Chips with cheese and gravy
Naming kids after brand names (Levi, Chanel, etc.)
'White Van' men
Page 3 of The Sun
The royal family (even though they're not English)
Les Dennis
Laying claim to foreign athletes (Lennox Lewis, Greg Rusedski, Linford Christie, John Barnes etc)
'Land of Hope and Glory'
The half-American 'proper Englishman' Winston Churchill

And on the plus side:
The best football league in the world
Shaun Ryder
The Smiths

by **miltiades** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:33 pm

Magnus wrote:I'd say these are quintessentially English:

Chavs
Elizabeth Duke at Argos
The Jeremy Kyle Show
Chips with cheese and gravy
Naming kids after brand names (Levi, Chanel, etc.)
'White Van' men
Page 3 of The Sun
The royal family (even though they're not English)
Les Dennis
Laying claim to foreign athletes (Lennox Lewis, Greg Rusedski, Linford Christie, John Barnes etc)
'Land of Hope and Glory'
The half-American 'proper Englishman' Winston Churchill

And on the plus side:
The best football league in the world
Shaun Ryder
The Smiths

You left out the most important aspect of being English. Watching Coronation street and Eastenders time and time and time again !!

by **Magnus** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:54 pm

miltiades wrote:
Magnus wrote:I'd say these are quintessentially English:

Chavs
Elizabeth Duke at Argos
The Jeremy Kyle Show
Chips with cheese and gravy
Naming kids after brand names (Levi, Chanel, etc.)
'White Van' men
Page 3 of The Sun
The royal family (even though they're not English)
Les Dennis
Laying claim to foreign athletes (Lennox Lewis, Greg Rusedski, Linford Christie, John Barnes etc)
'Land of Hope and Glory'
The half-American 'proper Englishman' Winston Churchill

And on the plus side:
The best football league in the world
Shaun Ryder
The Smiths

You left out the most important aspect of being English. Watching Coronation street and Eastenders time and time and time again !!

ah yes, how could I forget such a tradition? Life simply isn't complete without 12 hours of Emmerdale, Coronation Street and EastEnders on a Sunday. :lol:

by **Oracle** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:57 pm

No, no, no, no, nooooooooo! :roll:

Chavs, naming kids Wynona, Britney etc., lapdog of the USA, curries and Chinese food ... these are all corruptions of the English foibles.

The result of the damned British Empire legacy that has internationalised the English and made them amorphous with other ethnicities infiltrating England from places far and wide.

Now think .... ENGLISH .... pure, thoroughbred!

..... And which peccadilloes spring to mind?

~

Jerusalem

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

William Blake

by **Filitsa** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:00 pm

Beowulf
Chaucer
Sir Thomas Moore
Sir Philip Sidney
John Donne
John Milton
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe
Francis Bacon
John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
John Dryden
Alexander Pope
William Blake
Thomas Percy
William Wordsworth
Samuel T. Coleridge
Lord Byron
Percy Shelly
Alfred Tennyson
Robert Browning
Jane Austen
Emily Bronte
George Eliot
Thomas Hardy
Charles Dickens
William Thackery
Rudyard Kipling
H.G. Wells
Aldous Huxley
E.M. Forster
D.H. Lawrence
Virginia Woolf
Evelyn Waugh
George Orwell

by **purdey** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:08 pm

Peter Scott
Barnes Wallace
Geoff Boycott
Fred Dibner
Maggie
Arthur Scargill
John Noakes
Shep
Magic Roundabout
Marco Pierre White
Uncle Bob
Monty

by **Oracle** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:12 pm

Great contribution Filitsa

Literary Giants!

More charmingly English credits?

by **Magnus** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:16 pm

Oracle wrote:No, no, no, no, nooooooooo!

Chavs, naming kids Wynona, Britney etc., lapdog of the USA, curries and Chinese food ... these are all corruptions of the English foibles.

The result of the damned British Empire legacy that has internationalised the English and made them amorphous with other ethnicities infiltrating England from places far and wide.

Now think .... ENGLISH .... pure, thoroughbred! ..... And which peccadilloes spring to mind?

Ok, I'll try harder this time. How about:

Shakespeare (gadzooks!)
Dickens (such larks!)
The detestable Jane Austen (oooh Mr Bingley I'd love to have tea in your gazebo)
Henry VIII (off with 'er 'ead)
Jethro Tull (the bloke that invented the seed drill, not the band)
The Industrial Revolution (a bit important)
Luddism (let's fix it with a hammer)
Dambusters (Ginger's copped it portside)
Big Daddy (the fat bloke from the wrestling)

by **Oracle** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:24 pm

Good one Magnus .... gazebos

.... in the same vein, Orangeries and Conservatories. I reckon these must typify Englishness.

Leads on to the endless fascination and discussion of the weather. :roll:

Purdey .... isn't Marco Pierre White part French? :shock:

The Magic roundabout featured a Welsh Rabbit (Dylan), so doesn't count, but your list is a good potpourri of essence of English.

BTW ... which Uncle Bob?

by **purdey** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:34 pm

Born in Leeds, a true Yorkshireman.

Cyprus-Forum.com

Quintessentially English ....

Who is online