Friday, February 10, 2006

Little Britian

The Brits are everywhere in this country, Eastern Suburbs especially. Young people come from the UK to backpack and run amok as unskilled workers like bartenders and such, older skilled workers come and fill white collar positions later in life. A resounding commonality among these ex-patriots is their identifying themselves as being from the UK. Not England, as their accent clearly discerns them as being from, but the United Kingdom of Greater Britain and the Commonwealth of Northern Ireland. This bugs the snot out of me. It means having to ask a follow up question about which country (which is pretty obvious, given the pronunciation gaps between Scots, Ulster and those from England) and additionally, which city if I want to get a true sense. This happens consistently. Why the obscurity? If I was from, say, the British Virgin Islands or the Cook Islands, should I also say the United Kingdom? Our informal research methods, conducted at a British, no English-style, pub have proved as such.

Certainly, the Welsh and Northern Irish have consistently distinguished themselves from the English, taking pride in their heritage. I suppose it is akin to us saying we're from California, knowing that we need to quickly delineate ourselves from any other part of the country that might be considered a 'red' state, almost as a way of deflecting guilt.

Whereas once Australia viewed England with such disdain as being 'Royalist' and having a superiority complex, many young professionals go to England, I mean the UK, to spend a few years developing their career. The adage of 'if I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere' that the states has toward New York would be akin to London here. Yet, why would anyone want to trade this gorgeous, laid-back beach lifestyle for the crowded, over-priced, cold and foggy hubbub of London? Makes no sense to me. I don't feel that being at the center of it all (home of Greenwich Mean Time, as an example) is enough of an even trade for such a drop in quality of life.

posted by ncawthon at 1:02 PM