Watching the English

[bazfaz]

That's the title of the book I am reading. The anthropologist spent hours of research in pubs where she also happened to observe foreign tourists. Invariably they sat down at tables, not realising that one of the defining characteristics of a British pub is going to the bar to buy your drinks. She timed how long it took the foreign tourists to catch on. The smartest were an American couple who took 2 minutes 40 seconds. Some French got up and left after 10 minutes, complaining about the terrible service. The people who took the longest were a group of Italians - 44 minutes. But being Italian they were all talking at once and didn't notice the time passing.

[gyro]

Phew! And there was me thinking you were gonna start slagging off us wonderful Englanders !

[bazfaz]

You have to realise that I am not British born. Though I lived most of my life there I have also lived in South Africa, Canada, Greece and France. On visits to England it does seem exotic.

[gyro]

I never assumed you were British, to be fair. Although I'm not sure what prompted your response in that fashion .. ?

I would imagine almost any 'foreign' country would seem exotic.

[bjd]

I read that book a few months ago. Some of it was interesting, but I got a bit tired of her repeating the same things over and over.

I always thought you were English, Bazfaz!