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I find the Texans to be very polite, mostly, and in fact in supermarkets situations they apologise even more than the Brits!
For example, if you take an item from a shelf near someone, they will step back and say "oh excuse me" as if they were in YOUR way, when in fact you have been 2 feet away - but maybe entered their personal space - ????? And if you hold a door open here for someone, make sure you hold it waaaay wide open and step back so they have plenty of space to pass, otherwise they don't think you are waiting!!
Oh I wish more people did that here with doors - I hate it when men open an outward facing door and stand in the frame expecting you to go through. It creeps me out. I know they're trying to be nice (well I assume they are - unless they're just being pervs). LOL
It's funny,but you are quite right about the food, "rh1", it's the one thing where I'm thorougly continental : I remember as a 14 yo I was sent to an obscure Public School near Bambury on summer school and I couldn't get used to them white bread sandwiches with tomato beans...yikes! Although the behaviour of my family seems peculiar to outsiders, it was [is?] quite common in the old posh Parisian families of the XVIth district (like the "Sloane Rangers" in West London I guess).
For instance, without being bilingual, I could argue that I'm fluent in English : not so for my family! My father used to say : "the only good English accent is the Middle Atlantic accent [Bermuda?], your accent is too heavy, you speak like a German, it's ugly". Sooooo NICE.............................................. ......
It's funny,but you are quite right about the food, "rh1", it's the one thing where I'm thorougly continental : I remember as a 14 yo I was sent to an obscure Public School near Bambury on summer school and I couldn't get used to them white bread sandwiches with tomato beans...yikes!
Do you mean Baked Beans? I think they're cannellini beans but they're in an odd tomoato sauce. I can't abide them, the sauce is just horrible. I'll get shot down for saying that, they're an institution here!
White bread has fallen out of favour these days - whilst it used to be an upper class 'must' it's now relegated to evil-food status. So if you went back there today they'd probably be having sun-dried tomato wholegrain with seeds in, served with olives and hummus and a handful of rocket on the side
Quote:
Originally Posted by pigeonhole
Although the behaviour of my family seems peculiar to outsiders, it was [is?] quite common in the old posh Parisian families of the XVIth district (like the "Sloane Rangers" in West London I guess).
For instance, without being bilingual, I could argue that I'm fluent in English : not so for my family! My father used to say : "the only good English accent is the Middle Atlantic accent [Bermuda?], your accent is too heavy, you speak like a German, it's ugly". Sooooo NICE.............................................. ......
Bermuda?? I wouldn't know a Bermudan accent if it bit me on the **se. (although it would be quite a feat to get bitten on the **se by an abstract concept, except maybe metaphorically.... I digress...)
Where was I? I'm left rather puzzled by your father's statement. On so many levels!
You know, rh1, it's a long story, and I don't want to seem to be whining...you see, I went to College,I have a regular middle-class job in the Public Service, I own my own small condo in a hcol area, I'm well-traveled, I never cheated or acted unlawfully,I have a nice wife ,and yet for some in the family I'm a "failure" because "I did nothing of the ordinary" like my father who drove a sports car, went to bed with glamorous women, tried to ape the high life of the jet setters with the last remnants of the family's wealth...
[quote=RH1;3631895]Do you mean Baked Beans? I think they're cannellini beans but they're in an odd tomoato sauce. I can't abide them, the sauce is just horrible. I'll get shot down for saying that, they're an institution here!
Sorry RH1 but the quite delicious delicacy known as Baked Beans use haricot beans (aka navy beans) and not cannellini - at least those everyday makes that you can pick up in any store. Yum yum
You know, rh1, it's a long story, and I don't want to seem to be whining...you see, I went to College,I have a regular middle-class job in the Public Service, I own my own small condo in a hcol area, I'm well-traveled, I never cheated or acted unlawfully,I have a nice wife ,and yet for some in the family I'm a "failure" because "I did nothing of the ordinary" like my father who drove a sports car, went to bed with glamorous women, tried to ape the high life of the jet setters with the last remnants of the family's wealth...
Your life sounds amazing - so does your parents'!
You should write a book about it all, maybe called "The White Sheep of the Family"
Do you mean Baked Beans? I think they're cannellini beans but they're in an odd tomoato sauce. I can't abide them, the sauce is just horrible. I'll get shot down for saying that, they're an institution here!
Sorry RH1 but the quite delicious delicacy known as Baked Beans use haricot beans (aka navy beans) and not cannellini - at least those everyday makes that you can pick up in any store. Yum yum
Of course they do - doh! Where on earth did I get cannellini from? My brain isn't working properly today.
I think one thing that makes the British so distinctive, to Americans at least, is their fearless way with words. So well-spoken and so often showing a wry, dry humor. Even reading British teenagers' posts online I'm struck by their fluid vocabularies and quick wit. It seems everyone has the same outstanding English/vocab education no matter where they go to school.
There is no American Wodehouse. Well, we had SJ Perelman but not the same thing.
Also, I've gotta say, you generate the world's BEST actors.
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I know they're trying to be nice (well I assume they are - unless they're just being pervs). LOL 
My English education-followed-
It's funny,but you are quite right about the food, "rh1", it's the one thing where I'm thorougly continental : I remember as a 14 yo I was sent to an obscure Public School near Bambury on summer school and I couldn't get used to them white bread sandwiches with tomato beans...yikes!
Although the behaviour of my family seems peculiar to outsiders, it was [is?] quite common in the old posh Parisian families of the XVIth district (like the "Sloane Rangers" in West London I guess).
You know, rh1, it's a long story, and I don't want to seem to be whining...you see, I went to College,I have a regular middle-class job in the Public Service, I own my own small condo in a hcol area, I'm well-traveled, I never cheated or acted unlawfully,I have a nice wife ,and yet for some in the family I'm a "failure" because "I did nothing of the ordinary" like my father who drove a sports car, went to bed with glamorous women, tried to ape the high life of the jet setters with the last remnants of the family's wealth...
