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Sat 19 Feb, 2005 06:42 am
Official: Britons are most cultured Europeans
John Hooper in Rome
Saturday February 19, 2005
The Guardian
The Italians have Michelangelo, the French Molière and the Germans Beethoven.
But, according to an Italian survey, the British - the beer-swilling, tabloid-reading, supposedly sports-crazy British - are more cultured than any of them.
They go to more concerts, films, plays, galleries and libraries than almost anyone in Europe. They even manage to visit more ruins and monuments than the Italians. "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,2763,1418110,00.html
I wonder if this comes as a shock to some.
Not a schock for me but some of the responses are raw data, it needs to be put in the context.
They boil a lot more meat.
Not an orthodontist anywhere to be found over there....
McTag, have your shield ready, lad
I think he has one, Panz, titanium made
It came as a bit of a surprise to me....but hey, it must be true, it says so in the papers.
Some people over here do have straight teeth. A few. (people or teeth?)
LOL! A few straight......teeth?
Anyhoo--- I love Britain.
Now, if only the Brits had better dental plans...
And they speak English so well, too! :wink:
Why do Americans focus so much on Brits' mossy teeth? (phrase from "Catcher In The Rye")
I don't think Brits have particularly disgusting teeth.
And, what's so good about tombstone teeth that you see in a disco under strobe lights?
Anyway, I'm cultured, I forgot.
We went out to the cinema this evening (not too cultured, just "The Aviator") and found when we got there it had started a half hour earlier than normal, so we came back home again. Not too far to travel, fortunately.
Now, must go and clean my teeth.
Whether or not the conclusions of the Eye-talians are warranted depends in large degree on one's definition of "cultured." That's a very subjective concept. Also, statistics by themselves are fairly meaningless. What does it mean that museum attendance is higher in one country than in another? Perhaps there are more homeless people who flock into a nice dry, warm museum frequently to get in out of the weather? Frequent library use could be interpreted to mean that the general ppulation, while literate, is too impoverished to afford the purchase of their own books or even newspapers. Again, it's all a subjective judgement.
The UK, in recent decades, has become almost as heterogenous a society as its former colonies -- USA, Canada, Australia, NZ. So, another question arises -- are these purportedly "cultured" people actually Brits? Or are the concertgoers mainly Indians, Pakistanis and Rhodesians? Etc., etc., etc.
Not to rain on the parade of the much-beloved British on this thread (and when I say "British", I certainly mean to include Scots and Welsh here as well as the Irish), but that survey needs some fine-tuning, methinks.
McTag wrote:and found when we got there it had started a half hour earlier than normal,
I found this most startling as American picture shows start a half hour later than expected what with all the ads and trailers.
All in good fun, of course, McTag. We do, as well, have our equivalent of bad teeth, and it generally comes from the heartland. It is also cleverly marketed as "Billy Bob" fake teeth. My whole family has a set:
http://www.billybobteeth.com/
Panzade's got that one right regarding seeing a movie in America these days. You now have to sit through almost a half hour of ads, trailers, reminders to turn your cell phone off and be curteous to the person next to you and don't forget to blow your wad on that 64 ounce soda.
Which is all why we rarely go out to see a movie anymore, unless it's one of the smaller, single screen moviehouses playing a really good indie film.
McTag--
Kudos for teeth brushing.
Can you still smoke in British cinemas? I was amazed!
dlowan wrote:Can you still smoke in British cinemas? I was amazed!
Wow! If that's true, I'll take back some of what I said. That would mean that while the British might not be the most cultured people, they are certainly the most civilized.
No you can't smoke in cinemas here, nor in any public building. Nor in pubs which serve food. Nor soon in any pub.
Thinks, the cliched symbol or image of a cinema is a beam of light cutting through the dark.
In the old days, that was visible because of all the smoke from hundreds of cigarettes.
Hey Andrew, if that means we're less civilised now, I'm sorry, but glad.
And now, McT, you're supposed to be praying for Camille... go figure.
As to why Americans like to rib the Brits about their teeth... I have no idea. I've been to Britain four times and never noticed a problem. Maybe I should go over again and see what I was missing?