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Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
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| Part No: | 1857885082 |
| Manufacturer: | Nicholas Brealey Publishing |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 4.5 / 5.0 |
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- ISBN13: 9781857885088
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
A bestseller in the UK, Watching the English is a biting, affectionate, insightful and often hilarious look English Society. Putting the English national character under her anthropological microscope, Fox finds a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and bizarre codes of behavior. Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments-even using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig-Fox discovers what these unwritten codes tell us about Englishness.
| Finally I make sense! | 2010-08-15 | 5 / 5 |
| | When you are an ex-pat for a long enough time you begin to wonder what it is about you that is so different from everyone around you. Why do I share with delight that the big name-brand purse I'm carrying, and was complimented on, was bought at a discount store and get very odd results? Oh, I'm just being English. Why am I so frightfully horrified when people ask me how much I earn, or how expensive was my car? Oh... I see. I'm just operating under different rules. I've heard, and so far I've seen it to be true among my other English friends, we have trouble assimilating to other countries with the same ease most any other immigrant does. This book will remind you, you're not crazy, you're just English. |
| Watching the English | 2010-07-13 | 2 / 5 |
| | Very long-winded. Written by a scientist who won't let go of certain words. Could have been a much more enjoyable read if it were half the size. But still -- the information which was tucked into it was helpful. |
| S U P E R C A L A F R A G E L I S T I C E X P I A L I D O C I O U S ! | 2010-06-06 | 4 / 5 |
| "WATCHING THE ENGLISH - The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour", by Kate Fox, is a wonderful tour-de-force, which explains the quirks and foibles, (and delights!), of modern English civilization and customs, often also explaining their origins. As in many books, this one features snippets of raves from professional reviewers. The pro review snippet that caught my eye, is this nice little succinct nugget from 'City Life', Manchester. It reads:
" It's a fascinating and insightful book, but what really sets it apart is the informal style AIMED SQUARELY AT THE INTELLIGENT LAYMAN " (My emphasis).
So, you WON'T find pages and pages of boring, sociological-babble here. Nor will you find pages and pages of statistics. Nope. Just good, interesting, and truly fascinating writing!
It is insightful and delightful! Humour comes up on many pages, and althought the writing style is not exactly the same, this book has the same TYPE of style and intent as the wonderful book "CLASS", by Paul Fussel, (for which I wrote my very first review!), which explains -- with similar good clear writng and wonderfully (and sometimes painfully) accurate humour, the often-hidden, rarely-spoken-of, but very very real, AMERICAN class system. (Buying -- and reading -- both of these books, can give one quite an education!)
Reading this book, one can also come to see the simularities and differences, not only between the USA and England -- but also the differences betwwen the American character, in general, and one's own ethnic background. For instance, I asked both an aunt of mine who lives in Canada, and a computer technition, born in Sweden, who came to my home to fix my computer, what the main difference was, as they saw it, between Americans and Swedes, (and Americans and Canadians.) The answer, in both cases was the same -- and also, it seems, is the primary difference, (or one of the primary differences), between the general Culture of the UK, and the general Culture of the USA. And that is -- in the English, (as described in this book), Swedish, (and probably most other European), Canadian, (and probably many other non-USA cultures), MOST PEOPLE ARE MORE CIRCUMSPECT IN THEIR BEHAVIOUR. quieter, that is. not as boisterous. more privacy-minded. you get the idea.
The English, have many idiocincracies and habits NOT shared by many of their European neighbours. Such as extanct class-dictinctions, still fueled by an EXISTANT aristorcracy. (Italy -- and many other European countries -- may have noble families....but offially, Italy -- and the other countries are, of course, now REPUBLICS, with PRESIDENTS, and no longer have a king -(sad for us Royal-watchers....but that's one reason why England continues to have such a pull on the imaginations of so many romantic and romantic-Indigo types, like me!) And unlike in the US, (and many other countries), the "go-getting" attitude of so many entrepreneurs, is somewhat frowned upon, and "lower-class" people who want to rise by their own intitiates, are still, (very unfortunately in my own, American-raised opinion), often told that they are: "Getting above themselves". (To me, this truly is a waste of talent. Puttting "working-class" (ie: low-income), people down may serve some temporary upper-class aims, (keeping the "riff-raff" out, continuing a feeling of exclusivity and privilege -- and probably, in England, ACTUAL exclusivity and privilege, as well) -- but at what cost to progesss, and the ultimate prestige, (from the discoveries and accomplishments that these put-down and discouraged lower-class "go-getters" could, if encouaged, ultimately make?) Thankfully, such things as scholarships, (and "The Princes' Trust"), DO, in fact exist in England, so all is not lost.
However, this is all my own opinion --- and not necessarily discussed in this book. "Watching The English", is absorbing, full of examples of what people of various classes believe and why, and, most importantly, is eminently, delightfully READABLE!
The print size, while slightly smallish, is nonethess very well spaced, making it easier to read. Margins are adequate -- especially near the binding side, which is important in any paperback book, (mass-market, or, as in this case, trade-paperback), so that the reader may enjoy the book whilst not afraid of breaking the binding!
The only criticism I have of this book -- as I have had, recently, with so many books, both hard-back and paperback -- is that the paper used is almost a crime! It is of sulfite, and of SUCH poor quality, that, even though the British Empire might, as Churchill said, last for a thousand years, the paper used in the printing of this book certainly is NOT of "the finest". It will definitely not last for the number of "hours" a book printed on non-sulfite paper would last -- far, far from it. I doubt very much that the publishers wanted to send a message of the accellerating decline of British customs and ceremonies by printing this book on such paper, (which will last, perhaps, 30 years before it turns to dust) --- but that certainly is the impression given, when opening this book! (And better paper does NOT cost more to use -- the only cost involves the ONE-TIME expense of replacing the paper-making EQUIPMENT, which is different for sulphite and acid-free paper. Acid free paper not only looks better and brighter -- but
(especially in the printing of THIS book), gives a sub-conscious, but very definite impression to the reader of the timeless, and ever-continuing values of English Civilization, which, though they do change a bit through the years, remain basically the same ones that people of taste and style continue to still look up to, throughout the world.
This book is for English people who better want to understand their culture, for Anglophiles who also want, (desperately!), to understand it -- and, perhaps, as a gift to those people who are "anti-English", whom you might, (dearly!) wish to understand it
and come to deeply admire it, as you yourself do.
But then, giving this book to that type of person would not be so circumspect, would it? : )
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| anglo-american | 2010-05-25 | 5 / 5 |
| | No need for therapy, I'm an American Englishwoman. This was such a wonderful book that I gave it to a neighbor that will be studying at Oxford. |
| Bed-time reading? | 2010-03-24 | 2 / 5 |
| Not exactly a rivetting read, this is a rather repetitive of account of one social anthropologist's attempt to characterize the quirks of the 'English' character. While claimig to cover all bases, the emphasis is on 'suburbia' and, despite a struggle to avoid this, the tone is irredeemably middle-class.
The popularity of this book is difficult to understand, but this reviewer suspects that the appeal derives from a readership that is itself both anglophile and 'middle-class' in outlook. The expression 'ango-saxon attitudes' springs to mind!
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