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A review by tashachowdory
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox
5.0
Brilliant. This has been on my to-read pile for a very very long time, since I was an undergraduate about 6 years ago to be exact.
I'm glad I've waited. My knowledge of people and the world is exponentially more varied than it was then but also, I appreciate (more) the style of the prose that Kate Fox has chosen to use. It's a major point for me, in that what is technically an ethnography into 'Englishness' where Fox has immersed herself in as many aspects of English culture she never once makes me feel uneducated of 'below' her in terms of the language she uses and indeed how she uses it. In fact one could point out that the very lack of class in the way she writes in indicative of her higher class status :p (haha point from the novel, English people, myself included are obsessed with status and class).
My favourite chapters would have to be the one queueing. Mainly because I spend and have spent a lot of time in queues and the unspoken rules of the English style of queueing is something I have carried with me wherever I have lived. The fact that each queue is a microcosm of Englishness is spot on. I experience this pretty much every morning when I get on the bus. And Fox is right when she says, that English person even as just one person will queue at a bus stop, stood facing the direction in which the vehicle is likely to be coming.
Our obsession with alcohol was another one I found interesting. Mainly because I know so many people (myself included) that use alcohol as a buffer before embarking on a social event - meeting new people? Have a quick drink to make it easier. Oh! we're at party, lets get some drinks so we have something to hold. And so on.
These are just a few of the gems. I've grown up with most of these, I do (have done) most of these. When people walk into me, I say sorry. I judge people on their accents and sorry to say that yes, some people do sound more common than others and in England you are judged for it. It's not right and it shouldn't happen but it is a fact of life.
I guess I would peg myself as lower-middle or middle-middle? Education puts me at upper middle, but the way I live my life puts me at middle middle but my many eccentricities and lack of care for certain standards and customs would either put me at working class or upper class. See? It's almost too fascinating :p And I feel so cringey that I've written that in a review, so now I'm doing that very English thing of apologising for my (perceived) transgression.
I'm glad I've waited. My knowledge of people and the world is exponentially more varied than it was then but also, I appreciate (more) the style of the prose that Kate Fox has chosen to use. It's a major point for me, in that what is technically an ethnography into 'Englishness' where Fox has immersed herself in as many aspects of English culture she never once makes me feel uneducated of 'below' her in terms of the language she uses and indeed how she uses it. In fact one could point out that the very lack of class in the way she writes in indicative of her higher class status :p (haha point from the novel, English people, myself included are obsessed with status and class).
My favourite chapters would have to be the one queueing. Mainly because I spend and have spent a lot of time in queues and the unspoken rules of the English style of queueing is something I have carried with me wherever I have lived. The fact that each queue is a microcosm of Englishness is spot on. I experience this pretty much every morning when I get on the bus. And Fox is right when she says, that English person even as just one person will queue at a bus stop, stood facing the direction in which the vehicle is likely to be coming.
Our obsession with alcohol was another one I found interesting. Mainly because I know so many people (myself included) that use alcohol as a buffer before embarking on a social event - meeting new people? Have a quick drink to make it easier. Oh! we're at party, lets get some drinks so we have something to hold. And so on.
These are just a few of the gems. I've grown up with most of these, I do (have done) most of these. When people walk into me, I say sorry. I judge people on their accents and sorry to say that yes, some people do sound more common than others and in England you are judged for it. It's not right and it shouldn't happen but it is a fact of life.
I guess I would peg myself as lower-middle or middle-middle? Education puts me at upper middle, but the way I live my life puts me at middle middle but my many eccentricities and lack of care for certain standards and customs would either put me at working class or upper class. See? It's almost too fascinating :p And I feel so cringey that I've written that in a review, so now I'm doing that very English thing of apologising for my (perceived) transgression.