I think it's sad when someone I consider a national treasure actually comes from another country. Thus, I should congratulate my British neighbors (the lousy bastards!) regarding Mr. Mark Steel.

And here's the thing. When I first saw the Lectures, I was stunned. There's nothing like them on American television. And now, reading his latest column for The Independent, it strikes me that there is a tremendous gap that, frankly, shames me as an American.

See, the thing is that no American can stand so well against jingoism in this age of rising nationalism in large part because, well, the audience won't have it.

For instance, American news consumers would absolutely flip if they encountered the equivalent of this:

The reason anyone who tries to define "Britishness" gets in a muddle must be because there's hardly anything that unites everyone who's British. And while there are behavioural traits that are typically British, you can hardly insist all immigrants have to adopt them to be considered a citizen. Otherwise you'll have citizenship lessons in which an instructor shows an England football match to a group of Somalians and says slowly "Now all together – 'Lam-pard and Gerr-ard, they can't play together - it's OBVIOUS.' Follow that with a deep sigh, then a muttered 'hopeless'. Well done, you'll soon be ready to go to a packed pub on the night of a qualifying match for your field work." Or you could have a question that asks: "Name five situations in which it would be suitable to stare blankly and mutter the phrase 'fucking Ada'."

(Steel (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-lets-be-modern-and-swear-an-oath-to-the-monarchy-794428.html))

Seriously, put that on the op-ed page of the Flyover Tribune, or even the New York Times, and Americans would choke on themselves.
____________________

Notes:

Steel, Mark. "Mark Steel: Let's be modern and swear an oath to the monarchy". The Independent. March 12, 2008. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-lets-be-modern-and-swear-an-oath-to-the-monarchy-794428.html

Same thing with Aussies..

I have received emails admonishing me on the extra "l" in signalling.

Why?????

"We are truly grateful to live in a land where we are all judged on our efforts, and our actions as good citizens. And for this we give boundless praise to our almighty gracious glorious radiant majesty that she may bestow upon us these rights, oo she's marvellous, 82 and never stops, we are truly the most odious rancid sewage compared to thee."



uh...I see :(

You have to be British to the bone to keep a stiff upper lip while uttering something about swallows carrying coconuts.

I have received emails admonishing me on the extra "l" in signalling.Traveled, reveling... two syllable verbs ending in L. We spell the past tense and past participle with one L, they spell it with two. Most Americans are familiar with British spellings of the forms "centre" and "labour," but not so much with "signalled." You can thank Noah Webster for all of this, the creator of the first American English dictionary.

It's not logical. "Signaling" and "traveled" look like they're formed on verbs spelled "signale" and "travele," so the A and the E should be Long. But as you well know, English is the last language in which to expect logic in its spelling. Try Czech or Spanish if you want that.

Fraggle... there is a rule for the doubling, though.

If the accent falls on the second syllable we double the consonant (refer - referred). If the accent falls on the first syllable, we don't (visit - visited).