We were having dinner last week with our British neighbors and discussing the finer points of the British Monarchy, specifically Henry VIII, and I was asking our friends what they thought of him. We’d just visited the Tower of London (See my Flickr pictures here)

where Henry received bride Anne Boleyn and upon her arrival warmly greeted her by sweetly whispering, “I will love you until the day you die,” which she did, of course, just a short few years later when Henry had her head separated from her body.

Anyway, I just knew our friends would agree that Henry was the Pol Pot of the medieval world, establishing a lifelong reputation as a butcher and general despot. “We don’t think about him much really,” my friend said. “There is so much history to keep track of most of us never give him that much thought.”

His comment was so nonchalant that it struck me as humorous. He wasn’t saying it in a pompous or arrogant way, he was simply stating exactly what the visit to the Tower impressed upon me: There is nearly a 1,000 years of British history IF you begin with William the Conqueror and blow off Roman occupation years before that. I chuckled because he was so…..British in his response. I thought, “I love this place,” then began thinking of why I’ve taken to the UK like an Englishman to his English breakfast (which consists of cold pork and beans, a couple eggs, grilled mushrooms, some sausage saturated in artery clogging cholesterol and bacon, also saturated in artery clogging cholesterol). So here are some reasons why I’m quite keen (commonly used word here) toward Brits with more to come later I’m sure.

1. Brits…period. People told us before we arrived that Brits were cold and standoffish, difficult to get to know. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brits love to converse and it is most common to hear laughter within minutes.

2. British moxie. The dictionary defines moxie as vigor; verve, pep, courage, aggressiveness, nerve, skill, know-how. and lists related words as backbone, grit, gumption, guts. All these things define Brits. You don’t survive a 1,000 years of their history without a “stiff upper lip”. You certainly don’t emerge from the rubble of the Blitz during WWII without having some moxie. Brits have tons of moxie.

3.British humor. Mention this and most people’s minds quickly drift to their favorite Monty Python, Benny Hill or Mr. Bean scenes. Frankly, Americans, for the most part, don’t get the extremely quick and dry wit of Brits or their ability to poke fun at what they see as absurdities in their own culture. (Here is an example. Side splitting stuff…if you get it). I find myself at times laughing uncontrollably, especially with sitcoms like “Yes, Minister” (clip below).

4. British history. Seriously, think about all the Brits have done to shape the world in the past 350 years and you understand why it was once said the sun never sets on the British Empire. Of course there are some warts, but Brits have made massive (a commonly used word by Brits) contributions to exploration, science, literature, and world trade. Think of the British missiological and theological giants like Charles Spurgeon, Eric Liddell, David Livingstone, John Wycliffe, John Bunyan and C.S. Lewis to name but a few. It is unfortunate that too many of today’s “tolerant-minded” Brits seem to find all that is wrong with being British and are undermining a fantastic (another commonly used word) culture.

5. British use of language. I’ve mentioned this before so won’t belabor it but Brits really make the the English language dance. Couple the ability to do gymnastics with words with humor and you’ve got one clever Brit.

All nationalities have nuances that make them unique but it has been enjoyable so far to be introduced to those things that make Brits uniquely British.

CORRECTION: I was totally busted on my song selection. Tried to remember words from memory. Ben in the comments busted me. The song is Day Tripper. Video here.

The term “Day Tripper” may have been most popularized in the Beetles song, Baby you can drive my car. It is a common expression here and often defines a person who makes a day trip into London. I had a friend in town today who has been through London on many occasions but never to London so I gave him what I’ve come to call the walking tour.

Basically it is the train to London’s Victoria Station, walk the six blocks to Buckingham Palace, through Green Park to Piccadilly then several blocks to Piccadilly Circus, to the Texas Embassy for lunch (which is actually in the building that was the headquarters for the shipping line that owned the Titanic), to Trafalgar Square, down the hill on Whitehall (which is where 10 Downing Street is, to Big Ben and Parliment with a view across the River Thames to the London Eye, around the corner to Westminster Abbey, then a double-decker bus back to Victoria and the train home. Here’s some shots from the day.

I love language, more specifically the use of it. I’m not sure when this love affair began but I remember way back to when I was about six years old and my dad read to me The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I could see ol’ Huck and Jim floating the Mississip’ on their raft.
At some point I graduated to sports writers like Red Smith, books like The Great Gatsby and essayists like John McPhee and his incredible look at Princeton’s Bill Bradley (A Sense of Where You Are).
And then there was William Safire.

Safire died in September (2009) ending a life of language. I began reading his column, “On Language” when I was in high school and followed it through college. His giddiness over words was contagious. Safire was the first person I thought of when I read the column below in a local publication (sorry, would credit the author but there was no byline). One of the things I LOVE about Brits is their use of language. Many have a broad vocabulary and put combination of words together that make this English speaker feel like the language gods have rolled in a buffet of fresh catch and invited this mortal to a word feast. It’s sometimes like living in a Monty Python movie.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The English Language Lesson

We’ll begin with a box and the plural is boxes, but the plural of ox become oxen, not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, if I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Beware of a heard, a dreadful word, that looks like beard and sounds like bird.

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

(You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.)

Andy Summers is 67 years old today.
And Pete Quaife is 66.
The two played instrumental roles in bands I love; The Police and The Kinks respectively. I was standing over the sink washing dishes when the local BBC radio station played songs by both bands and mentioned that today, Dec. 31, was the day both were born. As I scrubbed stir-fry residue from a wok, I thought about some of my favorite bands or performers that come from the UK. Below are a few of them in video form. No, they aren’t part of the British Invasion of my parent’s generation that was ushered in by the Beetles, but they weren’t far behind.

Andy Summers opens this favorite Police song of mine.

Yes, I know what the song is about, but you gotta understand the Kinks. They never took themselves that seriously.

These guys may have been some of the most preeminent musicians ever. I never get enough Yes.

Is it possible to make a list of great British bands without Queen? NO BODY has a voice like Freddie Mercury had. (I know, I know….and I’ll probably hear it from my mom).

They weren’t there in the beginning, but Genesis easily makes my list.

It is possible to go on and on but I’ll end this list with another of my favorite British bands with Pink Floyd, the musical equivalent of Fantasia…only better (by the way, which one’s Pink?)

I’ve written before about rambling and posted some picture from a family ramble in the fall. This past week we’ve gotten quite a dusting of snow across our area of the UK. We dressed in our wellies and plodded up the hill. Here are some images from Saturday’s ramble through the area back of our house. Many are taken in the same location as the family ramble I previously posted.