Duggar World Tour

[O Latin]

Do Brits not actually use "bloody hell" in conversation? I thought that was actually a pretty common British expression, but maybe it's more of a stereotype/co-opted by Americans thing than I thought. My friends and I use it occasionally, I don't know why. I think we all picked it up from one particular friend (who is Canadian, if that makes a difference).

I would so love to go to a British pub. The closest I've ever gotten is this place in Ashland, Oregon (where the main economy is Shakespeare Festival/tourism) that has things like bangers and mash and spotted dick. I'm so excited to go there this winter for the first time being over 21, so I can have a Guinness with my dinner. :dance:

I haven't watched the Duggar European specials at all, but just reading about it making me jealous. My dream is to go to England and see all the amazing historical stuff that I'm sure the Duggars are probably missing.

[kunoichi66]

OH! and my husband said he would happily don a kilt :D

I actually tend to not like it when people do that. It feels a bit like people are appropriating my culture.

[AnnoDomini]

AD, I doubt you would have considered different side of road = wrong side of road, and in the pub I doubt you would have been so obvious about your ignorance of the food or acted so relieved when it arrived and was actually normal people food! :lol: All of us have been ignorant and politely hidden it, it's another thing to rudely and loudly display it...

That's true. I do think of it as 'the other side of the road'--there is no objective 'right' or 'wrong' side, just different. And I'd probably point to what I wanted on the menu and/or asked how it was pronounced.

[gustava]

Let's face it: The more boorish the Duggars, the higher the ratings for TLC, and the Duggars are too dumb and SOTDRT educated that they think they know all they need to know. The more we complaIn, the more TLC likes it.

[AnnoDomini]

I think I might have read somewhere that 'bloody' is actually ruder than one might think.

[Triplet3]

Do Brits not actually use "bloody hell" in conversation? I thought that was actually a pretty common British expression, but maybe it's more of a stereotype/co-opted by Americans thing than I thought. My friends and I use it occasionally, I don't know why. I think we all picked it up from one particular friend (who is Canadian, if that makes a difference).

I would so love to go to a British pub. The closest I've ever gotten is this place in Ashland, Oregon (where the main economy is Shakespeare Festival/tourism) that has things like bangers and mash and spotted dick. I'm so excited to go there this winter for the first time being over 21, so I can have a Guinness with my dinner. :dance:

I haven't watched the Duggar European specials at all, but just reading about it making me jealous. My dream is to go to England and see all the amazing historical stuff that I'm sure the Duggars are probably missing.

Yes, 'bloody hell' is still reasonably common. I say it sometimes, as well as things like 'blimey' or 'Gordon Bennett'. 'Bugger me!' is pretty common too. :D It's stereotypical phrases like 'toodle pip' and 'Jolly good show, old chap' that very, VERY few people say anymore (unless being sarcastic/ironic).

ETA: If you do ever make it over here, try going to one of the more historic pubs, because they have more atmosphere. There's several in my home town that are centuries old, including the oldest pub in the country (though to be fair, several pubs across the country lay claim to being the oldest!) The building was originally a dovecot belonging to the Cathedral when it was still an Abbey. At some point, presumably after the English Reformation in the mid 16th c., it ws turned into a pub (the dovecot, not the Abbey!). Also, make sure you try going to a pub with a good range of proper beers/ales, if you like that sort of thing, and games such as darts, pool/snooker or shove ha'penny. Some pubs have gardens, too.

[FuManchu]

I think I might have read somewhere that 'bloody' is actually ruder than one might think.

It's hard to pin down, but on the whole I would use it in conversation with any of my friends, none of my family, and no strangers unless (a) they had used it first, or (b) appeared likely to use it (plumbers etc!).

[allyisyourpally5]

Yes, 'bloody hell' is still reasonably common. I say it sometimes, as well as things like 'blimey' or 'Gordon Bennett'. 'Bugger me!' is pretty common too. :D It's stereotypical phrases like 'toodle pip' 'Jolly good show, old chap' that very, VERY few people say anymore (unless being sarcastic/ironic).

I would certainly say bloody is common, and bloody hell. Rudeness would depend largely on tone and context of conversation. I use it when I'm getting annoyed "why won't the bloody remote work!" or just general shock you could say -"what the bloody hell is that?" (said only tonight when my dear mother came round with oddest looking jumper (sweater :) )

oh yes, jolly good is generally when you "play posh" - or could be used by some very upper class folk hehe

I love bugger me!

O Latin - come to England and go to the pub! you can drink at 18 here :)

[Triplet3]

Schoolchildren are definitely still taught that 'bloody' is a very rude word. Triplet2 teaches groups at several junior schools, and at one of them she let the word 'bloody' slip out once by mistake. The children there at the time apparently looked extremely shocked, and when T2 asked them how they would describe something with blood on it, they just said "we'd say it had blood on it"!

[Renting with Raggles]

'Bloody' used to be extremely shocking - perhaps it's related to the blasphemy commandment, God's blood and all that. In Pygmalion Eliza Dolittle uses it and everyone gets really upset, then the upper-class girl picks it up.

[Kitten]

First of all, I spent a year at uni in Glasgow, so I've already successfully passed for non-American ( :D ), and had plenty of opportunity to experience Scots and "British" food (sorry to all food snobs, but who COULDN'T love a cuisine that pours hot custard over all their desserts? YUM...). I just hope the Scots, Irish and English who had the misfortune to encounter the Duggars will be kind enough to mark them as the anomaly, and not the rule, when it comes to Americans.

But long before that year (and long before the internet and Google), I was familiar with British culture from reading. I read extensively, and many books I enjoyed were set in various parts of the UK, both past and present. Heck, I even read encyclopedias for fun. If you love to read as much as I do, it seems almost inconceivable that your literature wouldn't include some books about or set in the UK. Even just history and social studies. Unless your reading is so restricted that nothing passes Gothard's Daddy's approval except the wisdom booklets.

One point of correction on the tea - iced tea is tea that has been brewed, then chilled. Some people add lemon and/or sugar to it when served. Sweet tea is tea that is brewed, then mixed with a simple syrup while it is still hot, then chilled. Because the simple syrup becomes an integral part of the liquid, it has a different taste from iced tea that you've added sugar to when served. While you'll see it occasionally in other parts of the country, sweet tea is synonymous with the South, and nearly every restaurant there will offer sweet tea.

The rude comments were about what you'd expect - "Is toad in the hole really a frog? I'm not gonna eat THAT." "Bubble and squeak? Is that the noise the animals make? Must be fish and mice." That sort of thing, on and on. And they seemed genuinely ignorant; not just making stupid remarks for the cameras. Michelle talks about how much the children like to learn - okay, even if their past reading material has NEVER covered British culture in the least...you're going on a one-month tour of Scotland, Ireland, England, and Israel, and you do NO research beforehand? Um, yeah, love of learning? Not so much...I think she meant to say love of earning. :D

Unless maybe TLC FORBID them to do any research, so they could show the world just what ignorant boobs look like, for the ratings. That's possible - TLC wouldn't mind if the Duggars made fools of themselves, just the opposite, in fact. Who knows? But it certainly proved they ARE ignorant boobs. At least Jinger had the grace to be embarrassed by her father - although I suspect that wasn't the first, and certainly won't be the last. He REVELS in it - as long as he's the center of attention, JB will do ANYTHING. He and Amy are the perfect pair...

[Lainey]

Don't feel bad, annalena, I go through a lot of toilet paper, too. Their usage also seemed really low to me with that many people.

Then again, I have an evil demon living in my tummy (some say it's IBS, but I know better :P ), so that doesn't help. His name is Beauregard.

How much is a gallon?

[ChickeyMonkey]

Donks, is that Sloth from the "Goonies" in your avatar? In doll form? Where did you get that?!

"Goonies never say die!" :)

[Lillybee]

If Anna doesn't think British food is "nomal" I wonder what she is going to think of Israeli food.

wo

[emmiedahl]

A gallon is 8 pints, almost 4 liters.

[browngrl]

I have been unable to watch the whole "duggers do the world" episodes. Too, too much fontram*.

*http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fontram

[CanadianHippie]

Bangers and mash! I love it, but I used chicken sausages.

That being said, the Duggar attempts at reading that menu was painful to watch.

[alba]

I think I might have read somewhere that 'bloody' is actually ruder than one might think.

I think it's related to Christ's blood or something, so it is ruder than the euphemistic 'ruddy', which I always associate with Hagrid in the Harry Potter books. I don't think it's as rude as something like 'shit', though; probably on a level with 'damn'.

[FuManchu]

I think it's related to Christ's blood or something, so it is ruder than the euphemistic 'ruddy', which I always associate with Hagrid in the Harry Potter books. I don't think it's as rude as something like 'shit', though; probably on a level with 'damn'.

If I can briefly create a Sliding Scale Of Swearwords From A British Perspective, it's something a bit like:

1. Damn (not really swearing unless you're very old-fashioned)

2. Bloody

4. Arse

3. Bollocks/Bugger (these two are about on the same level but it depends on the context)

4. ...And then we go into the more traditional S/F/C rankings.

[Triplet3]

I'm rather fond of 'blooming', though the word isn't all that commonly used anymore (except in the flower-related sense, of course). It reminds me of the Father Christmas books/animation by Raymond Briggs, he of 'The Snowman'. Despite being a likeable and amusing figure, Father Christmas in his books is rather grumpy and keeps complaining about the 'blooming snow' and other things.

[Witsec7]

I'm rather fond of 'blooming', though the word isn't all that commonly used anymore (except in the flower-related sense, of course). It reminds me of the Father Christmas books by Raymond Briggs, he of 'The Snowman'. Despite being a likeable and amusing figure, Father Christmas in his books is rather grumpy and keeps complaining about the 'blooming snow' and other things.

My DD was raised on the Briggs FC. He liked to drink a bit IIRC.

FWIW I like the phrase 'bloody arschloch' myself.

[O Latin]

I use "bugger" too (I learned that one from Captain Jack in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). I didn't know that it would be considered ruder than "bloody" or "arse." It seems so tame to me.

It's funny, I use most of these words when I'm alone in the car (that's when I do most of my swearing). But once I was talking to my mom about our weekend plans and I said something like, "Bloody hell, that's going to take forever." She laughed at me and was like, "What is this, Harry Potter?" Sometimes I forget that most people have never heard my borrowed from the Brits and/or made up swear words (my current favorite is "cripes on a cracker" which I use at least three times per car trip).

[3 is enough]

I think it's related to Christ's blood or something,

That's entirely possible.

Growing up in Quebec, all the swear words had something to do with the Church.

So you'd hear someone saying "Maudite tabernacle de calice de chien salle" , which translates to "God damn taberacle of a chalice of a dirty dog!" which sounds silly in English, but is quite profane in French.

Then again , people say that things are "tout fucke", or all fucked up, and no one bats an eye.

[FuManchu]

I use "bugger" too (I learned that one from Captain Jack in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). I didn't know that it would be considered ruder than "bloody" or "arse." It seems so tame to me.

Most people will see blood in their lifetimes, and we all have an arse; buggery, on the other hand, is welcomed by relatively few...

The Harry Potter films are the clearest examples of the slight US/UK disconnect: JK Rowling carefully kept the early book expletive-free, only for some American scriptwriter to add in what he must have just assumed was a bit of local colour with 'bloody', 'arse', and 'bugger' in the very first film. Unbelievable.

[Triplet3]

I use "bugger" too (I learned that one from Captain Jack in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). I didn't know that it would be considered ruder than "bloody" or "arse." It seems so tame to me.

It's funny, I use most of these words when I'm alone in the car (that's when I do most of my swearing). But once I was talking to my mom about our weekend plans and I said something like, "Bloody hell, that's going to take forever." She laughed at me and was like, "What is this, Harry Potter?" Sometimes I forget that most people have never heard my borrowed from the Brits and/or made up swear words (my current favorite is "cripes on a cracker" which I use at least three times per car trip).

For me, 'bugger' is on the same level as 'bloody' and slightly ruder than 'arse'. 'Blimey' is even less offensive than 'arse', which is pretty inoffensive in itself.

:lol: I forgot about 'cripes'! That's a bit old fashioned now, though still used occasionally.