Job Discussion Forums

[ouyang]

It appears that we now need a new word to refer to the British. The Race Equality Council in Wales has taken the courageous step of banning this offensive term. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084738/Council-ranks-term-British-negroes-bans-case-upsets-Scots-Welsh-minorities.html. Someone has finally called John Bull's bluff of false inclusiveness.

The only problem is that no new name has been suggested to replace this insidious designation. Most of the alternative titles are not really British in origin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_words_for_British For example, "Limey" is an American word, "Pommy" is Australian, and "Les Goddams" is French, and "Brits" and "Britons" sound too much like "British". So, unless one of you natives of the UK can come up with a new name that acknowledges your disunity, culturally sensitive types like myself will be forced to refer to you separately as Welshmen, Scots, and Englishmen.

[fluffyhamster]

Until Scotland, Wales and N.I are issuing themselves their own passports, I guess that 'British' or 'U.K citizen' is what officials internationally (Immigration etc) are going to understand and want to see and hear. In casual conversations however one is of course perfectly entitled to stress or destress one's actual nationality e.g. as a "true Brit", an Englishman, I usually just say that I am from London, and only add 'England' (like in the Austin Powers movie) for those in any doubt as to where "that" London might be (I guess that this is more or less being an "apologist"); those "unluckily" (linguistically-speaking) from more "provincial" places meanwhile would of course be perfectly entitled to stress whatever-sized bit of land would capture and convey things most easily and aptly e.g. "A: I'm from Ballater - B: Eh? - A: Sorry, I should've just said I'm Scottish! (And there's no need for me to add 'British' to that, is there!)." People can work out for themselves what to say, and what was meant etc. No need for Daily Mail hysterics or local council hysterics. (I do sometimes find myself agreeing with the DM somewhat on some "issues" though, even if reading it generally leaves a bad taste in my mouth - not that I myself buy it!).

[william wallace]

Brindia ? Berinidia ? Or go with a symbol like the singer Prince ?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I like the symbol idea. Perhaps "Citizens Formerly Known As Brits" would be acceptable?

[ouyang]

Maybe, they could get the guy who designed the London Olympic logo to come up with a symbol, something with a similar panache that the people can rally around.
[img]http://eccehomo.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/london2012_logo.jpg[/img]

[stillnosheep]

New Name for the British:

Gods amongst men?

[keepwalking]

But that excludes the goddesses and we can't be having that.

[ESL Hobo]

How about just changing the first letter "I" to the letter "U",
That's a good idear, innit?
BTW
Happy Birthday Prince Charles!!!!!

[Moore]

More divisions - yay! - just what the world needs...

...the world was so happy to see the Berlin wall come down and Germany unite, and horrifed by Israels new wall, but at the same time idiots all over the world are insidiously putting up new less visible linguistic barriers, which are a lot more about creating new niche positions for their regional politicians than any actual benefit to the general population.

"EU citizen" is fine by me anyway.

[stillnosheep]

[stillnosheep]

[Moore]

quote: "I take it you're not a first language Catalan speaker then" ...nope!

Just a couple of nights ago I had another Catalan complaining to me that the whole Catalan language thing was going too far and was starting to dissuade outside investors from opening offices in Catalonia and parents starting to realise that their kids level of Castellano ("proper" Spanish) grammar and spelling was so poor after having Catalan only classes at school that they had effectively been restricted to job opportunities within the region, rather than in the rest of Spain and the Spanish speaking world.

..it sort of goes against everything we as teachers are trying to do: unite people via a high-level grasp of a common language.

Personally I've always thought that if you want to express your identity as a group then just buy a funny hat, do an odd local dance and take part in local festivals, but excluding people via language is just plain backward.

[Stephen Jones]

[ouyang]

You guys must be "Brutish". It seems to me that an acronym might provide a common name while preserving cultural identity. Combine letters from Scots, Welsh, northern Irish, and eNGLISH, and you've got the "SWINGLISH".

Imagine, the next time a pretty girl asks you, "Are you English?", and you could answer with your Austin Powers' accent, "No baby, I'm SWInglish."

[jonniboy]