Korean Job Discussion Forums

Boodleheimer · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject: Hatred of the English??

my boyfriend has been trying to explain this to me-- apparently, the Irish, the Scottish, and the Welsh all hate the English. there's anti-English violence in Scotland, according to a friend of his presently working there.

but the English have nothing against any of these groups.

(we were discussing where to go for postgrad study-- i suggested Ireland or Scotland and he said NO WAY. [he was born outside of London, but spent most of his life in Wales, though he speaks Queen's English -- no Welsh accent. (look, ma! the parentheses go on forever!)] i think the reasoning was that (a) i'm american and it would be a challenge for me to prove myself as something other than a typical septic, (b) he'd probably be mistaken for English and be beaten up, and (c) we both might get beaten up.)

so what's the deal?

Boodleheimer · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:47 pm Post subject:

one more thing:

when my dad was living in london, he used to go to a Scottish bar. there was a footie match on one night: Iceland v. England. everyone in the bar was cheering for Iceland.

gang ah jee · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: city of paper

You know how the Koreans aren't that keen on the Japanese...?

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

And indeed how Canadians aren't too keen on the US, Gang AhJee? An invertebrate with an IQ in decimals (Otis, for example?) could work out why the English are hated, OP, with all due respect.

It's very much like how Canadians - some of them, a small minority of buffoons (미국인 아냐!! t-shirt wearing whining wimps for example) - hate the US right? Well, it's the same thing with England. I'm English and I too feel that relations between the countries in the UK (Eng, Sco, Wales, NI) are poor and I'm in favour of the break-up of the UK. Of all the countries that neighbour England, Ireland has always been my favorite, because it's a separate country and we don't have to put up with their sh*t (unfortunately, as, unlike Scotland and Wales, the Irish economy is booming!). Christ knows what'd happen to Scotland and Wales if Enland went it alone, mind you. What's Wales's main export gonna be - leeks? Instead of focusing on the present and the future, it's far more preferable to focus on wars and oppression 5 squillion fooking years ago! All of them are reliant on handouts from England, on England's huge population and wealth. Where it ought to cause gratitude, it causes resentment. Also analogous is how - whilst Canadians hate the Americans - the latter know very little about Canada and, frankly, don't care. Same with England and the rest - whilst the Scots get their undies (and Kilts?) in a twist in their bitter hatred of their bigger, badder neighbour, the English have much more fierce rivalries with countries such as France and Germany - countries analogous in population density, global importance and economy.

What's more interesting to me is how many anti-English comments I read on Daves (albeit mostly from Republican-voting males, whose opinions scarcely matter) from Americans. Thanks to a shared history and culture, I thought our countries were the best o' mates. The USA, really, is England's only real friend. And possibly vice versa.

gang ah jee · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: city of paper

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

Oh come on. This is a troll.

"Hey, somebody told me the peeps from Georgia still hate the peeps from NYC. WTF? And what's with that flag???"

KW is too smart for this to be real.

Boodleheimer · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:09 pm Post subject:

gang ah jee · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: city of paper

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

Boodleheimer · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:27 pm Post subject:

can i get a holler from some anglophone idiots to get a dialogue going?

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

Boodleheimer · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:31 pm Post subject:

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

jinks · Joined: 27 Oct 2004 Location: Formerly: Lower North Island

My dad's Welsh and I grew up there. Granted, a lot of Scots, Welsh and Irish whinging is pathetic and negatively focused; you could compare them to battered women, they have had the shit kicked out of them and they don't know any better.
Wales does not have any more coal to export (but who got all the real money from Welsh coal?) and agricultural products like lamb and wool are pretty small fry in the international economy - we don't really do leeks outside national symbolism - but our water is good and plentiful. It is also a very hot issue. Welsh valleys are flooded and Welsh homelands displaced inorder to provide a plentiful water supply for the major industrial centres in England. Left over water is piped back to Wales at a premium price. If the Welsh assembly controlled water supply, that would turn a pretty penny for the Welsh economy, but it is never going to happen.
I usually enjoy Spinoza's posts, but sometimes the negativity he expresses toward Wales and the Welsh is a bit of a turn off for me. Yes, yes I know, a lone Sais (saxon) in a taffy bar is an easy target, but try being Welsh and opening your mouth in an English pub. sheep shagging jokes are not really that funny or original, honestly.
Thank you Johnny England for letting the Welsh keep their language and identity, but really I think it is a case of making the best of a bad job. Even though there have been relentless efforts to discourage (ban!) the Welsh language, it is still around. Yma o hyd! 'We are still here' they say, despite 800 years of efficient anglicisation the old language clings on with tenacity.
Welsh people don't hate the English and nor do the English really hate the Welsh. It is just human nature for people to rub each other about our differences, northern English people are as much a victim of southern 'mainstream' prejudices as the Celts and Gaels are. Frankly, despite our distinct regional variations, most British people are pretty much the same under the surface and we all get along fine, we can even enjoy our cultural differences. It is just the bigots and professional victims who make a big deal out of Anglo-celtic friction.
Many Britons have a parent or grandparent who is Welsh or Scots or English or Irish or Pakistani or German or Italian or whatever. It is no big deal, unless you want it to be. The English hegemony over British culture has been so pervasive for so long that people get a shock when they are confronted with a different point of view. English people are benefiting from a Celtic and and Gaelic revival too, because it puts anglo culture into a category of its own for people to enjoy, rather than the default 'normal' cultural setting many people have believed it to be.