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Jan. 24th, 2007 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
essayelI was interested this morning to hear that the term 'British' is being used less frequently to describe themselves particularly by the English. Of course the Scots Welsh and Irish have never been that fond of the term, for obvious reasons, but for the English it was a very useful blanket term to use that avoided having to commit to a nationality that required all kinds of apologies to be made.
Depending upon the nationality of the person to whom one is speaking one might find oneself apologising for The Rough Wooing, Oliver Cromwell, Benedict Arnold, Crecy, Cecil Rhodes, being a nation of wishy-washy bleeding heart liberals, the death of William Wallace, Bomber Harris, the Opium Wars, the potato blight, the Highland clearances, 'pulling the King of Spain's beard, having an empire, and in my own personal case 'coming over here taking our jobs why don't you fuck off back where you came from'.
All of these are things worth apologising for and so have made admitting to being English something to be muttered sheepishly - in the same sort of tone one might use when saying 'actually my hobby is molesting pigeons'. I can only think that those people who are, 'according to recent polls', throwing out their chests proudly and claiming the nationality in ringing tones are either lacking in historical knowledge or sensitivity. I don't think I'll follow the trend.
Depending upon the nationality of the person to whom one is speaking one might find oneself apologising for The Rough Wooing, Oliver Cromwell, Benedict Arnold, Crecy, Cecil Rhodes, being a nation of wishy-washy bleeding heart liberals, the death of William Wallace, Bomber Harris, the Opium Wars, the potato blight, the Highland clearances, 'pulling the King of Spain's beard, having an empire, and in my own personal case 'coming over here taking our jobs why don't you fuck off back where you came from'.
All of these are things worth apologising for and so have made admitting to being English something to be muttered sheepishly - in the same sort of tone one might use when saying 'actually my hobby is molesting pigeons'. I can only think that those people who are, 'according to recent polls', throwing out their chests proudly and claiming the nationality in ringing tones are either lacking in historical knowledge or sensitivity. I don't think I'll follow the trend.
