- •К.В.Голубина
- •Introduction the cultural impact of a foreign text
- •Unit 1. Think global, speak local (Tape)
- •Unit 2. Basic brit-think and ameri-think
- •The most important things to know
- •1. I’m gonna live for ever
- •2. New is good
- •3. Never forget you’ve got a choice
- •4. Smart money
- •5. The consensus society
- •‘Them ‘n Us’
- •(Brian Walden The London Standard)
- •6. ‘Me-think’ vs. ‘We-think’
- •7. Good Guys and Bad Guys
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 3. Brits and yanks abroad
- •Amer-Executive
- •Ameri-wife
- •Brits on us hols ... A word of warning
- •A Brit goes Stateside
- •Mrs Brit
- •Brit groovettee
- •Us / uk guide to naffness-avoidance: What not to do in each other’s countries
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Shopping (uk)
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 4. Strictly business
- •Succeeding in business
- •Intimidation and desks
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 5. Brits and yanks at home Home as backdrop
- •Home as bolt-hole (‘Don’t tell anyone I live here’)
- •1. For the affluent, aspirational, or upwardly mobile:
- •2. For everyone else:
- •Some like it hot
- •Brits on heat
- •Ordeal by water
- •Beddy-bye
- •American dreams
- •Closet needs
- •Comprhension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 6. Going places (Film)
- •Unit 7. What do they aspire to? ‘Having It All’
- •Brit soap
- •Strike it rich
- •Success story Double standards
- •Nothing succeeds like success
- •Failure: Anglo-American excuses Making dramas out of crises
- •Delegating blame: ‘It’sa notta myfault!’
- •Bouncing back Recovery from adversity
- •Set-backs
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •The Neasden connection ... Place-names
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Writing
- •Unit 9. Patriotism (Multi-media support available)
- •Eco-chauvinism
- •Buy British:
- •Dollar allegiance … big bucks
- •Pound of flesh
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 10. The establishment
- •The Brit-Establishment includes anyone who:
- •It does not include such instruments of the Establishment as:
- •Amer-Establishment
- •America’s Haute-Establishment – Anyone who:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 11. Yes, prime minister. The smoke screen (Film)
- •Unit 12. A better class of foreigner ‘Foreigner’
- •The foreign menace
- •British league-table of foreigners (reading from most to least reliable)
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 13. Class The thorny question of Class Gotta Lotta Class
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Labour if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Conservative if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Liberal, sdp, or sdp-Lib. Alliance if:
- •Class Act
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 14. Only fools and horses (Film)
- •Unit 15. The food connection
- •Eating in Britain: Things that confuse American tourists
- •The importance of sharing
- •Brit guide to Ameri-portions
- •British/american food
- •Unit 17. The importance of being cute
- •Other cosy things Brits do
- •1. Extol the amateur
- •2. Obstruct mPs
- •3. Fill their national newspapers with ‘Around America’ columns
- •4. Cultivate their gardens
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 18. Goods and services Consumer durables and vice versa
- •Conspicuous Ameri-consumption:
- •Attacking the problem
- •Example:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit19. Doctor doctor Medicine
- •Moi first, doc
- •Doctors
- •Perfect Brit patients
- •The perfect Ameri-patient
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 20. Laws of the lands
- •Comprehension and language
- •Unit 21. Rumpole and the age of miracles (Film)
- •Unit 22. Judging a nation by its television Meet the Press: The media we deserve
- •Ameri-vision: You are what you watch
- •Brit-tv: They’re watching me
- •You are what you read
- •1. Brit tabloids are more explicit.
- •2. Brit papers declare political affiliations.
- •3. Yanks don’t have national newspapers.
- •Snigger Press
- •The international co-production deal: Brit-mogul meets Yank-mogul
- •The 8 commandments of international co-production
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 23. Good sport
- •Fair play
- •American football is:
- •Brit-footie is:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Unit 24. Oxford blues (Film)
- •Unit 25. Humour travels? Transatlantic laughs:
- •To be funny in America, you have to be:
- •To be funny in Britain, you have to:
- •Comprehension
- •Unit 28. One foot in the grave (Film)
- •Unit 29. East-enders (Film)
- •Unit 30. The final solution: or, whatreally counts
- •1. The Royal Family
- •2. The Pub
- •Double raspberry ripple to go
- •Appendix I The Special Relationship
- •Yanks (on brits)
- •Brits (on yanks)
- •Appendix II Glossary of us-uk equivalents
- •Glossary (and translation) of Anglo-American weather terms american
- •British
- •Appendix III The ones that don’t translate
- •Appendix IV The very, very best things in America
- •The best of British
- •Contents:
Writing
Exercise 10.Write a 350–400 word essay on 1) whether regionalism is an issue in your country; 2) the emotional impact of place-names.
Unit 9. Patriotism (Multi-media support available)
AMERI-THINK:
PATRIOTISM =prime example of the Ameri-adage that anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Another word for ‘team spirit’, best and most satisfyingly demonstrated at dazzling half-time intervals during pro-football games, at the opening ceremony of the LA Olympics, or by singing the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ before the first pitch at the World Series.
Patriotism is slick, flamboyant, gushing and sentimental as a Diana Ross concert ... which explains why it’s inextricably linked in the Ameri-mind with Show-Biz and Hollywood. And no wonder, in the country where movie stars become Presidents, and – in Jerry Ford’s case – vice versa. There’s also some confusion about Robert Redford and Jimmy Stewart.
Hollywood-style production is applied to State occasions, Presidential campaigns, inaugural ceremonies, and ticker-tape parades for astronauts. National sports fixtures and the Miss America Pageant have a quasi-patriotic status. TV celebrations of historic events (for example, the 2000 Millenium) are marked by ‘spectaculars’ which turn out hundreds of veteran stars, who aren’t sure if they’re celebrating the greatness of Hollywood, the greatness of America, or the greatness of having ‘made it’ in America. Most Americans believe that the annual Oscar Ceremony is a patriotic event.
Yank stomachs are strong enough for the most banal public displays. When it comes to patriotism, they seem able to tolerate anything – however contrived or mawkish: an emotional ‘phone call from the President to the mother of a dead hero – her tears, his ‘God bless you’ is networked coast-to-coast; so is a ‘mercy flight’, where the First Lady escorts charming third-world children to America for vital medical care. U.S.-style patriotism is elaborately stage-managed, and everyone knows it ... politicians, Press, even the dimmest voters. Strangely, few protest. Even the sharpest commentators seem loathe to blow the gaffe – perhaps because Americans enjoy the show, and they’re all on the same side anyway. So, they allow themselves a spasm or two of patriotic rapture. Haute-schmaltz re-kindles the national sense of optimism, and there are no penalty-points for wallowing. JFK used to telephone Judy Garland, just so she could sing ‘Over The Rainbow’ down the wires to him. It kept him happy.
Yanks remain unselfconscious about Euro-impressions of such displays. They consider that – for the richest and most powerful nation on earth – they are models of restraint ... (like Brits, they see themselves as a well-behaved nation). They speak softly, and carry a big stick. They don’t flaunt their superiority, but act with tact and care internationally. They don’t flex their muscles or rough people up for the hell of it. Unless you count Grenadans. No: when you’ve got it, they reason, you don’t have to flaunt it.
Problem is that they expect others – especially their NATO allies – to share their good opinion of themselves. When ‘friends’ fail to do so, they are deeply hurt, and feel betrayed. It follows that Yanks spend a lot of time feeling hurt and betrayed, since the further they get from the Marshall Plan and the closer they get to Star Wars, the more grudging is Euro-admiration.
BRIT-THINK:Brits feel that patriotism (other people’s) is a cheap emotion. The last refuge of a scoundrel. Vulgar, and intellectually third-rate. All of which makes them proud to be British. Brits manage, they feel, a better class of patriotism. It is a restrained and formalized ritual, which only hints at the swelling breast beneath. A demonstration of natural superiority in judgement, taste and style ... high-quality stuff.
In truth, they conduct celebrations of self-love in much the same way as Yanks. There’s not a great deal of distance between the red, white and blue parachutes at a half-time display, and the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace. Few rituals can be as extravagant as a royal wedding, complete with horse-drawn coaches, fanfare of trumpets and diamonds glinting in the sun. But Brits are convinced that such pomp and circumstance is somehow ‘different’ – allowable. Stately rather than self-indulgent. Anyway: ‘we do it so well!’ there is somewhat fundamentally tasteful about dressing your Queen in riding clothes, making her perch side-saddle on a skittish horse reviewing her troops for hours. In the rain. On her birthday.