{"id":23465,"date":"2019-06-14T04:34:46","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T11:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=23465"},"modified":"2019-06-14T04:43:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T11:43:21","slug":"butt-hole-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/butt-hole-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Butt Hole Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Culture shock! London. But wait, there\u2019s more – Culture shock! Great Britain. You\u2019d think one book would be enough, but this week it\u2019s two. The first by an America who specialises in IT, English and Lexicography.[1]<\/a> The second by a Singaporean chef, with a sideline interest in \u201cevolution and the social and cultural semantics of Chinese, Indian and South East Asian cuisines.\u201d[2]<\/a> This was always going to be fun.<\/p>\n

In fairness the books are quite different. Hargraves focuses on London alone, while Tan navigates the entire country. And it needs to be that way. London might as well be a country in its own right. The city is so complex culturally, socially and historically it would need several volumes to master; it takes a London Cab driver up to four years of study and practice just to get a taxi licence. Consequently, the two books have a very different feel. Tan\u2019s macro edition takes you on a fairly pedestrian journey though the cultural and linguistic vagaries of Great Britain, along with a few things to do. Personally, I thought it was sorely lacking in compelling anecdotes. Perhaps the most lacking feature is an essential but missing explanation of the completely bonkers place names that give true insight into the Great British mind. Allow me to give you a few favourite examples from my own discoveries over the years. Get your heads around these: Brown Willy, Twatt, Nob End, Fanny Banks, Scratchy Bottom, Dicks Mount, Upton Snodsbury near North Piddle, Bitchfield, Wetwang, Bishop\u2019s Ichington, Shitterton Great Snoring and Barton in the Beans, to name a few. There are many names with \u2018Puddle\u2019 as a suffix. My favourite street name? Crotch Crescent. It\u2019s quite possible in the UK to see an address like this: Dr. Justin Case, 42 Crotch Crescent, Bitchfield (near Burton Coggles). Imagine that on your CV. So, what’s the question that Tan never addresses? Why such appalling names? The only solution that makes sense is that King George III had his deranged 13 year old nephew romp around naming towns with the only instruction being, \u201cdo your worst\u201d, so he did.<\/p>\n

Apart from missing the fun stuff, which would have made Tan\u2019s book much more inviting, it was a basic romp through the more confronting aspects of peculiar British life that visitors must navigate: warm beer, bland food, incomprehensible English dialects, welsh and Irish language (especially the road signs) and, of course, places to see and avoid.<\/p>\n

Narrowing the focus to London, Hargraves looks at the cosmopolitan nature of the city, it\u2019s history, politics, work and play. Unlike other travel guides that tell you where to stay, and what to do, Hargraves is about understanding kaleidoscope of social complexity that is London. Sightseeing isn\u2019t enough \u2013 to imbibe its uniqueness on the global stage, you must understand its historic rhythm.<\/p>\n

I grew up in the East End of London in Bow. A proper Cockney. We were relatively poor and lived with my Grandparents who had a small shoe making business at the rear of the garden. As a child I remember the grime of history and the bustle of people. Over the years those same people became multicultural. A few years back on a visit to family, I sat for two hours in the front window of MacDonald\u2019s on Hight St and watched the entire world walk past \u2013 on any one day there can be as many as 85 different languages spoken. From what I have learned over the years, it was probably just as cosmopolitan 2000 years ago. It\u2019s always been a hub for the globe\u2019s travellers and merchants.[3]<\/a> My family was working class, and that class structure is alive and well still. The House of Lords is still made up of royal appointments, many of whom are Bishops of the church of England. The landed gentry still have large tracts of land and the regal birth still offers access to places of political significance. In the United States, money means everything, in England it\u2019s birthright. Even the Nouveau riche have it hard in the corridors of power.<\/p>\n

As with Tan, there are things missing in the London experience. For example, don\u2019t engage strangers in conversation on the train. – it\u2019s not done. Refrain from mentioning the French (it\u2019s a tricky subject for Brits). And though Hargraves unpacks the British government, general tourism, cultures from around the world and mystical beings known as Londoner\u2019s there is no mention of Brexit, because Hargraves couldn\u2019t conceive of such a thing at the time of writing \u2013 all you need to know is that the country is split, right down the middle. Be careful what you say.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so looking forward to being back in the middle of civilisation in September. Long live the Queen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Orin Hargraves, Culture Shock! London<\/em>, Kindle ed. (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2010).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Terry Tan, Culture Shock! Britain<\/em>, Kindle ed. (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2008).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Hargraves, Culture Shock! London<\/em>. loc 711ff<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hargraves, Orin. Culture Shock! London<\/em>. Kindle ed. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2010.<\/p>\n

Tan, Terry. Culture Shock! Britain<\/em>. Kindle ed. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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