Comedy | June 25, 2008 | Comment on this video (6)

Underground with the English

ReelRecognizeReal
"Underground With the English" is a quirky, laugh-out-loud anthropological look at the behaviors of the English. Anthropologist Kate Fox, who wrote best-seller "Watching the English", gives us unique insight on English unwritten rules that puzzle many foreigners such as Queuing, Weather Talk, Tube Etiquette, Class Conciousness, Excessive Politeness, Banter, Pulling, and Obsession with sports! Why is it the English seem to love to queue (aka line up), talk about the weather at any opportunity, or apologise when you bump into them?! I test Kate's claims, such as 'reflex apology' by purposely bumping into a plethora of English people in busy train and tube stations to see if the 'Excessive Politeness Rule' holds true. Are the English really tea-drinking, fish-and-chip eating, polite, dry-humoured, reserved, stiff-upper types or are these just stereotypes? Americans, like myself, who come to England often think: we're both Western cultures who speak the same language, how different can we be? But after six-months of living in the UK and many hilarious and insightful interviews later, I uncover what gets lost in English translation and what it is that make the English, just so darn English.
  1. groups:
    Art and Style,   Culture,   Comedy,   Random,   2 more
  2. tags:
    Culture,  Not News,  Random,  Art and Style,  7 more
  3. credits:
    ReelRecognizeReal Writer, Producer, Director, Editor
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6 comments // Underground with the English // Video

  • HellaDelicious
  • kristianbrodie
  • mlgdigital
    • 0
      mlgdigital  

    • so funny. my kinda town. i want to go. i think its interesting how everyone just keeps to themselves. they have fun when it appropriate to them i guess. they behave according to the surrounding. a few more smiling faces couldn't hurt.

    • 3 years ago
  • chloesf
    • 0
      chloesf  

    • As an American who lived in London for 4 years, I DEFINITELY "laugh[ed]-out-loud" as you caught all the little cultural nuances that make the English, English--things that they would never notice themselves because it's so ingrained to how they live (aside from Ms. Fox, of course, but she's definitely exceptional!).

    • 3 years ago
  • CharlieG
  • aschneider
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