Word: britishism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Four teenish girls board at the Johnston Gate stop. They're drowning in A&F and Ann Taylor shopping bags. They sit in front and speak in faux-British accents. They talk of Boston and the Square, at a volume sufficient to drown out most of my other conversations. Finally, the driver surrenders; "What brings you to Boston?" he asks. The blonde begins to detail their vacation. The loudest of the four, a bandanna tied around her short dark curls, turns to a third and exclaims, "OOOOOH, YES! We have engaged the bus in conversation!" Hmph. Actually, I didn...
...anyone who has opened a newspaper over the last couple of years knows the British royal family no longer commands the respect that used to be accorded to it in the era before tabloid journalism...
...much as I still love the British I don't particularly care for the monarchy and never have. To me the symbol of Britishness was never the bejeweled Queen, but rather that single, smiling, unarmed police officer (a "bobby") standing guard before the door of the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street. That was what the British stood for in my mind. Not extravagant pageantry, but a sense of tradition tempered by a cheerful reasonableness...
...people love monarchs and princes. If the British were to abolish the monarchy what would become of their tourist trade? Would elderly couples from the Midwest still stand in line to see the Throne Room in Buckingham Palace? Level-headed reasonableness and practicality sometimes advise compromise with imperfect institutions. And as far as imperfect institutions go, the monarchy is a fairly harmless...
...besides, if it were not for the British monarchy, in what other context would you get to see, once a year, bewigged lords publicly walking backwards and having doors slammed in their faces? It's a show I don't want to miss...