angloceltophilia: May 2006

Lost in Translation

The Guardian asks the question: is it really true, as many Brits say, that Germans have no sense of humor? According to comedian Stewart Lee, it's all a matter of the language barrier:

In December 2004 I accompanied Richard Thomas, the composer of the popular stage hit Jerry Springer The Opera, to Hanover, where he had gained a commission to develop an opera about a night in a British stand-up comedy club. We wrote the words in English and Richard then collaborated on a translation with a talented German comedy writer called Hermann Bräuer. There were two initial problems with this comedically, one cultural and one linguistic. First, the idea of stand-up is somewhat alien to the Germans. They have a cabaret tradition of sophisticated satire, cross-dressing and mildly amusing songs, and there are also recognisable mainstream, low-brow comedy tropes in the form of vulgar popular entertainers. But the idea of the conversational, casual, middle-ground of English speaking stand-up comedy is unknown to the Germans. Indeed, initial attempts by the Hannover Schauspielhaus set designers to render a typical British comedy club floundered as they attempted to formalise the idea of a stand-up venue, and it was a struggle to explain that we needed to reduce the room to a bare black box rather than attempt to give it a cabaret stage vibe.

Second, this instinct to formalise a genre of comedy we accept as inherently informal is not indivisible from the limitations the German language imposes on conventional British comedy structures. The flexibility of the English language allows us to imagine that we are an inherently witty nation, when in fact we just have a vocabulary and a grammar that allow for endlessly amusing confusions of meanings.

The Primer for Real Germans also takes on the charge of humourlessness:

There is a rumor that Germans have no sense of humor. This is absolutely false. They do have a sense of humor, in fact there is even a non-translatable word for their sense of humor, "Schadensfreude". There are two words stuck in this word. The first one is "Schadens" which means "misfortune", "damage", "injury". The other word is "Freude" which means "joy", "happiness". In other words, it literally means "joy for another's misfortune", which is why Mr. Bean is more popular in Germany than in Britain. Germans do not feel any sympathy for Mr. Bean. They are not laughing with him; they are laughing at him.

That Irascible Prince Philip . . .

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is particularly known in Britain for occasional controversial remarks made while on public visits.

When visiting China in 1986, he told a group of British students, "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed".
After accepting a gift from a Kenyan native he replied, "You are a woman, aren't you?"
"If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." (1986)
"British women can't cook." (1966)
To a British student in Papua New Guinea: "You managed not to get eaten then?"
Asked a Scottish driving instructor, "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough for them to pass the driving test?"
On a visit to the new Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, he told a group of deaf children standing next to a Jamaican steel drum band, "Deaf? No wonder you are deaf standing so close to that racket."
He asked an Indigenous Australian, "Still throwing spears?" (2002)
Said to a Briton in Budapest, Hungary, "You can't have been here that long – you haven't got a pot belly." (1993)
To the President of Nigeria, who was dressed in traditional Muslim robes, "You look like you're ready for bed!"
Seeing a shoddily installed fuse box in a high-tech Edinburgh factory, HRH remarked that it looked "like it was put in by an Indian".
When a twelve-year-old boy told the Prince that he aspired to be an astronaut, His Highness responded, "You're too fat."
On the Royal Navy ship HMS Boxer, when given a tour of the ship, which was quite extended, was quoted to have said, "Not another fucking chamber"
On a visit to Exeter Cathedral, he asked a blind woman with a guide dog, "Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?"
Visiting San Francisco in 1983, after meeting then-mayor Dianne Feinstein and several female members of the city council, he remarked, "Aren't there any male officials?... This is a nanny city."

Gentlemen, Prepare Your Cheese

Today residents and visitors to Gloucestershire celebrate their most famous sporting event, the grueling competition of cheese-rolling.

It may be Memroial Day here, but the real action is on a very steep hill in southwestern England, where dozens of worthy contestants compete to see who can get their cheese wheel to the bottom of the hill the quickest. The prize: pride, of course, and an 8lb circle of Double Gloucester cheese. I may just sign up next year myself. The cheese roll, incidently, is also one of the folk traditions J. R. Daeschner writes about in the recently posted about book True Brits.

Limerick

There once was a druid from Wales,
Who arrived in a suit coat and tails
The others were nude
and that spoiled his mood
So go skyclad when all else fails.

Television Dreams Meet Reality

Fans of the British sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances” (1990-1995) will no doubt be delighted to see lead actress Patricia Routledge chatting with HM the Queen at a recent reception at Buckingham Palace. Routledge’s character, Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced “Bouquet,” as she must continually remind people) pokes gentle fun at class distinctions and the instinct for social climbing in British society. Hyacinth, unfortunately, never made it to the top of aristocratic society during the course of the show, though it’s nice to know that her real-life persona finds herself at home in such august surroundings.

This is, of course, not the first time that Miss Routledge and her sovereign have had the chance to meet – she was awarded the OBE in 1992 and made a CBE in October of 2004.

The Queen speaks to the actress Patricia Routledge and Betty Boothroyd, former Speaker of the House of Commons, during a reception at Buckingham Palace, 18 May 2006. The reception honoured those 'Serving beyond Sixty' and other guests included Richard Briers, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Tom Stoppard.

Irish Independent: Petulant Adams sees red over Che exhibition snub

JEROME REILLY

IN A fit of hitherto hidden petulance from a man who now regards himself as an international statesman striding the world stage, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was last night aghast to be described as "neither relevant or appropriate".

Mr Adams has been gravely upset by what he believes is a deliberate snub by a bastion of Britain's cultural life. He is incensed that 35 years of republican activism have not opened the doors of a prestigious British museum to him - so he can pay his respects to his hero, Che Guevara.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London had refused to invite him to its Che Guevara exhibition, claiming that his presence would be neither relevant or appropriate on the launch night.

"I think its stance is especially absurd given that this particular exhibition is about an iconic revolutionary figure, with family connections to Ireland, who fought against injustice and oppression both in Cuba and in South America," Mr Adams sniffed.

What miffed Mr Adams most was that he had been invited to the opening of the Che Guevara exhibition in the V&A next month by its curator, Trisha Ziff.

According to Mr Adams, Ms Ziff was told that all her invite list was approved "except Gerry Adams who is neither relevant or appropriate for this occasion".

Mr Adams, who has consistently denied allegations that he is a member of the IRA's army council, said one possible reason for the museum's decision was that it was OK to struggle against injustice, but not against British injustice.

"On the basis of the current 'reason' offered by the Victoria and Albert Museum, of refusing to invite politicians, it would appear that if Che was still alive he would be barred from his own exhibition," said Mr Adams.

Virginia Renaissance Faire runs until June 18, 2006

10:00 am - 6:00 pm each Saturday and Sunday

Location: Lake Anna Winery, Spotsylvania, Virginia

Notes: The Virginia Renaissance Faire runs every weekend from May 20-21 through June 17-18, plus Monday, May 29.

Tickets: $5.00

Address and Contact:

Lake Anna Winery
5621 Courthouse Road
Spotsylvania, VA 22553
http://www.varf.org
E-mail: http://www.varf.org/contact.html

For Directions:

http://www.lawinery.com/vineyard_directions.shtml

Boston Globe: Our man in Ireland: Can a Jewish guy from Newton nudge Northern Ireland oward the promised land?

I didn't realize the Bush Administration was very involved in the Northern Ireland peace process. Good stuff.

Rule Britannia Lyrics

Rule Britannia!

==

Chorus:

Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

==

When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:

(Chorus)

The nations, not so blest as thee
Must, in their turns to tyrants fall
Must, in their turns to tyrants fall
While thou shalt flourish, shalt flourish great and free
The dread and envy of them all.

(Chorus)

Still more majestic shalt thou rise
More dreadful from each foreign stroke
More dreadful from each foreign stroke
As the loud blast, the blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.

(Chorus)

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame
All their attempts to bend thee down
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse, arouse thy generous flame
But work their woe, and thy renown.

(Chorus)

To thee belongs the rural reign
Thy cities shall with commerce shine
Thy ci-ties shall with commerce shine
All thine shall be, shall be the subject main
And every shore it circles thine.

(Chorus)

The Muses, still with freedom found
Shall to thy happy coast repair
Shall to thy happy coast repair
Blest isle with matchless, with matchless beauty crowned
And manly hearts to guard the fair.

(Chorus)

CatholicIreland.net: Augustinian priests apologise for concelebrated Easter Mass

Apparently some Irish Catholic priests got in trouble for concelebrating the Mass with an (Anglican) Church of Ireland minister.

Funny thing - no controversy over celebrating a Mass to commemorate the Easter Uprising of 1916.

ARRRGH!

Why do pirates always have Scottish accents?

True Brits: The Book

For an hilarious and informative look at the charming, eccentric folk traditions of Great Britain, find youself a copy of the book True Brits: A Tour of Britain In All Its Bog-Snorkeling, Shin-Kicking and Cheese-Rolling Glory by J. R. Daeschner. Everyone in the U.S. and Canada can go here, those in the UK can go here, and everyone else directly here. The author's website, with copious additional material, is here.

Their Majesties King George III and Queen Charlotte

Though his obstinacy toward the American colonies led to Great Britain's loss of them and his subsequent distorted image as a tyrant who went mad, George III has nevertheless been one of my favorite British monarchs owing to his sense of duty to his country, moral family life, sincere Christian faith, diverse range on interests, and charitable giving. After the French Revolution and the threat of Napoleon, he became a symbol of British traditions and resistance to invasion. With a reign of 60 years (although for the last 10 incapacitated), he was Great Britain's longest reigning king, and second-longest reigning monarch after his granddaughter Queen Victoria.

The Glory Days of British Rail

Today marks the 157th anniversary of the opening of the Great Hall at Euston Station in London. The Hall, designed by the scion of a family of famous architects, was a triumph of elegant neo-classical design and British engineering genius.