A few bits and pieces

One book all of you should try and get hold is Kate Fox's Watching the English.

It's the best book I've ever read about how England works, the peculiar social etiquette connected to such everyday things as queuing, pubs, small talk and so on. her disscetion of the core qualities of Englishness are very accurate and very very funny. A really readable, witty, perceptive book.


If you're interested in Cockney Rhyming Slang, you might find these sites below interesting.

Cockney Rhyming Slang

And here's the Wikipedia entry on the subject.



Finally, some classic British comedy clips.





Here's a whole episode of FAWLTY TOWERS in three parts,







Here are a few killer clips from more recent sitcom, THE OFFICE.





Here's the very dry, very deadpan ROYLE FAMILY.



Here are some sketches from THE FAST SHOW, which was huge in the mid-to-late 90s













Hope you enjoy these - and manage the odd chuckle!

The F-word

Here are a few interesting bits and bobs on the F-word.

First, the Wikipedia entry on the word.

Here's a tongue-in-cheek YouTube clip about the word, done as a mock 1950s public information movie. It covers the many word classes the word can form!



Here's a link to the key moments in public swearing in the 20th century.

Here's an article about a legal case in the USA on the F-word.

And should you be particularly interested, there's a whole book on the subject which you can buy here!


I'd be interested to hear about swearing in public in your country.
Does much swearing get aired on TV or in the media?
Have there been any landmark stories about taboo-busting uses of language in the public arena?
Have there been any high-profile legal cases connected to swearing?

Scary government film from the 1940s

A friend of mine sent me a link to a hilarious and slightly deranged Pathe video from the 1940s about how to help immigrants speak better English.

This must have been an official government movie shown at cinemas before the main features. It's astounding not only for the funny advice given to the poor Sri Lankan bloke, but also becuase of the fact that he clearly speaks excellent English already.

Anyway, as a sign of how far things have changed since then, this is an interesting little period piece.

Multiculturalism, race and immigration

I'm going to start today by linking in a whole bunch of YouTube clips connected to the themes of today's lesson.

First, here are links to all 23 (!!) parts of a really great documentary about Afro-Caribbean immigration into the UK called THJE WINDRUSH YEARS (1948-1998). This was made in 1998 to celebrate fifty years of Black Britain.















































That should keep you busy for a while!!!

Next up, some clips about the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, mixing TV footage from the era and contemporary perspectives:







Next up, a four-part documentary about the people who started the Notting Hill Carnival.









Next up, here's the full version of Enoch Powell's 1968 Rivers of Blood speech.



Let's move on to the stroy of the Brixton riots.
This is a six-part documentary.













Here's some background to The Satanic Verses controversy.
This is another documentary.




You can read a Wikipedia article about the death of Stephen Lawrence here.

There's a lot of articles connected to similar themes, all from the Guardian here.

I was going to post some stuff on 7/7 and the EDL, but got depressed looking for it. Look on YouTube for 7/7 information and all you find is conspiracy theory rantings and mad people saying it must have been an inside job; look for the English Defence League and you just find all their scary promotional stuff and life's too short to waste time on that kind of nonsense.

Finally, then, here's the shocking and very depressing footage of Professor David Starkey on Newsnight the other day - in full.

About David Crystal

I must say that I met David Crystal at a teachers' meeting last spring in Madrid and he's great concerning to the English Language. A great authority like him should be invited to take part in our blog about Contemporary British Language and Culture. We should invite him to come to the Univ.
What do you think about that?
Bye
Jesus

ego4u.com

Hi
Here is a link to one of the web pages I most often use to teach English in my classes. It is used with great interest on their side, and it is highly motivating, so as to keep going, even for those students who feel left behind.

Cheers and LOL!
Pedro Jesus

BBC Learning English website

Hiya
Let's see if I can blog...
I'd like to share with you this website that is a very good resource for learning english through news and current affairs. This section is called "How to keep your English up to date" check it out!
Eunice

http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/uptodate/