"making sure to tone up my enthusiasm (i.e., “like it” → “love it to death”)"
Yeah, had to learn that too in my EU➙US communication ...
https://twitter.com/dingding_peng/status/877982439045554176 …
-
-
pretending to be working". The British can be quite good at being extremely passive aggressive with a nuanced mix of classism too.

-
The classic example from Yes Minister: "That would certainly be a courageous move, Minister" *looking panicked "Would it?!"
-
Some really good caricatures in Blackadder too showing the brazen mix of classism and passive aggressive wit/banter.
-
Growing up with Blackadder, watching from age 6, I wonder why it took me few years to grasp the high calibre passive aggressive elitism.


End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Took me years to realise "quite" has almost opposite meanings in the US (very) and UK (not very).
-
Not sure it's that simple sadly, yet again. What about this: "That was really quite good wine last night"?
-
In the UK that wine is worse than "really good wine"; in the US it's better.
-
I disagree. If somebody told me something was "really quite good" that means it's ace.
-
depends how it is said - if said with deadpan face and flat voice, probably an insult. If said with even mild enthusiasm, strong endorsement
-
British English is carefully constructed around allowing Brits to feel superior by making sure nobody else knows what's going on in convo
-
Yep. French people dropped the end off every word to confuse the poor. Brits just mock them mercilessly with words dripping with classism.
-
Best resources for learning this are Blackadder and Yes Minister. You can tell when meaning is different than words because audience laughs
- 8 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.