Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Le regole nascoste del comportamento inglese


'The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour' by Kate Fox. It's rather good
(that's rather English), very useful for people (including native
Englishpersons) who know they don't understand when and how to do some very
English things. She makes a persuasive case for many English habits being
due to a fundamental social dis-ease: the English are simply not
good at communicating one to another, and therefore have many rules for
these encounters. When the rules do not apply or are removed (apparently
the English belief that alcohol reduces inhibitions is so deeply
engrained that they become drunk on placebos), then violence or, more
usually, mock violence is likely. 
I like the notion that house numbers/names are not displayed prominently
on so many houses because making your house hard to find is the modern
equivalent of a moat.
As for the social implications of food... apparently back bacon marks
you as upper-class. Eggs and chips are individually classless, but
Egg-and-chips is working class (although the upper-middle and upper
classes are allowed to display boundless eccentricity provided they do
so with confidence). Rice salad is lower class, even worse with
sweetcorn in it. Food-faddishness is a very upper-middle cult, which
spreads downward (food intolerance is aspirational?) "While I have every
sympathy for anyone with a genuine food allergy, the fact is that only a
very small percentage of the population actually have such identifiable
medical conditions -- far fewer than the number who believe they are
affected. These English chattering-class females seem to hope that, like
the Princess and the Pea, their extreme sensitivies about food will
somehow demonstrate that they are exquisitely sensitive, highly tuned,
finely bred people, not like the vulgar hoi polloi who can eat anything.
In these rarified circles, you are looked down upon if you have no
difficulty digesting proletarian substances such as bread and milk."
Good fun, and very thought-provoking. 
X'Posted to: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese,it-alt.viaggi.londra

 difficulty digesting proletarian substances such as bread and milk."
Vero, parola per parola per virgola, anche a Milano. Sentita stamattina 
sul tram (naturalmente detta a voce altissima dentro un telefonino): 
"Domani mattina non ho niente da fare, dammi l'indirizzo che magari vado 
a _fare le intolleranze_".
sq

  'foodies'
Ma foodies non sarebbero i buongustai?
# noun:   a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good
food and drink)
X'Posted to: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese,it-alt.viaggi.londra
-- 

 food and drink)
Cosi loro amano pensare di se: di fatto, si tratta proprio, come scrive 
l'autrice che citavi, di un "upper-middle class cult", di 
un'autorappresentazione simbolica di una borghesia (o comunque vogliamo 
chamarla) medioalta priva di referenti e aspirazioni culturali che usa 
la _gourmandise_  come segno di distinzione economica e riconoscimento, 
come una volta si usava la cultura, per cui oggi quella classe sociale 
non nutre piu alcun interesse.
Intendiamoci, ci sono i sinceri buongustai e so bene che il cibo e una 
parte della cultura: ma conoscerai anche tu gente che non spenderebbe 
una lira per un libro o per uno spettacolo teatrale o per un concerto, 
ma spende capitali e intraprende viaggi defatiganti per assaggiare un 
formaggino o provare una trattoria, cose di cui andranno in seguito 
fieri come se avessero scalato l'Everest, o letto e annotato tutti i 
romanzi di Trollope...
Ciao, sq


'rarefied' - though I dare say I've marked myself down as a prole by calling 
attention to this blithely aristocratic disregard of convention .
Mike 

 attention to this blithely aristocratic disregard of convention .
LOL :)
Yet some dictionaries have "rarified" it as a variant.
Main Entry: rar搪搭ied
Variant(s): also rar搏搭ied
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=rarified
-- 
Enrico C
...still legal tender...