Cultural weirdnesses
Posted: Apr 4th 2003, 5:48 am
Ok, following on from Lance's excellent language thread, it got me thinking about other little weirdnesses that exist between cultures. Let's keep politics out of this thread, though, OK?
I was just remembering a couple of summers ago when I was in the states hanging out with my cousin and her 2 kids (aged 5 and 7). We were on a long car journey and the kids were getting bored so I asked them what they were looking forward to most next year at school. They said they were looking forward to Halloween, and started telling me all about what they did the previous year. Eventually one of them asked me what I usually did, and I was forced to admit that we don't really celebrate it as much in the UK (hardly at all, in fact). They looked at me with deep sympathy and asked what we did instead.
And here's where I was stupid. I brought up Guy Fawkes night - 5th November, guys, bonfires and fireworks. So they were like 'what's it to celebrate?'. I had to explain that in 17th Century England (engendering a whole discussion on how old England is) there was a guy (Guy) who didn't agree with many of the King's policies and so conspired to blow up the houses of Parliament, using gunpowder. He and his band of friends were caught, tried for treason and then hung drawn and quartered. yes this really happened. In celebration of the foiling of their plot it is traditional to build a bonfire with a 'guy' (replica body of Guy Fawkes) at the centre, burning away. Fireworks are to signify the blowing up of the gunpowder...
What's 'hung, drawn and quartered'? Oh dear. So I explained it, as it was explained to me as a small child. Then I noticed that my cousin was in the front seat driving looking extremely concerned... the kids were goggle-eyed with delight but she was obviously worrying about my filling their heads with torturous thoughts and ideas of hanging people. Oops.
So my question is this: presumably kids in the US get taught about slavery and stuff in schools (we did) and how cruel it is, presumably kids in America aren't under the mistaken impression that everyone was always nice to each other in the olden times and that we should be grateful that it isn't like that now. All historical fact etc etc. Are kids in the USA more sheltered from that kind of thing? Kids in the UK are taught about history with no frills attached - I definitely knew the details of the gunpowder plot and slavery by the time had been in school for a couple of years (aged 6 or so).
Is this a cultural difference or is it just my cousin being uptight?
I was just remembering a couple of summers ago when I was in the states hanging out with my cousin and her 2 kids (aged 5 and 7). We were on a long car journey and the kids were getting bored so I asked them what they were looking forward to most next year at school. They said they were looking forward to Halloween, and started telling me all about what they did the previous year. Eventually one of them asked me what I usually did, and I was forced to admit that we don't really celebrate it as much in the UK (hardly at all, in fact). They looked at me with deep sympathy and asked what we did instead.
And here's where I was stupid. I brought up Guy Fawkes night - 5th November, guys, bonfires and fireworks. So they were like 'what's it to celebrate?'. I had to explain that in 17th Century England (engendering a whole discussion on how old England is) there was a guy (Guy) who didn't agree with many of the King's policies and so conspired to blow up the houses of Parliament, using gunpowder. He and his band of friends were caught, tried for treason and then hung drawn and quartered. yes this really happened. In celebration of the foiling of their plot it is traditional to build a bonfire with a 'guy' (replica body of Guy Fawkes) at the centre, burning away. Fireworks are to signify the blowing up of the gunpowder...
What's 'hung, drawn and quartered'? Oh dear. So I explained it, as it was explained to me as a small child. Then I noticed that my cousin was in the front seat driving looking extremely concerned... the kids were goggle-eyed with delight but she was obviously worrying about my filling their heads with torturous thoughts and ideas of hanging people. Oops.
So my question is this: presumably kids in the US get taught about slavery and stuff in schools (we did) and how cruel it is, presumably kids in America aren't under the mistaken impression that everyone was always nice to each other in the olden times and that we should be grateful that it isn't like that now. All historical fact etc etc. Are kids in the USA more sheltered from that kind of thing? Kids in the UK are taught about history with no frills attached - I definitely knew the details of the gunpowder plot and slavery by the time had been in school for a couple of years (aged 6 or so).
Is this a cultural difference or is it just my cousin being uptight?