I had a wonderful day of skiing yesterday at Winter Park - inches and inches of new snow before we arrived, and then it kept snowing for the first half of the day. The black runs suddenly became fun - they're usually just full of over-skied and bone-crunchingly icy moguls - and my too-long and too-fat skis suddenly came into their own in the deep powder. It was also a Friday and nice and quiet, both on the train and on the slopes.
As usual I had numerous conversations with strangers on the lifts. Lift conversations usually start with a comment on the weather or a question about how your skiing is going, and then you ask each other where you're from, and I usually say Denver, because that is where I'm from when I'm not in Denver. Then somewhere through the conversation they ask about my accent. Now, here's the confusing bit of the conversation. A proportion of people will ask, "Is that a British accent?" and I will naturally respond, "It's Scottish." Only from the response I get to that, I realise that my questioners always think I mean "No, it's Scottish," whereas from my side I'm obviously affirming and giving more specific information. I've worked out that "British" to almost all Americans is absolutely synonymous with "English." Yesterday I tried explaining a couple of times that I'm British too, and watched the confusion struggling on people's faces.
Let it be known that it's possible to be Scottish, British, and European all at once and without contradiction. Yes, it is.
As usual I had numerous conversations with strangers on the lifts. Lift conversations usually start with a comment on the weather or a question about how your skiing is going, and then you ask each other where you're from, and I usually say Denver, because that is where I'm from when I'm not in Denver. Then somewhere through the conversation they ask about my accent. Now, here's the confusing bit of the conversation. A proportion of people will ask, "Is that a British accent?" and I will naturally respond, "It's Scottish." Only from the response I get to that, I realise that my questioners always think I mean "No, it's Scottish," whereas from my side I'm obviously affirming and giving more specific information. I've worked out that "British" to almost all Americans is absolutely synonymous with "English." Yesterday I tried explaining a couple of times that I'm British too, and watched the confusion struggling on people's faces.
Let it be known that it's possible to be Scottish, British, and European all at once and without contradiction. Yes, it is.
2 comments:
Harrumph,
I take utmost offense at the dastardly assertion that I, though betokened by "English," "Scottish," and
other "European" ancestors as well,
am not full of contradictions. I seethe with vain strivings too.
Uncle Eric the Celt-Saxon
I hereby, once and for all, apologize for my countrymen...and women.
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