A quick question on Britspeak

[ffutures]

Prompted by yet another story in which a British character refers to the USA as "The Colonies" without appearing to intend it as sarcasm or an insult.

[Poll #1468439]

Comments

[armb.livejournal.com]

I'm British and might have done this jokingly. But basically never.

[ggreig]

This. I'd be very wary of using it because it could be taken as sarcastic or insulting. As a Scot at a Scottish university, I didn't take kindly to English students who referred to Scots as "ethnic". Sometimes it may have been meant to be light-hearted, but it was patronising and offensive. At other times there was no doubt it was meant to be offensive.

While it's not a direct parallel, I wouldn't want to offend US people by referring to the USA as The Colonies. Maybe if I was very sure it wouldn't be taken ill, and that they could comfortably respond with something similar about us. Very sure.

(When playing a role in a role-playing game, quite possibly - but not in real life.)

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I know one or two British people who say "The Colonies" to refer to USA, Canada, Australia: basically the English speaking world. It is hard to separate it from sarcasm but I am not sure any is intended.

A Limey writes...

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I have used the phrase "Oh, you Colonials!", though usually in mixed Australian/American company and never in anger.

Re: A Limey writes...

[cdave]

This.

Essentially: rarely, jokingly and about a specific person not the country.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I'd do it, but hardly sarcasm or an insult, just a gentle dig between friends.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

I'm with them. I'm British and I have occasionally done it, but not as sarcasm or insult. Rather I do it as a gentle send-up of that whimsical eccentricity for which we Brits are so loved by one and all...aren't we?

I feel it's important to make this distinction clear, just as when I say, for instance, "What ho," I don't mean to imply that the lady of the night in question doesn't exist, or that I do not see her. That would be rude.

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

That's precisely it. It's not a sarcastic or insulting term, merely a recognition of of a shared history. It's a term you can use amongst friends, not a term you would expect to see politicians use.

[w00hoo.livejournal.com]

Pretty much this. I'll use it as a friendly 'dig' occasionally when chatting to American friends (usually while also in America and with pretty serious anglophiles) but only where we all know it's just a bit of gentle fun.

It's been used around the table playing BtVS rpg sometimes, but generally again to highlight the fact that we don't actually know how to pretend to be Californian school kids in the late 90's, or to show a level of anachronism in general.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

"What ho"


LOL

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

I use "right-ho" quite regularly. But then I also start IM conversations with "wotcha!" :)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

"What ho," I don't mean to imply that the lady of the night in question doesn't exist...
*orange juice all over keyboard*
Thanks for that.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Not British, but I've seen British newspapers do it occasionally, in a sarcastic way. (Sarcasm not directed at the Americans but at themselves, I hasten to add.)

[coth.livejournal.com]

I'm British, and use the term when it makes historical or rhetorical sense to do so. It isn't a term used much in a modern context when talking about the modern world, but you might say "...back when we still talked about The Colonies".

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

I've used it in a joking manner "jumped up johny come lately collonie who'll be begging to be back in the empire beore the day is through" but never seriously.....

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Occasionally and as snark.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I've only heard it used tongue-in-cheekily, not even as an insult but possibly intending to be a bit belittling.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

I clicked 'Never' but this is a lie: I've never used it seriously or unironically, and even those occasions are few and far between. When I was reading a lot of John LeCarre, I took to calling Americans 'the cousins' for a while....

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Where have you seen this on US TV lately? You watch way more TV than me, but aside from the London episode of Bones (which could have spewed from the MacBook of the laziest script writer in Hollywood) I can't really think of any this century that did it.

Last century? Oh yes.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Bones was indeed the first example that came to mind - think it also appeared in Buffy / Angel a few times.

The colonies

[samthereaderman.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Buffy had a few characters who were around when America really was the Colonies.

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

I do it occasionally, but only to wind up my American friends and only when they can see that I'm smiling.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I would only do this as a joke - and only when I knew it would not be taken at all seriously by anyone present. I might do it within a group of Britons, or I might do it with US people who I knew well. I have never done this, but I suppose I might do it to annoy an American I really disliked...

[dsample.livejournal.com]

Not British, and I once had Draco Malfoy do this in a very sneering, down his nose way in a fic.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that was a deliberate insult - I'm talking about its use in a non-insulting / non-ironic context.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

Other than Giles saying "bloody Colonials" I haven't heard it that I recall. But it's hardly something that makes a lot of sense in Australia.