TW - British/Welsh Culture

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

<PH snip>

!! Ukko! *reports Ukko to the Mods*

[Spimman]

Quote from an article I was reading about S4

"...hopefully some more U.K. signings to come as well, and a few American cast as well. That is part of the fun of the script as well, which is the culture clash. It's not just going to be, well ... you know how sometimes Americans crop up in dramas for no reason. This going to be the Americans puzzling at the Welsh, the Welsh not knowing what's going on in America ... there is a lot of fun with that.

Sounds like our discussion will live on and questions may start coming in the other direction!

[Spimman]

What do you guys/gals call the queen?

Mom or Mum? I was watching Doctor Who S2 Ep2 and it sounded like Rose and the Doc kept calling her Mom, but I thought y'all said Mum instead of Mom. Maybe there were saying ma'am?

[dosed150]

would always be ma'am, prince charles might call her mum though

[pbellosom]

What do you guys/gals call the queen?

Mom or Mum? I was watching Doctor Who S2 Ep2 and it sounded like Rose and the Doc kept calling her Mom, but I thought y'all said Mum instead of Mom. Maybe there were saying ma'am?

LOL. So much. It's Ma'am.

[Skydiver]

it's ma'am, that kinda sounds like mum because while we yanks would go 'maaaam' iwth a long A, the brits tend to go 'mum' cause they use a short a

[Spimman]

I thought it was strange for them to call her Mom/Mum, but I know some of the british intelligence (at least in movies) use those kind of names (or so I thought) and so I wasn't sure.

it's ma'am, that kinda sounds like mum because while we yanks would go 'maaaam' iwth a long A, the brits tend to go 'mum' cause they use a short a

I grew up and live in the South where ma'am is common and yes, we tend to draw that A out quite a bit differently!

[Skydiver]

yanks tend to go 'ma'am' and pronounce all 4 letters, brits go mam and smash the three together into one

[Flyboy]

Nopey.

Her Majesty is ma'am pronounced maaRm. Where as a female officer in the military is (supposed to be) ma'am, pronounced mam.

[knowles2]

Interesting indeed. By watching British TV, I would say US TV audiences have much higher offense levels when it comes to language, I didn't even know until recently Bloody or Bo***cks were curse words at all. TW would be rated R in the US without a doubt, for language and no other reason at all.

I would say in US the F*** word is hands down the most offensive (almost automatic R rating) and then the A**, S*** and B**** are considered offensive as well. Dam* and Hel* are considered cuss words, but I would say are the least offensive. There are other offensive words of a sexual nature but I'm not sure if they're considered "Cuss" words or not.

I find it quite interesting that we all "basically" speak the same language but at the same time there are so many differences, I guess we're kind of the mutts (term for mixed bread dog, you guys use that?) of the English speaking world


**Side Note** Is Ianto pronounced Yanto?

I think the English language is just a Mutt, very absorbent, very changeble an very adaptive. Us English are very much the same.

An same as Flying Bennett, I am walking clinche who drinks tea pretty much all the time, it the only hot drink I drink regularly, cannot stand coffee. An I am of cause always planning on taking over the world an doing evil things, with a posh accent of cause.

[Alan]

I thought it might be good to have a forum to discuss British/Welsh culture, for those of us who don't really understand the differences or how accurate everything on TW is. I'm new to TW, but have watched them all and really enjoy that it shows (as far as I know) more of the British/Welsh culture than DW, who is always in different places. I'll put out a few questions for discussion and please expand or take it away from there. I'm in no way trying to make fun of the culture, I enjoy it, I just like to understand things!


Do British/Welsh people really drink that much tea?
Is Ianto a traditional Welsh or British name?
Are certain characters more Welsh/English and/or British?
How do British identify themselves? British or Welsh/English/Scottish/Irish?
Does British TV allow all the language on public broadcast?
Are Bloody and B***cks (spelling?) considered cuss words equal to the F or S word?

This should be a good start?

I just want to answer the one I've put in Bold there from my personal perspective: I live in Wales. My dad's originally from Scotland and my mum's from Wales. I consider myself to be British with Welsh/Scottish Nationality. My accent is non-regional.

[shipper hannah]

What do you guys/gals call the queen?

Mom or Mum? I was watching Doctor Who S2 Ep2 and it sounded like Rose and the Doc kept calling her Mom, but I thought y'all said Mum instead of Mom. Maybe there were saying ma'am?

When you meet her you are first supposed to call her "Your Majesty" and subsequently "Ma'am" (rhymes with "ham"). Mum is what you call your mother (unless you live in the NE England, then you say Mam!).

[shipper hannah]

Woah.. old thread. Whoops.

[Matt G]

I thought it might be good to have a forum to discuss British/Welsh culture, for those of us who don't really understand the differences or how accurate everything on TW is. I'm new to TW, but have watched them all and really enjoy that it shows (as far as I know) more of the British/Welsh culture than DW, who is always in different places. I'll put out a few questions for discussion and please expand or take it away from there. I'm in no way trying to make fun of the culture, I enjoy it, I just like to understand things!


Do British/Welsh people really drink that much tea?
Is Ianto a traditional Welsh or British name?
Are certain characters more Welsh/English and/or British?
How do British identify themselves? British or Welsh/English/Scottish/Irish?
Does British TV allow all the language on public broadcast?
Are Bloody and B***cks (spelling?) considered cuss words equal to the F or S word?

This should be a good start?

In terms of tea drinking I know a few walking cliches in RL but I personally prefer coffee and worship at the altar of the Flat White!

Never heard the name Ianto outside TW to be honest so will bow down to the Welsh people on that.

Owen is a stereotypical Cockney/Londoner, as for the Welsh characters, again I bow down to those on the other side of the Severn.

I was born and have lived most of my life in England but spent a few years living in Scotland and have a Welsh Mum. I consider myself British. However I have to admit that that is a rare sentiment nowadays.

How much language is allowed depends on the time of day.

They're cuss words but "bloody" is pretty minor though B-cks is heavier

[Linda06]

Do British/Welsh people really drink that much tea?

Can't speak for everybody but I drink lots of Tea

How do British identify themselves? British or Welsh/English/Scottish/Irish?

I identity myself as Scottish. Scottish and Proud

tea is, well basically a late afternoon snack in the UK. When i've been over there, you have tea around 5pm or so, then dinner at 7pm or so. And it's just tea and maybe cookies or a simple light snack. Milk in tea is a taste sensation that isn't well known at all in the US. I like it, it makes the tea much milder and kinda a warm, soothing drink.

I call it Tea Time sometimes. It's when I have my main meal at around 5 - 5.30pm.

Do the Americans not take Milk in their Tea? ewwwwww. I can't drink Tea black

Well I know that in northern England and Scotland, tea is a term used to mean you dinner while dinner is your lunch There was a huge debate about it before one of my lectures once. Bit of North/south riverly (To me they're all southerners though

I do that sometimes Tea time is Dinner time and Dinner time is Lunch time And breakfast is Breakfast, the most important meal of the day

[dipsofjazz]

I'll just 'ditto' Linda's post.

Edinburgh natives are thought of, by other Scots, as being mean. There is a famous phrase that they are supposed to utter if you visit them - "You'll have had your tea." It is said as a statement rather than a question.

[dosed150]

thought the last scene of the teaser at the end of the first episode was funny, when someone from dollhouse called gwen english and gwen punched her and said im welsh

as for national identity i consider myself british

and im another coffee drinking heretic

[Ed]

Quick run down on how the UK works it's a bit complex as we haven't had a clean slate constitutionally since well 1066 compounded by the fact non of it is written down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

That vid does skip of the complexities of the crown that's some pedantic insanity you could spend an hour on and will probably upset people with strong opinions on Irish terminology as that's contentious you could spend hours on it.
This should show that British national identity is totally incomprehensible the only hard rule is dont mix the home nations eg dont call a welsh person English or any other combination.


On Tea very popular one of those reasonably deserved stereotypes

[Tanith0709]

thought the last scene of the teaser at the end of the first episode was funny, when someone from dollhouse called gwen english and gwen punched her and said im welsh

lol, I'd have a similar reaction. I tend to find that Scotland tends to be more nationalist than the other parts of the UK and would put you right immediately if anyone called us English.

[dosed150]

lol, I'd have a similar reaction. I tend to find that Scotland tends to be more nationalist than the other parts of the UK and would put you right immediately if anyone called us English.

I think the perception of people who call themselves english instead of british tends to be that their the wrong kind of nationalist, whereas scottish or welsh people who dont refer to themselves as British it seems more acceptable and not really racist

although when people say their english, scottish etc not british i like to remind them they must not be wanting their british passports