LEO Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 [quote user="Renaud"]I missed the 'jeans' reference too. The bit I would add to the pen portrait of the ex-pat in the bar at 10am is that this unfortunate is sure to be wearing shorts. One thing that British males over 35 should never do. Always a presentational disaster. Better to wear Jeans like Clarkson.[/quote]Rubbish!I wear shorts as often as possible, always with casual shoes and no socks ! I am 50 odd plus vat , have nice legs and a wee bum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I'll probably just have to take your word for it, Leo! Unless, of course, you have a pic... Now, little backsides, that's another matter altogether, but maybe not one to go into here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-element Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I'll have to differ on the shorts question.Mr. 5-element looks great in shorts! Long legs, slim and muscular (athletic type!). Now, I wish I could apply this description to myself.[+o(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEO Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 [quote user="5-element"]I'll have to differ on the shorts question.Mr. 5-element looks great in shorts! Long legs, slim and muscular (athletic type!). Now, I wish I could apply this description to myself.[+o(][/quote] You'll be off to bed early then!"nudge nudge know what I mean" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaud Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Leo, whilst I am quite sure you look fine and dandy in your shorts...I have a nagging worry...don't all shorts wearers think that they look good in shorts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 [quote user="Renaud"] don't all shorts wearers think that they look good in shorts?[/quote]I assume that they must. There cannot be any other explanation for some of the abhorations one sees! Unless of course they just don't care, so long as they feel comfortable (a perfectly valid sentiment really.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanche Neige Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Be they British ex pats or Summer visitors, some of the people who go to the local supermarket in short shorts, vests and strappy tops should be shot at dawn! They are usually the last people who should be seen in such clothes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEO Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 [quote user="Blanche Neige"]Be they British ex pats or Summer visitors, some of the people who go to the local supermarket in short shorts, vests and strappy tops should be shot at dawn! They are usually the last people who should be seen in such clothes.[/quote]Good descrition Blanche, I agree with you.I prefer a more continental style, self coloured shorts covering the knee, shirt, and smart shoes without socks, I have never owned a sleeveless vest , had a tattoo, baseball cap ,shell suit, and haven't worn trainers for twenty years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaud Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 "self coloured shorts" ? How exactly? Hands-up, I admitt to constantly wearing trainers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Blanche NeigeYou are spot on in your description. The only horror to beat that one are overweight women who wear pink or flesh coloured leggings (yes, they do; I used to see them all the time in the seaside town I lived in back in the UK) and to team up with the leggings, they wear clingy tee-shirts with spaghetti straps.I often wonder how all that sort of outfit manages to hold together the contents! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanche Neige Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Sweet 17 said"The only horror to beat that one are overweight women who wear pink or flesh coloured leggings"Well one of these lives in our village and she is French and almost as wide as she is tall!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosie Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Why are British people who go to live abroad are "ex-pats" yet people who go to live in the UK are "immigrants"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Class my dear, class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 OH reckons that the knotted handkerchief on my head gives the game away, but I'm far from sure.I think that it's rather pan-European. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Bosie, we had a thread about this not too long ago.Broadly - ex-pats are living here but may/will go back to UK. Those of us who intend to stay in France until we pop our clogs are immigrants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Then I suspect that "ex-pat" is the correct description with regards to this thread then, Tony! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted August 30, 2007 Author Share Posted August 30, 2007 [quote user="bosie"]Why are British people who go to live abroad are "ex-pats" yet people who go to live in the UK are "immigrants"?[/quote]Wikipedia writes thus:-An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence.Immigration is the movement of people from one nation state to another. While human migration has existed throughout human history, immigration implies long-term permanent residence (and often eventual) citizenship by the immigrants: In other words in the heart of the expat lies a desire at some point in life to return to the mother state. An immigrant yearns for permanent acceptance and has rejected the country of origin for good.Another test is the expat reads the newspaper of the old country whilst the immigrant reads a local journal in the language of where he has settled. Norman Tebbitt’s cricket test could be another but I have never thought that an accurate indicator. How many of you will cheer France against England or your own country come the Rugby World Cup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEO Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 [quote user="cooperlola"]Then I suspect that "ex-pat" is the correct description with regards to this thread then, Tony![/quote] Could an Irishman called Mick become an ex-pat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Problem is for the rugby, I've always supported France, since I was a littlie, so nothing new there then - the fact that I now live here and support France just means I support my national team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 [quote user="Bugbear"]Jeremy Clarkson is just an entertainer and actually has very little knowledge outside of his 'scripted' performances.You should check out his 'public' views on motorcycles. In real life (and I've met him) he shows very little similarity to his 'public' face.Just laugh at the funny bits and ignore the rest.[/quote]Agreed....showman and damned good at it. To be taken seriously, naaah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 One thing for sure with this thread, is that just about everyone is opposed to the stereotype, which makes it even more surprising that a recent thread in the driving forum was so quick to stereotype all BMW drivers without so much as a eyebrow being raised...hence my rather flippant reply to it... :-)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 I'm a stereotype expat and I drive a stereotype BMW.Does that make me quadraphonic....[blink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valleyboy Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Depends...Have you got two extra ears??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Would all you stereotype expat BMW drivers please learn to keep to the stereotype speed limits in stereotype rural France or someone will get a stereotype standard bayonet in a very painful stereotype place.A stereotype citizen of no place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 While we traded in our his n hers BMWs a few years ago and now own just one diddy citroen, I still reckon its pretty obvious I'm an expat.We tend to eat outside way more than the French. I do find myself in shorts/clamdiggers and flipflops a bit more than locals (scandalously I'm over 35!). I go running (rare to see a Frenchman jogging round these parts - tho different in Nice). I don't always have bread with my meal. I like a fairly substantial breakfast from time to time. I like a cuppa tea. While I tend to read French papers I prefer British TV. I probably do drink more (and more expensive) wine than the locals. I own soup spoons. I like a spicy curry. And marmalade. And marmite. I can't understand the popularity of Johnny Halliday. I do understand how roundabouts work.Bizarrely, despite only visiting Belgium briefly on 3 or 4 occasions, I seem to have developed a Belgian accent! I have been mistaken for Belgian 3 times in the last 3 weeks ... strangely I do just love mussels and chips.I like being a little different. Vive la difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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