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Are you proud to be British ?


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Well actually when asked I always say I'm English! Which is not to say that I don't resonate with being British! After all the British have led the world in so many ways; not least of all in defending freedom!!! To directly answer your question,  yes I am proud to be British, without equivocation.

Here in France, when asked I do, always, make the distinction between being British and English. Not solely because of some nationalistic 'bent' but because it is a fact. Incidentally I never 'push' my nationality, English or British, as being a foreigner here it wouldn't be right to do so.

Rule Brittania. 

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Having nearly 40 years of service to HM between us, my wife and I are also proud to be British (one English and the other Scottish).

We are equally proud of the fact that we are capable of being accepted into French society as French Nationals - even if Monsieur le Préfet greeted us with words "Ah, Perfidious Albion" during our chat after the ceremony.

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I'm comfortable with it. Neither proud nor ashamed. It's not like it's a personal achievement, I didn't do anything amazing to be born British. Am I proud of being blonde, no because it's how I happened to be born. When I was in my teens I maybe felt smug about it, but feeling smug isn't the same as feeling proud. Am I proud of being "en forme" physically, yes because I put care and effort into looking after myself. I don't really get how you can be proud of something that is entirely outside your control. Although I can see that if you have actually served your country in a close up and personal way, say in the armed forces or the civil service, you would be proud of that and that would be very close because your whole identity would be closely bound in with your country's identity.

Maybe I'm a very self-centred person but I think I only ever feel "proud", as such, of personal achievements that didn't come on a plate. Or maybe I just have a different interpretation of what it means to be proud of something.

 

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I'm with EuroTrash, it is what it is. I hardly had a say in the matter. I do, however, like Ken make the distinction between being British and being English ( I'm the former ). Ironically I was called a 'foreigner' more times when I lived in the UK than I've ever been in France.

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I've always believed that one of our national traits (whether as British or as English) is to be rather understated in all things,  which for me means being quietly comfortable with my nationality,   and I suppose - never really having thought about it - that is how I feel about the situation.    I don't go round flag waving,   but I'm most certainly not going to go around being ashamed of which country I belong to.

 

What I can't stand though,   and what we've seen more than our fair share of on this forum (at least until recently) are the people who "do down" Britain at every opportunity,    who really ARE apparently ashamed of every aspect of Britain and its history.     Of course we should be aware of previous shortcomings,     but many of those who flagellate themselves and others on these things are in fact guilty of encouraging the most dreadful policies in our own time,   but are too hypocritical to see it,   blinded as they are by their own self-loathing,   self righteousness and need to virtue-signal. 

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I understand when some say "why be proud of being British when I had nothing to do with it, I was born that way"! My understanding of the question however is 'being proud of being British' means being proud of what Britain has achieved in its history not that I was born British! Patently I was born British, nothing to be proud of there that was the easy bit! What is the hard bit and people should (in my view) be proud of is Britains record throughout history, and that record continues today with aid to Ukraine; That's why I feel immensely proud of my country.

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Sorry I've never got the point of National pride. I have never served in the armed forces, never been a member of the civil service, never stood for parliment. Why should I claim credit for things I took no active part in? There are shining lights in Britains history along with dark times. Should I spend my life being ashamed of the dark times because of my place of birth? In my life I have been fortunate enough to have taken part in events that have made me proud to be a human being. That'll do.

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37 minutes ago, Ken said:

I understand when some say "why be proud of being British when I had nothing to do with it, I was born that way"! My understanding of the question however is 'being proud of being British' means being proud of what Britain has achieved in its history not that I was born British! Patently I was born British, nothing to be proud of there that was the easy bit! What is the hard bit and people should (in my view) be proud of is Britains record throughout history, and that record continues today with aid to Ukraine; That's why I feel immensely proud of my country.

Yes I agree with that, although in that case ALBF asked the wrong question, what he should have asked is If you are British, are you proud of your country? But I think ALBF's question is valid in a different way. My ex FiL was proud of being British. He was born East European, he was taken in by Britain as a refugee after WW2, he loved Britain and he set himself the goal of obtaining British nationality. He achieved it and he was proud of it, quite rightly.

But I would have reacted the same if ALBF had asked the second question. Britain has had amazing successes and achievements in the past, it's done a lot of good, and it's doing a lot of praiseworthy things today. It also has some blots on its copybook both in the past and now. But I can't say I feel personally proud of its achievements nor personally ashamed of the blots. I admire the achievements but it's for those who were instrumental in them to feel proud. I feel revulsion for instance at how callously it behaved towards Ireland in the 19th century, but it's those who were involved that should have felt shame. Maybe I have a bit of a blind spot. It's the same when people talk about how proud they are of what their husband or wife has achieved, I don't get that either. To me it is too close to basking in reflected glory. Yes you think they've done really well, you're pleased for them, you admire them, you share their happiness, but to say you're proud of what they have achieved seems like you're stealing their credit. 

Edited by EuroTr@sh
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54 minutes ago, DaveLister said:

Sorry I've never got the point of National pride. I have never served in the armed forces, never been a member of the civil service, never stood for parliment. Why should I claim credit for things I took no active part in? There are shining lights in Britains history along with dark times. Should I spend my life being ashamed of the dark times because of my place of birth? In my life I have been fortunate enough to have taken part in events that have made me proud to be a human being. That'll do.

Quite  obviously it is a very subjective thing. I'm extremely proud that my country, for example, is helping Ukraine. I'm not fighting in Ukraine and I assume you aren't either but being proud of your country doesn't mean you have to fight or be practical in any way. There are cultural and democratic aspects of Britain that have been here for centuries and continue today . I'm part of that tradition and culture and continue to practice it and if you are British you also are part of it; the same culture and democracy. Personally I do think that is something to be proud of. I'm not claiming credit for anything other than I continue with the same values my forebears held.

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I don't think you can use culture to define Britishness. Far too broad a church. How many different 'native tongues' are there? How many religions? How many different laws of the land. I guarantee you, despite being British, my culture and traditions are totally different to yours.

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2 hours ago, DaveLister said:

I don't think you can use culture to define Britishness. Far too broad a church. How many different 'native tongues' are there? How many religions? How many different laws of the land. I guarantee you, despite being British, my culture and traditions are totally different to yours.

Native tongues! There is only one native tongue. It's called English! many local accents of course but all speak English. Perhaps you are referring to immigrants who haven't learnt 'the native tongue' yet? The same immigrants have brought their religion with them, in the same way they did hundreds of years ago.

Your culture and traditions, you say, are totally different to mine so I must I asssume that you are an immigrant to the British isles and understandably not proud of being British in the same way  as an indigenous Britain.

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One of my grandma's was Irish (don't know which part of Ireland...nor care)...the other one was half Welsh.

My mum was born in Manchester but grew up in Staffordshire.

My dad was a Londoner (born under the bow bells)...but all our ancestry is from Derbyshire. There is even a village named after us in Derbyshire. Would you believe ?

I grew up in a rural Wiltshire village (I dunno...100 people maybe). So yeah...my lover. 

Lived half of my life in France. 

My kids love being half British. But they don't really know the UK nevermind lived there....but they love being half British. It is cool. 

What is my point ?

 

I have no idea. ?

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Gotcha!!!!

I must admit I felt a little bad as I did my shopping at lunchtime. I remembered that, as a child, we always used to take the p155 out of the English when they come over on holiday. We would pretend not to understand them when they tried to pronounce placenames and send them off in the wrong direction. Then, when I got older and had a Saturday job we would look for any excuse to wind them up. For example most 'englanders' wouldn't want local currency mixed up with their change as it wasn't legal tender in the UK. If they asked nicely we would exchange it but if they said something like 'oh I don't want any of that foreign money' we would apologise, retrieve the change and replace it completely with local currency. When they complained we would simply say 'but you said you didn't want any foreign money'. When they complained further we'd say "well at least our pound is worth a pound, yours is only worth 50p as 25p belongs to the Arabs for the oil and 25p belongs to the IMF for the loan.?

Funnily enough I once had a Scotsman in who looked at the 20p piece I gave him and asked if I could change a 50p into local currency as he wanted to take it home and give it to his son as a gift.

We were taught at school about our constitutional relationship with the crown, how the Queen wasn't our queen, how Westminster had no jurisdiction and most of us were proud of the fact that our ancestors helped conquer the country in 1066. Although 'technically' you could argue we were more British than anyone other than the anglo saxons, when the hordes of tourists weren't there, we didn't give the United Kingdom much thought. We had our own laws, our own parliament, our own taxes, and yes our own language.

Oh and the main religion is Methodism.

Truth is Ken being British encompasses a whole range of people. Don't confuse it with just being English.

À tantôt

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4 minutes ago, alittlebitfrench said:

 

What is my point ?

 

I have no idea. ?

 

Yeah...I remember now.

Idiot UK peeps that move to France and say they are embarrassed (usually on a forum) to be British because they need to justify screwing up their lives......by moving to France. So yeah...it is the UK's fault. 

Knôbs. ?

It is not their British nationality they should be embarassed about. 

Their IQ level perhaps ?

 

 

 

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I've just realised I am proud to be British ( or should I more correctly say Anglo Norman ).

I am proud of the fact that my noble sovereign lord still lives in the castle built by my ancestors.

I am proud of the fact that in this day and age I can still stand tall and shout

Haro! Haro! Haro! À l'aide, mon Prince, on me fait tort.

(Yes I know I should be down on one knee but bear with me I'm swelling with pride here)

Oh I feel quite overcome

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5 hours ago, Ken said:

Native tongues! There is only one native tongue. It's called English!

 

 

I thought I'd have a little look and see how many native tongues are still alive today in Britain. Below is the first line of the Lords prayer translated into most of the tongues of Britain ( I know of a few others but can't find instances of them reciting the prayer online )

Our Father who art in heaven ( English )

Ar n-Athair a tha air nèamh (Scottish Gaelic )

Ár n-Athair, atá ar neamh ( Irish Gaelic )

Ayr ain t'ayns niau, ( Manx )

Ein Tad, yr hwn wyt ( Welsh )

Agan Tas ni, eus y’n nev ( Cornish )

Nouot' Péthe qu'es au ciel ( Jerriais )

Note this is just a list of languages from the British Isles, move to the overseas territories and the list grows proportionately.

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13 hours ago, DaveLister said:

Gotcha!!!!

I must admit I felt a little bad as I did my shopping at lunchtime. I remembered that, as a child, we always used to take the p155 out of the English when they come over on holiday. We would pretend not to understand them when they tried to pronounce placenames and send them off in the wrong direction. Then, when I got older and had a Saturday job we would look for any excuse to wind them up. For example most 'englanders' wouldn't want local currency mixed up with their change as it wasn't legal tender in the UK. If they asked nicely we would exchange it but if they said something like 'oh I don't want any of that foreign money' we would apologise, retrieve the change and replace it completely with local currency. When they complained we would simply say 'but you said you didn't want any foreign money'. When they complained further we'd say "well at least our pound is worth a pound, yours is only worth 50p as 25p belongs to the Arabs for the oil and 25p belongs to the IMF for the loan.?

Funnily enough I once had a Scotsman in who looked at the 20p piece I gave him and asked if I could change a 50p into local currency as he wanted to take it home and give it to his son as a gift.

We were taught at school about our constitutional relationship with the crown, how the Queen wasn't our queen, how Westminster had no jurisdiction and most of us were proud of the fact that our ancestors helped conquer the country in 1066. Although 'technically' you could argue we were more British than anyone other than the anglo saxons, when the hordes of tourists weren't there, we didn't give the United Kingdom much thought. We had our own laws, our own parliament, our own taxes, and yes our own language.

Oh and the main religion is Methodism.

Truth is Ken being British encompasses a whole range of people. Don't confuse it with just being English.

À tantôt

I'm afraid it is you who is confused. I haven't at any time said anything other than I'm proud to be British. Yes I'm English, I was born English. I'm  proud of Britain for the reasons I have given. You, apparently, are not proud to be British, your prerogative. 

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16 hours ago, Ken said:

Native tongues! There is only one native tongue. It's called English! many local accents of course but all speak English. Perhaps you are referring to immigrants who haven't learnt 'the native tongue' yet? The same immigrants have brought their religion with them, in the same way they did hundreds of years ago.

Your culture and traditions, you say, are totally different to mine so I must I asssume that you are an immigrant to the British isles and understandably not proud of being British in the same way  as an indigenous Britain.

And with that, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury. I rest my case??

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