Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Spanish and English
Perhaps I should enhance the fact that this stereotyping is my opinion, but on the other hand this is my blog and I can say what I want. Which I do :)
Spanish - Manana mentality of course. Great country with fantastic wine, lovely food, envious weather and nice people. All this despite the fact of a dictatorial history. So ok, the wine, the food and the weather was there before, but it is a country to admire. They have risen to be one of the main retirement spots for lotsa of Europeans who live in less desirable countries. Mind you, it is already a bit overcrowded with "expat" communities of Brits, Scandinavians, Germans etc.
In business they are friendly. But not very available. All of August you can reach nobody there. During the business year they are often starting late, taking long lunches, but also working late in the evenings. It is not uncommon to get a business call from a Spanish person at 10 in the evening. Perfectly normal for them, perhaps less common here in Switzerland (read unheard of :).
English - Like the Germans very formal. Often travel far to go to work (compare Holland), lots of traffic and suburbia where they live is mostly far away from their offices (which is never downtown London, but surprisingly enough in another suburbia turned into an industrial area). Process-oriented. Until you get them into a pub. Then they transform into Mrs/Mr Jovial. A bit like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Are 1 hour behind everybody else in Europe, but think Europe is out of sync (once there was a flooding between England and France. The headline in the English papers read: "Europe isolated"). Refuse to drive on the right side of the road. And will never change to the metric system. My opinion is that we can keep the pint, and bin all the other measurements :) Btw, nobody can drink a pint as fast as a Brit. Because they are used to the pubs closing at 11 pm. They order last round just before (every pub has a bell that rings just before they close) and down it like a camel. Impressive.
Will always keep the GBP, since EUR is for the Europeans. Which they think they are not. Unless they speak to Americans of course :)
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4 comments:
'spanish and english'
the funny thing about the Brits is that offically they have taken on the metric system, about 10 years ago if I remember rightly, its just that everyone ignores it. Not real good with change the Brits. Dont agree with the formal part, or the like the German parts - except they both have bad food and can drink lots of beer.
Now that the pubs no longer have to clsoe at 11 I wonder if the next generation will lose the fast drinking ability.
Yup, they did decide but as you say, they all ignored. Good at that, the Brits are.
Yes, they can be very formal in the office. And yes, they don't know how to cook. Probably therefore they drink.
Load of rubbish, we are going over to the metric system, albeit inch by inch and expect completion within the next couple of hundred years. As for cooking the UK was one of the first countries to have TV cooking, and Fanny Craddock an her husband were watched by millions. There is one episode which is historic, when she was making doughnouts and after she had pulled them out of the oven her husband commented to the camera and the viewers at home that he hoped, "your doughnouts turn out like Fanny's". However I must admit that for most Brits a 7 course meal is a 6 pack followed by a curry, which is now the British National dish, along with Fish and chips and a cup of tea, which like the curry originates from India. As for the currency of course the Brits are proud of their heritage, and still mourne the killing of the £sd in the 1960's, even if the £ did originate from the Romans it had been British for 2000 years and we did not like the idea of having to count to 10 instead of 12, and become metric to be able to join the common market. Brits don't like anything that's common, unless she is a "bit of a goer" and then it's OK providing no one is watching. So what has this got to do with Zurich anyway!
Not much, but spot on re the item :)
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