Best of British 2 - Free Streaming Music

As promised, I have another Best of British playable playlist for your listening pleasure! Like the first one, it contains what I consider to be among the best music, in many genres, to come out of the British Isles.

It kicks off with New Order's Blue Monday. I remember this being one of the first tracks to come out with multiple 12" remix versions. That is followed, in the same synthpop vein, with tracks by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Pet Shop Boys.

When I was in Junior school in the 1970s, one was either a Slade fan or a T-Rex fan. At that time, I preferred Slade, although I grew to love Marc Bolan and T-Rex. Here, you don't have to choose; I've included tracks by both. Listening to Get it On by T-Rex reminded me of Power Station's awesome cover, with Robert Palmer handling vocals, so I had to include Palmer's classic Simply Irresistible. After all that adrenaline, I calmed things down with an often overlooked track by Eurythmics: the stunningly beautiful Julia.

After I released the first edition of Best of British, I had some feedback via Twitter, asking me whether I planned to add music from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in future editions. The first one was rather anglo-centric, so I tried to correct that it a little. From Scotland, I have songs from Paolo Nutini, The Proclaimers and KT Tunstall, and from Wales, I've included some Manic Street Preachers. I'm really interested in including more music from the rest of the British Isles, so please do let me know if you think of someone I should be listening to.

We follow that with some English folk: Artisan is an a cappella group, who disbanded a little while back, but have recently reformed for a tour. Their What's the Use Of Wings? is a beautiful song about letting our children leave the nest. Richard Thompson, originally with Folk-Rock group Fairport Convention, appears here solo, with his classic 1952 Vincent Black Lightning. Finally, Something in the Wine is a haunting song from a relative newcomer, Helen Lawson, who I think is destined for great things.

The home stretch includes more synthpop, some rockers from The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, something from the first British Invasion of the 1960s, and a favorite from Goldfrapp to finish off with.

You can listen to Best of British 2 using the player below. Please let me know what you think, by posting a comment and tell me if there are any songs or artists you think I should include in a future Best of British. I also would like to use a logo on my blog for future Best of British episodes. If you're handy with a graphics program and think you could create one, please let me know. I would be happy to give you full credit!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Our family has been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC. As he has done in his British shows, Oliver gave himself a mission to get people cooking and eating healthily. In this show, produced by Ryan Seacrest and Oliver, Jamie headed to Huntington, West Virginia, one of the most unhealthy places in the US, according to a recent report.

He took a multi-pronged approach to the task of getting Huntington to start eating healthily. He took over the kitchens in two schools. In an elementary school, he started by observing what the kids were being fed: pizza (for breakfast and lunch!), french fries, chicken nuggets, and so on. Changing the menu, he was met with considerable resistance by the cook in charge of the kitchen, although other cooks were more supportive. He also got out into the classrooms, and was horrified that the children couldn't identify even the most common vegetables. A second visit yielded much better results, after a teacher took it upon herself to teach the kids about vegetables. One revealing segment showed Jamie in front of a group of children, cutting off and discarding the "good bits" of a chicken, then throwing the leftover carcass into a blender, before grinding it down and forming and cooking chicken nuggets with it. In Britain, kids had been disgusted; here, the kids, pulled faces while the preparation was taking place, but were quite happy to eat the resulting nuggets.

In a high school, he took a different approach, getting a group of students to work with him. One girl had lost her Stepfather to obesity-related heart disease. Another girl had had been told that she might not live more than seven years, unless she radically changed her diet. One boy had anger-management issues and had been in trouble a lot. Jamie and the kids took over a local restaurant for an evening, and invited the kids' parents and various local dignitaries. They thought Oliver would be cooking, but he had taught the children, and they cooked. He brought the kids out at the end of the evening to let them tell their own stories. Jamie also took over the high school kitchen, where he met with some challenges due to the USDA guidelines for school meals. While his stir-fried noodle dish containing seven vegetables did not meet the requirements, a chicken patty in a bun with french fries, and the option of a salad (the kids were steadfastly ignoring that option) did so easily. Oliver argued that the guidelines encourage the use of processed rather than healthy food for kids.

Jamie has also been working with individuals and families, teaching them to cook simple, nutritious meals from fresh ingredients. He set up a store, "Jamie's Kitchen" where the public could get free cooking lessons. A local radio DJ who started off as a very vocal opponent of Oliver, was gradually won over. Jamie bet the DJ he could get a thousand people through his kitchen learning to cook during the course of one week. The DJ was the thousandth and lost the bet.

Although the show seems a little more scripted, and more manipulative than the British equivalents, people seem to have become very emotional about it, and there has been quite a lot of discussion on Twitter, Facebook and various blogs. Will it succeed in its goal? I think that if it makes a few people want to do something about their unhealthy lifestyle, it will have helped.

Have you seen the show? What do you think?

Healthcare Reform, Lively Debate and The Third Place

On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010, President Obama signed the Healthcare Reform Bill into law. A lot has happened since. Republicans have been very negative about it and have said that they plan to get the bill repealed and replaced. Some have suggested it might be unconstitutional. A large group of ultra-conservatives calling themselves the Tea Party Movement have protested against Healthcare Reform, calling it socialism. And, most worryingly, there has been an extremist fringe who have engaged in violent acts, threats of violence, vandalism and even gunfire.

Many people have been surprised at how quickly this behavior has spread. On my Facebook page, myself and some of my friends were talking about it and why it might have happened. It certainly appears to be true that the popular media has been whipping these people up into a frenzy. A recent video clip from the Rachel Maddow Show reports how the Republican Party themselves seem to have encouraged dissent, and how they would not stand with the Democrats to denounce even the most extreme acts of this nature.

I think part of the problem is that many of us are reluctant to talk about politics face-to-face with others. I can understand people not wanting to offend their friends, but I think we should try to overcome this hesitation. I think it is important to remember that you can nearly always find common-ground with the people you are talking with. If, for example, you're in a bar talking with someone whose political beliefs are the opposite of yours, the chances are that at least you like the same bar - that's common-ground! Of course, we should avoid personal attacks. One friend of mine, Asha Hawkesworth, said, "I think it's helpful to see where others are coming from. I know many, many conservative people, and I do understand why they feel the way they do. I don't always agree, though sometimes I do, but whether I do or not, I can see why they feel the way they do. This allows me to have compassion and respect for their point of view, which is also crucial for any reasoned discourse." Another friend, Susan Jones, says, "I'm working on the art of asking questions that prompt the other person to have to do more than recite propaganda."

Another reason why we seem to be losing the ability to engage in lively debate about politics is the decline in what has been referred to as the Third Place (the first place being home, the second, work). I'm referring to bars, coffee-shops and places of that nature. Some may think that Social Media sites such as Facebook or Twitter can replace the "Third Place." While one can always find a group of people on-line who feel the same way as you (which can often be an advantage), its rarefied atmosphere can also become a breeding-ground for lunacy. If you were sitting in a bar with an average group of people, you would probably very quickly get a strong feeling whether your thoughts were reasonable or not.

The danger of us not talking to each other about politics is that it opens us up to manipulation by the media and politicians. Many people seem to be content with getting their politics spoon-fed to them. If we don't make the effort to be informed and to discuss these matters with others, we risk being walked over by the politicians.

I do, of course welcome lively debate here, via the comments section.

Grooveshark and The Best of British

In a recent article in this blog, I talked about my use of BlueBeat.com, a free streaming music service that I had been using. Unfortunately, BlueBeat.com changed its service recently. They had started offering MP3 downloads at a much cheaper price than iTunes and other services. When they started advertising Beatles tracks at 25 cents each, they drew the attention of EMI and their attorneys. They forced the service to close down for a brief period, and when it returned, it had changed. No longer could one stream songs or entire albums on-demand, which was a feature I used a lot. BlueBeat.com is still a good service, however, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should.

I recently heard about another free streaming music site called Grooveshark. Having checked it out, I decided I really liked it, and have been using it a lot. You can listen to tracks on-demand, and they have an extensive library. What's more, if they do not have a track in their library, you can upload it. According to their Help information, they pay the record company whenever you play a song. They are supported financially via advertisements you see when you use their browser-based player. You can also pay a small monthly fee to remove the advertisements.

In addition to playing individual tracks, you can build playlists of songs. Also, they have a "Radio" feature, where they will automatically play songs based on what you're already listening to. This is a great way to discover new music. Grooveshark seems to understand the importance of "social" features, and you can share songs and playlists via Twitter, Facebook, and even post them to your blog or website. Seeing these features inspired me to put together a Best of British playlist to share with readers of this blog. I hope to make an entire series of these playlists, containing what I consider to be among the best music, in many genres, to come out of the British Isles.

So, in Best of British 1, I've included artists I've been listening to a lot recently (see my recent blog post, Couch Potatoes: England 2010 Part 3), such as Lily Allen, Goldfrapp, Paloma Faith, Florence and The Machine and La Roux. Vince Clark, who I consider to be one of the most talented musicians to come out of England, is represented by Yazoo (Yaz in the US) and Erasure tracks. The playlist kicks off with a great Kinks track, and while we're talking about quintessentially English artists, you don't have to choose between Oasis and Blur, because they're both represented here. For the folkies, there is a classic from Fairport Convention. I'm particularly proud of the juxtaposition of Amy Winehouse's Rehab with Ian Dury's Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Please do let me know what you think of it, by posting a comment. If you have suggestions of tracks or artists I could include in a future Best of British, do speak out.

The British Connection - An Interview

Pretty much any expat, whatever country they originally come from, will find themselves craving an item from "home." Fortunately, there are enterprising individuals who see the opportunity in supplying such items. The British Connection is a store in Absecon, New Jersey, run by Dave Brown, an expat originally from London, and his American Wife Barbara. After running their store in Historic Smithville Village for seven years, they moved about a year ago to the new location, where they have been able to expand their business, adding a large selection of cheeses and a small cafe. Barbara very kindly allowed me to bombard her with questions.


With an entertainment background, Dave first met Barbara when he was running a karaoke night in London. After he tried to drag her up on stage with him, she thought he was "a bit cheeky, but called him anyway." They came to the US to pursue entertainment opportunities in the casinos in Atlantic City, NJ. Unfortunately, they found the casinos had been converting their lounges to slot-machine parlors. Making the best of it, they started an entertainment business, doing children's shows and parties. Barbara was, quite literally, a clown - also "Minnie Mouse, Cinderella...and a Teletubby." During a visit to Barbara's parents in Florida, her Mother suggested they visit a store called The Brit Shoppe. The couple "were amazed to find some of our foods we missed from the U.K.! Three months later, the British Connection was up and running!"

I asked Barbara about some of their own favorite British foods. Barbara said she loves HP Sauce and Branston Pickle, while "Dave is all about the chocolates and bacon!" On the question of "Marmite: Love it or Hate it?" they are the exception to the rule; they both "like" it. Asked whether there was something she'd like to explain to their customers, given the opportunity, Barbara said "it's o.k. to laugh at the spotted dick...everyone does!" One question that Barbara is often asked is why she hasn't got a British accent; Dave gets asked what part of Australia he comes from! Barbara believes that most of their customers are expat Brits, but she admitted, "maybe they just come in more often." One of the recent additions was a cafe area, where Barbara often relaxes and has a cup of tea and a chat with her regulars: "I have to say the people that come in are really wonderful and great conversationalists. Part of the reason that I created the cafe section was so that we could sit and have a cuppa."

When asked what they miss about life in England, it came as no surprise to me that Barbara mentioned pubs. Although they enjoy relaxing over a meal and drinks with friends, they don't have a favorite bar in the US, but they do have friends with pubs in the UK: "The Hare and Hounds in Godstone is good fun, and another friend in London owned a pub called Novello's in Fulham. She had an Elvis impersonator there 2 nights a week for 10 years, Brilliant!" I asked Barbara about how often they got to visit England: "Not as often as we would like. We try to get there once a year, but we do like to travel to other locales...so sometimes we miss a year. We usually have visitors every year - we keep the guest rooms ready!"

Have you visited the store? Do you have any favorite places to get international foods? Let me know.

Love and Dancing

I have written here before of my love of American folk music and acoustic singer-songwriters, but I do not think I have mentioned my secret weakness for 1980s synthpop. I consider it secret because my Wife hates it, so I usually end up playing it when she is not around. Fortunately, my five-year-old daughter seems to like it too, and we are often to be found bopping in the kitchen to Erasure, The Human League, Yazoo (known as Yaz in the US), OMD, Depeche Mode or The Thompson Twins.

As a late-adopter of CDs, I have a huge collection of vinyl records at my parents' house in England, left there because of the expense and difficulty in getting them over to the US. Among the collection is an album from 1982 called Love and Dancing, which is billed as being by "The League Unlimited Orchestra." I recently obtained a copy of the album, which was always very dear to my heart, and it has made me insanely happy.

Love and Dancing is essentially an album of dance remixes of tracks from the influential Dare album, which was made in 1981 by the Sheffield band, The Human League. It was one of the very first remix albums, a producer project, and as such was groundbreaking. Martin Rushent, the producer of Dare, put it together the hard way, by cutting up tapes. Rushent is now 61 and back producing after retiring from the business.

Listening again to this album after so long instantly transported me back to the eighties. I fondly remember a street performer in London's Covent Garden doing a fantastic but hilarious robotic dance to tracks from the album. Its stuttering style was perfect for the purpose. I have been playing it rather a lot just recently, so it is a good job my daughter likes it. My Wife does not, and when I asked my Brother in England what he thought of it, he said that he always preferred the original. So, perhaps I am pretty much on my own. I did ask on Twitter and Facebook if anyone remembered it and one friend in England (Hi Paul!) said he does have the album and likes it.

Getting this album has prompted me to get the rest of The Human League's albums (some of which I had on vinyl in England). It has also got me catching up with some of my other favorite artists of that period. It has even got me checking out web-resources about old synthesizers (I used to play synths myself in the eighties). I think you could say this was an influential album for me.

If you have any interest in Love and Dancing or The Human League, I discovered that a cool CD containing both Dare and Love and Dancing was released in 2002. That is a bargain!

Do you have favorite music from your past that instantly conjures up a particular period in time for you? Please do share by making a comment.

I Might Still Be in Luton If Not For the Web

Some of my American friends, knowing that I do so much on the Internet, think that I must use it to keep in touch with friends and family in England. The truth is, with the exception of my Brother, who got his first computer just a month or two back, very few of them have access to the Internet. Or if they do, they rarely use it. So, having been online since before the widespread use of the World Wide Web (I was around in the days of online Bulletin Board Systems), I've been a bit of a pioneer.


As I've written elsewhere, I met my American Wife (while I was living in my home town of Luton, England) through a mutual love of American folk music. We were both on a discussion group for singer-songwriter Dar Williams, when she e-mailed me about something I said on the group. A friendship grew over the Internet, which turned into love.


When we married, I moved here, and while I was waiting for a work permit, I took an online course to keep my computer skills up to date. A chance e-mail to my instructor led to him employing me. I've worked for the company for around ten years.


These days, I have made many friends through the Internet, on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Using e-mail, the Web and Social Media sites has helped me with my work for local nonprofit and community groups. Of course, it has enabled me to write my blog, which is a welcomed creative outlet. I'm grateful too, that I have a small group of faithful readers, scattered around the globe


As someone who has always been a little shy, I do believe that if it wasn't for the Internet, I might still be living in my home town of Luton.

Susan Boyle - Scottish Singing Sensation Shows 'Em!

Last Saturday, on British TV talent show Britain's Got Talent, an unassuming 47-year-old-woman with a frumpy figure, unruly hair, bushy eyebrows and wearing a fairly unattractive dress, was laughed at as she strutted out on stage for an audition. As she answered the judges' questions before her performance (with some degree of sassiness, I might add), they pulled faces, the audience giggled and muttered and hosts Ant and Dec mugged from the wings. Before she had finished her first line (she was singing I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables), everyone had stopped laughing, and many were gasping, cheering and clapping. If you have not seen it yourself already, please check out the YouTube video (I don't do this usually with links, but if you select this link, it'll open the video in a new window, so you can keep on reading).

If you are anything like me, you may have had shivers running up your spine when Ms. Boyle started singing. At the time of writing this, close to 14 Million people have watched the above YouTube clip. From surprising a panel of cocky judges on a talent show, that unassuming 47-year-old woman from a small town in Scotland has progressed to wowing the World. Apparently, she is already in talks with Judge Simon Cowell's Sony BMG record label. Even celebrity couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher got in on the act, when it was widely reported that the two had sent the following messages to each other on Twitter:

Kutcher: This just made my night.
Moore: You saw it made me teary.

So where has Susan Boyle been all these years? According to the Daily Mirror, she was bullied as a child, due to her fuzzy hair, and a learning difficulty caused by being starved of oxygen during birth. She found comfort in singing. After taking part in choirs and concerts while at school, she graduated to playing clubs and pubs. She is well-known locally for singing karaoke. A spell at Edinburgh Acting School in the 90's was cut short when she had to look after her sick Mother (her Father died ten years ago). It was her Mother who wanted Susan to enter Britain's Got Talent. Ms. Boyle has eight older siblings, and still lives in the same house as she grew up in, with a ten year old cat named Pebbles. Although things are likely to change very soon, she was unemployed and volunteered for her church. She claims never to have been kissed.

I think that what has captured the world's imagination is not just her voice, which is fantastic, but the fact that it comes from such an unlikely source. Mark Smith, in Scottish Newspaper The Herald says that people like Susan "stand out because everyone on television now has the same face, the same hair and the same teeth. Someone on the programme might make this point one day, but it's unlikely anyone would hear them over the tearjerking violin music being played over slow-motion clips of Susan smiling."

I think the danger is that some "image expert" will try to change Ms. Boyle, and that will spoil the magic. To a degree this process may already be starting. Apparently, judge Piers Morgan ordered a film crew to film in a neighboring town rather than Boyle's hometown Blackburn, which Morgan branded "a dump," according to newspaper The Scotsman.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Susan Boyle, her amazing performance, and her future. Please do post a comment.

A New Jerseyan in England

I had a very interesting conversation via Twitter, the social networking site, over the weekend. I was talking with Debra Denton, known on Twitter as @debra47, an American woman married to an Englishman and living in England. In addition to us living in each other's countries (she also comes from New Jersey) and being married to a native, we have quite a few other things in common. She is also a blogger. Her blog is Power Pop Review. We both moved to another country to get married quite late in life. We also both met our spouses over the Internet because of a mutual love of music. As I have mentioned on this blog in the past, I met my Wife on the Internet discussion group for singer-songwriter Dar Williams. Debra met her husband on the now sadly defunct music site Audiogalaxy.

Our conversation began when a comment about wine evolved into a little conversation about single malt scotch, which I adore, but cannot really afford here in the US. Debra developed a taste after a tour of a whisky distillery a while back. What became the most interesting part of our conversation started when she asked me what I missed about England, apart from fish & chips and single malt scotch. I told her I missed my local pub. Of course, I might be missing it even if I was back in England. We talked about the alarming rate at which pubs in the UK are closing (at the time of writing, six pubs are closing each day). High beer prices and a recent ban on smoking in pubs seem to have resulted in most people deciding to stay at home. There they can smoke, drink cheap supermarket booze and watch their widescreen TVs.

Debra told me that what she misses most about New Jersey is being able to find a diner, with a huge, reasonably priced menu, open 24 hours a day. She believes that she is healthier since she moved to England, because she is able to walk much more than she was able to in New Jersey. Although my particular neighborhood is pretty walkable (I told her my family had walked to a new diner just the previous day, much to her surprise), much of New Jersey is not pedestrian-friendly. People get in their cars to drive a few blocks. On recent trips back to the US, Debra noticed that many "downtown" areas (town centres) have disappeared as large superstores appear on the outskirts of towns, pretty much sucking the heart out of them.

In my adopted hometown, Edison, New Jersey, many people work elsewhere, and only come back to Edison to sleep. With their long hours, there is no time to get involved in things going on locally. This is happening in the US and in the UK. Debra suggested that perhaps this lack of community is what has drawn both of us, along with many others, into Internet-based groups. I suggested that if more companies allowed their workers to telecommute when practical, it might help restore local communities because people would be around much more, and it would help the environment. Many employers fear that if they are not standing over their workers, they will waste time. However, I have found that telecommuting, with its lack of physical distractions, often results in increased productivity.

We discovered that we were both regularly asked, "Do you prefer it over here or over there?" We have the same answer too: "There's good and bad in both." We can both honestly say that there are things we love and dislike about our countries of birth and our adopted homes. We are caught between two cultures and we get the best and the worst of each.

We also both get comments about how our accents have not changed. Debra is asked a lot if she is a Canadian. I wondered if that was perhaps because people hoped she was not American, because in the UK, Americans have often been tarred with the "Bush brush." Debra says that she has certainly experienced some anti-Americanism, but that it seems to be subsiding since the election of President Barack Obama.

I have invited Debra to write a guest post in this blog, and she has said that she would love to. I think it would make an interesting counterpoint to my own posts here.

Are you living in a country other than the one in which you were brought up? Perhaps you have a friend in this situation. Please do post a comment and share your observations.

The Graham Norton Headache Cure

A week or so ago, I had a rather painful tension headache. I asked on Twitter and Facebook for some ideas to get rid of it. An old school friend of mine from England first suggested (in true English fashion) that I should try poking my finger in my eye, because that would distract me from the pain in my head. Then he came up with a fantastic suggestion: laughter and some gentle exercise.

For the exercise, I walked up and down a step while watching TV. To make me laugh, I chose Graham Norton. My headache soon cleared.

The Graham Norton Show is the most recent and, in my opinion, most consistently funny of Graham's TV series. I have seen most of his series, and I have to say that it seems to have taken a while for him to hit his stride. It loosely follows the chat-show format - more on that later. It's shown on BBC America. That means that I can watch it legitimately on DirecTV, as opposed to watching 8-minute snippets on YouTube, as some people (a-hem!) apparently do with other British shows that they cannot watch otherwise in the States.

The flamboyantly gay host starts, as is customary in the chat show format, with an opening monologue. This is usually a comedic look at some of the week's news, gossip, TV and movie happenings. Then he brings on two guests. Finally, he brings on a musical act. Because of the show's American audience, Norton ensures that American stars appear alongside popular British stars. Having the two guests appear together is a stroke of genius, because not only do you get the conversation between the host and guest, but also between the two guests. It's funny watching American stars trying to get a handle on what the show is about. It sometimes takes a little while for them to understand the laid-back style, being allowed to swear (On BBC America, the swearing is bleeped out) and drink alcohol. Some never quite get it, but it is very entertaining to see a show where a guest relaxes very quickly, and some seem to love it.

Of course, with Norton's background as a comedian, the humor is always front and center. However, he evidently has some very good researchers, as his guests are frequently surprised with some of the information Graham has about them. Not only that, but he often uses the computer by his side to show funny stories from the Internet, gossip about a guest, and so on. Very often, audience members and guests will be invited to play some kind of game (often role-playing) related to one of the guests.

Next time you have a headache, or just fancy a laugh, try a dose of Graham Norton.

Are you a Graham Norton fan? Are you into any other current British shows? What British shows would you recommend for the American viewer? Please post a comment.

Only in America

It's like arriving late for a party, I know, but I am so naive that I've only relatively recently discovered that with a little common-sense and a bit of searching I can find (not always legitimate copies, of course) British TV shows available on the web. I was very happy to find a copy of the return of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross that aired on the BBC last week. For those who don't know, The BBC suspended Ross for three months following a stunt when he was a guest on a BBC radio show. Jonathan returned with a great line-up - and an apology for the prank. Tom Cruise, British comedian Lee Evans and one of my favorite Brits, Stephen Fry were his guests.

Stephen is always an interesting guest. He and Jonathan talked about Twitter (Fry and Ross are both Twitterholics), and how Fry had been trying to lose weight by walking long distances (his recommendation: walk while listening to audiobooks). They joked about what it would be like if Stephen had played Tom Cruise's part in Jerry Maguire: "Would you be kind enough to exhibit the money?" Perhaps the most interesting things I thought he had to say this time, however, were about America and Americans.

Fry recently made a series, Stephen Fry in America, where he visited each of the fifty states. He explained to Ross how he loved America, visiting often, and even having an apartment (flat) in New York City for a while. He said that, generally speaking, he had found Americans to be "honorable, polite, kindly, well-intentioned, thoughtful" and that any ideas of the British that Americans were a "morass of pig-ignorant fools" said much about a British superiority complex (ultimately an inferiority complex). He contrasted the American attitude, "Let's try it!" with the British attitude, "Oh, no...no...no."

I had a moment of recognition when he talked about the phrase "Only in America." He explained how in the US, the phrase was often used to describe something extraordinary happening. It's an optimistic phrase. He said that if there was a phrase "Only in Britain", it would bring to mind things like queues, rain, incompetency - "no, no you can't!" Of course, he omitted another use of the phrase "Only in America", oft used by Brits when they see some of the outrageous stories about America and Americans in the news. Things like frivolous lawsuits, someone leaving their entire estate to a cat, and so on. I find it fascinating how, depending on where it is used, one phrase can mean completely different things.

Can you think of any similar phrases that have different meanings like this? Please do post a comment and let me know.

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