#britpicking.

The Union Jack

If you think the “red, white and blue” flag is all about America’s Old Glory or The Stars and Stripes, think again. 

The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (to give the country its proper name) is red, white and blue. 

There has been a lot of flag waving over the past week due to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, so it feels timely to consider how the UK’s flag came about and why it is called “Union Jack”. 

To start with, the current flag isn’t the first version; that was a flag adopted for use at sea from 1606. Commonly called the King’s Colours, it celebrated the unification of Scotland and England under James (the Sixth of Scotland and the First of England). It combines the red cross of St George (patron saint of England) with the saltire cross of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. 

Following the various acts of union, it became the official status of “the Ensign armorial of Great Britain”.  It later became used by the land forces, too. The Welsh are not represented on the flag because at the time of the union with Scotland, the Welsh principality was already a fully integrated part of the English monarchy due to the Tudors. The Queen’s heir, Prince Charles is The Prince of Wales.

A naval version (“The Red Ensign”) was flown on British ships (for you OFMD fans).

The flag's official use came to an end in 1801 with the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. At that time Saint Patrick's saltire red cross flag was added to the flag of Great Britain to create the present-day Union Flag.

St George’s Day  23 April

A lot of European nations have “patron saints” who are thought to protect the country from its enemies. St David is the patron saint of Wales, St Andrew of Scotland and St Patrick of Ireland.  St George is the patron saint of England.

But who was St. George, and what did he do to become England’s Patron Saint?

Very little is known about St. George’s life, because he was killed around 303 AD. it is thought he was a high ranking officer in the Roman army who converted to Christianity and was tortured on the orders of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Despite this, he clung to his faith, eventually being beheaded in Palestine. 

His head was later taken to Rome where it was interred in the church dedicated to him. It is possible that many Englishmen became much more aware of him during their service in the Crusades.

Stories of St George’s strength and courage soon spread throughout Europe. The best-known story about St. George is his fight with a dragon, but it is highly unlikely that he ever fought a dragon, and even more unlikely that he ever visited England.  

In the middle ages, the dragon was used as an image of the devil, so slaying the dragon is a metaphor for defeating the devil.  King Edward III made him the Patron Saint of England when he formed the Order of the Garter in St. George’s name in 1350, and the cult of the Saint was further advanced by King Henry V, at the battle of Agincourt in northern France, where his soldiers and archers wore the red cross on a white background that was the symbol of the saint. 

Shakespeare knew this and included references to St George in his Henry V play. 

The painting at the top of this post is by Raphael. If you look closely at the garter around the St George’s leg, you will see that it is a replica of the Order of the Garter.

The painting is thought to have been commissioned by the Duke of Urbino, who had been inducted into the Order of the Garter by King Henry VII, Some believe that that the painting was sent to England as a thank you present. It now hangs in the National Gallery in Washington DC. 

London Specific Slang A to M

@shakesberes-ghost asked for slang that is London-centric. I can oblige but be warned these might be in use elsewhere, too. It is the sort of thing the homeless network and people younger than Sherlock and John would use. Think Billy Wiggins.

Bangin‘ – good.

Bare – a lot of something.

Beast – really cool. As in, ‘that outfit is beast.’

Beef – a hostility between two people that usually results in violence.

Blud/Blad – brother, friend.

Bovvered – verb describing a lack of interest. As in, ‘I ain’t bovvered.’

Chirpsing – flirting.

Dizzy – crazy.

Dred – dreadful, terrible, cruel,

Dry – dull, boring.

Ends – area or neighbourhood a person hails from. (also Manor)

Fam – family and friends.

Fresh – nice, looks good. As in, ‘Sam is looking fresh today.’

Gyaldem – girl grew.

Hench – muscular.

Hectic – good, fantastic, amazing.

Init – short for ‘isn’t it’, often put at the end of sentences for extra effect or added drama.

Iiiiissss iiiiitttt? – really?

Jack – to take or steal. As in, ‘Katy jacked my food.’

Jakes – police.

Jam – relax, chill out.

Kotch – sit and chill.

Kretin – idiot.

Link – to hook up with someone.

Lips – to kiss passionately.

Long – when something involves far too much effort.

Lush – good-looking.

Marvin – hungry.

“I wouldn’t touch that with a ....

If you completed that sentence in your mind with the words “ten foot pole” odds are you are not British. Over here, it’s “touch that with a barge pole.” 

What’s the difference, you ask? 

Interestingly, barges are now less common in the UK, where the word was coined, and those that remain are usually powered by engines. But, recreational punting still uses poles similar to barge-poles.

According to some websites, the earliest reference in print to the figurative use of 'wouldn't touch with a barge-pole' is Lady Monkswell's Diary, 1893: 

It will be a long while before any political party touches Home Rule again with the end of a barge pole. 

In the USA, the first recorded use is earlier; 'I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole' is recorded in the magazine of the U.S. Masonic community, The Official Magazine of the Grand Lodge of the United States, 1843, edited by James L Ridgely:

But that mushroom aristocracy of our country... who would not condescend to touch a poor man with a ten foot pole, were their extraction traced, in nine cases out of ten they were nurtured in the squalid huts of poverty.

In both cases, the term is used to describe something that the person wants to avoid having any contact with or would avoid because they do not trust it, or because they do not like it.

British bathrooms  - the lightpull

One thing that tends to surprise a lot of non-Brits when they visit a bathroom or WC in the UK is the fact that they can’t find a light switch. 

After fumbling around in the dark for a while, you might encounter one of these hanging from the ceiling: 

A tug on it will close a switch in the ceiling and let there be light. More modern homes and most hotels will have the bathroom light switch on the wall OUTSIDE the bathroom, looking like any ordinary light switch. 

So why the difference? This eccentricity is due to the fact that building regulations in the UK do not permit a light fitting to be inside the bathroom anywhere near the basin or the bathtub because well.... water and electricity don’t mix. Remember that British power sockets and switches are twice the power of American ones, at 240 volts, so it can kill you! Steamy bathrooms mean that light fittings are fixed to the ceilings or walls a specified distance from any water. 

So non-Brits who want to use a hairdryer to style their hair can’t do it in the bathroom. There is only one exception to that rule and it is this thing: 

A shaving point. Because hidden behind that plate is a transformer, manufacturers now make them dual voltage, offering a 115 volt outlet for shavers for visitors from 110-120 volt countries. The shutter interlocks so only one socket can be used at a time. to prevent the transformer being overloaded.

Manufacturers of products like rechargeable electric toothbrushes worked it out. They all now come with the two-round-pronged plugs so you can indeed use them in the bathroom in a shaving point. 

BUT if you tried to use an adapter to plug in your hairdryer, it won’t work.  Extremely big NO. The shaver socket is likely to be rated at 1 amp or less. If you are foolish enough to try a hairdryer, you will blow the fuse if there is one or blow the transformer -costing a lot to get it fixed.

British Foods     Bovril

Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick and salty meat extract paste similar to a yeast extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar which has changed over the decades. 

This is the one I found buried under my collapsed chalk wall. This particular size (2 oz) and shape was produced between 1890 and 1918. 

Johnston was a butcher in Edinburgh who hated wasting the beef trimmings after selling the cuts that housewives wanted. So he boiled them down until they became a highly concentrated thick glaze that had a very long shelf life. It could be added to soups or gravies, diluted with not water to make “beef tea”. 

He emigrated to Canada in 1871. By 1874, the French Army gave him a contract to supply the army with preserved beef products, Britain not having enough beef to supply the French demand in the Franco-Prussian War. While there, he developed Johnston's Fluid Beef (brand Bovril). This was somewhat different from conventional meat glaze in that the gelatin, present in all meat glaze and making it solid at room temperature, was hydrolysed with alkali to make the mixture semi-liquid, and thereby easier to package, measure and use. For his services, he was awarded the Order of the French Red Cross. 

He returned to Scotland, marketed the Bovril and made a fortune out of it. During WW1 the frontline troops were supplied with jars with which they could make “bully tea”. 

It was also very popular during WW2 rationing, when meat was very scarce; it could be added to vegetable stews and give the flavour of beef. 

I can’t say it’s a favourite of mine, but I do know that I’d rather have it than marmite or vegemite! 

Britpicking April Fool’s Day

In the UK, the first British reference to April Fools’ Day was in 1698 when an article was written about people being tricked into going to the Tower of London to see the lions being washed.

April Fools’ Day remains popular in the UK. Big companies even produce adverts promoting products and services that are not real, just for a joke. One of the most famous April Fools’ Day jokes of all time was broadcast on the BBC current affairs show Panorama in 1957. It showed footage of a Swiss family “harvesting spaghetti from a spaghetti tree”, convincing thousands of Brits that this is how spaghetti was made. 

It worked mostly because back then spaghetti was not often consumed.

The BBC had further success in 1965, when it pretended to trial “Smell-O-Vision”, telling viewers it was pumping smells into their living rooms via their TVs. Many people contacted the BBC to say it had worked, despite it being a hoax.

Traditionally, in England a prank can only be pulled before midday and an April Fool joke is revealed by shouting “April fool!” at the recipient.

Some of the pranks so far today: 

The former Tory Minister Rory Stewart said he was pleased to announce his new roll on Twitter: “It is an honour to have been asked by the PM to serve as Director of Communications for No10 Downing Street.”

Deliveroo got its contribution in early - at 6am. 

What I liked about this one is that Pizza Express promptly joined in the fun. 

Newspapers are notorious pranksters. I liked the Guardian’s contribution today:  their shipping correspondent Mari Tyme reported not entirely implausibly that Tory MPs have been lobbying Downing Street to let the royal family use a recently seized Russian superyacht as the new flagship royal yacht. 

Twitter is an ideal place for pranks. here’s one from Dulux, a British paint maker, whose normal brand symbol is an English Sheep Dog; “To celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, we're proud to announce our limited edition Platinum Collection paint range! To honour Her Majesty, we're replacing our Dulux dog with her beloved corgi on every can. It's a beautiful collection of quality paints, fit for a Queen!”  -  Windsor White with a corgi. 

“Give it some welly”

It’s a phrase you will hear often enough if you’re British but it might leave non-native speakers a bit confused. 

Many will be familiar with the wellington boot, named after the knee-high boots worn by the first Duke of Wellington, the victor over Napoleon and hero of the age. Nowadays it means a knee-length waterproof rubber or plastic boot, worn in wet or muddy conditions.

As such, it’s an essential piece of life in the country: 

In British English, the derived noun welly, also wellie, is also used figuratively in the sense of force, power, frequently in the phrase to give it some welly and variants. This originally referred to putting one’s foot down on the accelerator pedal in a tractor or other farm vehicle, but it also took on a more interesting meaning over time. 

Now wellies have become the footwear of choice for festival goers, too.