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Before you watch this video, let me point out one reason it gave me chills.
There is an English Christian hymn that is in a sense the unofficial national anthem of England:
And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire! I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.
The words formed the basis of much of the symbolism used in the movie Chariots of Fire (the title itself is taken from the hymn).
If there is a song that caputures English sentiment, its traditions and dreams, it's Jerusalem -- the idea of England as the literal, enlightened Kingdom of God. It refers to the legend that Joseph of Arimathea visited Glastonbury, in some versions accompanied by Jesus Himself (the "feet in ancient times"), and to the legend of the Holy Grail and the Arthurian legends surrounding Glastonbury. (According to legend, the Glastonbury Thorn grew from where Joseph stuck his staff into the ground, and he hid the Holy Grail, the cup from the Last Supper, somewhere nearby.) I know many English people, especially nonbelieving ones, and I can't help but notice how Jerusalem moves even them.
Now watch The Verve's new video from their upcoming album:
The Verve managed to do a riff on Jerusalem and breathe new poignant meaning into it. I haven't gotten this excited by a new album in a long time -- and I love The Verve, especially Urban Hymns. Awesome stuff.
A colleague of BoE's is an Englishwoman who has lived in Germany since she was 11. She speaks fluent English, of course, but she freely admits that since she missed her teen years in the UK, she's utterly lacking in slang.
She told the story of how she once was back in the UK for some months and organized a baseball game, for which she made a poster with the title:
Get to third base with Caroline
Attendance was, ahhhh, very high.
She had no idea about the innuendo in the line and was mortified when she found out.
As you've no doubt caught by now, Europe is in the throes of the European soccer championships. As it happens, this year England failed to qualify, and ze Germans can't resist rubbing it in like crazy, like pretending to be astonished when noticing no English team taking the field, etc. etc. etc.
Thing is, I normally wouldn't really give a flying rat's ass, but because I have an English last name and sometimes can be heard speaking English, people try to rub it in with me. "Say, England's not in the championships, I noticed." My standard reply: "No shit, neither's America."
Meanwhile I just got an e-mail from an English friend in Hannover inviting people to watch the final game on Sunday, leading off with the text:
As you all know, Germany will be nailed to the floor by Spain on Sunday.
Telephone *RING* Caller ID with country code for Sri Lanka)
Ethelred Hello.
Telemarketer(in heavily accented English) Hello, my name is Ted Johnson (or some other implausibly butch American-sounding name evoking wood chopping and gun racks and not hot curries with chai). I would like to ask you some questions about your personal opeeeeeen-yon as a perfessonal worker. I preee-soom you speak Eeeen-glish?
Ethelred I should bally-o say so, my good man.
Telemarketer(audible pause) ...Ah. So can I ask you some qvesteeeons about your personal opeeeen-yon?
Ethelred No, I don't participate in surveys out of principle, sorry.
Telemarketer Ah. But can I ask you some qvesteeeons about your personal opeeeen-yon?
Ethelred No, I'm sorry, I do not participate in surveys.
Telemarketer But it's just qvesteeeons about your personal opeeeen-yon. It only take two meeenuts.
Ethelred My personal opinion is that this is a survey. I'm not interested. Good-bye.
BoE decided to take off this weekend to stay at her parents' for a couple of days to recharge, which leaves me to batch it over the weekend.
Just now I got the weekly e-mail newsletter from the multiplex cinema downtown. Since we haven't had the time to go to see a movie in eons, normally I just chuck it and don't read it. But this time I thought, hm, maybe I could look and see what's playing. Normally they have a movie in English running (I hate dubbed movies -- it's rare they're done that well and the dubbing just bugs me).
It used to be that there was a cinema -- a crappy one, but still a cinema -- that showed only English movies. They went out of business some years ago. The multiplex began dedicating one screen to non-German movies, which always meant English; their other location sometimes showed stuff in Russian or Turkish, but the multiplex stuck to English as the "special" language.
This time they have a non-German movie in the original language, all right.
In Turkish.
Well, fuck. Guess no more English movies in Hannover anymore. *sigh*
