ссылка (англ.)

[avva]

How To Be An Alien - небольшая смешная книжка об англичанах.

(за ссылку спасибо не помню точно кому, но по-моему, miram)

Цитата:

If a continental youth wants to declare his love to a girl, he kneels down, tells her that she is the sweetest, the most charming and ravishing person in the world, that she has something in her, something peculiar and individual which only a few hundred thousand other women have and that he would be unable to live one more minute without her. Often, to give a little more emphasis to the statement, he shoots himself on the spot. This is a normal, week-day declaration of love in the more temperamental continental countries. In England the boy pats his adored one on the back and says softly: "I don't object to you, you know." If he is quite mad with passion, he may add: "I rather fancy you, in fact."

If he wants to marry a girl he says: "I say ... would you? ..."

If he wants to make an indecent proposal: "I say ... what about ..."

Overstatement, too, plays a considerable part in English social life. This takes mostly the form of someone remarking: "I say ..." and then keeping silent for three days on end.

Comments

[russ-dilettante.livejournal.com]

Микеш замечательный. В детстве читал. "I am afraid your English is somewhat unorthodox."

[ahaxopet.livejournal.com]

У него же есть книжка "How to be a Brit" - тоже очень хорошо..

[malpa.livejournal.com]

Вообще-то How to be a Brit включает в себя How to be an Alien, How to be Inimitable и How to be Decadent. Так что это тройное удовольствие.
А еще у Микеша есть книжка про Японию. "The Land of the Rising Yen". Хоть и написана в начале 70-х, но очень интересно читать.

Ах да, есть и How to be Poor. Тоже славно.

[ok-66.livejournal.com]

Дим, а в переводе не видел? Я только отрывке на Лавке Языков нашёл...

[skifenok.livejournal.com]

спасибо большущее! просто замечательно... ушла читать :)

[(Anonymous)]

Zhal', v knizhke eshche est' smeshnye kartinki,
v otskanirovanom texte ix net.

Вот цитата так цитата

[josef-gotlib.livejournal.com]

The worst kind of soul is the great Slav soul. People who suffer from it are usually very deep thinkers. They may say things like this: "Sometimes I am so merry and sometimes I am so sad. Can you explain why?" (You cannot, do not try.) Or they may say: "I am so mysterious ... I sometimes wish I were somewhere else than where I am." (Do not say: "I wish you were.") Or "When I am alone in the forest at night-time and jump from one tree to another, I often think that life is so strange."

All this is very deep: and just soul, nothing else.

The English have no soul; they have the understatement instead.