Ordenando mi habitación me he encontrado con una joya literaria. Es un libro que ya tiene sus añitos(creo que es de cuando mi mami era jovencita...) pero que a mi me ha parecido sencillamente estupendo. Su titulo, How to be an alien, lo dice todo. Es un repaso a los estereotipos bajo los que vemos al vecino pueblo anglosajón. Desde su peculiar manera de conducir hasta los planes urbanísticos de sus ciudades, nada se salva de la quema bajo el muy logrado sarcasmo y chispa de su autor, George Mikes.
Es un libro que realmente os invito a leer(aquellos que esteís versados en la inglesa lengua, porque si no, oranges of China....), y os aseguro que la diversión esta plenamente garantizada.
Os voy a poner un pequeño extracto para que veais el tipo de humor británico que debeís esperar:
How to be Rude
It is easy to be rude on the Continent. You just shout and call people names of a zoological character.
On a slightly higher level you may invent a few stories against your opponents. In Budapest, for instance, when a rather unpleasant-looking actress joined a nudist club, her younger and prettier colleagues spread the story that she had been accepted only under the condition that she wear a fig-leaf on her face. Or in the same city there was a painter of limited abilities who was a most successful card-player. A colleague of his remarked once: "What a spendthrift! All the money he makes on industrious gambling at night, he spends on his painting during the day.
In England rudeness has quite a different technique. If somebody tells you an obviously untrue story, on the Continent you would remark "You are a liar, Sir, and a rather dirty one at that." In England you just say "Oh, is that so?" Or "That's rather an unusual story, isn't it?"
When some years ago, knowing ten words of English and using them all wrong, I applied for a translator's job, my would-be employer (or would-not-be employer) softly remarked: "I am afraid your English is somewhat unorthodox." This translated into any continental language would mean: Employer (to the commisionaire): "Jean, kick this gentleman down the steps!"
In the last century, when a wicked and unworthy subject annoyed the Sultan of Turkey or the Czar of Russia, he had his head cut off without much ceremony; but when the same happened in England, the monarch declared: "We are not amused"; and the whole British nation even now, a century later, is immensely proud of how rude their Queen was.
Terribly rude expressions (if pronounced grimly) are: "I am afraid that ...," "unless ...," "nevertheless ...," "How queer ...," and "I am sorry, but ..."
It is true that quite often you can hear remarks like: "You'd better see that you get out of here!" Or "Shut your big mouth!" Or "Dirty pig!" etc. These remarks are very un-English and are the results of foreign influence. (Dating back, however, to the era of the Danish invasion.)
Si os a gustado y teneis intención de leer más, sabed que lo podeís hacer de manera totalmente gratuíta desde la siguiente dirección: http://f2.org/humour/howalien.html
¡¡Espero que os guste!!
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