{"id":2086,"date":"2012-07-03T16:16:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T16:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2012-07-03T16:26:57","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T16:26:57","slug":"eccoci-in-inghilterrapart-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/eccoci-in-inghilterrapart-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Eccoci in Inghilterra–part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I wrote part one of this blog whilst sitting in my mother\u2019s living room in England I didn\u2019t really consider the fact that I\u2019d have to write part 2 when I returned to Italy. So now I\u2019m faced with the challenge of casting my mind back through the fog of a three day drive across Europe. I know that when I was in England I had loads of things that I wanted to say regarding the differences between the two countries, but England already seems like a distant fantasy. Well, let\u2019s have a go\u2026<\/font><\/p>\n

England vs. Italy, A Few More Observations:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dress sense:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Bad:<\/strong><\/font> Now Italy, being famous for its fashion designers, would seem to have an unfair advantage here. However, what really struck me was the amazing lack of grace with which many English people dress, especially teenagers. In Italy we have the expression \u2018fare bella figura\u2019<\/strong> which translates as something like \u2018make a good impression\u2019, and dressing well\/appropriately is an important part of that concept. Unfortunately, many young people in England seem very lacking in self awareness when it comes to dress sense. We noticed, for example, that tight black leggings worn in combination with some kind of short skirt seems to be the compulsory uniform for English teenage girls, regardless of whether it suits them or not. Couple this to the frighteningly high obesity rate in the UK and you are subjected to some very unfortunate examples of \u2018la brutta figura\u2019<\/strong>!<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

The Good:<\/strong><\/font> Now this is a tough one! I\u2019m scratching my head to think of something good to say about English dress sense. O.k. here are a couple of things. Because the English are not so concerned with la bella figura<\/strong> they are perhaps far more practical in the way that they dress for specific occasions, such as inclement weather for example. We also seemed to notice far fewer examples of the 16-61 syndrome. The 16-61 syndrome is the belief that with the help of liberal amounts of trucco<\/strong> (makeup), acconciatura <\/strong>(hairstyling), overdone abbronzatura artificiale<\/strong> (false suntan), and totally age inappropriate clothing one can fool the public (and perhaps oneself) into believing that one is 16 years old rather than 61.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Customer services:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Good:<\/strong><\/font> On the whole, staff in shops, banks, offices and so on are far more adept at dealing with their clients. It\u2019s obvious that staff are picked because they like working with the public, and that they receive appropriate training. I\u2019ll never forget the experience of waiting in a bank here in Italy whilst the manager tried impatiently to sort out an insurance cheque that we needed to cash, and hearing him saying loudly to the receptionist \u201cche cazzo vogliono con questo assegno!\u201d<\/strong> (what the fuck do they want with this cheque!). Unfortunately, public service staff here in Italy are often rude or simply disinterested. That doesn\u2019t include, of course, the little shops such as our fruttivendolo<\/strong> (grocers) and panettiere <\/strong>(bakers), or the small local bars.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

The Bad:<\/strong><\/font> Lurking beneath the British veneer of helpfulness lies a disturbing sense of impatience and tension. The cashier in my mother\u2019s local supermarket panicked and called for assistance when the queue at the till grew to the scary proportion of three people. Yes, the British queue in an orderly fashion, but it\u2019s rarely a relaxing experience. Any small holdup to the proceedings is likely to cause muttering and headshaking. The waitress at the restaurant where three of us (my mother, Serena and myself) turned up without booking, barely managed to maintain a rigor mortis smile whilst announcing: \u201cI\u2019m sorry, we are extremely busy at the moment, but I suppose we could find a table for you\u201d. Yet the restaurant remained half empty during the whole hour that we were there.  <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026. va bene, eccoci tornati in Italia, andiamo a prendere quel buon cappuccino!<\/font><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We thought it might be interesting to hear your comparisons between Italian culture and your own culture, e.g. USA vs. Italy<\/strong>, Australia vs<\/strong>. Italy<\/strong> and so on. If we get enough contributions we\u2019ll turn it into a blog. Remember to follow my example and look at both the negative and positive aspects of any given aspect of the culture that you\u2019re discussing. Please leave your comments below.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I wrote part one of this blog whilst sitting in my mother\u2019s living room in England I didn\u2019t really consider the fact that I\u2019d have to write part 2 when I returned to Italy. So now I\u2019m faced with the challenge of casting my mind back through the fog of a three day drive…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2086","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2086"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2090,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions\/2090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}