Mostly British people here, right? I would like some help.

[SakuradaKaoru]

I have a main character for a story in mind... I've decided I want to portray her as someone who knows a lot of stuff about the cultures of different countries but tends to misapply her knowledge by using it in the wrong country, or do things that go against the local culture. In other words... knowing so much that it's hard to apply the right customs to the right countries.

What do I need to know about culture in the United Kingdom to do that?

[Moderator]

Dear S. K. -

We are known as a nation of shopkeepers, which could easily be wrongly translated to a nation of shot putters ... or worse yet, shop lifters!things all together different. Is this the kind of thing you are after?

Best,
Dirk

[SakuradaKaoru]

I would like to know anything about England or the United Kingdom that could be used to to portray my character as looking strange by acting British in other countries or as looking strange by not acting British where she should be.

Anything. All I know about is flipping the V-sign and a few words which are ironically used to stereotype people as British but would probably get me in trouble here.

[pattie anne]

dear SakuradaKaoru -

unless we are misunderstanding you, that is what dirk just told you. something about his culture. there are many such gaff references in the feature films "Short Circuit" and "Short Circuit II" uttered by the indian character. and though they are generally americanisms, it may provide some help/ideas for you.

i can see a Time Lord on his first assignment to earth having that problem. he steps out if his TARDIS in gym clothes and says to a native:

"But aren't you a nation of shot-putters?" the Time Lord asked, puzzled.

"No, we are nation of SHOPKEEPERS!" the Brit snorts.

"Well, close but no snowshoe," the Time Lord sighs.

"That's HORSESHOE!" quickly corrects the Brit.

another help for you might be the book:

British English A to Zed by, Norman W. Schur.

and another help might be:

Wicked Words by Hugh Rawson.

not for the faint of heart, nor for children! as its sub-title is:

A Treasury of Curses, Insults, Put-Downs, and Other Formerly Unprintable Terms from Anglo-Saxon Times to the Present

oh, just thought of something else. the original "star trek's" A Piece of the Action was littered with such mis-speaks.

ah! one 'moore' thing and i will leave you alone to do your research. the first "dr who" story, Unearthly Child, spoke of many things that were "wrong" about the doctor's grand-daughter, susan, RE belonging to or fitting into british society of the time.

best,
pattie anne

[tracy]

:D dear s.k dirk has put it well i couldnt have said it any better .there are alot of over seas fans on here to so its a nice mix we have .welcome to toms dinner table enjoy your self