Thoughts to end the year

So this will probably be my last post for 2006...I could go on about my resolutions, my desire not to make resolutions, etc but I have decided to focus on a topic that was brought to my attention by my colleague at our xmas party.

Everyone in the world 'knows' that the Brits have bad teeth, right? It's like Canadians know that people take the piss out of our use of the word 'eh' and Americans are generally hated because they 'all voted for Bush and they are all arrogant'. While there may be some truth in all of these stereotypes, for the most part thats just what they are (That being said I still have my toothpaste imported from Canada due to a lack of dental association approving any toothpaste in this country -- most likely due to a lack of professional dental association).

So rewind to my Work Christmas Party. My collegue informed me that he had been unaware that Brits were 'known' for their bad teeth...to which about two or three collegues went 'what? Really? I didn't know that!'

Apparantly a large majority of Brits don't know that North Americans mock their teeth....with the reference in Austin Powers not seen as a blatant mockery but just as an 'ugly hero'....In fact, the Brits refer to what we would call 'British teeth' as 'Polish teeth' (or so I've been told).

So that made me wonder what other types of nationalistic stereotypes exist, and do the citizens know about it? How many cultural references fly past a group who do not know what the 'rest of the world' thinks about them? (Aside: does this also harkens back to what each South American country calls 'titty-fucking')....

Further to all of this, I began reading a book about the Worlds biggest mistakes. I'm only about 20 pages in and thus far it's focused on the plight of women to make themselves look good (corsets, foot binding, etc). It goes on to discuss the prolific use of Ceruse (modern day equivelent is foundation) which was made with white lead. I guess in order to get the 'white face' look which hid small pox, dirt, etc, the ladies would smear this paint on their face. As time went on and lead posioning set in, the skinwould start to yellow, age, sag and peel off. The eyes would go puffy and in due course, teeth would fall out. This usually happened over about ten years. Anyways, eventually you'd die of lead poisioning, looking haggered, etc. Now I won't draw modern day comparisons to botched plastic surgeries but instead, perhaps draw a historical link...

I guess Queen Elizabeth I was a fond user of ceruse as well as mercuruci suphide for blush. As she aged, her teeth continued to fall out (yet she was settig the fashion precendent for the court). I guess the French Amabassador at the time made a comment about her appalling teeth and the effects the ceruse had had...

So this is my thinking -- the French dude saw the queen's hideous smile and made a comment about how this makeup was causing teeth to fall out and eventuially into how the Brits had poor dental hygiene...and the Brits have yet to shake this label (unless you ask one bc they wouldn't know they'd been labelled). However British history wouldn't focus in on the trivial matter of bad teeth or lead make-up, and would instead focus in on battles won against the French. The French, in retaliation to the arrogant pumped up war victories the English were claiming, would retaliate that they had beautiful women and tasty food...thus starting the bad teeth/bad food labels of the English...

Anyways this post really is all about the fact that a lot of Brits don't know that they supposedly have bad teeth..hehe...how funny is that, eh?

Happy New Years!

Remove the Fucking Price Tag!

In an attempt to perhaps breathe some much needed life into this blog (does anyone still even read it now that I've left the vast majority of my readership in the cold tundras?)...I am about to open yet another debate on fashion faux pas's (?)...

I have generally noticed that women in the UK tend to buy a lot of their shoes from clothing shops and not shoe shops (ie. Le Chateau vs. Aldo). While I still contend that these fashion shops overcharge for uncomfortable, low-quality pleather shoes, I can accept that their shoes reflect the most current trends out there...which is why there is such demand (however as a Naturalizer convert where fun and exciting LEATHER shoes are sold at a decent price and are of the utmost comfort level, I will do my best to avoid purchasing any more foot crushing shoes from the likes of topshop, zara, dorthy perkins, etc)....(See this link for confirmation that shoe sales are higher in clothes stores than shoe stores, well, increasing anyway: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=419273&in_page_id=1879)

Moving on. So since the majority of shoes are purchased in clothing shops, they tend to be crudely priced on the bottom of the sole with a very large and obvious white price tag. And when you purchase the shoe you don't get a pair from the back shelves in a nice box, you get them handed to you in a bag, with a glaring large white price tag on each and every sole.

No problem. Common sense dictates that you go home, remove the lable and then prance around in the shoes until your feet feel as if they've been run through a wood chipper and pressed to extract every last bit of blood...usually within an hour of wear with most of these styles. Right? WRONG!

The women of England (I can't speak for N. Ireland, Scotland or Wales) instead go home and put the shoes straight on. They LEAVE the ghastly, glaringly obvious white lable on the bottom of both shoes and head out the door! Are they oblivious to the fact that while they may have matched (unless we get into the whole black/brown debate) every last detail of their outfit, that those walking behind them get the view of the price tag, and that's ALL anyone can see? It's disgraceful!

Today I wanted to tell the woman in front of me...I wish I could compliment you on your shoes but frankly I haven't noticed them. Instead I've been mesmorized by the white pricetags that are so blatantly calling out to me : I bought overpriced shoes the other day and now I'm wearing them! Look at me!

Sigh...for some time I thought I was alone in my thoughts but just last month a reader wrote in the daily paper and said something along the lines of 'I'm not from this country so I don't understand why British women seem incapable of removing the price tag from their shoes!'...So it's not just me...If I had any british women readers I would hope that they would pass on these words of advice: REMOVE THE PRICE TAG ON YOUR SHOE; but alas, I fear I have no readers..let alone the group I most desperately need to reach....

I'm fearful of all the white tags I'll soon see as women of England step out onto the streets post xmas in their new shoes...oh the horror...

Yay!

While I always feel a bit of remorse for cheering when someone dies (like when good ol' Strom bit the dust) I still think the world is a better place without some people. Today I began the day with the good news that ol' Pinochet had bit the dust, and to that I say, YAY!

While I can't say that I know all there is to know about his reign, the biography I read and the first hand accounts I had from my former Spanish Teacher have thoroughly influenced my opinion that he was a dick. And mean.

So I say Yay! The dick is dead. I will not feel remorse....

Personality Test

Yesterday my coworker described me as a 'good giggle'.

I was most pleased and touched.