tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post4229892048789065890..comments2024-03-28T07:16:39.621+00:00Comments on Lallands Peat Worrier: Beyond The Cringe?Lallands Peat Worrierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18276270498204697708noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-64697099395483213552013-06-18T09:34:30.624+01:002013-06-18T09:34:30.624+01:00Douglas,
An encouraging thought! Douglas,<br /><br />An encouraging thought! Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-61349430412582680372013-06-14T12:13:17.005+01:002013-06-14T12:13:17.005+01:00I remember a 1st year tutorial on Politics at an o...I remember a 1st year tutorial on Politics at an old Scottish University. About 18 years ago now maybe... we had to submit essays on some subject, and we all did, bar the only public school boy. Instead he scribbled a bullet list of key points and argued (successfully) for an extension. <br />The rest of us, about 50/50 boys and girls, all state school educated, were equally horrified, cowed, grudgingly impressed, and somehow embarrassed about not having the balls to do the same...<br />Scottish Cringe? Absolutely<br /><br />2 years earlier, school mates were encouraged to apply for Oxford/ Cambridge. "I didn't think we were allowed..." they cringed. <br /><br />mistersuthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13162300773887342584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-20739254154828655762013-06-14T12:13:04.735+01:002013-06-14T12:13:04.735+01:00I remember a 1st year tutorial on Politics at an o...I remember a 1st year tutorial on Politics at an old Scottish University. About 18 years ago now maybe... we had to submit essays on some subject, and we all did, bar the only public school boy. Instead he scribbled a bullet list of key points and argued (successfully) for an extension. <br />The rest of us, about 50/50 boys and girls, all state school educated, were equally horrified, cowed, grudgingly impressed, and somehow embarrassed about not having the balls to do the same...<br />Scottish Cringe? Absolutely<br /><br />2 years earlier, school mates were encouraged to apply for Oxford/ Cambridge. "I didn't think we were allowed..." they cringed. <br /><br />mistersuthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13162300773887342584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-27966347240882364822013-06-14T11:17:11.039+01:002013-06-14T11:17:11.039+01:00No hint at all! I was brought up on Chic Murray...No hint at all! I was brought up on Chic Murray and Rikki Fulton and Stanley Baxter - no one ever invoked any 'cringe' with those masters. The Elaine C Smith show was just rubbish - what Tom Leonard (in another context) called 'bunnet hustling'.<br /><br />Yet when Smith got away from her own material (I assume she wrote most of it herself) she was excellent in political theatre and more general work - a classy actress in fact.<br /><br />BTW Doug the White Heather Club was never for the likes of us I suppose, but there was some rare talent there - Jimmy Shand was George Martin's favourite musician. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Edwin Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05317173893948248954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-66197210235552615432013-06-14T09:57:58.657+01:002013-06-14T09:57:58.657+01:00I think the Cringe is definitely in decline, and I...I think the Cringe is definitely in decline, and I put that down to an increase in exposure of Scottish culture in the media, as well as the existence of the Scottish parliament.<br /><br />Despite being a lifelong supporter of independence, even I have had those cringe feelings at times - I grew up feeling that Scottish music was embarrassing, rolled my eyes when my dad would try to learn Gaelic, and it always felt like anything that didn't gain wider UK acceptance was just parochial. But as I grew up, Scottish culture would get more exposure, and I learned to appreciate Scottish culture as more than just a bunch of beardy weirdies with acoustic guitars singing about the Blue Grey Coo or wee Stewart Anderson dressed in a kilt singing Culter's Candy.<br /><br />Of course, part of the reason I felt like that in the first place was because the media made it seem like Scottish culture = the White Heather Club. Nowadays, we have modern bands we can be proud of who don't feel the need to hide their accent when singing, actors who don't have to go down the Richard Wilson route of losing their Scottish accent in order to get work, and comedians who are unabashedly Scottish. And of course, we also have the king of the internet, Limmy.<br /><br />Wales went through a similar process, as the Manic Street Preachers have conveyed many times. They started out feeling utterly embarrassed by their Welshness, only for their eventual success to lead to an explosion of Welsh bands and Welsh culture in general. They themselves went from singing about how shit life in Wales was, to singing about "a deep true love of this country" and such like.<br /><br />Incidentally, it's noticeable that many of the countries that are said to have a cultural cringe - Australia, New Zealand and Canada to name but three - are former British colonies. It's almost as if it's deliberate...Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-21095320034692615562013-06-14T09:22:18.398+01:002013-06-14T09:22:18.398+01:00"The odd thing is that when she did stuff out...<i>"The odd thing is that when she did stuff outside Scotland, she was actually first class - she could more than hold her own with the likes of French and Saunders, but stick her in front of a camera in Queen Margaret Drive and the shtick about Larrson and the weans and Irn Bru and 'Blue Noses in the Night!' and what not would flow like chip fat off the cooker."</i><br /><br />Aye you're right Edwin, no hint of the Scottish Cringe there, eh...?Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-37859814869682272112013-06-14T08:52:16.650+01:002013-06-14T08:52:16.650+01:00'You feel British as well as English?
I shou...'You feel British as well as English? <br /><br />I should explain that is an actual quote - the person addressing me was indicating that If I felt British, my joint Scottishness was an illusion. I was really an Englishman!Edwin Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05317173893948248954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-20669984150299087002013-06-14T07:49:57.106+01:002013-06-14T07:49:57.106+01:00I'm not even sure what the cringe is, apart fr...I'm not even sure what the cringe is, apart from a catch-all term used by nationalists keen to explain why most Scots express a preference (all things considered) for the Union: 'You feel British as well as English? Oh, the Cringe!'<br /><br />As for Elaine C Smith, I certainly cringed when I saw her diabolical old TV show - god in heaven. The odd thing is that when she did stuff outside Scotland, she was actually first class - she could more than hold her own with the likes of French and Saunders, but stick her in front of a camera in Queen Margaret Drive and the shtick about Larrson and the weans and Irn Bru and 'Blue Noses in the Night!' and what not would flow like chip fat off the cooker.<br /><br />By way of contrast, I remember the excitement of Chewin' the Fat and then Still Game and seeing home-grown stuff that was as good as anything from elsewhere. Nae hint of a cringe there.<br /><br />Whatever it is or was and whoever it affected, I agree it does not seem evident in younger Scots. Edwin Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05317173893948248954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-72495672652443943942013-06-13T21:07:12.844+01:002013-06-13T21:07:12.844+01:00I think younger people are indeed throwing off the...I think younger people are indeed throwing off the Cringe. This week I was interviewing young kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who are going to university. The panel was a fairly light-touch part of a process to see if the kids could get annual bursaries of up to £4000 whilst at Uni. <br /><br />All of them displayed a confidence that I never had at that age. They had ambition, not just for themselves, but for their wider community. The Cringe, if it can be seen as something that was widespread across Scotland, used to be particularly evident in the poorer areas of Glasgow. <br /><br />Based on what I saw this week I think the Cringe is in a terminal decline. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11083093169010870692noreply@blogger.com