'watching the english'

just wanted to give a heads up on a book that i just finished called 'watching the english' the hidden rules of english behaviour by Kate Foc. it is fantastic! the author spent 10 years watching hte english (duh?!) and worte a book that explains all the humor rules, pub talk rules, dress codes, feelings about sex, class codes and even texting! it really was an eye opener for me (my new bible, perhaps) and humerous enough that my husband couldn't put it down either!  anyone else read this fab book???

Ooh. I've not heard of it but I'll have to go search for it. It sounds fascinating!

oops, that's Kate Fox! 

I saw that book in Waterstones, and started reading it right there in the store! I was thinking of getting it but wasn't sure. I'm going to have to go get it now that you say its good.  I read the part about how she intentionally bumped into people to see if they would apologize to her- and of course they did!   

This is an old thread, but...  Watching the English is a fantastic & enlightening read.  Kate Fox is a social anthropologist by profession so there is an authority to the book, but it's not at all dry & it's really very entertaining.  DH gave it to me for my first birthday spent in England with a hand-written note: "This may explain a lot!"  And it does.  Also, it's not a book that you need to sit down & read cover-to-cover...you can pick it up & put it down over a long period of time -- the chapters are topical in nature.  I particularly enjoyed learning about 'Linguistic Class Codes' (how to guess someone's social class by the words they use) and also how 'Weatherspeak' is the English equivalent of American 'How are you? I'm fine.' etc chit-chat in passing -- and yes, there are social 'rules' involved with Weatherspeak (I'm afraid we Americans probably violate them regularly!).

   Carolyn

Has anyone been able to find this in the states? I checked amazon.com, my library, and ebay and it does not seem to exist over here. Sounds like a fun read!

Hmmmm, DH got it for me over here (UK).  I noticed that amazon.com had one of Kate Fox's other books available (The Racing Tribe), but not this one.  Ok, I tried some of the used book sites...

This one is stateside & I think the £25.04 is a misprint -- still $25.04 seems a lot to me:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=402087626

Also, try:  http://www.alibris.com/

You can order it from amazon.co.uk, but I'm not sure of the expense involved.  Or maybe get someone you know over here to get it for you here & then ship it over?

C

Thanks! I did find it on amazon-uk but was hoping to find it cheaper. I guess I will have to be patient and keep my eye out for it. Things tend to turn up eventually!

It has just come out in paperback on amazon.co.uk -- for £7.19