Watching the English

Critics

• The awkward squad

  Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox 424pp, Hodder, £20 It was quite a consolation to finish Kate Fox's analysis of Englishness in the departure lounge of Heraklion airport, where, in what resembled some mass auditi ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

12 Reviews

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  This book is mandatory

  You'll never understand English humour (and its importance in every aspect of life) if you don't read this book. Go buy it, if you want to laugh when you watch a movie starring Hugh Grant or want to enjoy British writers (without yawning in the excrucial passages).

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  Maggie Cheung said on Dec 12, 2009 | Add your feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  A nice book for a foreigner living in UK

  It's more than 1 year and half that I've moved to UK for work, and I still find myself quite often puzzled by certain behaviors that you can experience in this country. Being myself italian, I can say I am a bit different in behavior than the average english person. This book was a nice holiday read ... (continue)

  It's more than 1 year and half that I've moved to UK for work, and I still find myself quite often puzzled by certain behaviors that you can experience in this country. Being myself italian, I can say I am a bit different in behavior than the average english person. This book was a nice holiday reading: it's full of interesting considerations on english society and it's written in quite a funny and witty (british?) manner so it's never boring.

  Would suggest this reading to any foreigner like me that for some reason (work or other) has decided to move in UK and now lives in England.

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  Vortexmind said on Aug 23, 2010 | Add your feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  One of the best modern anthropological texts written by a witty and sharp scholar. Enjoy this dissection of English life into handy chapters and the humor that pervade the descriptions: it is truly English and it teaches you that the fastest way to conquer an English heart is through a good laugh.

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  Raramente said on Aug 5, 2008 | Add your feedback

• 

  Da leggere prima di una vacanza, ma soprattutto di un trasferimento a lungo termine in Inghilterra. Se siete persone che si adattano, dopo qualche mese vi ritroverete a comportarvi nella stesso modo come è successo a me.

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  Pippilotta Ar said on Jan 21, 2012 | Add your feedback

• 

  If there is a book which I still read when I have a fever, that's it.
  Humanology is never a easy or popular subject. When somebody with my background reads a humanolgy book, the combination is more weired. This book was written by an English mainly focusing on the personalities of the English peopl ... (continue)

  If there is a book which I still read when I have a fever, that's it.
  Humanology is never a easy or popular subject. When somebody with my background reads a humanolgy book, the combination is more weired. This book was written by an English mainly focusing on the personalities of the English people.
  It covers the way they speak , the hidden rules agreed and the way they live. The countless examples show clearly that the author has put many great efforts. It is sometimes even harder to look at your own comparing to the barbarians in Africa. You have to be objective and take out your own intuitive thinking and reactions. Slaute to this woman who also claims herself is doing that a bit over even after the book was written.
  English personalities can be summed by their weakness in daily communication, sense of humour, fake and control. There is also a radar for detecting social level, experience and their way for blaming everything. they also stress on fairness, humbleness and politeness.

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  Chenghonfai said on Jul 18, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Witty and informative essay on "Englishness". It's not a humoristic book, although it quotes a lot of Mikes ("How to be an Alien") as well as Paxman and Bryson, and it makes you laugh while reading it. It gives us foreigners some clues on the dos and don'ts of the English - some may be well-known (e ... (continue)

  Witty and informative essay on "Englishness". It's not a humoristic book, although it quotes a lot of Mikes ("How to be an Alien") as well as Paxman and Bryson, and it makes you laugh while reading it. It gives us foreigners some clues on the dos and don'ts of the English - some may be well-known (e.g. queue jumping is a sin for them!), but others will suprise you.

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  ary29 said on Mar 12, 2009 | Add your feedback

See all 12 comments

Book Details

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• English Books
• Paperback 432 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0340818867
• ISBN-13: 9780340818862
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Pub date: Apr 11, 2005
• Dimensions: 1290 mm x 839 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Hardcover and eBook
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書

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