Ga*ked from jilflirt

[darcydodo]

Sounds about right. ;) Though if I'd gotten one more question right (and there were a couple I was dithering on), it would have dubbed me English. So tigupine can go be happy now, or something.

You are 79% English.

You are either native and stupid, or you are foreign and knowledgeable.

"And did those feet
In ancient times,
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
In England's pleasant pastures seen?"

Well, no, but it's a cracking good tune.

How English are you?
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Comments

[earthtomeryl.livejournal.com]

I disagree with several of their answers. For example, all the true Brits I know put the tea in first, not the milk, but the milk gets a higher score (my grandma even has an historical reason for the tea being first). Also, Big Ben *has* a bell, but *is* a clock. As the line from the song goes, "say the bells of Big Ben". After finding those two, I figured I should stop obsessing and get back to work...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Also, Big Ben *has* a bell, but *is* a clock.

This is not actually correct. ;^b

[earthtomeryl.livejournal.com]

huh, I stand corrected. Thanks.
nationality confusion strikes again!

[fu-manchu12.livejournal.com]

That's odd. I'd assumed that my worryingly low score (84) was due to my insistence that you put the milk in first.

[midnightmelody.livejournal.com]

I achieved 90%, and also insisted that milk comes first. Because it does.

[awroe.livejournal.com]

Bah, savages. Milk in your Earl Grey. For shame...

[darcydodo]

Ick, who'd drink Earl Grey if given a choice, in any case?

[awroe.livejournal.com]

Apparently the English (you get more points for saying tea with lemon...)

[darcydodo]

Of course it does. Remember, we even did a blind taste test once to determine that it really does taste different.

[earthtomeryl.livejournal.com]

I know. It tastes better first. But it took a German friend to teach me this, as I'd been brought up *very* firmly tea first.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

The point *ought* to be that you probably have to be English to argue this vociferously about which way to make tea. Likewise there is a rule that a tea party is not complete without performing the ceremony of the jam-first/cream-first disputation.

[sea-bright.livejournal.com]

I got 90%, and also insisted that the milk went in first. Though I don't actually drink tea, of course, which presumably brings me down a few points on the Englishness scale.

I have, however, just spent several minutes playing about with the answers, and have utterly failed to achieve a score of more than 98%, even by means of flagrant lying. Perhaps the creators of the quiz believe there is no such thing as perfect Englishness...

[fu-manchu12.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if declaring myself to be male and 18-24 made me somehow less English. Perhaps you need to claim to be a baronet in your late fifties to properly qualify.

[darcydodo]

Whereas I know of historical reasons for the milk being first. Besides which, it tastes better. :)

[once-a-banana.livejournal.com]

So odd. I even saw a travel show on KQED where, though they indeed refer to Big Ben as being the biggest bell in the clock, they also have tea with an extremely refined and highly British lady, who insists on instructing them that the tea goes first. So it sounds like it's something British people don't even agree about! Anyway what are the historical reasons? I never knew there was supposed to be a proper order. I always have put tea first on the assumption that I should use the hottest possible liquid to dissolve the sugar properly, and only then add milk afterwards. Of course, technically I am usually putting in the water first (with tea-bag), so I'm obviously a philistine anyway.

[earthtomeryl.livejournal.com]

According to my gran, it goes like this:
Tea, as it was originally drunk by ladies after being discovered in the exotic colonies, was a very delicately flavored beverage and was never drunk with milk. Or sugar. Perhaps a little lemon.
As the lower classes adopted it, they preferred it strong and milky.
Therefore, a lady should only add the milk as an afterthought.
(oh yes, I am not kidding, and she was at least 3/4 serious...)

[earthtomeryl.livejournal.com]

After thinking about this explanation, it seems like maybe Chinese tea was adopted first, and Indian tea came back with the plebians who went to help control India. Anyone know?

(to clarify, I am not this classist. I'm trying to make fun of British classism)

[darcydodo]

Sugar? Eww, you philistine!

Anyway, the idea is that in Victorian times (and, of course, earlier) porcelain tea cups would have been really quite cold wherever they were being stored, what with the lack of central heating and all, and if you add a hot liquid to a cold and delicate cup it will quite likely crack. So you add the milk first as a sort of buffer.

And, of course, it tastes better, but that's not a(n) historical reason. :)