We still have the FA Cup, the Grand National, the Test matches, the Boat Race, pennies (though we now call them pence) but we have lost the music-halls, threepeny bits and other cultural items that once meant we called ourselves Englishmen.
We remain hesitant about eating horses but we know that man’s best friend is dog. A couple of greyhounds in my locality are clearly candidates in the fashion-stakes. Their varied winter coats are a tonic.
And we have retained our English language. Few of us speak any other language and the attempt to revive the Cornish language is not, I believe, having marked success., though it is not surprising to hear a newcomer speaking English with a Cockney accent, though apples and pears Cockney has practically disappeared.
Of course, when we say we have retained the English language, we have to remind ourselves that there is more than one version of it. Every time we write the word ‘practice’ we have to remember whether we are using USA or UK style English. It may be the case that the best English is spoken in Inverness but the South African and Australian versions are admirable and distinctive enough to invite mimicry.
Oh yes, and there is driving on the left. Crocodile Dundee may have lampooned the USA habit in this regard but we are in a minority.
We have parted company with two masterpieces that were once golden currency – the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. They have taken with them the religious faith that was expressed majestically, emphatically and sometimes humbly at a time when the language was possibly at its best. Particularly is our loss apparent in the General Thanksgiving, the collects and the Litany. There are good grounds for replacing them but any replacement has to be at least as good – and that is a hard requirement.’
THE FINEST SIGHT
‘The finest sight short of heaven would be a whole congregation using the prayers of the liturgy in the true spirit of them.’ – Charles Simeon
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