These Weblog Awards, [there's a little banner top left for those who'd care to cast their vote], have had one unexpected spin-off.Whereas some men have had their potency called into question and some their intelligence, hitherto I’ve only had my height called into question … oh, and my receding hair … well, yes … also my sanity at times … but I digress.
It appears that now, as a result of these double-edged awards, my origins have also been called into question. Wounded to the heart.
An esteemed rambler, uber-blogger, mother of note and lady of spotless virtue has asked the simple question: “Are you a UK blog, James?”
How to answer that, avoiding a simple yes or no?
Is Croydonian a UK blogger? He seems to blog on everything from France to Sweden. Is Tuscan Tony a UK blogger? Is Tom Paine, of questionable Facebook status, who blogs on the England he holds dear but doesn’t actually live there?
To rephrase the question – what constitutes a UK blogger? That he is permanently resident in the UK? If so, where does that leave Tim Worstall or Welshcakes Limoncello? Or Praguetory for that matter?
Or is it that he blogs on specifically UK matters, to the exclusion of all others? Where does that leave Bryan Appleyard or Ian Appleby? Where does that leave the girlbloggers like Liz Hinds and Wife in the North, [whom I understand is in the south right now], who blog on home related matters [and a bit of Rugby]?
Perhaps my crime is to pay too much heed to the Americans and to be too au fait with their affairs, barring football and baseball, which immediately label me non-American. Perhaps my premiership winning Aussie football team raises suspicion, as does my clear familiarity with matters Vancouver.
Is Colin Campbell an Aussie? Is JMB a Canadian or an Aussie? And what on earth is Lady MacLeod?
Or my French language posts, concerning Sarko, Segie and undergarments – do they put me out of contention as a sturdy oak and does this also put out L’Ombre?
What is, in fact, a UK blogger?
The Witanagemot seem to have come to terms with my Englishness, the Cross of St George group, of which I am involved, labelling me “an English Expat”, an epithet I am comfortable with.
Is it that I fail to appreciate the minutiae of daily life in the UK and can’t recite the lists of current pollies? After all, these awards aren’t for “political bloggers” – they’re for “bloggers”.
Further - these are supposedly prestigious stateside-based awards, centred in Florida and under scrutiny by the State Dept and other interested groups. Those top ten UK blogs were the top ten in American eyes. In UK eyes, I’m way down at N124.
Is it that I'm not over there currently, as I'd wish to be, clubbing, swapping asides in the idiom? I do touch on matters UK most days but not party politics – more Common Purpose and other nefarious nasties which the average Brit knows little of as yet.
To come clean at the death, my ancestral home is in the West Riding, snuggled up against Ilkley Moor, baht ‘at. You’d never pick it from either my writing, my accent or my dialect; [now I've lost all the Londoners with whom I lived for three years].
Your ladyship, this is all the explanation I fear I can give. I pray that it should suffice and that your smile shall once again alight on my fevered brow.
Yes, well it's not easy to define many of us in terms of national ties, is it James? I'm sure you fit in UK bloggers by some hook or crook, but the question inspired a very good post.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, what is Lady MacLeod?
I've always thought you were as British as roast beef!
ReplyDeleteGood post James often nationality is incredibly difficult to define- I'd agree in part with Ian, your nationality is ultimately what it says on your passport and what you choose it emotionally to be.
An Englishman / woman is one who chooses so to be and is accepted as such by others. Nice particule, by the way.
ReplyDeleteJames, that's a fascinating meditation.
ReplyDeletePoint of order, Gracchi: I think I would say that citizenship is as indicated on your passport, while your nationality (or, indeed, nationalities) is more of - although not entirely - an individual choice.
Some say place of birth but what if you're, say. born in Germany but you're as English as Kent, hops and apples?
ReplyDeleteWell, for what it's worth, my dad used to say that a kitten born in a kennel is not a dog! Of course you're a UK blogger - your often self-deprecating wit couldn't have come from anywhere else, for one thing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, all.
ReplyDelete