Boards
Britishness
Sorry in advance for being dull/serious but it's my birthday so I thought I'd try starting a thread on here and hope for some replies as I've been pondering over something.
Along with my turning 24, today marks 20 years since our family's arrival in England from the Czech Republic (then communist Czechoslovakia) and I've for some reason or other been wondering about whether I feel British and about what being British could actually mean.
I know these sorts of things have been discussed on here before with all the silly Britishness tests the government were trying to introduce and such but it seemed topical for me today.
Are there any other people on here who weren't born in the UK but feel pretty much British? We came over on my 4th birthday so I don't have a Czech accent (probably speak more stereotypically English than my friends having learnt it from school rather than home) but we speak Czech at home, my dad and brother have moved out there again and I'm probably the only one in the family who almost considers themselves completely local to here.
The thoughts were sparked a bit by the "My Favourite Londoner" section in Time Out often having a "he wasn't born in London but..." bit in them. As I'm pretty obsessed with the city and know it better than most it seems silly that I can't be classed as a Londoner but some people seem to think I can't. So...
Any thoughts about any of this? What sort of criteria would you have for judging if someone is British? Is the whole debate pointless? Is it different in this country than some others because of multiculturalism or having the empire in the past? Shall I ask the government for a quiz to fill in so I can get a certificate or something to put on my wall?
"Fuck off home" will also be accepted as a reply.
Thank you.