Things I'm Looking Forward To Doing Now That I'm British: Number Eight

[nanila]

8. Enjoying emotional constipation. I have British friends. No honestly, I do. They'd probably die of embarrassment if I named them, though. I might speak of them as my friends if I were certain I was with people who would likely never meet them. And I would never be so callous as to tell them how I felt about them or how much they mean to me. Not unless we were all really drunk, because we'd all understand that as I was in my cups, it was never to be spoken of again.

So if you consider me a friend, I beg you not tell me about it lest I be forced to make some flippant remark to deflect my discomfort and spend the rest of the day blushing.

Comments

[liseuse]

I occasionally find myself thinking about the very guarded tipping point where you stop thinking someone privately as a friend and publicly referring to them as an acquaintance or "that person I've known for years" and start to actually be able to refer to them as a friend. It's easier with people you've known since childhood because other people refer to you as friends, and then you're just using the common terminology, but it's taken me years to be able to publicly refer to some people who are, in fact, my closest friends as such. I also suspect that this is where some of the British fondness for words like 'mate' and 'chum' and 'pal' comes from. It's a way of saying "yes! them! they're my friend! I have some!" but without having to, you know, say it.