Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Hats

We've recently been watching the BBC series Downton Abbey.  It's an excellent production although basically an Edwardian soap opera.  Two things I picked up that were not right however, and it's great to catch out the experts in these things as it makes one feel so smug.  Firstly in one scene at a village flower show, held in a church hall, all the men were wearing their hats.
Now this was 100 years ago, and I can tell you that one main difference between American men and Englishmen is that the latter were congenitally incapable of wearing their hats indoors.  Even back in the 50's and 60's, men would wrench the things off if they ever went undercover.
Secondly, the gentleman's gentleman who cared for the Earl, referred to himself as a valet with the last syllable sounding like "let."  This is an American pronunciation and in fact it would be pronounced va - lay!  Trust me on this!

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