Cultural clues to locations/origins

[dfrankiswork at netscape.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 22728

Amy Z wrote:

I am wondering:  are there 
>assumptions that you Brits carry about the characters that you might 
>not even think to mention because to you they're obvious, if you 
>follow me?
>
>I don't know how to ask the question more specifically because these 
>cultural clues are invisible to my American eyes.  

I do wonder if the cultural connotations of privet are obvious to Americans and other non-Brits (We used to call such people 'foreigners', but a cursory examination of the www shows that this word now means non-American).

We are not allowed to have high fences or walls in front of our property, the maximum is about 3 feet I think.  There is no restriction on the height of hedges.  So if you want to shut out the outside world, particularly if your front garden is small, you plant a hedge.  Privet (Ligustrum) is thick, evergreen, vigorous, and easy to prune to shape and so is ideal.

To me, it is definitely lower middle class, that segment of British society most obsessed with spying on, showing off to and hiding from, the neighbours.  The name Privet Drive fits Petunia Dursley like a glove.  I don't know if the comedy series 'Keeping up Appearances' made it to America but Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) is a fatter verion of Petunia.  In one episode they loudly admire the new company car.

The word Drive suggests (as in US) a long straight road (as opposed say to a cul de sac).  To me it connotes a thirties development, and this is supported by Magnolia Gardens nearby, as Magnolias were fashionable at about that time.

If all this was obvious to you all, my apologies.

David, just noting in passing that pro and anti movie factions could be reconciled by going to and enjoying the movie, and *then* dynamiting the theatre


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