Cellar Scribblings

[Jeff Wrangler]

In Gone With the Wind, Rhett gives Scarlett a green hat to break her out of mourning clothes and in the movie she puts it on backwards until he corrects her -- I think the hat reflects what the ladies in France were wearing lately.

And don't forget: None of them were wearing pantalets anymore. 

[serious crayons]

And don't forget: None of them were wearing pantalets anymore. 

 

[Sason]

Well, I think it has a lot to do with the United States being for at least a century or so a very wealthy country -- which it still is, though more and more of the wealth is concentrated among the richest people -- and because it has at least since WWII been one of the two to three most militarily powerful countries in the world, thanks to helping win the war and being the first to develop atom bombs, and because it has the size and money to produce cultural products like movies and TV shows that spread around the world (and often are tailored to do just that -- hence all those superhero and other action movies), and because things like fast cheap burgers sold by a giant chain happened to originate here, and because my impression is that more Europeans speak English than any other single language. For example, I have seen, say, German and Spanish people communicate via English.

I'm not saying any of those U.S. things are good (or even necessarily bad), just that they're among the main reasons.

I'm no historian -- so Jeff or anyone else, feel free to correct me -- but I think that in the 19th century, England and France had more influence than the United States, and that in fact people here looked to Europe for cultural leadership. Fancy worldly people spoke French. Women wanted to know the latest French fashion trends. I'm guessing that probably shifted with the wars and also because the previously unexploited natural resources in the U.S. -- land, timber, coal, iron, gold, oil, grains, etc. -- provided new wealth.

Meanwhile, I thought of our conversation about retail influence earlier today. So there's this giant department-store chain here, Macy's. One year I got a job at Macy's around Christmas time, thinking I could use my employee discount to buy my family gifts. And that worked, for a year or two, so I saved some money. Then it got to the point where, although I still worked at Macy's over the holidays, my sons announced that Macy's did not sell anything that they would want.      

There's a sale going on there now, but sadly I don't think the status of their merchandise has improved in my sons' esteem.

Your theory sounds like it has something to it. I'm sure it's part of the explanation.

Like I said before, here in Sweden the overwhelming American influence started at the end of the second world war. Before that, the main popular and cultural influence came from - in various periods - Germany, England, France, Italy and others.


In my experience, the general rule is that teens and young adults DO NOT want anything that's sold in a store their parents like! 

[Sason]

English has become a sort of universal language. While French used to be the language that all educated people knew and spoke (the Russian aristocracy spoke French, and French was the language of diplomacy), French has pretty much been replaced by English. I heard years ago that all air-traffic control, everywhere, is conducted in English.

Well, in the 19th century the British Empire was the largest and most powerful in the world. France had great cultural influence; I guess it still has influence in fashion but maybe not as much as it used to.

Not only the Russian aristocracy, also the Sweish aristocracy spoke French in the 1700-hundreds. We even picked up a king from France! 

 Jean Baptiste Bernadotte became king of Sweden and Norway 1818, by the name Karl XIV Johan.

[CellarDweller]

*reads*

Interesting discussions here!     Please feel free to keep posting! 


I'm tired!!!   I've been running around since I left work  Friday.  LOL

I did shopping on Friday, and didn't get home until 8:00 or so.

I stayed home all day Saturday, refusing to go out in the snow.  However, I was busy doing Christmas stuff, and cleaning the apartment, a full cleaning, dusting, scrubbing the bathroom,  the whole deal.

On Sunday, I did laundry, and went to my parents' for a "Trim the Tree" party with about 20 of my family. 

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!   

[serious crayons]

went to my parents' for a "Trim the Tree" party with about 20 of my family. 

That sounds really fun! 

[CellarDweller]

It was!

We hung the ornaments, and spent time chatting and catching up with each other.

[serious crayons]

We hung the ornaments, and spent time chatting and catching up with each other.

How nice! You're so lucky to have a nice big family living nearby.

[CellarDweller]

Yes, I am!

Thursday at work we are having an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" day.

I have mine ready to go.

[serious crayons]

Very ugly, Chuck!  (Not often you can say that as a compliment!)

We were just talking about this at lunch at work. How hard are ugly sweaters to find? One year I was working at Macy's and a guy came in looking for an ugly sweater. I said, we have plenty of ugly sweaters, but not as ugly as the kind you're looking for. But a guy at work says he found a bunch of them at Goodwill. I'm surprised, because I would imagine they're in such demand that they don't have many and they fly off the racks.

One year my then-sister-in-law gave me a Christmas sweater in complete sincerity. I wore it once, to a Christmas event she was at. Then I gave it to a friend of mine's mother who could fit into and liked to take my old clothes. Apparently she pulled the sweater out of the bag and said, "Huhn. That's not her usual taste ..."

Now, of course, I deeply regret giving it away!

I wonder if people deliberately make Ugly Sweaters now. They'd be fun to design.

A woman I work with makes Christmas ornaments that are red and green felt Dumpster fires. She first did it last year (along with a really good purple felt Prince ornament) and they were hugely popular so I guess now she's made a bunch. Originally they were meant to signify the horribleness of 2016, but 2017 in many ways seems at least as horrible, so they're still timely. One of them was a door prize at the party I had to skip because of the roads. I would love one!