Are we not expatriots from the UK and immigrants to France? So it depends who is talking about us.
My friend Sandy (no Kenny Williams jokes please) has just retired from his job at a Scottish university. He is late 60s, he is UK educated and always worked in UK universities. He is related to the late Bob Marley whose father was a white Jamaican born in Sussex. Sandy and Bob share a maternal grandmother in Lewes. Sandy was born in Jamaica 13 or 14 years before independence and is strictly speaking entitled to a UK citizenship but took and has retained Jamaican. His parents arrived in Scotland before independence so before he was 12. He has a Scots wife, his children were born there and his grandchildren are all in the UK. What is he? Take a look at him and he is a white Scot, see his passport and he is a white Jamaican. He has a lot of contemporaries in the UK mostly black Jamaicans. They arrived at roughly the same time as him, some whose parents were on the Empire Windrush in 1948, some a bit later. Are they all the same or different because of their skin colour?
I know only one non-white English person here, she is first generation British Indian, is she an expatriate? When this topic arose last spring these points never occurred to me, but reading back over it and David's family history reminded me. Introducing skin colour into it is an irrelevance, indeed all in all it is rather a sticky issue. Are we Scots who have spent just about the whole of our lives elsewhere expatriates? Does that also count as the same in England? If applied literally it must do, but then many people would indignantly reject such a notion. Perhaps it is an attitude thing. Me? I live in France. End of...
I am an expat, I do not ask money from the people I came to !
I'm not white - I'm a dirty pink colour like most SFN members. To make this colour mix white with some yellow and a dash of red, a pinch of blue for veins here and there, hair whatever colour suits (except maybe green-blue part of the spectrum?) Oh, I dunno, my nan had violet hair! Skin colour only matters when people want it to matter.
Not only am I an immigrant, I'm a refugee!
I know how you feel Helen. Work determines my existence. I'm not an expat because I don't know that I'll be going back to NZ yet I have never had the luxury of considering myself an immigrant, no matter how much I wanted to. That label is for people who know they can stay if they want and put down roots. I'm in no-man's land. I don't belong anywhere.
My great grandfather was a Prussian alien living in England. My grandfather was an alien living in Paris. He then moved to England but when he died restrictions were put on his estate by England who described him as an alien and there was a ban on any of his estate being sent to Germany. My father was for a short while an English alien living in Belgium. I knew none of any of this until long after my father's death as it was taboo. Now I am an etranger/immigrant/expat living in France, married to a non EU wife and with a daughter who is British but can be French or Philippino. Overall I still consider myself British. I think that the huge number of British expats living throughout the world is a major asset for the UK but the UK government seeks to distance itself from this lost tribe.
I do find the intimation that only “white” people call themselves “expats” slightly disturbing. Expats are those who keep their British passport while immigrants are those who wish to obtain a British (or wherever) one. I know people from the subcontinent who are expats so your argument doesn’t stand up and the tone is deliberately divisive.
In my experience, "expat" is usually a word used by expats (usually Brits) to describe themselves. It usually implies a community of like-minded people of the same or related nationality who are living in another country but have no intention of integrating or assimilating. "Home" remains the UK etc., even if they have no intention of going back there!
I don't think I have ever heard a French native (there's another loaded word!) use the word "expatrié" to refer to foreigners in France (whether black, white or yellow...). The usual word is "étranger". They do use the word "expatrié" to refer to French expats living outside France! There is even a French "Expat blog" : http://www.expat-blog.com/fr/
...oh I don't know....'variety is the spice of life' and all that....
Whimper, whimper (if I can remember why...)
Brian, Peter - Australia is a place you don't want to make a mistake about this. The leading brand of adhesive tape is DUREX. Makes your eyes water to even think about it?
Our English were too fond of the bottle and became rather difficult, so we gave up. Not that we don’t enjoy our wine, but you can have too much of a good thing.
Nah Norman, the Scots are the same as usual despite improvements under this coach. They just don't have enough quality compared to the better teams. Nothing has changed for them, they will always be fighting to keep up with the rest.
The one thing they will never lose is their committment which the English would do well to copy at times.
As an ex-hooker (got da nose ta prove it) I think Scotland have everything but the luck and a little more speed, they just seem to lack that last burst to get across touch.
Putting on my ex-Second row hat on for the moment, I think Scotland are so close to being a really good side, but as with all small leagues they just don't have the depth at this time. I was very impressed with the two Gray Brothers in the second row, just a pity one got injured.
Very good halfback line - in my view probably one of the best. Bit of a hassle with the front three though, they don't seem a unit to me just yet. Laidlaw is definitely one of the best kickers in the world - alongside Halfpenny in Wales.
Funny that Italy probably have one of the best scrums and I think one of the best Captains, but the rest of the team ought to be given a book on the rules of the game! Whilst they are around Scotland should still do well. I have a sneaking feeling you could be right about the World Cup. I don't think they would win, but a top 3 or 4 place is definitely within their grasp I feel.
I always use an old sock Norman, well after all I do firmly believe in 'safe socks' !
The original thick rubber ones for using many times were sold in little brown paper, sealed, unmarked envelopes. The letters bit is easy to guess once you know that.
It's also great to use when being accosted by assorted people in cities. Throw your arms up and say 'desolée, je suis entrangère (or however you spell it) ' and mostly you get back a smile and 'welcome to France' in English. Happened a few times in the three days in Bordeaux, which I found charming.
Good point Donna. I remember being a 'migrant' to Oz back in the 60's, and we were all called that as something like 80% of Australia then were the same. Funny how 'immigrant' does seem to have taken on a different tone.