Queuing
- Play the video again while you read the transcript at the same time.
- Now, find words in the text that mean the following:
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Britain is a nation that loves to queue. Some even claim that the queue is a British institution. It seems a fair way of doing things - first come first served. It’s orderly, it’s unfussy, it’s polite. We like to think it’s very British, but how did something so mundane, so boring, come to be seen as a national trait?
The legend of the British queuing began during the Second World War and it was rationing that made the queue a fact of life. Most food was in limited supply, particularly delicacies like sugar, dried fruit and custard powder. Anything from overseas had to come through the U-boat blockade and most ships were carrying vital material for the war effort so to make sure you got anything you had to queue. It’s what we fondly remember as the Blitz spirit - the feeling that we are all in it together. But there’s a flip side to this image, there’s also a time of rampant looting of bombed-out houses and shops, war-time racketeering and of thriving black markets of Russian goods. Some shoppers held back luxury items for the so-called 'special customers'. So not every one was standing in a well formed queue patiently waiting their turn.
As with so many aspects of British history, we’ve chosen to remember the side that reflects well on us. It’s a case of national selective memory which continues to influence the way we see ourselves today.
The legend of the British queuing began during the Second World War and it was rationing that made the queue a fact of life. Most food was in limited supply, particularly delicacies like sugar, dried fruit and custard powder. Anything from overseas had to come through the U-boat blockade and most ships were carrying vital material for the war effort so to make sure you got anything you had to queue. It’s what we fondly remember as the Blitz spirit - the feeling that we are all in it together. But there’s a flip side to this image, there’s also a time of rampant looting of bombed-out houses and shops, war-time racketeering and of thriving black markets of Russian goods. Some shoppers held back luxury items for the so-called 'special customers'. So not every one was standing in a well formed queue patiently waiting their turn.
As with so many aspects of British history, we’ve chosen to remember the side that reflects well on us. It’s a case of national selective memory which continues to influence the way we see ourselves today.
From the History Channel podcast 'Things that make us British?'
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