|
|
Gordon Ramsay
Russell Brand School of humour
I have just come across this YouTube clip of Gordon Ramsay in action.
Gordon Ramsay insults Chef
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB8dGQ77Zg0
I think it is an interesting example of British English and English social conventions. It is quite embarrassing to watch!
I am not quite sure what the Chef's accent is, but it sounds familiar.
On a more serious note, when I was in New Zealand I heard one or two people tell me that "English people are like this, and English people are like that". To be honest, a lot of it was from Aunt Leslie. When I eventually found out what she was talking about, it was just unbelievable. She was basing her whole opinion of English people on a very small and out of date sample. It was particularly confusing as a lot of the place names are the same in New Zealand. So when she was talking about Tiverton, I was not sure whether she was talking about Tiverton NZ or Tiverton Devon.
What is the expression that is used when you describe being told off by Gordon Ramsay?
"I have been f**ked over" by Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon Ramsay is a world famous chef, and he is understandably annoyed by a young man who calls himself a 'chef', who is not a chef. This young man has caused the owners of the business, who were also present, to lose a great deal of money.
Where Gordon Ramsay was wrong, was to act up to some kind of stereotype in Australia, rather like a professional Liverpudlian . So instead of expressing himself forcefully, he tried to be a professional comic and to make a living by insulting people. He managed to insult people including the Australian Prime Minister but he did not make anyone laugh other than the studio audience who no doubt thought he was being totally outrageous. Rather like the Australian Cultural Embassador - Dame Edna Everage.
Includes English language subtitles, for the Australian dialect impaired...:-)
http://www.rockymusic.org/showvideo/0ac12273f2a8639efd2c9116bb0c1679.php
Dame Edna Everage interview - Parkinson - BBC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_N5TRk1Qt8
Clive James interview 1987 3/4 Peter Cook, Barry Humphries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G153LdNqamo
The Italian Ambassador to Australia, H.E. MR. Gian Ludovico DE MARTINO di MONTEGIORDANO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEUwa1tIVfE
Gordon Ramsay seriously needs to work on his vocabulary - he places far too much of an emphasis on four letter words and their grammatical variations, one certain word in particular.
We all know that being a head chef in a very busy and hectic professional kitchen environment with all its stresses and strains and very short order deadlines can arouse high passion but this bloke seems to have made effing and blinding an art form, especially with the cameras rolling.
Some people say that using such vocal obscentities at full decibels instils not only fear and trepidation among all his kitchen underlings but also improves their performance for this very reason.
Others say it isn't necessary - he can rant and rave just as effectively without resorting to foul language especially when it is transmitted into the homes of viewers....it's all a matter of opinion, but here in the UK at least the broadcasting media, and TV in particular, regularly screens "bad language" and not always taking the official watershed into account, currently around 21:00hrs.
What is now widely accepted and tolerated in 2009 Britain is highly unlikely to have been so back in 1989 and before.
I've heard discussions on this very issue in which people have condemned Ramsay for his foul language, and compared him with the likes of Delia Smith* and Nigella Lawson who also appear, in addition to others, on cookery programs on TV but who have never once been heard to step out of line with their volcabulary - they are veritable angels of sweetness and light in this respect, but there again these ladies work from the comfort and privacy of their own calm and serenely sedate kitchens and totally free of all the turmoil of an intensely hectic restaurant environment where time, quality and presentation are very much vital.
Delia and Nigella simply don't have to cope with the same kind of pressures as Gordon and many other male celebrity chefs, but it's Gordon who is the most prominent in the swearing stakes among all the blokes, many of whom have never really been heard sayi8ng anything likely to offend the most sensitive of viewers. Of course what happens in the noisy hot and steamy kitchens when there are no cameras present may well be another matter altogether.
*Known by some as St Delia because her entire on-screen persona is one of angelic gentleness, but there again there have been off-screen instances when "St" Delia has not appeared to be quite so saintly and composed.....such as on the terraces of Carrow Road watching her idols Norwich City FC, and she has also been known to throw a Kitchen wobbly now and again when, as ever, the cameras have not been present.
Damian, I'd been wondering how Gordon was received in the UK.
I had been thinking that perhaps his attitude was acceptable there, because of the English custom of "taking the piss" out of people, so it surprises me to some extent that he fuels controversy even over there.
He has a show based in the United States that was met with limited success because of his potty mouth. In recent days, his attitude on this show has palpably softened; it has been suggested that the producers, seeing lowering ratings, told him to "knock it off".
Jasper: Please don't confuse the British habit of "taking the piss" with the use of foul language as constantly demonstrated by Gordon Ramsay, who actually does offend the sensitivities of certain sections of the British people who watch his TV shows, probably before switching over or off altogether.
I think it's probably more of a generational thing here than any other factor whether he is tolerated or not. I reckon it's older people who are far more likely to express disapproval here in the UK than are younger people who are accustomed to hearing oaths and obscenities on British TV after the official watershed I mentioned - currently 21:00hrs. I would also guess that the use of bad language in some of our daytime reality TV chat shows is more prevalent here in the UK than it is with your equivalent over in the US - especially in a show here called the Jeremy Kyle Show, surely one of the direst such programs on TV here featuring the lives of people, evidently drawn from the so called "sink estates" of the UK - the socially, intellectually, economically, ergonomically deprived, sexually promiscuous, alcohol and drugs addicted, social welfare dependent sections of the GBU - Great British Underclass...what you call "white trash " I suppose, although not all of them are exclusively of one certain racial group. You hear far more "bleeping out" on this kind of show (remember it is shown during the day) than you do on what I guess is your equivalent over there, so that means that bad language is possibly used more here than it does over there if this is anything to go by.
Maybe Ramsay uses bad language because his command of the English Language isn't all that great? He obviously thinks that he has to swear so profusely in order to achieve results with his staff? I've no idea what his educational level is, but as I said before a busy professional kitchen environment is often one of a highly charged atmosphere (as you no doubt know yourself) and I know that many chefs are renowned for sounding off in a big way when the pressure builds up like with a boiling pot on the stove!
Anyway, I work in a very busy office myself and even when out on assignments things can often go pear shaped and the use of expletives often seems to be the natural course of action to take in those circumstances, but even so you still have to be aware of your surroundings and the people you are with at the time.
In terms of the kitchen, GR's expletives and intensifiers demonstrate that he is entirely in charge in his little chefdom, and does not have to answer to anyone.
In terms of television, they are his principal selling point. (It's only cookery, after all.)
MrP
On a more serious note, when I was in New Zealand I heard one or two people tell me that "English people are like this, and English people are like that"
It's more like: ''Inglish people are like thus, and Inglish people are like thet''
LOL
I think this is the most offensive I've ever seen Gordon Ramsey - and before anyone point fingers at the behaviour of the English - he's Scottish although his accent is SE English.
The Chef that he's speaking to in that disgusting manner is from Liverpool.
All I can say is thank God the Aussies stood up and told him what they think of him. Hopefully he'll disappear up his own arse so we never have to see him on our screens again.
Damian: the trouble is, I cannot tell the difference between "taking the piss" out of friends, and being genuinely rude and mean. Put another way, I don't know "where the line is".
I think taking the piss in an English context is sort of like teasing or giving someone shit. Rather than being overtly malicious. Or at least, that's my impression of the practice -- I'm not British, so what do I know. We probably do something similar with close friends when we make fun of them in a friendly way, but we don't really see it as a time-hono(u)red sport the way they do, so it doesn't have as much of an impact on our consciousness. And the line is probably much fuzzier for us because of that -- you have to tread more carefully here because people won't know you're not really trying to offend them. I naturally tease a lot of my friends, and there are some I just can't do that with, because they don't get that I'm kidding, no matter how much I try to explain it ... so I'm just better off not doing it! I guess my sense of humor can be an acquired taste, even with close buddies.
Rick, you are spot on - Ramsay was indeed born of Scottish parents and in Scotland itself - at Elderslie, in Renfrewshire, over on the Glasgow side of the Forth-Clyde Valley....I'm sorry to have to admit this but there you go...he may be a dab hand at dishing up a perfect ratatouille to be followed by the bestest most fantastical chocolate mousse you've ever tasted in your whole life before but that's where any love affair with this bloke hits the buffers full on.
From his accent you'd never, ever guess he had any Scottish connections at all would you? Just as well in my opinion, but let me tell you this - there's many a blootered Glaswegian who'd not only sup him under the table but also win hands down in any cussing and effing and blinding contest. ;-) I reckon his accent has all the hallmarks of your average nondescript South East/Southern English English RP - typical of many in this part of the country.
Actually he left Scotland when he was five and went to live down in England - in Shakespeare's home town of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the heart of the English Midlands, where he eventually attended a high school there, and later on gained an HND in Hotel Management, but later still went back up to Scotland again for a wee while and played professional football for Glasgow Rangers FC. Some time later he did the same back down in England again - this time with Oxford United FC.
The rest of this bloke's colourful story is legendary - he took his oaths over to America, pissed off a lot of people there, and now he's publicly been insulting a female on TV in Australia, and the Aussies hit him hard in his goolies by way of appreciation.....good for them.
Jasper...I suppose you have to be British to actually know just where the dividing line between out and out rudeness and harmless jesting masquerading under the name of "piss taking". It really is hard to define - we just seem to know where we toe that line, but I do know that we can more easily say certain things, in certain ways, to each other over here without causing any offence at all, whereas if we did precisely the same thing in America we would either meet with a blank stare, stony silence, a look of utter dismay or shock or, better still, a right hook to the hooter.
Just one example to save time here - I have to go out fairly soon now - would any American say to his friend: "Come on you mean old bastard, it's your round now!" (bearing in mind that the guy is most definitely not stingy, not old and he is of standard parentage) or "You look like you fell out with a lawn mower!" after the same bloke had just had a new style haircut?
Of course you wouldn't do a "piss take" with a stranger, or someone you don't really know reasonably well - even over here. That could be just a wee bit tricky I suppose. I wouldn't try it on anyway.
****just where the dividing line between out and out rudeness and harmless jesting masquerading under the name of "piss taking"*** ....I missed out "really is" at the end to be more correct.
Believe it or not, it is summer in the northern hemisphere. I recently went to the local park where there are several tennis courts that nobody uses, and two bowling greens. You have to pay to use the courts, but the amount you pay is reduced if you have a Leisure Card. I am giving away nothing by saying that I have a Leisure Card, which automatically entitles us to a fifty percent reduction. We then, just for fun, asked for another ten percent off the price, because of the poor weather.
The young chap said: "no problem, I have cashed up anyway, you will not have to pay".
I am sure that if I had made this request in my best pompous English accent that request would have gone down like a lead balloon. But my partner made the request.
"Piss taking", "having a laugh", etc. is always a difficult area. Where exactly is the line?
My whole moral universe has been seriously disrupted. I don' t know where I stand anymore.
|