Hi, Hilary.
I'm not sure when I realized I love British culture, British people, British accents--British everything. Certain aspects of my personality have specific moments when they took shape that I can remember distinctly, but my love of British things seems to have just happened slowly and gradually until I realized that I would much rather be British than anything else. I mean, growing up American, I felt a certain token amount of animosity towards the British, since they were apparently jerks who hated freedom, but that sort of faded away as I got older and I realized that the British were not in fact jerks who hated freedom, but instead. . .
That they are actually really cultured and that their men are the most attractive and their accents are amazing and their TV is so good and nothing can really compare to their acting skills or literature, and dayum, can they write a good mystery novel.
So. Here are my signs that you might be an Anglophile. Just based on my own Anglophilia. I mean, Anglophilia manifests itself in different ways--just like any old love of something.
Top Ten Signs you May Have A Case of Anglophilia.
1). You secretly think your fake British accent is better than everyone else's. Not that you'd do a British accent IN Great Britain, because you know how tactless that would be. But you're pretty sure it'd pass muster if you did. You'd blend in. You'd be accepted.
2). You drink tea. Frequently. Regularly. You feel sort of lost without tea. And you feel special, somehow, when you drink Earl Gray or English Breakfast.
3). You buy English Candy and frequent the local British shopping market that may or may not be just a few blocks away from where you work. And when it rains and you go in there, you just pretend you ARE British.
4). 99% of all the television you watch is from the BBC, and at least 75% of radio you listen to is BBC radio and radio-plays. You laugh at jelly babies and jammy dodgers. You use catchphrases like "Hello, Sweetie," "Spoilers," "Exterminate" and you carry a sonic screwdriver in your purse. Your version of "Planking" is actually "Sherlocking" and you can quote the entire first episode of Sherlock from memory--but Jeremy Brett will always be your Sherlock Holmes. You even watch the obscure British TV shows and you're glad that Billie Piper is married to Lawrence Fox because they're both so beautiful.
5). You carry an umbrella in your purse even though you live in the desert because you're convinced the desert will turn into Great Britain and it'll start raining at any moment.
6). You're in love with at least one British actor. Possibly two. Or six. Definitely two (Who, me? No way. Not at all.)*
*I'm a shameful liar. I've had raging crushes on at least two British actors and if you follow me on facebook or pinterest, YOU ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY ARE so I'm not saying it here.
7). You're homesick for England, even though you've never been there. You're pretty sure when you set foot on English soil, your life will make sense and everything else will fall into place.
8). Your sense of humor is so dry from watching all those BBC shows that people have a hard time recognizing your sarcasm. Or they just give you quizzical looks, shake their heads, and go back to doing whatever it was they were doing.
9). You actually genuinely like malt vinegar on food.
10). You've read more books from English authors than you have American authors. If Great Britain granted citizenship based on how many British books you've read, you would be a citizen yesterday. And you know this because someone from Great Britain told you that you're almost more British than they are. You are both proud and slightly embarrassed of this fact.
It's a bit weird. I get it. It is. Like I said, I'm not sure why this is part of my reality now. But it is, and I'm just going with it. I'm not ashamed that I painted my nails TARDIS blue for the release of the 50th anniversary episode or that tea is like my most favorite beverage (right after the cold-pressed juices from Vive Juicery--hi guys!). And I'm pretty sure that any British people I befriend in the future would be a touch confused by my enthusiasm for their culture, because all of my American friends are. Well, with the exception of those that are Anglophiles like I am.
And those guys don't think I'm weird at all. Which is a nice change of pace. . .believe me.
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