There doesn't seem to be much of a history of 'good manners' in this country: oh yes, there are elaborate rituals of courtesy - though largely devoid of meaning or feeling - between the educated classes, and an unfortunately lingering tradition of grovelling deference towards anyone higher up the social pecking-order; but trifling, everyday rules to help people get along a little easier - NO. Amongst the hoipolloi it's always been "every man for himself!" - and it still is.
This impinges on the life of the foreigners living here most commonly, most annoyingly when taking public transport. The concept of the 'queue' is scarcely recognised. When boarding a bus or a train there is simply an ugly scrum around the doors as everyone tries to pile on simultaneously. Quite often this will result in the three or four people at the front of the mob getting wedged stuck shoulder-to-shoulder across the doorway so that no-one is able to get on until one of this leading group manages to break the momentary logjam by wriggling free of his companions and squirming aboard.
Now, I'm pretty tolerant of this phenomenon on the whole. After all, it's scarcely surprising. This is a very populous country, with - until recently - a very limited public transport system. Even today, buses, trams, and subway cars are often packed like sardine-tins during the rush-hour. If you really have to go somewhere, then you're going to have to fight tooth-and-claw to get aboard (don't even think about getting a seat!!) - that's all there is to it.
Of course, this is one of the things that tends to make this country still look a bit 'primitive' in the eyes of the outside world, so the government is (fitfully) keen to try to do something to modify such behaviour. The latest brainwave from the authorities (at least here in my home, The Unnameable City) is 'Stand In A Line' Day. Yes, one day is being specially set aside for everyone to try to remember to behave politely - and not fight like savages to be the first aboard the bus. That's one day per month. Baby steps! I think it's the first Thursday of each month, but I haven't witnessed the great experiment in action yet.
At least, I don't think I have. I noticed a group of people calmly standing in line for a bus on my street yesterday, but I don't think that was down to this new campaign. It can't be the third Thursday of the month, can it? That's just too darned hard to remember!
And you see, I live on a relatively quiet street, in a modestly well-to-do neighbourhood. We have comparatively wide sidewalks, and bus shelters at the bus stops. Thus, there are not usually that many people who want to get on at one time, there is space enough for them to form a queue, and the local residents are perhaps a little more disposed than your Average Joe towards embracing such an idea. Most importantly of all, I think, there are only two bus routes down this street.
On major streets, you typically get three or four bus stops right next to each other, each of them servicing 4, 6, or 8 routes. When the buses all arrive together (as they usually do, here as in every other country in the world!), the drivers will ignore their designated stop and pull up at an adjacent one, or anywhere there's enough space within a hundred yards or so up or down the road. The stops themselves are usually on the narrow kerbs separating the 'bicycle lanes' from the main highway, so there isn't much space for people to stand in an orderly fashion; and, as I've said, they're all waiting for different buses, and have no real idea where those buses are going to stop most of the time. Thus, there are unruly crowds spilling into the road, sprinting towards wherever their bus chooses to stop, and jostling, elbowing each other to get aboard as quickly as possible. The quaint British notion (I know it's not unique to us - but I think we invented it!) of having a bus stop bang on the designated spot, right next to the first person in the queue, so that there's no question about the order in which people should try to get on - well, that is a long way from establishing itself here. And it's more down to the organization of the bus service than the innate uncivilizability of the passengers.
One day things will change.
3 comments:
"The hoipolloi"? What did you read at CCC? Chemistry?
hoi polloi? - leave it to you to use greek - I had to google that one.
Er, what is your point here, Mr A?
You know perfectly well I read Classics for my first degree, law for my second (well, diploma, same difference), as do most of my regular readers on here by now.
I hope you're not attempting some inappropriate pedantry. The thing that annoys me most about linguistic pedants is that mostly THEY'RE JUST WRONG.
"The hoipolloi" is a phrase in English. "Hoi polloi" CAN be separted into two words, as in the original Greek; but it is commonly not, since it has now become English not Greek, and it is pronounced as one word. 'The' is, strictly speaking, redundant, since the 'hoi' element of the phrase is already a definite article in Greek. But again, this is no longer Greek; rightly or wrongly, it has become a phrase in English. And this is how we say it, how we write it.
For non-Classicists, non-Brits out there: it means literally "the many" - i.e. the mob, the masses, The Great Unwashed (now, that last one is WAY too appropriate for ****!).
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