The most clichéd people in society are 'hard-working families', according to a piece on Radio 4 this morning. Politicians supposedly make policies with this group in mind -- they certainly would not dream of offering to support lazy families. The radio item was looking at a new exhibition of political posters over the decades in Manchester (see a selection here). The posters are interesting because one can see from earlier posters (up to the 60s, say) that families were not expected to be hard-working at all. Family members were often portrayed at home all together, and mothers were rarely portrayed as workers.
Hard-working family is an example of a glittering generality, which I posted on recently.
Looking back, and I don't think our two countries were all that dissimilar in this regard, it strikes me that through the Sixties and a bit beyond, the focus was on the achievement of "the dream" and the family unit enjoying same.
Today's economic struggles on both sides of the Atlantic seem to put the focus more on people's efforts to realise the dream, hence "hard-working families". And who could argue with that glittering generality coming from a politician?
My favourite over-used expression here, though, is the dismissive used whenever a politician "gets into a jam" and can't escape an issue: "I need to get back to doing the work of the American people". Surely there is a British corollary to that also.
Posted by: John | November 11, 2011 at 12:09 PM
Whilst American politicians like to refer to the 'American people' British politicians like to make us think we are being thought of as individuals. They use expressions like 'the man on the Clapham Omnibus' or 'the ordinary man in the street'. However, 'hard-working families' seems to be an American import by the current Government. They've also called us 'The British People' recently too. Just a bunch of copycats if you ask me!
Posted by: taffdancer | November 11, 2011 at 03:09 PM
I think they're all copycats; seems to work both directions. One wonders if it is symbolic of lack of creativity by both?
By the way, a salute to all British and Commonwealth Fallen on Remembrance Day.
Posted by: John | November 11, 2011 at 03:21 PM
Yes and to the American ones too..
(Although I don't actually do salutes, I meant to stand silent this morning at 11 a.m. but our builders were finishing off their work and I got involved in that.) An auspicious date: the 11th hour on the 11th day, in the 11th month, in the 11th year. Wow!
Posted by: taffdancer | November 11, 2011 at 03:36 PM
Thanks, Sue and John, for your comments. I'd never thought about 'the American/British people' phrase before, but I've just googled (in speech marks) "the work of the American people" and "the work of the British people". The former got over 44 million hits, and the latter just 5! Which says it all!
Thank you for your thoughts re Remembrance Day. Our thoughts, too, are with the American Fallen.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | November 11, 2011 at 11:14 PM
I thought I would let you know that your very thought-provoking post here led to a really good discussion over at Google+ in the wee hours of the morning! It's a public thread, so here it is:
https://plus.google.com/111474406259561102151/posts/LpB6wnYqCwz
Thanks very much for your wonderful blog; I only discovered it a few weeks ago, and I am enjoying it very much! I look for to browsing through your archives over the holidays. :-)
Posted by: Laura Gibbs | November 14, 2011 at 02:58 PM
Thank you for your kind words, Laura, and for the link. Wow, that is a really erudite discussion, even at 3pm, which it is in the UK at the moment, let alone in the wee hours of the morning where you are!
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | November 14, 2011 at 03:04 PM