FOURTH NIGHT

ANYONE who regularly reads an English-language newspaper in a former British colony-where there are inevitably large numbers of English expats and tourists-will on occasion encounter the phrase ‘whinging Brit’ in the Letters to the Editor section.  Since ‘whinging’ is a British variant on ‘whining,’ the phrase is invariably used, often with ironic self-disparagement, by the British about the British: generally from expats mortified at those compatriots of theirs who seem to spend their entire vacation abroad complaining about the host country and making unfavorable, imperious comparisons with the motherland.  Of course, this notion begets another sub-category of those who do little else but whinge about whinging Brits.  In short, there is plenty of complaining to go around, some justified, most of it tedious banter.  Keep reading…