BBC America : Little Britain : Chavs

Let's get one thing clear BBC America is nothing like the BBC in England. In fact some shows are not even BBC shows (Graham Norton for example), and the BBC does not involve in bloc programming as in the states.

You can get a pretty good idea of BBC radio by listening to all its channels online) BBC RADIO PLAYER (or see http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

But Being away from one's own country for almost twenty years is very odd. For example if I teach new American students, by this stage (19 years) I have been in the US longer than they have!

But I still never quite feel at home. The US is a very foreign country still, but I fear that like many emigrants, I tend to have an out-dated view of my country of origin.

Slang is what really gets you. Since the advent of the Internet its been possible to access UK culture on a daily basis, but it still takes time to grasp new words. A new one is CHAV ( to an American it means something like cracker/redneck).

There is however a long tradition of BBC Comedy programs which are right on the money. At the moment, if you want grasp Britain watch Little Britain (Python's successor) and The Thick of It (Think of Yes Minister combined withe the Office.)