4 ms·
For many people of my rough age and hobbies (cars/motorsport), Top Gear and other British motoring shows and podcasts have had a massive impact. We had virtuall
by rconti 2y ago
For many people of my rough age and hobbies (cars/motorsport), Top Gear and other British motoring shows and podcasts have had a massive impact. We had virtually nothing good in the way of TV shows about cars in the 90s/2000s, which meant that anyone watching World Rally Championship and F1 were downloading clips or torrents of them. That, in turn, led straight into finalgear.com in the mid 2000s, before the BBC finally had the sense to bring Top Gear to BBC America, which led to another huge uptick in popularity.
- ryukoposting 2y agoLikewise. I didn't even know that several phrases I picked up from Top Gear were distinctively British, until my wife pointed one out recently. There are a few figures of speech I never adopted from the show, though. Ex: Is "oh cock" a British-ism, or just a James May-ism? I don't think I've ever heard that anywhere else. There's also the simple nature of being online at 6 AM. What other English-speaking country is awake at that time of day?
- UncleSlacky 2y agoI think it's a May-ism. I was going to say it could be a "posh public schoolboy"-ism, but it turns out he went to comprehensive school ("public high school" for the Yanks out there).