Apples to Apples

We were reading a blog awhile back that was waxing eloquent about a burger at the Abergavenny Festival that is alleged to be the “Quintessential American Experience.” The bread is a split Krispy Kreme donut, the burger is about a pound of beef and two pieces of melty American cheese with a special sauce, and the entertainment that goes with the meal is the movie Pulp Fiction. Apparently this burger isn’t new; it was invented in St. Louis, and is called the Vandross, in honor of the musician, Luther Vandross — who probably died of a stroke.

The organizers of this food thing were looking for a hook, more than likely, and so we really can’t get too upset that they used the words “quintessential” and “American” in their advertising. Still: we’ve only had KK donuts once (thanks, Van), are vegetarians, and have never seen Pulp Fiction, so what can we say about the “quintessential” thing? The idea of someone characterizing American — or Welsh — or any other experience as “quintessential” is tiring.

According to the OED, “quintessence” means the most perfect or typical example of a thing. We’ve said it both to people in the UK and at home in the US, we none of us have a sense of the difference in scale of things, from one place to the other.

Just even taking California, by way of comparison, will give you some striking insights. The entire United Kingdom (meaning England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) is only 60% the size of California. Yet, in that smaller space, the UK packs in 160% of California’s population. So, in terms of population density, the UK has 2.8 times as many people. California is empty by comparison. At the same time, California is the most populous state in the US. If you were to take a look at Wyoming, for example, you’d see that it is just about the same size as the UK … yet has a population of just 515,000 – giving the UK 118 times as many people!

What does any of this mean, really? Well … to us it means that the differences are greater between a Californian and a Texan than they probably are between a Welshman and a Scotsman. So. The next time someone refers to the “Quintessential American Experience” we’ll be telling them … well, nothing, probably. But we’ll think about telling them that the distance between California and New York is greater than the distance between Glasgow and Kazakhstan! Which of us can claim to know our neighbors better?

– D & T

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