Understatement of the Year

It is a widely known fact in these here isles that Americans are a bit puzzled at the English proclivity for understatement. If Joe Six-pack likes something a great deal it only seems normal for him to openly and effusively praise it. In general, this is not the case for the English, who will opt for something like "it's not bad" or "hmph, this Cuivée Dom Pérignon 1982 is pretty good," seemingly faint praise which aims--so I have been told--to express admiration without embarrassing the person being praised. For us unsubtle colonial folk, this confuses and flummoxes us, even if we can understand in the abstract why it is done.

Perusing the news this morning, I came across a prime example in the Telegraph. Actually, while it certainly demonstrates the tendency to understate, this statement is simultaneously head-smackingly obvious. Maybe I'm missing someting, but saying something that doesn't really need to be said and doing so in an intentionally subtle way just doesn't make much sense to me. Wifey, a life-long Brit, helped to put into context. According to her, the Telegraph is "like the Daily Mail but more urbane." Read : BNP-lovin' , anti-immigration, blame the ills of society on the negroes and the Packies, Fedward Hyde-esque rhetoric lite, packaged for the more discerning, rural, simpleton. In this light, it begins to make some sense. You can read this snippet below (and in keeping with my national character, I have highlighted the relevant part).

Two bomb suspects shared a flat
By Duncan Gardham
(Filed: 26/07/2005)

Muktar Said Ibrahim and Yasin Hassan Omar and two brothers lived in the flat raided by police yesterday in north London, a friend of the men told the Telegraph last night.

All had families who came from Eritrea and moved to Saudi Arabia before coming to this country when they were young, the friend said. Ibrahim, 27, was educated at a local secondary school, mixed easily with youths of his age and went clubbing in London, the friend claimed. Although he still regularly stayed at the flat, he had recently moved to Hackney, near where the bus bomb failed to go off. Police wish to speak to him in connection with Thursday's incident.