For the moment, forget about England.

"A culture" is an amorphous concept, an abstraction from the totality of what goes on and is thought and said in its particular area.

Now add England back into the discussion: When we say "the English culture" we are talking about all the mess of things that make up life and thought in England, the normal way that life is lived and expected and believed to be lived in England, as opposed, say, to the German culture, which is ditto with respect to Germany, or ditto for Italy.

People often toss the word "culture" around when they mean what they think is the best of a particular culture--such as poetry, opera, painting, sculpture, etc. The things that folks think give them bragging rights. I tend to refer to this as "culchaw", don't y' know.

But "culchaw" is only a very restricted sample of the culture in which it exists.

Sooooooooo, "English culture is"--English.    Now, don't you feel enlightened?

Dave Oesterreich