I've just started reading The Last Of The Celts by M. Tanner, which has recently been remaindered here in the northern home of the blizzard. In the section on the Scottish Highlands, the author describes how Scott was humiliated by his lack of knowledge about highland culture; however I'm not sure how to take that since to Tanner the sum total of celtic culture seems to be in the gaelic language. (In this regard, I was particularly stuck by the description of an event where Scott was addressed in gaelic by the boat captain and had no idea what the man was saying.) But anyway, is culture language or is language just part of culture? Are the UK and the US the same culture by virtue of shared language, regional idiom aside? It strikes me this is not the case. The British for instance like Marmite.