I do believe that our modern English usage has become way too clipped and austere. I have been reading excerpts from the journals of 18th-century seafarers lately, and even the lowliest press-ganged deck-swabber turns a finer phrase than I do most days.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
And I definitely do that very British thing of, take things with a pinch of salt, stiff upper lip, you know what I mean?
When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day.