Stereotypes and Cultural Myths about the British

What about the UK?

Let’s bust some cultural myths!

1. Everyone in England speaks with either a London Cockney accent or posh like the Queen.

2. We’re always drinking tea. India, Turkey, China and Ireland drink more (per head of population).
Brits drink almost as much coffee as tea. “Come round for tea” = come to our house for the evening meal.

3. We all know Sean Connery, Mick Jagger, David Beckham and The Queen personally.

4. Everyone lives in London or in houses like Downtown Abbey.

5. The food is terrible! Britain has four restaurants that have a 3 michelin stars and has the 4th, 5th and 9th best restaurant in the world, according to Trip Advisor (https://uk.businessinsider.com/tripadvisors-best-restaurants-in-the-world-2015-2015-10?r=US&IR=T) Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal

6. It’s always raining (Britain is number 46th in a list of worldwide average rainfall,
this is above countries such as New Zealand (29th) and even the USA (25th)).
It drizzles a lot in the UK.
Brits speak about the weather a lot and it’s also common to see rain and bad weather in British art. Winters are longer than summer in the UK.
Do the British always carry umbrellas?

7. All Brits have bad teeth – a study by the OECD, published in The Economist, shows that Brits have some of the healthiest teeth in the world.

8. British people hate Europeans and North Americans.

9. The British are very reserved and unfriendly.

10 We drink warm beer.

11. The English sometimes confuse “British” with “English”, as do non-British people.

It can be difficult to tell the difference between the accents of Canadians and North Americans and between Australians and New Zealanders
How would you stereotype the Chinese? The Germans? The Brazilians? The French? (which adjectives would you use?)

How much do you think I live up to an English stereotype?

Say some adjectives and I’ll tell you which nationality you’re stereotyping.

HEAVEN
“Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian, and it’s all organised by the Swiss”

HELL
“Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it’s all organised by the Italians.”

Thoughts on Cuisine:
“The Europeans have good food. The British have…good table manners!”
Quotes from George Mikes – a Hungarian writer who came to the UK for a few weeks, but ended up staying, obtaining British nationality and writing about the British –
“The British are brave people. They can face anything, except reality.”

“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.”

“The British – as the whole world, particularly the British, keep saying – are the most fair-minded people in the world.
After the Second World War they declared: ‘Let’s be fair. We’ve been Top Nation for centuries. We have done splendidly well once again. Now we must give others a chance. Let’s decline’.”

*Dispones de más PODCAST en inglés publicados en los cuadernos anteriores
a los que puedes acceder directamente así como al índice de su contenido.