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British Stereotypes Explained

The document discusses several common stereotypes about British culture and people, including: Politeness, humour characterized by sarcasm and irony, and a love of tea are seen as defining aspects of British culture. The British are also often viewed as reserved and unemotional, exemplified by popular phrases like "stiff upper lip." Weather in the UK is stereotyped as poor, with heavy rain, clouds, and fog, though it has become more extreme in recent years. While British teeth have been ranked as quite healthy, Americans sometimes joke about them being bad. Traditional British food was often seen as bland, but has diversified with globalization. Many see the British as mostly monolingual English speakers, though foreign

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Наталья Скрипичникова
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122 views2 pages

British Stereotypes Explained

The document discusses several common stereotypes about British culture and people, including: Politeness, humour characterized by sarcasm and irony, and a love of tea are seen as defining aspects of British culture. The British are also often viewed as reserved and unemotional, exemplified by popular phrases like "stiff upper lip." Weather in the UK is stereotyped as poor, with heavy rain, clouds, and fog, though it has become more extreme in recent years. While British teeth have been ranked as quite healthy, Americans sometimes joke about them being bad. Traditional British food was often seen as bland, but has diversified with globalization. Many see the British as mostly monolingual English speakers, though foreign

Uploaded by

Наталья Скрипичникова
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Common stereotypes

Politeness
Both historically and in the present day, the British have often been associated with good manners
by many people around the world, similar to Canadians.

Humour
British humour is well known for its use of sarcasm, dark comedy, and irony.Monty Python was a
famous British comedic group and some of the most highly regarded television comedies, such
as Fawlty Towers and Mr. Bean, are British.

Tea
Drinking tea - specifically the more oxidised black tea - is seen as a key part of British culture.
Originally introduced as a luxury product in the 17th century, cheap imports from colonial
India allowed its consumption to significantly increase during the second half of the 19th century.
Today it remains a popular beverage, with surveys from 2017 showing that the UK had the 12th
largest tea consumption per capita in the world, and that almost 75% of British people who drank tea
daily had at least two cups a day.
Other hot drinks, especially coffee, are also popular.

Lack of emotion
The British are often seen as reserved and unemotional. This perspective has been bolstered by
popular British phrases such as "stiff upper lip", which means displaying an emotionless and
determined exterior in the face of hardship; "keep calm and carry on", which was taken from a
motivational poster produced by the UK government in preparation for World War II; and "always
look on the bright side of life", which was lifted from a popular Monty Python comedy song about
persevering in the direst situations.

Weather
The weather in the United Kingdom is often seen as being poor and mostly consisting of cold air,
heavy rain, clouds, and fog. The weather is generally mild most of the time, but prone to large
changes at short notice.  In recent years, climate change has caused Britain's weather to become
more extreme with incidents such as heat waves, snow storms, and flooding occurring more
frequently.

Teeth
Americans often joke about the British having bad teeth. This stereotype appears to stem from a
particularly American view of dental health in which artificially straightened and whitened
teeth (sometimes referred to as "Hollywood teeth") are the healthiest, but this primarily affects only
the outer appearance of teeth and some evidence has shown that artificial whitening actually has a
negative effect on dental health. In reality, British teeth have been ranked as the fifth healthiest in the
world, with American teeth behind in ninth place.

Food
Jokes are often told about British food being either poor quality or inedible. Historically, British
cuisine was generally fairly bland since around the post-World War II period, but globalisation and
mass immigration have caused it to become more diverse. Some commonly known British foods
are beans, crumpets, fish and chips, and meat pie.

Monolingualism
There is a common stereotype that the British are only able to speak English. This has some truth to
it, as (like in many English-speaking countries) levels of bilingualism are relatively low. Additionally,
the number of people who speak a language other than English as their first language is reasonably
low, especially among those who were born in the UK—even among those with immediate
immigrant ancestry. However, most British schoolchildren receive at least a few years of
compulsory French, German or Spanish lessons. This used to happen during the first years
of secondary school, but teaching foreign languages at an earlier age has been viewed as
increasingly important.

Anti-social behaviour abroad


In some tourist-heavy European countries such as Cyprus, Greece, and Spain, British
holidaymakers are closely associated with anti-social and violent behaviour, usually related to binge
drinking. Similar to Americans, British tourists have also been stereotyped as preferring to shout and
talk slower in English when interacting with foreigners instead of making an effort to use the local
language (see "monolingualism" above)

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