As someone who hasn’t been fortunate enough to visit the U.K. at this point in my life I often wonder about the attitudes of the populace of those countries and specifically how they view one another. Obviously because of the vast social changes in the last few hundred years I’m sure many stereotypes have disappeared or evolved over time. I’m not sure if this thread would be better suited for IMHO or not but I would like my fellow Dopers to explain the differing stereotypes the people of these countries hold about one another both in the past and in the present. I would also be interested about stereotypes within countries between different geographic locations such as North/South and East/West.
Since much of this will be based on personal opinion, I think it’s better suited to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
That the Welsh aren’t even worth mentioning.
Originally posted by RetroVertigo:
Hey I love Anthony Hopkins!
Scottish people are also British, although some wouldn’t identify as such.
I thought British people were those who lived on the island of Great Britian, which would include the English, Scottish, and Welsh.
The Scotch might tell you that the English are arrogant, ignorant, colonialist bastards who deliberately call them Scotch just to wind them up, even though it is perfectly acceptable to use such a term, which does not just pertain to an alcoholic spirit.
Speaking of “alcoholic”, the Scotch are, of course, wife-beating, chronic winos, and Catholic ginger misers, so their opinion doesn’t count.
Sheep-shagging thieves from Wales or spud-thick Micks from de Emerald Oisle might also venture their opinion, but the English know it all anyway, so won’t listen to such peasants.
Wacky, humorous, easy-going Liverpudlians might weigh in on the Irish side, because of the origin of many people from that city, but will mostly tell you to “Calm down” as they are stealing your car wheels and selling them to buy Smaccccck and new shell-suits.
Wouldn’t happen to Geordies, they won’t calm down because they are ROCK HARD, man, and divvunt give a toss apart from drinkin’ and fightin’ (plus they are too poor to own a car, and anyway, going by car is for poofs, REAL men walk in all weathers with no coat.)
Poofs, generally speaking, include anyone South of Watford Gap, who will be a braying Hooray Henry, or a shandy drinking cock-er-ney wanker looking to rip you off and “send all the blacks home”.
The North of the country is “grim”, where everyone works “dahn t’pit”, and hobbies include keeping pigeons, whippets and ferrets, and the flat cap is standard issue clothing. Tight-fisted Yorkshiremen will tell you straight that you are a bastard, don’t expect them to be subtle about it.
People from East Anglia are not poofs, but prefer to stick to their own kind. Like their own family, mostly. They are similar to those on the other side of the country in Briztol in being carrot-crunching bumpkins with a wonder of all things mechanical.
Further South, piratical Cornishmen will welcome you bringing your tourist money to spend in their fair county, but will often not be able to wait until your purse is closed before abusing you and telling you to get out of their county and leave them in peace.
There, that just about covers most of them.
Oh, BTW, I’m from the centre of the country, the boring bit, where everyone is a little bit slow, like Ozzy (drugs or no drugs), and we all work in machine shops.
FYI - No luck running that through the translator. Based on viewing many hours of television from ITV and BBC, I can confirm that your observations are 100% accurate. I assume you didn’t mention the SE since they are the oldest and noblest of the British people - they ruled when it was still Albion - before those snail slurping bastards screwed everything up. 
I suppose the one I see most often about us Scots is that we eat deep fried lard for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And drink too much.
The English are a bunch of thugs whose favourite national pastime is urinating in the fountains of continental Europe. And drink too much.
The Northern Irish are scary, and their accent comes across as aggressive. They drink too much.
And the Welsh…I dunno. I picture miners forming male voice choirs and rugby teams.
…and drinking too much.
And shagging sheep.
Yes. I inexplicably missed that out from my comments about the Welsh.
Yeah, but that one gets leveled at the Scots as well. Which is funny, since most folks in Glasgow have never actually seen a sheep, let alone shagged one. I think they shag their empty Buckfast bottles.
The Scots shag sheep, the Brits have bad teeth, the Northern Irish blow stuff up, and the Welsh… um… well isn’t Catherine Zeta Jones Welsh? I guess they have that going for them.
From Ireland:
Scottish = sound if not a bit tight.
Welsh = quiet and sound when you meet 'em.
North Of England = salt of the earth, wonderful folk.
Southeast of England/London (unless of irish stock) = scum of the earth, warmongering toffs and racist, imperialist blaggards.
Don’t confuse ‘British’ with ‘English’, as Scottish, English, Welsh and Northern Irish are all British too. The last ones have some dissenting views on that…
Stereotypes?
Scottish: Alcoholic, heroin loving deep-fried Mars bar eating types with a jovial but stingy streak who will all die of heart failure at age 50.
Welsh: Coal-mining (until Maggie shut them all down) choirboys with an affinity for sheep, places ending with -gogogogochhch and language that is spoken by nobody who wants to remain phlegm-free.
Northern English: Whippet racing, pigeon-breeding, thick as two short planks put together, rough, incomprehensible flat-cap wearers who live in the 1930s.
Southern English: Posh, soft-as-shite, arrogant, inbred, hoorah-Henry types, effete, snobby, closeted homosexual.
Londoners: Criminals, geezers, wheeler-dealers and conmen.
Irish: Horses running through council estates, toothless simpletons, people with eyebrows on their cheeks, badly tarmacked drives, men in platform shoes being arrested for bombings, lots of rocks and…Beamish.
None of those are true. But those are the stereotypes. The big cities each have their own. Liverpool full of thieves, Manchester full of shootings, Birmingham full of dimbo-dumbos, Newcastle full of piss and ale, etc.
I’m guessing you are none of the above, as you mistake ‘Brit’ for ‘English’. As mentioned upthread, Scots and Welsh are British too. Oh, and the ‘Brits have bad teeth’ thing is a purely American stereotype of the British, unheard of anywhere else. So you don’t get to play in this thread.
I’ve never heard the ‘Scots shagging sheep’ thing. Scots are, instead, regarded as a bit miserable, tight fisted and English hating.
Northern Irish are religious maniacs.
(Southern) Irish are fun loving Catholic drunks.
Welsh are singing, rugby playing, sheep shagging and good at acting.
I can’t speak for the English, as I am one.
Missed this. In reference purely to the English…
South West = pirates (it’s the accent)
North West = cocky/chip on their shoulder about London
North East = fun loving drunks
South East (excluding East Anglia) = equally split between toffs and rough cockneys
Midlands = the bit you drive through to get somewhere else. Friendly but stupid accent.
East Anglia = inbred yokels
‘British’ is the descriptor used for people from the United Kingdom, which includes Northern Ireland, but for obvious political and historical reasons, c. 50% of N. Irish folk prefer to call themselves Irish. The other 50% are adamant they are British. Basically, it’s best to just Not Go There.
Some foreigners think ‘English’ and ‘British’ are interchangeable terms. This infuriates Scottish, Welsh and some Northern Irish people, and pisses off the English who get the blame for this and also think their own ‘English’ identity is ignored.
It’s like thinking ‘Texas’ and ‘The USA’ are interchangeable terms.