# Bumper Stickers in Britain/Ireland **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649 "2013-08-07T23:53:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/81 "2013-08-10T00:41:55Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > … Perhaps my (wrong) impression, but I remember remarking to my wife at the time that we seemed to be driving on a road where everybody had the same colour of car. Just to be contrary, Australians choose either white or silver cars, in the main. Coloured cars are rare - I saw a yellow car yesterday and almost ran off the road. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/82 "2013-08-10T01:10:40Z")
I was thinking about this thread earlier and walking by a fleet of parked cars I noticed several of them had stickers in back window for sports teams, radio stations, and politican campaigns but none had bumper stickers. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/83 "2013-08-10T01:45:13Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Understood, and I think some Kiwis might feel the same way - as mentioned in my first post on this. Canadians are sometimes mistaken for Irish folks, and I imagine that bothers them a lot less than being mistaken for Americans. I’m Canadian and would never get offended about being mistaken for an American (or probably anyone else for that matter). And as for Scottish vs English attitudes: British loyalism has long been a facet of Scottish culture and I’d say it’s easily the dominant type of Scottish-Canadian culture. (It seems to be a common trait of traditionally Protestant families, for one thing) ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/84 "2013-08-10T14:09:44Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > And as for Scottish vs English attitudes: British loyalism has long been a facet of Scottish culture … I’m not sure if you mean what I think you mean here, but if you do, I’m kind of glad to see you say it. I’ve had the impression for a while that, at least in the 19th century, Scotland was generally very pro-Britain and pro-Empire. I even heard somewhere that at some point (very vague, I know) Scottish people were playing a disproportionately large part in driving the Empire, with English people generally being more apathetic. So I’ve always thought it’s a bit of a distortion to act as if Scottish people have been unwilling participants for centuries. It’s fashionable now to push for independence and not be part of something, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fashionable in the past to take exactly the opposite view and want to be part of something big. If anyone knows more about this, I’d be happy to be educated. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/85 "2013-08-10T14:43:18Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > I’m not sure if you mean what I think you mean here, but if you do, I’m kind of glad to see you say it. I’ve had the impression for a while that, at least in the 19th century, Scotland was generally very pro-Britain and pro-Empire. I even heard somewhere that at some point (very vague, I know) Scottish people were playing a disproportionately large part in driving the Empire, with English people generally being more apathetic. So I’ve always thought it’s a bit of a distortion to act as if Scottish people have been unwilling participants for centuries. It’s fashionable now to push for independence and not be part of something, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fashionable in the past to take exactly the opposite view and want to be part of something big. If anyone knows more about this, I’d be happy to be educated. Yes, it is terribly inaccurate to think that Scottish people are anti-British in general. (It’s rather like thinking that all Canadians are French-speaking separatists.) I grew up in an almost completely Scottish/English area and true anti-English sentiment was simply unheard of, everyone simply considered themselves British in common and would have fought anyone who suggested otherwise. You’re correct that the Scottish influence on British culture is profound and too much for this discussion, but just one example is that the SAS is apparently around 70% Scottish. It’s also important not to confuse normal English-Scottish ribbing/rivalry with an actual desire to separate. There is of course a genuine rebellious anti-English “Jacobite” strain in Scotland (espoused by movies like Braveheart) and my sense is that is generally favored by Catholic folks (sorry for the generalization.) I have met many more Scottish loyalists than rebels myself. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/86 "2013-08-10T23:33:56Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > He’s from Ipswich. > [@jabiru](#): > > Ispwich, Queensland? 🙂 > [@Princhester](#): > > Actually I think he probably meant Ipswich, MA. > [@SanVito](#): > > ‘She’ meant Ipswich, Suffolk. Are you sure it wasn’t [Ipswich, South Dakota?](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Ipswich,+SD&hl=en&ll=45.444175,-99.026771&spn=0.008672,0.019526&sll=43.460406,-76.504348&sspn=0.035885,0.078106&oq=Ipswich&hnear=Ipswich,+Edmunds,+South+Dakota&t=m&z=15) ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/87 "2013-08-11T00:05:30Z")
nm. premature ejacupost… ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/88 "2013-08-11T01:11:46Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Heh, yeah. There’s a lot of pussyfooting around here. Bumper stickers are tacky, are almost always banal (you’re a Christian? No WAY!!!) and make a mess of your car. Why would anybody want one? Most _are_ banal. The _ **good** _ ones are the ones that _aren’t._ I’ve got one on the back of my minivan that says [“If you can read this, the horse trailer fell off”](http://www.tractorsupply.com/), just below the window on the back hatch. Just below the latch handle, I have [“We Do Cows”](http://wedocows.stearnsvetoutlet.com/). Below that, just above the bottom of the hatch, I have [“If it isn’t fun, why do it”](http://www.benjerry.com/). I have tinted windows. If I’m sitting in the driver’s seat, and you’re behind my van, you can’t see me, and don’t know I’m there. I’ve been sitting there while parked, countless times, and seen someone walking up behind me, who sees the stickers, and busts out laughing. Yes, the double meaning was intentional. Your laughter is my reward. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/89 "2013-08-11T03:13:32Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > I’m not sure if you mean what I think you mean here, but if you do, I’m kind of glad to see you say it. I’ve had the impression for a while that, at least in the 19th century, Scotland was generally very pro-Britain and pro-Empire. Keep in mind that both the current concept of “nation-state” and nationalism were born/invented in the 19th century. While tensions between regions, between domains, or between them and what would now be called “the central/national government” existed through history, notions of “we are a distinct culture therefore we should have our own nation-state” are in general relatively recent. Previously, asking someone from Bilbao how he felt about not-yet-invented Euskadi or a Scotsman whether he considered himself British or not would have been met with anything from blank stares to a recommendation to get in bed and stay there until the fever went down: both questions would have been equally nonsensical. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/90 "2013-08-17T13:54:20Z")
Just yesterday I decided to watch the cars carefully as I was driving for several hours to see what proportion of them had bumper stickers. They aren’t as common as you might think. My estimate is that well under 5% of the cars I passed have bumper stickers. It might be as low as 1%. It might be the case that different parts of the U.S. have different proportions of bumper stickers. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/91 "2013-08-17T14:24:12Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Keep in mind that both the current concept of “nation-state” and nationalism were born/invented in the 19th century. 19th Century? I thought they went back as far as the [Peace of Westphalia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Westphalia) in 1648. At least in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/92 "2013-08-17T14:53:11Z")
That’s sovereign state, not nation state or nationality. [Nation state](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state) is the union of “nation” as both a cultural and political entity, and of “sovereign state”. Nationalism is the idea that the colors in a map of the world should be organized like that. So, Catalonia, Galicia, Scotland, Wales… should be separate sovereign states because they have specific cultural traits. Part of the reason I have a problem with that is that my own province, which is average in size and population among Spain’s 50, has at least three distinct cultural zones… so what, we all end up living in states the size of the Solomon Islands? Should el Castro be its own state? Sometimes it makes sense for a culture to go their own way and sometimes it does not. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/93 "2013-08-17T15:03:44Z")
Sigh, sorry… the first line should have ended “… or nationalism”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/94 "2013-08-17T19:27:03Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > You mean that sense of individuality that led you buy the same mass produced bumper sticker as a few million other people? 🙂 > > Another car adornment that you see far fewer of in the UK than the US is the Jesus fish. There are sites on the internet that will create a bumper sticker for you with whatever proclamation you want on it. Mine says, “Stop honking! I’m on the phone.” I’ve never seen another one like it. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649/95 "2013-08-18T11:12:47Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Well, there’s the ‘Ecosse’ stickers, which is a big old ‘we hate the English’ thing they have going on in Scotland. Often wondered what that was about. Did mean to look it up but as with most things, out of sight, out of mind 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-stickers-in-britain-ireland/665649.md?page=4)