Bad food? Then if you have ever even been here I can only assume that you ate in the wrong place.
I’ve travelled extensively in Yerp. The food in England is no worse than anywhere else. In fact it tends to have two advantages: (a) healthier; and (b) a vegetarian option conspicuous by its absence in many other European restaurants - not too important to me, but vital for many of my friends.
If you want to play that game, well, the worst food I’ve come across was undoubtedly in the States. I had to look long and hard in most places to find anything other than greasy fast food.
I’m also curious as to how one thinks of “London”. London is quite a big and diverse place, you know.
What do you think of? The historical landmarks? The clubs? The theatres? The restaurants? The miles and miles of urban housing? The parks? My mate Markus?
I could combine a comment about good food in England with a request that those who consider us “quaint” kneel down between my thighs and eat my quaint and hairy joy-hole.
I see from your profile, Francesca, that you hail from Wokingham, Berkshire. I’ve been there, and it’s such a ****** little town, with ****** people there, although some of them are ***. The pubs are good there, although the **** is ***.
(Man, the Pit has really started to turn now that certain words are “off-limits.” :D)
When my sister from Saskatchewan (as am I, but that’s not important right now) was dating a guy from New England in Los Angeles, his family thought it was “quaint” that she was Canadian. Thank you, Francesca, for nailing in your OP why this was so irritating to us. Being Canadian is quaint? It’s our freakin’ nationality, you pompous, overbred, undermannered tightass. It’s not “quaint”.
That’s it. London’s pretty cool in my book, so when I think of England I often think of London first. One of the world’s great cities, IMHO. As far as the bad food crack, I was making fun of traditional English cuisine- not every source of food on the island (and with tongue firmly in cheek- that’s what the blinkey guy is for fellas).
Thanks for the House of Lords info- we only get to see the guy with the powdered wig, or when one of the lords says something really stupid.
As for the requested sexual favors, sorry chum your just going to have to keep “helping the sheep over the fence.”
Oh, I forgot about the Yurpeens that come to Canada for a visit in the Maritimes, and think they’re going to rent a car and drive over to Vancouver for the weekend. Now, THAT’S quaint! (Here’s a clue; Americans measure distance in miles, Yurpeens measure distance in kilometers, and Canadians measure distance in hours.)
Francesca, your OP is spot-on. I’d add to it though, to include comments about:[list=a]
[li] Teeth - Mine are better then anyone from my wife’s family and they’re American (that probably means that they’re hicks and should be patronised as well).[/li][li] Warm beer - What a load of crap. Real ale is served at room temperature but most beer sold here is lager. Nice, ice cold, lager.[/li][li] Bad food - Huh? I’m guessing anyone who comes out with that crack hasn’t been to Britain. Tell you what, go to www.bbc.co.uk/food - browse a while. Does British food look bad?[/li][/list=a]
Also to be added to the list is mimicking the British accent (or for that matter Canadian - eh?, Australian - g’day) Why? D’you really think we appreciate the fact that you’ve watched Austin Powers? This isn’t just a SDMB thing. When I visited the US for the first time at least 2 people every day thought that hearing ‘the Queen’s English’ would be the funniest thing in the world - it wasn’t. It just made the person doing it look like a jerk.
The posters who drive-by with patronizing cultural stereotypes look like jerks too.
Dammit, I am going to say it. I didn’t say it before when I posted. It has to be said. I lived in England for seven years and I should know it.
In general, English food is not as good as in other European countries. That doesn’t mean there isn’t good food in England. That doesn’t mean there isn’t bad food elsewhere in Europe. IN GENERAL. And that’s why people generalise that food is bad in England–because you’re more likely to get a bad meal there, especially in restaurants.
There, I said it. I blatantly pandered to a stereotype. Go ahead, shoot me.
I grew up in Tucson, Arizona. My dad lived in Florida and I visited him once a year. People I met there all assumed that in Tucson it was all cowboys and indians, country music, teepees, etc.
I remember reading a Trixie Belden book once (preteen girl crime solving novels, like Nancy Drew sorta) where they went to Tucson. On the plane, the flight attendants were all native americans. One of them talked to Trixie and told her that the flights to Tucson always had all native american flight crew and then proceeded to tell Trixie what to expect. Her description included native american people “wearing colorful rugs”, cowboys in 10 gallon hats, etc. Good lord. I was so offended and embarrassed! (oh, and Trixie had bought a stetson, cowboy boots, etc to wear on the trip. Good lord.)
Duke, when you lived over here did people poke fun of your accent? Did they make cracks about American food. Americans all being fat? America having little or no history or culture?
If they did, were you pissed off?
My wife’s been here for two years, heard all that crap, and it’s pissed her (and me) off - Along with jokes about her being disabled, fat, part Native American, an immigrant and my being ‘Gyppo’.
Posting a drive-by just to take a cheap shot is not only unfunny but also jerkish, offensive and ignorant. It doesn’t matter if what you say is true, in general, or not. Making fun of a person’s nationality should be as big a no-no as making fun of a person’s sexuality or race.
My husband and I went to the UK for our 10th anniversary last summer. In general, the food was GREAT! Being vegetarians we were pleasantly surprised by all the options we had (far more than in the average American restaurant) and we developed a fondness for pub food as well. We had a great time and now we’re all itchy to go back!
This is the Pit, right? How did the above slip through? Compare and contrast:
snow (or 100% humidity, take your pick)
people walking around stuffing their faces
schoolkids shooting people for no apparent reason
people who have to rely on tips for a living wage
the idea of a televised lottery
people who undercook meat
vomit in the streets (erm, not that I know of, but facts schmacts)
young males who can barely talk (totally, dude?) whose entire lives seem to revolve around American football, piss poor beer, American football, American football, piss poor beer and more piss poor beer (it’s a bunch of educationally sub-normal guys running round a field breast-feeding a rugby ball, OK?)
a population where half the population says population too much
people who think the rest of the world likes their cretinous TV
people who think the rest of the world would be better offf without even a 3rd World healthcare system
No Heinz baked beans!!!
I could go on. “Stereotyping” is not in American dictionaries.
In all fairness, I’m not even British. I’m Micilin beag og of the quaint people, to be sure.
