# Omigod, I'm British! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302 "2004-04-27T16:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/1 "2004-04-27T16:56:03Z")
LONDON (AP) – What makes Britons British? Fish and chips, drinking tea, and the queen, according to them. The Beatles, a traditional cooked breakfast of sausages and eggs and Buckingham Palace also made a list published Tuesday of people, places and pastimes that define Britain. Top of the 100 Distinctly British Greats list was food—fish and chips tied with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for first place, each nominated by 73 percent of people. Queen Elizabeth II was in third place, chosen by 64 percent of voters, followed by Buckingham Palace in fourth with 58 percent. Next came the cooked English breakfast (56 percent), The Beatles and the Houses of Parliament (both 55 percent), chain store Marks & Spencer (53 percent), the master painter Constable (52 percent) and drinking tea (51 percent). Other things that made the list were traits such as queuing, keeping a stiff upper lip and an unwillingness to tackle foreign languages. —I love tea and roast beef, some of my best friends are queens, I can’t speak any foreign languages, I enjoy Beatles music and Constable paintings, and have even been to Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament! Bloody 'ell, old toff, mayen’t I get a Green Card now? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/2 "2004-04-27T16:59:02Z")
I don’t know any queens, but crikey, I’m British then too. Pip, pip…cheerio. Lay back and think of England! Ta! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/3 "2004-04-27T17:49:58Z")
Hey, I own a Constable watercolor and just spewed tea on my monitor. Colour me British! Tally hoe. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/4 "2004-04-27T17:57:11Z")
Now, I thought finding men dress in women’s clothing to be the funniest thing on Earth was the key compenent of Britishness. I kid 'cause I love. 🙂 Or, according to Monty Python… _Are you embarrassed easily? I am. But it’s nothing to worry about. It’s all part of growing up and being British._ ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/5 "2004-04-27T17:58:51Z")
I drink tea every day! I also love the Beatles, fish and chips, roast beef, and I have been to Buckingham Palace too! Blimey!!! ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/6 "2004-04-27T18:06:48Z")
Hmmm… I think the results are seriously suspect. I notice that “Having extremely crooked and discolored teeth” didn’t make the list. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/7 "2004-04-27T19:33:23Z")
Awright! What’s all this then?! Oh, sorry, wrong Constable. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/8 "2004-04-27T19:54:31Z")
Lesse…I love the Beatles…sausages…roast beef…I am allergic to fish, but I enjoy chips (those are fries…right?)…I am allergic to eggs…I drink tea almost everday…I have never been to London, but I am dying to go…and I have perfectly straight and white teeth (braces and whiting toothpaste, if you must know) So what does that make me? Almost British? Poser British? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/9 "2004-04-27T20:16:39Z")
> [@flamingbananas](#): > > Lesse…I love the Beatles…sausages…roast beef…I am allergic to fish, but I enjoy chips (those are fries…right?)…I am allergic to eggs…I drink tea almost everday…I have never been to London, but I am dying to go…and I have perfectly straight and white teeth (braces and whiting toothpaste, if you must know) > > So what does that make me? Almost British? Poser British? Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/10 "2004-04-27T20:18:33Z")
I’m Welsh! So uh… what do Welsh people do? ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/11 "2004-04-27T20:22:21Z")
Sing, work in coal mines, and look like Roddy McDowell in “How Green Was My Valley.” Even the women. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/12 "2004-04-27T20:31:21Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > Sing, work in coal mines, and look like Roddy McDowell in “How Green Was My Valley.” Even the women. _rasies eyebrows_ Ummmm… cool? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/13 "2004-04-27T20:33:47Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > Sing, work in coal mines, and look like Roddy McDowell in “How Green Was My Valley.” Even the women. Just don’t mention the sheep. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/14 "2004-04-27T20:38:10Z")
I think you will need to understand Soccer, Rugby and or Cricket as well. I can just imagine **Eve** sitting watching cricket on a warm sunny day, reading a good novel and sipping a Pimms. Sorry but I think **Eve** is quite deffinately English, from somewhere in the Home Counties, but living now in a ‘little’ Chelsea pad. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/15 "2004-04-27T20:38:11Z")
“It’s a ghastly place. Huge gangs of tough sinewy men roam the valleys terrorising people with their close-harmony singing. You need half a pint of phlegm in your throat just to pronounce the placenames. Never ask for directions in Wales, you’ll be washing spit out of your hair for a fortnight.” ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/16 "2004-04-27T20:52:55Z")
I don’t like drinking tea, so does this mean Im not British? If not, what am I then? Oh, I’m so confussed! I _like_ being British! I get to use words like ‘bloody hell’ and ‘snogging’! ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/17 "2004-04-27T20:55:02Z")
> [@flamingbananas](#): > > I’m Welsh! So uh… what do Welsh people do? Sheep. _Starts running_ ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/18 "2004-04-27T21:00:10Z")
I drink iced tea a lot. I like roast beef. I like sausages and eggs. I like fish and chips (fries, please!). I know lots of queens (hell, I am one). I’ve eaten Yorkshire pudding and liked it. I grew up Episcopal (The Ahmurkin version of the Church of England). Am I close? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/19 "2004-04-27T21:06:39Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > I drink iced tea a lot. I like roast beef. I like sausages and eggs. I like fish and chips (fries, please!). I know lots of queens (hell, I am one). I’ve eaten Yorkshire pudding and liked it. I grew up Episcopal (The Ahmurkin version of the Church of England). Am I close? Nope. I’m afraid that although you do meet most requirements, you drink _iced_ tea. Cold tea of any sort is evil, and hence, no, you’re not even close. You don’t want to know what we do to iced tea drinkers… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302/20 "2004-04-27T21:30:46Z")
I love tea. And fish-n-chips. Always felt a little attached to the Queen. Adore English breakfasts, the Beatles and I’ve actually watched a cricket match. And I’ve watched Man. Utd. play. (At a Mexican restaurant, but it still counts!) Doeus this meaun I muust staurt adding extra letteurs to words at randoum? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-im-british/242302.md?page=2)