# Quintessentially British objects **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860 "2009-04-03T14:55:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/41 "2009-04-04T17:54:47Z")
The Allied aircraft “bullseye” symbol, in silhouette. What? ---
**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:** [April 4, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/42 "2009-04-04T18:02:51Z")
A bagpiper in kilt A sheep A homeless Irish navvy ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/43 "2009-04-04T18:07:12Z")
A butcher’s apron. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/44 "2009-04-04T18:12:07Z")
An Overpaid Banker. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/45 "2009-04-05T03:35:02Z")
007 Oxford skyline - City of the Dreaming Spires Bristol suspension bridge Roast beef - probably not great in sillouette. Okay, okay - Clifton Suspension Bridge! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/46 "2009-04-05T04:06:56Z")
[A bowler hat and umbrella](http://comp.webstockpro.com/digitalvision/dv1151085.jpg) [A palace guard](http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1962935-Guard_at_Buckingham_Palace-London.jpg) [A bobby](http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-bobby/image_large) ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/47 "2009-04-05T06:15:50Z")
I think there’s definitely a hat theme if you want - bowler hats, silly police hats, even sillier “why yes I am wearing three vertical feet of bear fur on my head” bearskin hat. Black cabs would be easier to depict in silhouette, I imagine, as would a teapot. Or how about the Beatles? > [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > A toast rack, not sure how to represent it in silhouette but it’s the ‘britishist’ thing I can think of. Ooh, ooh, long-forgotten question has surfaced in my mind: what, exactly, is the benefit gained from a toast rack? I mean, I understand that you make your toast and then…put it in the toast rack for serving, I guess, in a family breakfast or something, but…why? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/48 "2009-04-05T06:46:29Z")
The London Stone The White Tower Ravens at the Tower of London The Crown Jewels Any Arthurian imagery ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/49 "2009-04-05T06:53:04Z")
A red post box. ---
**Author:** ![Rin\_Twisted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Rin\_Twisted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rin_Twisted)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/50 "2009-04-05T07:02:24Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Ooh, ooh, long-forgotten question has surfaced in my mind: what, exactly, is the benefit gained from a toast rack? I mean, I understand that you make your toast and then…put it in the toast rack for serving, I guess, in a family breakfast or something, but…why? I’m not British, but my father is, so I asked him. He says that instead of passing around a plate of stacked toast around the breakfast table, they’d use a toast rack. That way, instead of the plated toast in getting soggy due to steam going straight into the slice above it, the steam would escape elsewhere and leave the toast nice and crisp. He didn’t seem especially enthused about the contraption, though- says the toast dried out too quickly that way. I’d like to second **Little Nemo** ’s nomination of palace guards. Those hats were the first thing that came to my mind. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/51 "2009-04-05T07:36:54Z")
A whole bunch of illegal immigrants being dragged off a container lorry. People signing on at the Dole office 13 year old kids buying booze and ciggies at the corner shop Plus what **jjimm** said ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/52 "2009-04-05T08:29:04Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > And we can’t rely on the ‘intelligence’ of the civil servants to have to work too hard to get it 😃 I was about to post my perspective as someone who actually is a civil servant, but then read this and thought “why bother?”. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/53 "2009-04-05T08:31:42Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > I was about to post my perspective as someone who actually is a civil servant, but then read this and thought “why bother?”. Yes, it is very much a cheap, immature shot. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/54 "2009-04-05T09:30:10Z")
Most of the ones I was going to suggest have already been mentioned, but I’ll add: Jaguar (or Rolls-Royce) motorcar Lee-Enfield rifle Darts (and dart board) _The Times_ (not sure how you’d render that in silhouette, but there you go) _The Flying Scotsman_ Harrier Jump Jet Gas-lamp Steam Engine (industrial or locomotive, take your pick) Candlestick Telephone Steamship Pith Helmet Monopoly Board Quaint Village With A Terrible Secret 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/55 "2009-04-05T15:40:49Z")
London Eye Wembley Stadium (old one and new) Changing of the Guard Angel of the North Traffic jam on M25 Sausage and mash Jellied eels Miners trudging t’pit ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/56 "2009-04-05T16:29:28Z")
Rain drops Apples Bucket and Spade Roses The problem though is that we’ve all become so homogenised now that we’re losing our cultural identities. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/57 "2009-04-05T18:53:27Z")
“To see the English mist roll through the dell” \>\>Roger Whittaker voice\<\< ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/58 "2009-04-06T00:04:40Z")
Ok, which idiot suggested a cricket bat, I mean the English are’nt even good at the game, keep getting whipped by ex colonials. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/59 "2009-04-06T07:22:31Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Ok, which idiot suggested a cricket bat, I mean the English are’nt even good at the game, keep getting whipped by ex colonials. Well if we didn’t let you win you ex-cons and descendants of would steal things off us:D ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860/60 "2009-04-06T08:32:43Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Quaint Village With A Terrible Secret 😛 Ha, awesome. Now I feel like watching _Midsomer Murders_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quintessentially-british-objects/491860.md?page=4)