frankly im curious as to what americans think of people this side of the atlantic. overhere there is a stereotype of a bunch of Billy Bobs with guns shootin up sum varmint for they’ meal. but of course i know thats not true i just wanna know what the equivalent stereotype is and what normal (or as normal as there is on this site) americans think of english people.
ps i would be happy to answer questions, a ‘bloke’ is a guy goddamn i get that one a lot
i like em! they drink lots of lager, stout and play proper darts! plus, after watching BBC America, i feel pretty damn attractive!
i had an english roommate for a while, and we had a grand time. taught me all kinds of slang, like “bollocks”, and had a subscription to “Viz”, which i found ammusing to no end.
as far as sterotypes, i cant realy think of any that are too common where i come from. i guess maybe the “upper-class twit” popularized by M. Python comes closest…
Q: “why do the english drink warm beer?”
A: “Lucas Electrics”
Q: “how do you stop a Triumph from leaking oil?”
A: “stop putting it in!”
Some of us English chaps know a little more about the US than ‘a bunch of Billy Bobs with guns shootin up sum varmint for their meal’.
America is far larger than the UK, with a wide range of climates, population densities, cultural backgrounds etc.
Presumably your stereotype is based on a Hollywood film set in the Lousiana swamps (‘Southern Comfort’ or ‘Deliverence’ perhaps). What images do Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas, Chicago, New England, Wisconsin, New York and Boston (to take a small sample) conjure up for you?
Anyway good luck finding upper-case on your keyboard…
I’ve got this image in my head that British people are all quite intelligent, loquacious, and mildly amused by us hick amurrikans. All I know about the British is what I see on PBS. I guess you can tell that I get a bad case of inferiority complex because I don’t have a beautiful English accent to make me sound like I’m smart.
Just kidding. I met an older, retired English couple on who were on vacation in Alexandria, Virginia where I live. They asked me for directions and we had a bit of a conversation. They were incredibly nice and I hope they liked my home.
Do you live on Sark, or do you just like the name?
There may be the notion that a good portion of England is stuck in a time warp. There is still a great deal of popularity in Gilbert & Sullivan, British Imperialism, Victorian England, Jeeves and Wooster, and when that kind of thing is imported to the States, it might foster the impression that British subjects are just discovering the telephone and the radio. Never mind such things as space travel and the internet.
Also, from what I see of the Brit Coms (British Comedies imported by our Public Television Stations) such as As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances and A Fine Romance, English people are rather more mannered and polite than us Yanks. They rarely raise their voices, it seems. Very proper. Almost aristocratic. An American would never speak or react that way. I think we’re much more vehement than you, on the whole.
By the way, the Billy Bobs shootin’ up some varmint for their meal is a stereotype Northern and urban Americans have of our Southern and rural cousins. Then again, I live just outside New York City, and the stereotypes (not all of them undeserved) are rife for blokes in my neck of the woods, too.
One question for you: Where can I get those cool glasses that English pubs serve their pints in? I’d love a set of those.
This is a great place to meet folks from all over, btw. I’ve learned more “straight dope” from this admittedly eccentric crew than can be imagined.
I’d guess a lot of Americans get their impressions of Brits from television and movies, just like you have of us. And it’s probably just as wildly inaccurate.
Overall most of us probably have an impression that Brits are more polite, certainly quieter and more reserved. (Who ISN’T? Except maybe Brazilians. <smiles> ) Part of it is PBS and Merchant Ivory overload. And of course your gorgeous accents.
Other stuff? Hmmmm. Generally: a strong bias toward fairness, a HUGE sense of humor and the ridiculous, steadiness…
I’m rambling but is that what you mean?
Veb
P.S. As a hint, do please try to use capitalization. It makes text much easier to read. Dopers will bug you about it because there’s so much to read here and it’s just a courtesy to help get your thoughts across.
When I think of the English I think of:
-A wicked, dry, delightful sense of humor.
-Sexual complexes. Uptight and slutty residing in conflict
in each person ( think Hugh Grant)
-The youg people seem less mature. I noticed in England and Ireland that the people who were my age (mid-20’s) still seemed to dress, act, live and work like the teenagers and college students do in America.
-More of a readiness than Americans to be practical and accept reality.
Yes, Izzardesque, they have the glasses I want. Thanks for the link.
But I wonder, since the price they show is in pounds, whether it’s a good price, or what the exchange rate is, or just how I’d be able to handle the transaction, should I wish.
Dave, I can’t help you with prices, all of my pint glasses were liberated by friends or by me very late at night in the pub (eg someone suggests a take away & you haven’t finished your pint. It would be a sin to waste it, so you walk off with the glass - I think this is the real main reason why the student’s union used to use plastic pint glasses, not breakages at all).
Re the accents - how common is it that Americans think an English accent is sexy? Several people have mentioned it in this thread & Una thinks so too (luckily for me ;)) - she says I even moan with an accent! :o
Americans love British accents. They generally can’t distinguish between the various ones the way you can (I think that we think that you have two accents: Queen’s English, and cockney), but we love them all the same. We commonly attempt to imitate them, generally unsuccessfully. British accents sound intelligent and polite, somehow, and particularly witty.
My prejudice of Brits before I really met any was of a polite, mannered, well spoken and reserved bunch. Perhaps a bit bureaucratic, but well meaning.
Then I met a few and was in the country a couple of times. My stereotype switched over to an arrogant bunch of drunken yobs. They drink more than the Germans, but don’t hold their liquor nearly as well. On average they could drink any American under the table, and when drunk are loud, obnoxious and dangerous.
Fortunately I am sensible enough to know that the truth likely lies between these two extremes.
[sub]Oh, and they may have the most bizarre economy which I have ever encountered.[/sub]
Yeah, this Aussie is curious about that too. Years ago, I lived at Bondi Beach with my sister. Bondi is a famous hang-out for British backpackers in Sydney, and my sister asked me, “Have you ever noticed how the Pommy (English) guys get into drag after a few beers?” She was right. It isn’t merely popular; they always do it. Usually, it’s the girls’ idea, and they spend a half hour or so helping the guys with their makeup, and giggling hysterically.
“Ooo-er! We are being ever so naughty, what?”
There’s almost a touch of the anglophile about this particular Doper. I like English culture, comedy, and a whole heap of other stuff. But as a former Bondi boy, I gotta say that UK backpackers are completely unspeakable. Loudmouthed, drunken yobs complaining about how “those awful Orrrstralians are sooo uncultured”.
As a Brit who has lived, worked, traveled, studied in the US and has US family, I can confirm that the accent (mine’s more Hugh Grant than Cockney) goes down well, especially when hitch hiking.
But as someone who’s lived overseas most of his adult life and only gets back to the UK once in a while, I do find the lager louts gross, the teeth bad, and the obsession with soccer bizarre.
Then again, when I go the US, I wonder - can’t you people walk 200 yds rather than take the car? Can’t you spend more than 5 minutes without guzzling some sugar-laden liquid (they even have cup holders on supermarket trolleys now). I live in Hong Kong, and what passes for “normal” to me here is something else altogether.
Sophie - you’ve read Bill Bryson’s book “Notes From a Small Island” right? It’ll tell you all you want to know.
It may well be true that we Brits don’t perfect our teeth as much as the Americans.
Perhaps it’s to do with money (you’re richer) or Hollywood (all US film stars have perfect teeth; Brit TV stars don’t.)
Difficult to be any more precise about this.
Pantomime (a Christmas season theatre genre) is very popular here. (Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!)
The kids come for the slapstick and the silly jokes and the adults come for … much the same.
But the female lead often dresses as a man (showing lots of leg though ), and there is often a Dame or Ugly Sister, which is a man dressed up as a woman.
So maybe that’s why.
Nope, our police don’t carry guns. (We have a completely different attitude to guns from the US.)
There is an armed response unit, who get special training.
Also some airports (Heathrow for sure) have police armed with sub-machine guns. A response to hijacking (it’s been in use for years).
Well it’s cheap and easy to play anywhere. You don’t need to be a particular size or shape.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy American football (and basketball).
But you need special padding, referees and certain physical types to play it, plus a thoroughly marked field.
Also (don’t be too offended) soccer is played world-wide. The World Cup qualifiers cover all continents and (I guess) well over 100 countries.
Your baseball ‘World’ Series is played in how many countries? :rolleyes:
Finally, never judge a culture by its drunks or backpackers!
Interesting reading this. Before I go any further I’ll get the usual moan out of the way…
Please learn to differentiate between English & British. They are not synomyns. Some of the characteristics mentioned I would identify as very English, but not British. Like the dressing up as women. This is, IMHO, a peculiarly English humour. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen anywhere else, but the rest of the British don’t seem to find it half as hilarious.
Other points;
-Dentistry. Yeah, it seems we’re not as hung up on this as Americans. Perhaps we do have worse teeth, but it seems that a lot of what the Americans go through with the ironmongery on their teeth is just get perfectly uniform and symetrical teeth. Really, unless they’re hidiously crooked, is it worth it? Who wants a smile that’s identical to everyone elses?
No, most police don’t carry guns. But then, neither does anyone else. We like it that way. I was interested in another thread where someone mentioned they carry knives on them. Get caught doing that in the UK without a good reason and you’ll be invited down the police station. And no, self-defense doesn’t count as a good reason.
‘Soccer’. It’s the best team sport in the world. That’s why.
-Accents. We think it’s funny that you think all ‘British’ accents are refined and educated. Just goes to show that accent evaluation is all personal prejudice. Yeah, and when you say British accent you usually mean English. When you encounter a Scottish accent you are either have no idea where it’s from (Irish maybe?) or call it Scottish, not British.
-Drink. Americans don’t understand pub culture. It has its ugly side, but its not nearly as seedy as the American version. Hanging out in bars in the US has lots of negative connotations that don’t apply in the UK. Of course the amount you drink when you’re there is another matter. In my experience Americans don’t drink as much when they’re out, but make up for it at home.
I’m obviously out of touch. I’ve never heard of a “mondo” movie. (Mondo = Spanish for “world”, right? That’s all I know.) There are some strange tastes in movies here, but the same goes for music (ever heard Cantopop?), food (ever eaten dog? Actually, I don’t mind it), ever thought a 400 sq ft apartment is a suitable home for a family of 5?
Now you’ve got me intrigued. What IS a mondo movie?
), and there is often a Dame or Ugly Sister, which is a man dressed up as a woman.