What sterotypes do you think of when someone talks about Britain?

[countrysteaksauce]

British people are incapable of pronouncing the letter H.

 

[Insanum]

I imagine people who drink tea and eat crumpets while talking to each other about why they hate the US.

...I can honestly say I have never seen anyone wearing a bowler hat except as a joke. As for the posh people drinking tea and talking about Polo, most people in the UK drink only white cider and think Polo is a type of mint.

Lol i immediately thought of the VW polo. But yeah, Mints too.

 

[Lord George]

Well...uhhh...ehh...I........just watch this video to help me explain

http://www.hulu.com/watch/3516/saturday-night-live-hedley-and-wyche

#

I find it ironic that's posted on Hulu and inaccessible to people outside the US, so we will never know what you think.

 

[Guitar Gamer]

The steriotypes that reach Canada or at least B.C are that you guys are (mind you I know better these are just what gets here) uptight aristocrats who love nothing more than to drink and eat tea and crumpets, Also you live where it is always overcast or raining, dental hygiene is still etchy. Also manners is of the up most importance over there, But that's just what reaches us in our small town so I kinda think something is a little incorrect about it
editps I forgot cricket and inability to pronounce the letter H (ello motha, ave you idden my atchet)

 

[Nargleblarg]

Well...uhhh...ehh...I........just watch this video to help me explain

http://www.hulu.com/watch/3516/saturday-night-live-hedley-and-wyche

#

I find it ironic that's posted on Hulu and inaccessible to people outside the US, so we will never know what you think.

Oh uhh try this maybe

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=23497316

maybe not or this

http://www.truveo.com/Saturday-Night-Live-Hedley-and-Wyche/id/908078810

come on one of these must work...or maybe not its all Hulu =(

aww F*** Hulu

 

[Thyunda]

The steriotypes that reach Canada or at least B.C are that you guys are (mind you I know better these are just what gets here) uptight aristocrats who love nothing more than to drink and eat tea and crumpets, Also you live where it is always overcast or raining, dental hygiene is still etchy. Also manners is of the up most importance over there, But that's just what reaches us in our small town so I kinda think something is a little incorrect about it
editps I forgot cricket and inability to pronounce the letter H (ello motha, ave you idden my atchet)

We don't just drink tea and eat crumpets. We also look down on homeless people.

 

[Guitar Gamer]

The steriotypes that reach Canada or at least B.C are that you guys are (mind you I know better these are just what gets here) uptight aristocrats who love nothing more than to drink and eat tea and crumpets, Also you live where it is always overcast or raining, dental hygiene is still etchy. Also manners is of the up most importance over there, But that's just what reaches us in our small town so I kinda think something is a little incorrect about it
editps I forgot cricket and inability to pronounce the letter H (ello motha, ave you idden my atchet)

We don't just drink tea and eat crumpets. We also look down on homeless people.

right right sorry

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

Let's see, things I think about when I hear 'Britain'....

-Awesome televised politics
-The apparent hatred for anyone under the age of 25 that English people have
-Hugh Laurie
-Horrifying pictures of CCTV cameras on every street corner

 

[Stakhanov]

Scottish stereotypes: rain, nothing under the kilt, haggis, Robert Burns, Francis Begbie, William Wallace, the Sean Connery voice.

People always miss Irn-Bru, the quintessential Scottish drink apart from whisky.

As for stereotypes of the English: rain, parliament, John Steed, David Niven, Vinnie Jones, teeth.
Stereotypes of the Welsh: rain, sheep, singing.
Stereotypes of the Northern Irish: all the standard Irish ones plus Ian Paisley. "Saint's and begorrah! Will ye no take a Guiness now? To be sure, to be sure. etc. etc."

 

[Harlemura]

pip pip tally ho, lets all go play cricket then have barley water and scones to celebrate old chap

I think this phrase is brilliance! I'm gonna see if I can work it into a conversation...

Bad teeth's one I see pop up a lot, alongside tea and crumpets. Always in that order, never "crumpets and tea".

 

[The Rusk]

That all Britons know the Queen... and at least one Dave.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Tea and Crumpets/ Talking about the US and their cheeseburgers.

 

[Jettling]

Most of the stereotypes are specific to different parts of Britain, where i live, we drink lots of tea, eat fish 'n' chips, have a silly amount of rain and have chavs...

 

[Beldaros]

lol, this is a funny thread. BTW I'm welsh and 6"2 so the short welsh thing really made me laugh. Also, fun fact- There are more sheep in the west midlands then in wales. I despise monarchy.

 

[Grab-bag]

I now see britain as a land of chavs and labelling such as emo, goth. Either that but the classic is "Hello old chap...crumpets?" But no, we are not posh are we Jeeves?

 

[MajorDooshbag]

Well after seeing Snatch and Hot Fuzz the only thing I can think of when it comes to people in the UK is them speaking with accents so heavy that I have no idea what they're saying.

Speaking of cockney accents, there's this hilarious video on the Daily show where John Oliver gets forced to read a bit in an atrocious cockney accent.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=86564&title=Royal-Watcher

 

[ace_of_something]

Before I went to england I imagined it was the victorian era still. Everyone dressed in suits and gowns with an unreconizable cockney (is it cockney or cockny?) accent with bad teeth. After I went there. I think it's pretty much the same as americans except you're more likely to wear a dress hat.
I also adhere to the stereotype that most english people wait until they meet an american, any american, to suddenly grill them on one of the following
1) american history
2) world history
3) world politics
4) religious debate
If you do answer to their satisfaction you will be met with at best a smug smile and the correct answer and at worst they will call you some funny sounding words and storm off. I'm about 200cm though so most did not do much other than seem pleased with themselves for taking me down a peg or something.

edit: Eventually I would just answer "I watch the news/read the paper" or "That's a very rude question where I'm from" the second worked a lot better again; I'm 6'6" (about 200cm)

 

[ThePocketWeasel]

I'm sure this has been mentioned a million times already but the common insult [Always from Americans, I'm sorry but personally I've never had anyone else say it] is either 'Go eat your tea and crumpets' or 'Go brush your teeth'

 

[Trivun]

Bookmarked to see what the world thinks of us.
I imagine it's all tea, rain, warm beer, top hats etc.

But warm beer is nice! Not lager but bitter or stout is.

Agreed with this. I hate a warm lager but stout is good That said, I prefer pear cider, anything that's proper Somerset (and not Strongbow, that tastes like cat piss). I like to think the British sterotype as seen by the rest of the world is a pretty nice one, based on good old-fashioned values. Or possibly just the stuff from that Simpsons episode where they go to London. That'd be nice...

Pip pip, cheerio then

(gets driven away in a Mercedes by Chives the butler)

 

[xxDarlenexx]

I've actually BEEN to England, so on the whole I'd say that the British are a clean and very friendly people that smile a lot. Their subway system is the easiest to understand right off the bat, and their food is great and usually tastes home made. They are also confused by snow, apparently 'cause it rarely does? At least that's what happened when I was there.

OH! And they love Cadbury chocolate! Every place we went to had a vending machine of JUST Cadbury chocolates.