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

[AmrasCalmacil]

*snip*

I see your bowler hat, and raise you one Earl Grey

Ugh, we have that at work. We all call it "Early gay" cause we hate it.

I'll have to see what I can shake out of my sleeve for my next trick- .. Ah, here we go!

Chavs!

I see your chavs and raise you the all-knowing power of Stephen Fry.

 

[littlerob]

I say old chap, I'm English, and I must say I rather prefer the 19th century gentleman stereotype to the most regrettable reality.

In fact, I happen to own quite an extensive collection of hats, or both the top- and bowler variety. Indeed, it brings me great pleasure to wear them out to pubs and clubs (though only one at a time of course, my dear fellow), along with my cape and cane, for the sole objective of causing bewildered consternation in any observers. It is my most fervent ambition to one day acquire a monocle, so that I may complete my image and be a most convincing nineteenth-century gentleman.

(I'm 19, and all of the above is true. True, I get some funny looks, but you wouldn't believe how easy it is to pick people up when you're wearing a cape and a top hat in an 80's nightclub. I really do want a monocle though. That would just mak my entire life)

 

[Spirit_Of_Fire]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgPH0tYXJrA&feature=PlayList&p=ADE6F95CE00FC12C&index=11&playnext=6&playnext_from=PL
A short clip from austin powers. Alot of people think we speak like this but we dont, although some of the phrases are still used.

 

[Ghostkai]

I'm British (English specifically) but I don't like tea or crumpets. Is there something wrong with me?

In a nutshell. Yes. I shan't go into details what the Queen would do to you if she found out.

Whenever I hear stereotypes about us all loving tea, and having bad teeth, eating crumpets and talking like the queen I laugh. Seems the stereotype of a british person of that of a English Gentleman about 150 years ago.

 

[Bucket0Bones]

I'm British/English so i can't really say, but i guess the main stereotype of us is that of tea drinking, crumpet eating, cricket playing people with bad teeth and posh accents.

 

[queensbomb]

Whenever I think about Britain,for some reason an image pops into my mind with a small (Like tiny) park this surrounded by pure white houses that are smashed together with absolutely no lawns. The only colors I see are blazing white, green, and the only brown I see is the bark on the tree.

 

[Hookman]

For some reason so many people think that every British person nows the queen or the Prime Minister. When I told this to Mr. Brown at our weekly tennis match he laughed his head off.

 

[rowan-thats-me]

all of you brits are stuck up pricks who think they're better than everyone else

Spoiler

I kid, I kid, but that is a stereotype

'tis true though, we are better than everyone else >

of course we are, we didnt make a television programme called "fat march"

 

[Kajt]

I think of either a tee drinking fancy pants or a drunk Scottish guy.

what about a black scottish cyclops, do you think of them?

Spot on, lad!

 

[Deathsong17]

Really bad teeth, hats, tea and biscuits, silly walks (probably the best thing to ever come out of brittain) and a society where everyone is in love with the queen.

Actually only old people and Britans Got Talent employees love the Queen, no one else likes or cares about the Queen.

 

[C14N]

Douche-baggy. Seriously, all I think about when I hear "Britain" is a country that likes to grab as much land as possible and then treat the people who live there like dirt.

You see have you actually studied the British Empire? If you had you'd know that not only were the British the first people to ban the slave trade and slavery for that matter, they were also by far not the worst. Take King Leopold II of Belgium for instance, he built up an empire entirely for himself and was horribly cruel to all the people who lived there. E.g. Cutting off people's hands etc.

It can also be argued that Britain's motives were intended to be beneficial to the people who lived there. At the time it was know as the 'White Man's Burden' and basically people though they were doing them a favour by introducing these people to civilisation, commerce and christianity and in a lot of cases this really did work, looking at South Africa or Egypt are good examples.

Sorry to have gone all nazi on you here but I just can't stand it when people try to slag Britain off about the empire, it just shows a huge lack of knowledge in the area.

I think he's actually referring to the whole Ireland Independence thing, seeing as how he comes from there.

Yes that's one of the things but it's pretty much happened all over the place. India, Austrailia, the African colonies. Wtf was the point in fighting for the Falkland Islands?

Being Irish I do have quite a bit of knowledge in what the British Empire has done to us. Ever see the film "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"?

Basically what happened to us was Henry II sent in the Normans in the 12th Century and since then we've been treated pretty damn badly. The Plantations were more bad news for us, and when Britain sent soldiers to torture Catholics and force them to become Protestant. Even when Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith went to Westminister to negotiate a deal in the early 20th century, they were forced into signing the Treaty without being able to contact de Valera about it which led to a civil war.

Not to mention the brutality of the Black and Tans and the police in the north up to very recently. The Unionists made sure the Nationalists couldn't get into go government. Back around 1920 if one English policeman was killed the Black and Tans went on a rampage. The went around burning buildings, looting towns and killing prisoners to scare people in the IRA and all of this was supported by the government at the time.

During WW1 Irish men were forced into conscription and our leaders were arrested for opposing it.

Now I'll admit we weren't so great ourselves (the 1916 rising was ridiculous and so was the new IRA) but it was our country and it was almost entirely retailiation. The only plus is we now speak the English language which is good for talking to the rest of the world but not really worth 700 odd years of suffering. Also, the Irish language is now dying which is bad.

Now maybe you're history books give a more rose tinted account of what happened but ours sure don't make you guys out to have a fantastic history of us.

 

[Sparrow]

You forgot to mention that top hats are FUCKING A.

No, seriously. I dressed up as a Typical Englishman for Halloween once, just because I found a tophat. T'was bitchin'.