Boscatto Intercultural learning 02.06.

2020

Stereotypes: how foreigners see the British

1. The British Are Not Straightforward, Keep A Stiff Upper Lip, And Won’t
Tell You Things To Your Face
“The English have no soul, they have the understatement instead.” -George Mikes-

Of course it’s intended as a joke, meaning that most British people are not straightforward, open
and passionate like Americans, Italians or other cultures can be when expressing their feelings. It’s
quite rare to see Brits showing their true emotions as they tend to put on a brave face in each and
every situation.
The British are not straightforward. All on the contrary, they are the kings of understatement.

“People on the Continent either tell you the truth or lie. In England they hardly ever
lie, but they would not dream of telling you the truth. ” -George Mikes-

Try to bump into people on the Tube to see what happens – almost invariably they will apologise.
Try to jump the queue, they won’t say a word. Try to ask somebody experiencing something
negative how they are: they will reply they are OK instead of admitting things are catastrophic.
Most Brits will not complain about someone to their face, because they expect the person to pick
up on subtle clues and don’t want to have an outright confrontation about it.

“You must never complain. Complaining is very un-English. The stiff-upper lip is the
British way. Whatever happens, remember the new national slogan: ‘It’s one of
those things’. When your brand-new toasting machine goes up in flames and toasts
you instead of your bread, you nod: ‘It’s one of those things’ and the matter is
closed… ” – George Mikes –

Understatement is a way of life in Great Britain. It also means the British tend to be subtle and
sarcastic when insulting people so you may not have the feeling you’re being insulted.
That said, if you really get to know a Brit, they, like anybody else, can be very direct and even
crude.

2. The British Love Talking About the Weather

This is the most important topic in the land, an ever thrilling, ever-interesting topic and you must
be good at discussing the weather.
Examples for conversation:
[George Mikes, “How to be an alien”]

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For good weather:

“Lovely day isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

“The sun…”

“Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“Wonderful, isn’t it?”

“It’s so nice and hot…”

“Personally I think it’s so nice when it’s hot, isn’t it?”

“I adore it, don’t you?”

For bad weather:

“Nasty day, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t it dreadful?”
“The rain, I hate the rain…”
“I don’t like it at all, do you?”
“Fancy such a day in July. Rain in the morning, then a bit of sunshine, and then rain,
rain, rain all day long”.
“I remember exactly the same July in 1985”
“Yes, I remember, too”
“Or was it 1983?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Or in 1980?”
“Yes, that’s right!”

George Mikes in his humorous commentaries maintained that in England, if you don’t repeat
“Lovely day” at least 200 times a day, you are considered a bit dull. You should never contradict
anybody when discussing the weather. Should it hail and snow, and should someone remark to
you: “Nice day, isn’t it?” Answer without hesitation: “Isn’t it lovely?”.

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Oscar Wilde famously condemned it as the “last refuge of the unimaginative” but research shows
that six in 10 Britons use talking about the weather as a social prop.
The conversation turns to their climate at least once every six hours. Some deem the topic of such
interest that they use it as an icebreaker.

3. The British Love Tea

“The trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink. So a group of
the most eminent British scientists put their heads together, and made
complicated biological experiments to find a way of spoiling it. To the eternal
glory of British science, their labour bore fruit. They suggested that, if you don’t
drink it clear, or with lemon or rum and sugar, but pour a few drops of cold
milk into it, and no sugar at all, the desired object is achieved. Once this
aromatic, refreshing, oriental beverage was successfully transformed into
colourless and tasteless gargling water, it suddenly became national drink in
Great Britain and Ireland – still retaining, indeed usurping, the high sounding
title of tea.” -George Mikes-

A cup of tea early in the morning is a good day starter. Then you have tea for breakfast, at 11am,
after lunch. Then you have tea for tea and after tea.
A cup of tea before going to bed is a must.
A minority claims to prefer coffee, but most British do love their cup of tea (or 15) a day. Always
with milk. Better if accompanied with scones.
Never refuse any additional cups of tea under the following circumstances:
If it’s hot, if it’s cold, if it’s warm, if it’s sunny, if it’s a rainy day. If you are tired, if you are
nervous, if you are gay, if you are not gay; if you feel like it, if you don’t feel like it; before you go
out, if you are out; if you visit your parents; if you visit your mother-in-law. If you have had no
tea for some hours; if you have just had a cup.

4. The British Love Queuing

“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.” – George
Mikes –

Queuing was simply a war-time expediency that stayed afterwards.

“In shops, the English stand in queues. In government offices, they sit in
queues. In churches, they kneel in queues. At sales time, they lie in queues all
night in Oxford Street.” -George Mikes-

The native British love order and discipline and queuing is a tradition and trademark of British
civilisation. And it’s a totally infectious habit: so much so that if you come from cultures where

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queuing is not common practice and you are suddenly catapulted into the British Kingdom of order
and politeness, you’ll quickly feel out of place if you don’t join in.
Let’s say that if you try to jump that orderly queue or somehow disrupt it, you’ll immediately stand
out as an outsider, even if no direct remarks will be addressed to you.
No matter how often you, the oblivious foreign visitor, keep standing on the fast left lane of the
escalator, blocking the passage of rushing passengers, the typical Brit will usually be too polite to
tell you, and may only hiss a simple “Excuse Me” instead of addressing you directly; even if, with
your behaviour, you are unwittingly causing them the major drawback of risking to miss their train,
a major appointment and to be late in their schedule.
WARNING: NEVER JUMP A QUEUE.
If you jump a queue, they will know you are not British, and this is enough to settle things but
mind you: queue-jumping is not appreciated at all.

“If the death penalty is ever to be restored in Britain, it will not be for murder,
but for queue jumping, the most heinous of all crimes.” –George Mikes-

5. The British are terrible at learning foreign languages

“A trueborn Englishman does not know any language. He does not speak
English too well either, but at least he is not proud of it. He is however
immensely proud of not knowing any languages.“ – George Mikes-

Half a century later, nothing seems to have changed that much. Even if this is not a rule, and things
have progressed, the average Briton will still declare that there is no use in learning a second
language. I found most of the British may know some basic Spanish or French but will hardly use it,
not even on holiday.
However, Brits who speak a foreign language well do exist nowadays. They mainly live in another
country where English is not spoken.

6. The British All Have Pale Skin

The typical Brit tends to have that pale skin complexion that turns bright red if exposed to the sun;
the lack of proper sunshine throughout the year doesn’t help even if your complexion is not so
pasty. On the other hand, Great Britain is such a melting pot of cultures that spotting a pure Brit
may take some effort.

7. All British Have Bad Teeth

According to dozens of jokes and the spy-spoof movie Austin Powers, British people are known to
have bad teeth. Whether you choose to whiten or straighten your teeth is a matter of fashion. In

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terms of dental health, what really matters is decay. On that measure, Britain does better than
many other countries around the world – including the United States.

8. The British Carry An Umbrella All The Time

In London it drizzles a lot. Drizzle is that light rain falling in very fine drops, which will tarnish you
and your glasses, but that, for the typical Brit, doesn’t actually justify carrying an umbrella.
Besides, the weather in Great Britain is so unpredictable that opening and closing an umbrella may
be deemed useless. And Londoners don’t have time to waste with opening and closing umbrellas,
do they?

9. In England It Rains Every Day

It really depends on the part of the UK we are talking about. If in northern England and in Scotland
rain is routine, in southern England it is not that much so, at least not to that extent; it’s more a
question of experiencing four seasons in one day. The problem with British weather is that it’s
terribly unpredictable. And that includes in London, of course...

“The British meteorologists forecast the right weather – as it really should be –

and then these impertinent little anti-cyclones interfere and mess up
everything. That again proves that if the British kept to themselves and did not
mix with foreign things like Polar and Azores anti-cyclones they would be
much better off...”- George Mikes-

10. Everyone in Britain Has A Plummy Accent And Talks Like The Queen
There are hundreds of distinctive regional accents across the UK and Standard English is itself a
synthetic language amalgamated from elements of regional languages. However, here’s a tip to
acquire a good accent:

“The easiest way to give the impression of having a good accent, or no foreign
accent at all, is to hold an unlit pipe in your mouth, to mutter between your
teeth and finish all your sentences with the question: “…isn’t it?”. People will not
understand much but they are accustomed to that and they will get an
excellent impression...”- George Mikes –

11. British Businessmen Wear Bowler Hats, Pinstripe Suits, Carry A

Newspaper Under One Arm And A Long, Unopened Umbrella In The Other
I believe I have seen some Brits dressed like this more often in some video clips or movies, but in
real life, it may be quite rare.

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12. British People Are Very Polite

British people are renowned for British politeness and that’s a fact. I’ve met a lot of British people
who lived up to their reputation: always saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, holding doors open for the
elderly or ladies, helping with your heavy luggage on the tube, even if you are a total stranger,
giving up seats for pregnant women and so on. Generally speaking, the British are well-mannered.
However, saying that they are all genuinely very polite may not be completely true. British people
have a somewhat different way of speaking and acting as compared to other cultures. A lot of
Brits, especially the English, use words like “sorry”,” excuse me”,” thank you” almost as
punctuation. But that doesn’t mean they are really sorry or thankful.
Try to listen to some leave supporters (or read their comments on the Brexit topic) or go to a
football match in polite old England. You will see just how nice and polite British people can get.
However, in less passionate and more everyday contexts, if the British say something that offends
you, they can then say, “Oh it was just a joke” to save the situation and avoid conflict.

13. British People Feel Superior Than Other Countries

That is in fact admitted by many Brits. While England is often highlighted as the bedrock of liberal
democracy, British people tend to have this sense of superiority towards other nationalities,
besides feeling themselves a totally separate entity from the rest of Europe. Does Brexit tell you
something? Even if they are, if only for now, European, or in the EU, you will often hear them
saying: “I will go to Europe this summer” instead of saying “I’m going to the continent this
summer” when speaking of their holiday plans in, say, Spain.

14. All British People Hate Other Nationalities

The British innate sense of superiority doesn’t mean hating other nationalities.
Well, not necessarily…
Ok, This is a complex topic.
TRUE: Some Brexiteers, have shown a certain aversion for everyone who’s not British and white,
and after the referendum, we witnessed things we wish we hadn’t seen in such a democratic
country in 2016. The recent racist incidents triggered by the Leave Brexit campaign didn’t take the
best out of this nation.
Let’s say that, before this UNNECESSARY Brexit referendum, Great Britain was still considered one
of the most democratic nations in the world, where multiculturalism hardly posed a problem.
If this remains true, only time will tell.
However, NO WORRIES. London voted IN, and it will remain very much OPEN towards expats of all
nationalities.

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For the rest of the country, we’ll come back to it… also because we still don’t know if the United
Kingdom will need to update its name to something more “appropriate” to its current status...

However, isn’t it funny that the areas which voted out because of immigration, were also the
least affected?

15. Most British People Live In London

According to census 2011, 45% of Londoners are white British.
84% of the British don’t live in the capital. London is mostly a city of immigrants and a melting-pot
of cultures, with large Italian, Polish, French, Spanish, Indian, Greek, and Bangladeshi communities,
to name just a few.

16. The British Are Reserved

The British, the English especially, are more reserved if compared to the standard southern
European or American and they’re generally more circumspect with strangers.
When socializing, the British do need a drink or two to unwind and become the kings or queens of
the conversation. However, to be fair, it depends very much on geography. In northern England or
in Scotland people are generally chattier and more sociable by nature. It’s easier to make friends
with the northern English or the Scottish than with the Londoner. The Londoner is also always
short of time and in a rush, looking at his wristwatch every two seconds.

17. In Great Britain, The Food Is Awful

“On the Continent people have good food; in England they have good table
manners”. – George Mikes –

Since George Mikes wrote that, 50 years ago, food has improved, table manners have deteriorated.
British food is generally bland, it’s true. Supermarkets do not usually offer the variety of healthy
and cheap food you may find in Southern Europe. British cooking is generally quite unimaginative,
somewhat unhealthy and a bit predictable. The British tend to consume loads of junk food as well.
Having said that, international restaurants are available on every corner, especially in London.

18. The British Love Tradition

The British are very traditional. And it’s not only about the Royal Family.
The British still celebrate Christmas by pulling crackers and wearing paper crowns! Crackers are
typically pulled at the Christmas dinner table and paper hats, which look like crowns, are usually
worn when eating Christmas dinner.
They are so traditional that a lot of households still have washbasins with separate taps, even
though mixers were invented quite a few decades ago…

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They are so traditional that they want to be themselves not matter what others think. They want
to keep the pound, the miles, the inches and the feet.
They want to have the Queen riding in old carriages and MPs shouting at each other in the House
of Commons instead of clapping.
They love having lawyers and Judges with wigs.
And presenting the budget in a 500 years old suitcases.
They love using taxis as if they were on 1940s and keeping phone boxes as they first were built.
So they are sceptic about anything foreign (expect countries of the Commonwealth, seen as ex
Empire).
And of course, a 52% doesn’t feel European at all and they may regard the EU as a terrible scary
foreign monster, even if they don’t know what it actually is…But it’s beyond British Borders, so it’s
not good.
Google Trend showed that, after the referendum, the most searched keywords in the UK was
“WHAT IS THE EU”.

19. British People Love The Royal Family

Ask British people what they think of the Royal family and they’ll likely talk about them with
respect. They think they’re a valuable part of their culture. It’s something quintessentially British.

20. British People Have A Peculiar Dress Sense

British people are not renowned for their sense of fashion. Which also means that no matter how
extravagantly you dress, you won’t ever be criticized. It’s part of the British “live and let live” way
of life.

21. The British worship cats and dogs

The English worship the cats and the dogs like an ancient Egyptian, only more so.

“On the Continent stray cats are judged individually on their merits: some are
loved, some are only respected. In England they are universally worshipped as
in ancient Egypt.” -George Mikes-

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Decide if the statements are mostly “true” or “false”, according to the author’s opinion. Explain
why they are partly correct and why they are stereotypes.

Stereotype True/False It is true because… A stereotype because…

1 The British are not
straightforward

2 The British love talking about

the weather

3 The British love tea

4 The British love queuing

5 The British are terrible at

learning foreign languages

6 The British all have pale skin

7 All British have bad teeth

8 The British carry an umbrella all

the time

9 In England it rains every day

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10 Everyone in Britain talks like the

Queen

11 British businessmen wear

bowler hats, pinstripe suits,
carry a newspaper under one
arm and an umbrella in the
other
12 British people are very polite

13 British people feel superior

than other countries

14 All British people hate other

nationalities

15 Most British people live in

London

16 The British are reserved

17 In Great Britain, the food is

awful

18 The British love tradition

19 British people love the Royal

Family

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20 British people have a peculiar

dress sense

21 The British worship cats and

dogs

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