National English Stereotypes

I would like to start this paper work with the definition of the word
stereotype: a stereotype is "...a fixed, over-generalised belief about a particular
group or class of people. (Cardwell, 1996). In other words stereotyping is
believing that people of a certain group, race or religion all have the same
characteristics when they don't.

In the following lines I will try to make a brief analysis of the British
National Stereotypes by embracing, if I could say so, all their characteristics,
myths and long disputed etiquettes.
The most common picture depicting a typical Englishman is a man wearing a
bowler hat and reading the Times newspaper. Being honest, when I think of the Englishman
Stereotypes, I think of : Beer, Bull dog, Cricket, Tea, Big Ben, Shakespeare, pubs, Mr. Bean,
Double Decker bus, Queen, Morris Dancing, Royal family, Union Jack, God Save the Queen,
Battle of Britain, Trooping the Colour , Rain
It would be valuable indeed if divine providence blessed us with the gift to see
ourselves as others see us as Robert Burns mused in his famous poem To A Louse, but
although well never achieve this sort of omniscience, its still fun to sift through some of the
most common stereotypes about Britain and the British and consider which have any basis in
fact.
Naturally, its impossible to generalize over the beliefs, habits and attitudes of each
and every Briton, and as a modern multicultural nation we also celebrate unity in diversity.
However, one thing Britons have in vast reserve is eccentricity, as evidenced by their love of
British themed fancy dress and their perpetual ability to combine a stiff upper lip with surreal
and self-effacing humour.

Personal characteristic of the British people

British people live in the UK. They are people who live in England, Scotland, Wales or
Northern Ireland. British people can also either be English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish (from
Northern Ireland only). The British are said to be reserved in manners, dress and speech. They
are famous for their politeness, self-discipline and especially for their sense of humour.
British people have a strong sense of humour which sometimes can be hard for foreigners to
understand.
"No hugs, dear. I'm British. We only show affection to dogs and horses."
- Jocelyn Dashwood
Appearance, clothes, fashion
The most common image people have of a typical Englishman is a man wearing a bowler hat,
a pin striped suit, a newspaper under the arm and carrying a long unopened umbrella.
Favourite topics for conversation
The weather, definitely. As this is impersonal topic. The British are reserved as already
mentioned and they dont like speaking about themselves and their private life.
Leisure time activities
Saturday is traditionally the day for shopping and watching sports. The British are known as a
nation of gardeners. Most people have a garden on their property. Gardening has been a
popular pastime since Roman times. Many people in Britain are proud of their houses and
gardens. They want their houses and gardens to look nice. Every town in Britain has one or
more DIY (Do it Yourself) centres and garden centres. Many of the world's famous sports
began in Britain, including cricket, football, lawn tennis, golf and rugby England's national
sport is cricket although too many people football (soccer) is seen as our national sport.
Football is our most popular sport. Some of England's football teams are world famous, the
most famous being Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Going to the pub is the most

popular leisure activity outside the home. Pubs are an important part of British life. People
talk, eat, drink, meet their friends and relax there.
Family
There is an English saying My home my castle. The most popular type of home in
England is semi-detached (more than 27% of all homes), closely followed by detached then
terraced. Britain is famous for being a nation of animal lovers, and many people in Britain
keep pets. More than 50 per cent of British families own a pet. They keep some 7.7 million
cats, 6.6 million dogs, one million budgerigars and 18 million goldfish.
Holiday destinations
Two-thirds of all British people have their holidays in July and August, which are the
most popular months for holidays. English school children are on holiday from the end of July
to the beginning of September. The traditional British holiday is a seaside holiday. There are
places near the sea, such as Blackpool, Scarborough and Bournemouth.
Favourite food/drink
British food has traditionally been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish and
generally served with potatoes and one other vegetable. The most common and typical foods
eaten in Britain include the sandwich, fish and chips, pies like the cornish pasty, trifle and
roasts dinners. Some of their main dishes have strange names like Bubble & Squeak and
Toad-in-the-Hole. The English like tea and drink it in all possible ocassions: Tea solves
everything. You're a bit cold? Tea. Your boyfriend has just left you? Tea. You've just been told
you've got cancer? Tea. Coordinated terrorist attack on the transport network bringing the city
to a grinding halt? TEA DAMMIT!
The British are proud of
Their country, the Queen and Royal family.

Superstitions
Good Luck
Lucky to meet a black cat. Black Cats are featured on many good luck greetings cards
and birthday cards in England. Lucky to touch wood. We touch; knock on wood, to make
something come true. Lucky to find a clover plant with four leaves. White heather is lucky. A
horseshoe over the door brings good luck. But the horseshoe needs to be the right way up. The
luck runs out of the horseshoe if it is upside down. Horseshoes are generally a sign of good
luck and feature on many good luck cards.
Bad Luck
Unlucky to walk underneath a ladder. Seven years bad luck to break a mirror. The
superstition is supposed to have originated in ancient times, when mirrors were considered to
be tools of the gods. Unlucky to see one magpie, lucky to see two, etc.. Unlucky to spill salt.
If you do, you must throw it over your shoulder to counteract the bad luck. Unlucky to open
an umbrella in doors. The number thirteen is unlucky. Friday the thirteenth is a very unlucky
day. Friday is considered to be an unlucky day because Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
Unlucky to put new shoes on the table.

As a conclusion follow five stereotypes about English people which are false and five
which have some basis of truth:
TRUE: English people drink tea all day. Each Brit consumes 1.89 KG of tea per
year according to 2009 figures and are ranked 6th in a list which is topped by the United Arab
Emirates, followed by Ireland and Mauritania. Of course, tea is the 2nd most popular drink in
the world next to water, so Britons are not alone in their collective love for a cuppa!
TRUE: English love to queue. Although no-one in their right mind loves to queue
anywhere, many British people will state that they would prefer forming an orderly
queue than the type of free for all policy they may have seen adopted in other
countries (although this in itself might be yet another stereotype!) However, the record

for longest toilet queue is actually held by the Belgians and occurred when 756 people
waited in line to use a latrine as part of UNICEF World Water Day activities!
TRUE: English do everything by the book. Business groups are constantly
complaining about the reams of Governmental red tape, rules and regulations and (in their
view) the effect it has on jobs being lost as businesses move abroad to avoid bureaucracy.
Britain is unarguably one of the most rule-bound nations on Earth but it is debatable whether
these regulations protect our freedoms or infringe them.

TRUE: British are obsessed with the class system. Although traditional class
boundaries have become more blurred over the years, most British do tend to identify with
one of the 3 main classes for better or for worse and although some claim that social mobility
is greater now than it was for previous generations, evidence suggests that Britain
unfortunately remains divided along class lines.
TRUE: British people love to celebrate Royal occasions. This is definitely true
as Royal Weddings and Jubilees are lavish occasions which millions of British love to
celebrate by waving Union Jacks, organising street parties and donning fantastic Great British
fancy dress costumes! Indeed, as 24.5 million viewers watched the Royal Wedding of Prince
William and Princess Catherine on TV, if a Royal Wedding was held every week it would
certainly eclipse viewing figures of EastEnders , Coronation Street and The X Factor!
FALSE: Everyone in Britain is closely related to the Royal Family. Since
Britain has a population of over 63 million this is not the case, but some unlikely Britons in
line for the throne include Catherine Laing; a West Country travel agents wife and Chloe
Felton, a farmers daughter from Devon. In fact, there are only around 20 people in the UK
who bear the title Your Highness or Your Majesty and around a further 70 who can claim
to be members of the extended Royal Family or Royal Household; so its a reasonably
exclusive club!
FALSE: It rains every day in Britain. Although Britain receives its fair share of
rain, in 2009 the UK received less annual rainfall than Norway, Switzerland, Japan or New
Zealand. Its true that sodden citizens of Glasgow can expect around 48 inches of rain a year
but this is only half the amount that the good people of Bergen, Norway can look forward to!

FALSE: Pubs in Britain only serve warm beer. While some ales are still served
warm, the popularity of continental lagers means that most beers served in the UK are now
served cold. In fact, British lagers such as Carling and Tennents are marketed as best served
cold and even Guinness stout has an extra cold version due to popular demand!
FALSE: Everyone in Britain has a plummy accent and talks like the Queen.
This is untrue as there are hundreds of distinctive regional accents across the UK and
Standard English is itself a synthetic language amalgamated from elements of regional
languages. For some interesting explorations of languages and dialects, check out the poem
The 6 OClock News by Tom Leonard and the song Cockney Translation by Smiley
Culture.
FALSE: All British have bad teeth. There seems to be no factual basis for this
stereotype, dental hygiene in the UK compares well to that of any other developed nation.
However, some British cultural icons do have very unusual teeth, such as Rab C Nesbitt and
Ken Dodd.