Mint condition
I realise, now that I’ve drawn the strip, scanned it in and started to write the post, that it’s a very British strip…
For one, I doubt many of you non-Brits have heard of Fox’s Glacier Mints, so you won’t be all that familiar with their logo either:
Boiled sweets too, very British… we use them in situations where the rest of the world would show some emotion – I’ve seen boiled sweets handed out events as diverse as graduations and funerals. As a nation, boiled sweets are our way expressing a deep affection, pride, or a shared grief.
The truth is, as far as nations go, we fit our stereotype quite snugly. We are pretty reserved. We also have bad teeth too… that’s what you get through expressing your emotions through foodstuffs that are basically pure sugar.
Then there’s the other side too, the football hooliganism – they like to use that in The Simpsons – , the Cockney and the binge drinking. All true, mostly… I’ve never actually met a real Cockney, and the Scottish are far better at the hooliganism.
Seriously, that sort of thing really has to stop…
But I know I fit the stereotype, and I’m not too ashamed to either. I mean, I used to play rugby, which is essentially a form of organised hooliganism, and as a result I have spent the last ten years with a black front tooth*… and as for binge drinking, when I did it, it was still just called ‘drinking’.
But there I reach a problem. I am British, so perhaps my view of my own stereotype is a little skewed. I need to speak to outsiders I need to speak to Johnny Foreigner. In the typical British way I will assume you are all either slow or unable to speak English… so I will shout the next bit slowly and loudly.
SIR, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THE BRITISH?
There, you ought to understand that.
And we can do this the other way round too. How do you perceive your nation or culture’s stereotype, and do you think that it’s relevant to you?
*I had it fixed last month, that’s another stereotype and the NHS in a nutshell… we will fix you up, but it might take a while. I have to admit though, that having spent a decade looking quite tough and sinister, I rather miss it now that it’s gone. I used to be able to grin at people in a menacing way, now I can’t even scare the elderly.
Ben on 
Ty on
First of all, menacing facial expressions are all about the eyes, and maybe a touch of flared nostril if you’re good at it. I very rarely show my teeth but I can look quite menacing and generally wear my if-you-talk-to-me-I’ll-stab-you face in public to avoid social contact (though in reality I’m very timid.) Then again (thanks in large part to some caveman-like facial features and large frame) I look kind of scary whether I want to or not.
I don’t know what I think of the British. I watch too much British TV to really get a sense of it anymore. I’m also fascinated by accents of all kinds so I’m usually too distracted by that.
That bear reminds me of the Bundaberg Rum Logo.
I’m not sure what I think of the British.
I have watched alot of british drama and comedy, which highlight the same things in a different light.
But then, I have watched alot of things like music dvd doco’s, by the likes of Tricky and that is entirely different view.
I like the British general public a little bit more then the Americans and slightly less then my own public, Australians.
Tho in reality, I am finding that by and large, ppl every where are the same, esp, as individuals.
Sure there are local quirks to each person,particular habits, words, sayings or methods, but stripped down of those, ppl aren’t different.
The reason I ignore those local quirks is that every one has a set and therefore they cancel out.
I tend to approach questions like this in a semi-mathematical kind of way and being that I am half way thru my first double espresso of saturday morning, I also ramble on.
This isn’t really appropiate for this discussion thread, but I had to mention this somewhere and it was to good to not mention.
At work, we are required to wear high vis clothing at all times. That means reflective stripes on everything that we put on (before you die, be sure to watch a person ride a bike in the dark wearing high vis clothes, it is very amusing).
Anyways, I was watching a guy walk towards me whilst we were underground, I was wearing a cap lamp that was about as bright as tealight candle that is barely alight (<that’s a pun, get it?). All I could see of him was his bright stripes. Once he was about 1m infront of me, I could see what he was wearing.
A camo vest. A jungle camo vest. With high vis stripes.
Well done.
The other ironic, but not so funny thing was the rolled over truck on the highway that had been transporting wrecked cars.
I often see people at Walmart wearing two common but (it seems to me) incompatible pieces of hunting gear: forest camo clothing, and bright orange hats or vests.
Its completely rational! The camo is to keep the animals from seeing you. The bright orange is to keep humans from NOT seeing you and shooting your ass, since that color doesn’t appear in nature.
Completely rational.
Yep.
Some of these guys should take off their vests.
I think the reason they think they can wear orange and still escape detection by animals is that most non-human mammals are supposed to be colorblind.
However, I’m still not sure it makes sense, because there’s been new research that seems to show that they don’t just see in gray, they see in colors, but fewer colors than humans see.
And in any case it’s useless if you’re hunting birds, which can see more colors than humans can.
We had a sharp curb in front of my house. A car popped its tire rubbing the curb. We call a tow (this was before cell phones) – the tow pops a tire on the curb. We call a second, bigger tow, he pulls up to tow the tow which is towing the car.
i love fox’s stuff (mostly the fruit candies) and i’m american.
of course, i’m well traveled, but…
I’m desperately hoping that Australia never gets a national character because I think our strength lies behind the enormous amounts of different cultures we’ve got. That said, a friend of mine travelling OS at the moment has made a very interesting discovery about how people see Australians:
http://marks-marathon-trip.blogspot.com/2008/05/australian-disgrace.html
British books and comedy are a lot better than America’s. something like Monty python’s flying circus could never have started over here, I’m not sure why.
you’re also responsible for some of the most fantastic hats the world has ever seen.
like the American stereotype, i don’t know nearly enough about world affairs.
The English have far more depth of character than most Americans. It comes from having been through so much in such a small place for so damn long. We (white?) Americans don’t come with that built-in, we’re carving our own paths trying to define ourselves still, but the English have had their path bombed, mobbed, and tortured before America was in diapers.
As an American who has for the past 3 years lived in England I find the English more pleasant to talk to than Americans. I’ve learned to listen better if only to navigate my way around some of the thick local accents. I find many elements of British society to be quite scary as well. Violent kids, hooliganism, young drinking age, as a father these things concern me.
The English tend to be more honest about what is wrong with their society and this is at every level. Even the man on the street is keenly aware of what is actually wrong with things and whilst he may feel unable to solve the problem he can certainly talk about it once you break through his reticence with a pint or two.
Customer service is bollocks though in some places, as long as nothing is going awry, they do put on good airs. The amount of bureaucracy here is crippling, particularly in the educational sector. English baked goods, oh my god, wow. Chinese and Indian food are also superior here. Driving is much, much more fun here, roundabouts rule.
I’ve always thought it would be interesting to live in another country and be able to compare, how did you end up living in england?
im pretty sure you could scare them ok, just give em a good long look at your face. im sorry, i am the worlds most terrible sucker for ‘your face’ jokes. or is that a phase that only exists round here?
Hey does your face hurt?
CAUSE IT’S KILLING ME!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Phase = Phrase?
What’s the international stereotype of Americans? Fat, lazy, greedy, stupid? Or is that sort of the extreme end of things? Either way, I try not to be those things, though lazy happens against my will some days.
I tend, however, to agree with Ben: no matter where you go, people are just people. the US is so huge, that the West, the East, the North and the South all have the same kinds of cultural differences that you see between different countries, but what’s really different? Not much — some learnt behaviours, some learnt attitudes, some learnt styles of speech. You’ll get heroes and villains from anywhere. Cool people you’d want to hang out with, and massively irritating people you’d want to carve on with an ice pick. Except that in the South you’d be hard put to find a bloody ice pick.
You know that “pick”is street slang for needle/syringe and ice is a drug and from what I hear about the south (certain parts) both of those are accessible.
Or, you could start your ice pick carving tour in the north, there-by ensuring your supply of ice picks as you travel further south.
This is what we (me) tend to think of Americans from the south
http://ninesisters.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/get_a_brain_morans.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/dark_orange/2336478964/sizes/l/in/set-72157594287297879/
Tho to be honest, youtube and hollywood may have skewed my opinion slightly:D
Well, I hate to say it, but those pictures surely capture an aspect of the American South. Though both are more the hill-billy region, and miss the Scarlet O’Hara type of deep south. Things like this:
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/walken-snl-colonel-angus/11109665
I’m a Bad American. I like Asian & Spanish food, European (esp. British) & Asian humor, Irish women & beer, and I can’t stand News Media.
I guess I fit the I-Think-I’m-Worldy-But-I’m-As-Much-Of-An-Asshole-As-The-Rest-Of-Them-American stereotype, except I hate N. American culture, too. (Except the purest Canadian… give me vinegar on my chips/fries instead of ketchup)
I cant say i hate north American culture because its different everywhere. I think the only places where i can say i hate the people are in Massachusetts (massholes) and Los Angeles. I grew up in the south over in Kentucky, and I loved it there, everyone was very nice, people walking down the street always wanted to talk. Southern food/bourbon/bluegrass music/horse racing culture. Then i moved down to Florida where everyone is from New England finding a warm place to die. The culture down there was a huge mix of Haitian, Creole, Cuban, and old people from the north. Great food and either a rum runner outlaw feel or total kitschy tourism stuff depending on where you go. Now i am in the San Francisco bay area of California where I’ve never seen so many different cuisines or people in one place. there is a huge Asian, Hispanic, native American, and Russian population out here, to offset all the English speaking whites. Its pretty amazing how all over the states things are pretty different.
You’re describing how great everyone else is… even in the South there are things I hate, the rampant racism, etc. AN=nyway hate is prolly too strong a word, but i stronly dislike N. American culture. N.A. itself is nice because it lets so many other cultures mix so freely, tho.
Is thinking about how other people sterotype you stereotyping them?
I often wonder about that.
You’re right about boiled sweets, though.
I think cricket can also be quite stereotypical, depending on how you play it. Cricket with a woolly jumper and a hat and afternoon tea is surely about as English as you can get.
I like to think of monocles are pretty British, too.
Monocles are really cool.