Across the Pond

Having made the trip myself across the pond, as it were, I can say that the British surprised me. I'm going to go through a few stereotypical thoughts I may have had or heard about from others when I was initially planning my trip to England last summer and then I'll share a few anecdotes pertaining to these stereotypes, either disproving or proving them as I see fit.

The British stereotypes I have always heard fall along these lines:
British people have bad teeth.
British people are overly prudish and proper.
British people love tea.
British food is bland and most of it is boiled.
British people are sarcastic.

First off, British people do sometimes have bad teeth. But so do Americans. So do the French. So do the Russians, and on and on and on. But why are the British saddled with this demeaning stereotype? A lot of it has to do with their health care system. Dental care is not covered by the NHS. Therefore, to get dental checkups and procedures, they must pay for it out of pocket. Most tend not to do this because it is quite costly and dentists are few and far between. I understand this is changing in recent years, but it would account for the elder generation of British people having lackluster smiles. But on the whole, the British smiles I encountered weren't cause for alarm or disgust, so I dismiss this stereotype. I also point to some Americans I know who have some of the worst teeth I have ever seen. And we're all supposed to flash pearly straight whites at all times!

British people may sound prudish and proper due to how Americans seem to view their accents, but trust me, I met quite a few British people who were anything but prude and proper. A few gentlemen in a dance club I was in in Liverpool, England, gave me a run for my money when I nearly got into a shouting match with them over one putting his hands on me. He told me that since I was American, and showing a little flesh, he had assumed I was up for it. He was just being a jerk, but it goes to show that that stereotype is certainly not true. I was also nearly peed on by a gentleman in my hostel room in London, England, and that was as far from prudish and proper as I can imagine. He was completely drunk and had no idea that a German girl in the bed next to me was not a urinal for his private use... or maybe he didn't like Germans, I'm not sure. I was too busy shoving his naked body into the public hallway to care about motive. I just know he was neither prudish nor proper!

British people love tea and crumpets. I never once saw tea nor crumpets (I still don't know what a crumpet is... so maybe I did see one while in England and just didn't recognize it?) the whole time I was in England. Maybe I was in the wrong places... I did eat genuine fish and chips, though, and they were absolutely delicious. I didn't quite understand the smashed peas, which are literally peas that are smashed with a fork, that were served with my fish and chips, but the fish and chips (or French fries in the States) were delicious. More on that later...

As for British food being bland and boiled, I did not eat a single boiled food dish while I was in England... and the food there was very delicious. My favorite thing had to be the fish and chips that every restaurant in London and Liverpool claim to have the "best" version of over every other establishment in England. I don't know how they could all be the best, but they were definitely all delicious!

I will take a moment to talk about beans, though. Beans are everywhere. Even as an option in Subway. Why beans have a place on a Subway sandwich, I certainly don't know, but they were there. I passed on that one. They were also present on a breakfast buffet at the hostel I stayed in in Liverpool. I remember going down the aisle, picking out scrambled eggs and toast to eat and the server at the end of the aisle stirring a giant pot of baked beans. I remember thinking, "Baked beans for breakfast? Why?" As I'm pondering their presence on a breakfast buffet, the gentleman (who was quite handsome, British, and had great teeth) asked me if I would like some. I shrugged and thought, "When in England, do as the English do," and held out my plate. He proceeds to dump a giant spoonful of beans on my toast. My mouth fell open and I'm just staring at my plate. I had been imagining that toast slathered with butter and grape jelly, NOT baked beans. I could see him fidgeting as he watched me have a silent but visual heart attack, thinking this guy was being a complete jerk just slopping the beans on my toast. I couldn't believe he had been so rude! He finally asks me, "You're not from around here are you?" I shake my head, "No, I'm on vacation." He recognizes my accent and grabs another plate, putting eggs and fresh toast on it. "I'm sorry, I'm just used to people eating beans on their toast!"

Yeah, beans on toast. Not bland, not boiled, but... different.

The British people I met and the British people who are my friends all have this wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor that I love. I'm also quite sarcastic, and I adore the British sense of humor. It is quite different from American's senses of humor, but not everyone in Britain shares an identical sarcastic nature... But I can say that the British people I know can be caustically sarcastic. Like this one gentleman, let's call him James because that was his name, whom I also met in a dance club in Liverpool, told me to "eat a spoonful of concrete to harden up" because I wanted to leave at 2:30 AM to get back to the hostel and go to sleep. I told him they didn't serve cement at the bar and he informed me that there was a construction site down the road a ways. I was laughing with glee at how hilarious this fellow was...

So what's the point in all of this? British people are just plain awesome.

No, that's not the point, although I would agree with that statement...

Before you have personally experienced living in the presence of another culture, you shouldn't judge it. Each individual person regardless of their country of origin is unique. Just because someone is "British" or "American" or "French", doesn't mean they share all the traits wrongfully associated with their nationality.