Stereotypes of British people are found in several cultures. Some stereotypes relate to specific ethnic groups of Britain while others are directed at

British national A British national, or United Kingdom national, is a person who possesses a type of British nationality law, British nationality. This includes anyone who is a: * British citizen * British Overseas Territories citizen * British Overseas citizen * ...

s in general.

Common stereotypes

Politeness

Both historically and in the present day, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

have often been associated with good manners by many people around the world, similar to Canadians.

Humour

British humour British humour carries a strong element of satire aimed at the absurdity of everyday life. Common themes include sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, banter, insults, self-deprecation, taboo subjects, puns, innuendo, wit, and the British class system. ...

is well known for its use of sarcasm, dark comedy, and irony.

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

was a famous British comedic group and some of the most highly regarded comedies, such as ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television ...

'' and ''

Mr. Bean ''Mr. Bean'' is a British sitcom created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, produced by Tiger Aspect and starring Atkinson as the title character. The sitcom consists of 15 episodes that were co-written by Atkinson alongside Curtis and R ...

'', are British.

Tea

Drinking tea - specifically the more oxidised

black tea Black tea, also translated to red tea in various East Asian languages, is a type of tea that is more oxidized than oolong, yellow, white and green teas. Black tea is generally stronger in flavour than other teas. All five types are made from ...

- is seen as a key part of British culture. Originally introduced as a luxury product in the 17th century, cheap imports from

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prosper ...

allowed its consumption to significantly increase during the second half of the 19th century. Today it remains a popular beverage, with surveys from 2017 showing that the UK had the 12th largest tea consumption per capita in the world, and that almost 75% of British people who drank tea daily had at least two cups a day. Other hot drinks, especially

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

, are also popular.

Lack of emotion

The British are often seen as reserved and unemotional. This perspective has been bolstered by popular British phrases such as "

stiff upper lip A person who is said to have a stiff upper lip displays Courage, fortitude and stoicism in the face of adversity, or exercises great self control, self-restraint in the expression of emotion.a motivational poster produced by the UK government in preparation for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

; and "always look on the bright side of life", which was lifted from a popular Monty Python comedy song about persevering in the direst situations.

Teeth

Americans often joke about the British having bad teeth. This stereotype appears to stem from a particularly American view of dental health in which artificially straightened and whitened teeth (sometimes referred to as "

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

teeth") are the healthiest, but this primarily affects only the outer appearance of teeth and some evidence has shown that artificial whitening actually has a negative effect on dental health. In reality, British teeth have been ranked as the fifth healthiest in the world, with American teeth behind in ninth place. Jokes about British teeth appear in American popular culture. In ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' episode "

Last Exit to Springfield "Last Exit to Springfield" is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 11, 1993. The plot revolves around Homer ...

", a strict dentist scares

Ralph Wiggum Ralph Wiggum is a recurring character on the animated series, ''The Simpsons.'' He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Ralph, The son of Police Chief Wiggum, is a classmate of Lisa Simpson and is noted for his frequent non-sequiturs and humorous beh ...

into brushing his teeth by showing him a fictional book titled ''The Big Book of British Smiles'' that depicts a King’s Guard member and

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

with exaggeratedly crooked teeth. A

Rimmel Rimmel (commonly known as Rimmel London) is a British multinational cosmetics brand, now owned by parent company Coty, Inc. The House of Rimmel was founded by French-born British cosmetics entrepreneur Eugène Rimmel as a perfumery 20 February 19 ...

cosmetics television advertisement featuring

Georgia May Jagger Georgia May Ayeesha Jagger (born 12 January 1992) is a British-American fashion model and designer. Early life Jagger was born at Portland Hospital in West End, London, England, to British Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and American sup ...

became an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

in 2014. In the advertisement, Jagger says "get the London look" and viewers ultimately associated the "London look" with the gap between her front teeth.

Food

Jokes are often told about British food being either poor quality or inedible. Historically, British cuisine was generally fairly bland after the World War II period, but globalisation and mass immigration have caused it to become more diverse.

Monolingualism

There is a common stereotype that the British are only able to speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. This has some truth to it, as (like in many English-speaking countries) levels of

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

are relatively low. Additionally, the number of people who speak a language other than English as their first language is reasonably low, especially among those who were born in the UKeven among those with immediate immigrant ancestry. However, most British schoolchildren receive at least a few years of compulsory French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

lessons. This used to happen during the first years of

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

, but teaching foreign languages at an earlier age has been viewed as increasingly important.

Anti-social behaviour abroad

In some tourist-heavy European countries such as

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, British holidaymakers are closely associated with anti-social and violent behaviour, usually related to

binge drinking Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably. Binge drinking ...

. Similar to Americans, British tourists have also been stereotyped as preferring to shout and talk slower in English when interacting with foreigners instead of making an effort to use the local language (see "monolingualism" above).

References

{{Reflist

British culture Cultural depictions of British people Society of the United Kingdom