On the 4th of July, I went out to celebrate. I thought it was kind of funny to be celebrating our country's independence from England in England. But while I was out I met some British guy. He asked me if i was a cheerleader. Why did he think i was a cheerleader? I realize my peppy personality may be misleading, but it was kind of a weird question. So we continued to talk and it turns out that all of the girls being cheerleaders and the guys being jocks is a stereotype that the British have about American kids. So we continued to talk about stereotypes and of course the British having bad teeth came up. He asked me why we think that all British have bad teeth and I responded with i guess that is what we were taught and what we see on television and in movies. I also told him that we think all British people love soccer and they all love to drink, which he said is pretty much an accurate stereotype. I think the British men think that American girls are all wild party girls too. They think we all love baseball and football. It was just really interesting to talk to a British person and have an exchange of what our cultures think about the other and to confirm or deny those stereotypes.
I decided it would be fun to look up some more stereotypes about the British and see if i can find any truth to any of them while i am here in the U.K. So here is a list. Let me know if y'all find any of these to be true:
~They all love dogs
~They all love tea
~They all love the queen
~They are paranoid about fire
~Men-Pop your collar and gel your hair
Another stereotype that i made up myself is in regards to British fashion for women. It seems as though they have no summer look. They do not wear summery colors. It seems like all of the girls wear skinny jeans or skirts and leggings and flats. Which are all very much fall clothing articles for us in the U.S. And the men here seem to be a lot more fashion conscious than men in the United States for the most part.
Alot of sterotypes we have can often be very misleading about a culture, but i think that sometimes they do help us to generalize about a population. I think that every sterotype that i have about the British has come from watching television and movies. Obviously Hollywood can exaggerate, but it is interesting to find out that some things are actually true.
3 comments:
These guys bet 40 pounds on where I was from. When I asked them how they knew I wasn't from England, they said because I am tan and the way my face is shaped. He said my facial features are different than the English. He did not guess I was American though, but Scandinavian...which is just silly. Then later on in the night, a girl told me I sound like Britney Spears, and asked me if I knew her. What a horrible compliment.
Has anyone encountered a Brit who could "spot an American" because "we" all wear white running shoes? ;- ) I found UK & Europeans share this assumption.
True- stereotypes do help generalize populations, but what's important is that people need to keep an open mind and base their judgments on what they experience instead of what they hear.
Post a Comment