Earl_of_Rochester

I must confess I don't condone fox hunting as the fox gets ripped into little pieces by the dogs and it's quite a cruel way to go. Drag hunting looks good fun though.

The suits are important you know, especially for young ladies, allow me to demonstrate:







As you can see the jodhpurs which we acquired from India are quite essential for sartorial elegance.

When one goes, one must go with style.

EoR

Richard Stanbery

Bear with me, Im an Appalachian speaker.

Does sartorial mean "hind end"? Around here they just wear "Daisy Dukes".

Them gals sure is purty, alright. But they all look like they are a fixin' to say something to scald a man's nerves. Do British ladies have attytudes?

Gary

Do British ladies have attytudes?
O yes Richard,they do. plus the riding crop has many uses, besides horse riding

Thessalonian

...and english gals can be kinky sometimes...

Richard Stanbery

Well, what the British fellers do with thier woman folks is none of my concern. I best go back on t'other side of the hill on that one.

I think I hear my old woman a hollerin about super being on!

I will say one thing though. Them British women comb thier hair a way too much. A woman looks more appealing with a slightly wild and mad (crazy, not angry) look. Thats how we likes 'em in Appalachia. And horses and mules too. Come to think of it, thats pretty much how us men look around here too?

When that movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks came out, we didnt notice anything unusual about the way he looked until somebody from "way off" said something about it.

Hmm?

But I aint combed my hair all day, and neither has my woman. And we aint a goin to neither!

Thessalonian

Can you translate the first sentence?
The second is understood but.... seriously you say "we likes 'em" ?

Richard Stanbery

Translation...My woman with uncombed hair is telling me that our supper is ready to eat.

That is when she might say something like (in Appalachian)

"You'uns come an git worshed. The fixin's is on the slab and its a slaugherin good. Come an lay haet to ye hulls".

That means its time to go eat. If ye dont eat, you will die. And that is considered rude, because then your kin will have to carry one up on the hill and plant ye.

So we all watch one another to make sure that everybody is eating when the meal is prepared. Like as not, if we had to carry somebody up on the hill, it would rain.

So, we always make sure that everybody eats good.

But the hair combing thing is out. That is what hats are for.

But if you think we are a little crazy, just remember. We are the closest living culture to old Britain around today. What we are today is what they once were.

Richard Stanbery

And another thing about Anglophobia...were all in this thing together now. The world has grown so small and communications have increased at such a pace that a whole new wave of "information society" is looming on the horizon.

Old cultures are passing away and a whole new, global culture is seeded. And so, the world sits upon the precipice of a new era of identity through stereotypes. If one is an American, a stereotype identity will be assumed. If one is Japanese, British, French, Russian, or whatever, the stereotype identity will be assumed. And that may not be a totally bad thing.

It will come out of need. We, the children of the new and global communications era will have to be able to associate with one another in a comfortable way. And benign stereotypes can be useful in this.

Remember in the movie "Gladiator", where Maximus was addressed as "Spaniard" more than by his name? People interacted with him based on that stereotype...at least until a personal relationship was formed.

And so, what stereotype will the British of the near future be comfortable with? The James Bond type? The Victorian, stiff and proper type? A shadow stereotype of Americans (or vice versa?). What will it be?

After all, we did see something like this in the Roman Empire, as I pointed out. It is how people learn to get along with each other in a cosmopolitain environment. And so it will be again. Thus, what the stereotypical British of the modern (cyber-space) era will be...remains to be seen.

They are forming it for themselves right now. The world is watching Britain, and the stereotype is being molded even as we speak.

As for America...we are so chaotic and dissimilar in so many ways that our stereotype will be probably something like a person from the X-lands, a place without definition.

The lands across the western seas. As poorly understood as it was 1000 years ago.

But Britain now...they have a chance to gain a useable and civilized stereotype. So...good luck chaps.

From...an X-lander.

bunyip

don't forget the cocoa.

(the Brits will understand)

Davidius

I agree with Richard about the emergence of national stereotypes but I feel that these will be constantly changing as our tastes in entertainment change. The media is primarily responsible for the perpetuation of these ideas and a nations stereotype will depend on how entertaining the rest of the world find it, when it starts to get boring (unprofitable)the media execs will demand a new one. Wether or not the stereotyped nation accepts their new image will depend on how paranoid they are, vanity,sense of humour etc.The 20th century has given us some simple yet amusing national character types. Such as:

The USA sees the UK as being populated by either toffs (rich, posh) or cockneys (poor, common), Think EoR for the former and yours truly and Black Dog for the latter. I know Black Dog is a northener but the stereotype overrides such things as ethnicity, geography or common sense!

The UK sees the USA as being populated by gangsters, rednecks or west coast plastic people. I'll leave you to provide your own examples as I don't want to be suspended.

This state of affairs will continue as long as there is a profit to be had from it, so that's forever then! Best get used to it folks.