Marka Ragnos Posted March 22, 2015 Author VT Supporter Share Posted March 22, 2015 What's the biggest stereotype about British people that's not true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ismail-villa Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Most of us love tea. I lie. Most of us do indeed love it. Need at least one cuppa a day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Do British people want their empire back? The answer is very definitely no but it is a very touchy subject, especially coming from an American. I don't think most Brits' wishes go beyond the desire for a little more autonomy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 22, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 22, 2015 I agree about the tea, i love it. But that may be a generational thing, given the current boom in coffee chains on the high street. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 What's the biggest stereotype about British people that's not true? Not so much the people but Britain in general - the foods crap It's utter bollocks, our food is awesome 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Teeth 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 What's the biggest stereotype about British people that's not true? The teeth thing. We don't bleach our teeth here, but it's not like that's a bad thing is it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I know exactly where the teeth thing comes from as well. In America, if you have the tiniest imperfection with your teeth, you get braces. Here there's a margin of imperfection until you get braces. I have so many friends with tiny imperfections that they didn't need braces for and the Yanks find not having perfect teeth weird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yeah, I was going to say teeth as well. I have no idea where the stereotype that we all have terrible teeth came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Everybody who appears on TV in the US has perfectly straight, bleached-to-within-an-inch-of-their-lives teeth, so they assume that anything that departs from this is a sign of poor dental hygiene. The mutants I saw wandering around Wal-Mart didn't have perfect teeth though, far from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I did already answer the post above Mantis. Mantis, why you ignore me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 tbf following a bike accident as a kid and then years on not caring about my broken teeth and then some horrible procedures to try and fix them mine are shocking, haven't been to a dentist in about 8 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted March 22, 2015 Author VT Supporter Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) Yeah, I was going to say teeth as well. I have no idea where the stereotype that we all have terrible teeth came from. Definitely a thing of the past now. Few younger Americans have even heard of this. There was a period in the 70s and 80s that I remember when there seemed to be a massive difference in orthodontics cultures between the two places. It didn't help that some prominent musical artists from the UK such as Shane MacGowan were junkies. I do think there may be a genetic aspect to the teeth issue, too. I know many people of English heritage who tend to struggle more with tooth decay, even when they really take care of their teeth. Edited March 22, 2015 by Plastic Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 22, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 22, 2015 I like a bit of imperfection. There was a girl at university whom I had a bit of a crush on. She had slightly crooked front teeth, and decided to get them fixed. Afterwards, her teeth were American-perfect, but oddly I thought she was less attractive for it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I did already answer the post above Mantis. Mantis, why you ignore me I didn't ignore you, I just don't really buy that explanation. It's not we're the only non-Americans that Americans interact with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 The teeth thing is totally untrue, in fact per this article 28% of Brits have tooth decay whereas 92% of Americans do, and 7 in 10 Brits visited the dentist the year before the article was written while only 4 in 10 Americans did. The principle difference seems to be that having perfect teeth is a qualifying criterion for a camera-facing job in the American media, whereas it isn't in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 23, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 23, 2015 Yep I'd have said the teeth thing too. Always confused me that one. I assumed it must have come from someone British who was famous in America in the olden days and had really bad teeth and it just became a thing that British people had bad teeth, even though it was probably based on one person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Maybe the Royals? Haven't one or two of them had bad teeth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I don't like tea, but I love strong, black coffee (like my men, 8pints ). My teeth aren't perfect (they're very straight, but I don't have an overbite or under-bite and I have a gap between my front teeth, Madonna style), and I haven't been to the dentist since I had to pay for it but they're white enough. The American "celebs" - I was under the impression they've all got veneers anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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