Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

What stereotypes of Britain do you come across, and what particularly winds you up?!! For me it was the "bad food / bad restaurants" one, as that has really improved over the years.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I hear them all from my brother in law here in Canada..a true die in the wool Canadian..so much so that in all honesty he would rather live in Myrtle Beach....

His stereotypes:

monarchy loving stiff upper lip people who wear bowler hats
bad teeth
dreary tv, depressing soap operas
dreary weather..constant rain
obsession with sports he can't relate to: football, cricket, darts (he doesn't consider that a sport), billiards (also not a sport)
pompous people
bland food
warm beer
tiny houses, tiny roads, tiny cars
dull, flat landscape (this is rich considering he has lived his whole life in flat areas of southern ontario)
people travelling to work via public transit (his idea of hell)..

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I'm familiar with all the above but he should give darts a try (just tell him players are expected to drink beer while playing), and you don't all live in tiny houses - some of you live in castles.;)
Edit: Also absent were the punks yobs fascists hooligans and all the assorted regional hillbillys.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I believe the phrase you're looking for is dyed in the wool. :rolleyes:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Yep..I forgot about the football 'ooligans and general scotes of the underbelly of british society. Another stereotype by Canadians is the feeling that british people eat a huge amount of lamb..which they seem very suspicious about.

As well, I meant 'dyed in the wool'. Thanks for noticing that.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Is that enough for you to argue about?:p

I can probably come up with more.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Your BIL has nailed it! (By that I mean come up with a typical stereotype list.) We can close the thread now. Actually, some truth in some of his assertions (TV, teeth) but he can hardly fault the weather or landscape. Or beer !!

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

No blander landscape than Southern Ontario.

The food thing when North American's bring it up is easy to shoot down. In the UK we are criticized for our unhealthy stodgy food by our healthy eating counterparts in the Mediterranean and continental Europe.

The North American's try and jump on the band wagon here but when you point out the obesity levels and the fact that they gave McDonald's, Denny's, Burger King, Tim Hortons and Starbucks and other bland contributions to the world they quickly shut up. Not to mention the lack of product range in their supermarkets.

Then you throw in the various celebrity chefs that they watch on the TV.....all British!!

The only other thing I'll point out is that if you study the way English is spoken the lip is much stiffer when American's speak it.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Anachronisms, some of them - the bowler may come back but I doubt it, unfortunate National Health teeth vastly improved, brussel sprouts boiled to death "they just don't like food' remedied by waves of immigration from places with sexy food. You can say die in the wool when discussing eating lamb in the same post.:lol:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

No blander landscape than southern Ontario? Try driving from Montreal to Quebec on the South Shore. That is bland on steroids.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I beg to differ, I had clients from Winnipeg. I picked her up in Burlington and drove her to Cambridge, she was very excited by the hills:lol:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

:rofl: Ok. Well I've not seen much blander is what I should have said! :lol:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

When I grew up in Canada, the other stereotype was dubious personal hygiene. Mind you, that was because the sole English lad we knew was a prime example.

Other stereotypes from expats over here are the tiny washing machines and the weak showers.

greg

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Pardon?

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

It's not quite selling coals to Newcastle, but...

British food winning over the French | World news | The Guardian

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Because of our accents we sound intelligent and we steal their girlfriends. But tbh, I couldn't give naff what Canadians think of the UK.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

My B-I-L, the source of the stereotypes hasn't come up with the weak showers yet..but if he'd ever travelled much, I"m sure he would come up with that. One of his classic quotes was 'the french...what have they ever contributed to the world'...

Keep in mind, he still believes that pizza places in southern Ontario are owned and operated by Italians..so he isn't the most up to date guy on these things.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Thanks for the tips..should be good ammunition for the next time we see each other.

Regarding the bland food thing, he sure does love his cheese in plastic wrap and Doritos.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw 'Kraft Dinner' offered as a choice on the children's menu in the chain restaurants over here!:eek:
We tried one out with my daughter and she spat it out in disgust. She was only 3 and had more taste than that :rofl:
You can go into Costco and buy crates of the vile stuff. If you ever lose your taste buds completely that is.:thumbdown:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

About 40 years ago I brought my friend's Irish Setter to town for his shots and stopped at Mcdonald's for lunch, bought Spud a hamburger. No word of a lie he sniffed for quite a while then ate the bun and left the meat. Canary in a coal mine.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

That's not uncommon with dogs. That's why I stick with kebabs. :thumbup:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_Canada
Yup.

Check out the names of the association's officials. Says it all really.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Know your history old chap!

It was even declared the national sport by one of Canada's founding fathers Sir John MacDonald.

Ignorance is not an excuse!

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

We live in Hobbit sized houses and drive around in Mini's.
It always rains.
We don't have decent dentists.
All we eat is fish and chips and drink beer.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Whereas Canadians have a frozen upper lip, one of the reasons I started that "two-faced" thread because it doesn't half take some effort to get to their true feelings sometimes.

Well, sort of true, I know of a dentist here who specializes in fixing NHS botch jobs, but Canadians have bad teeth through playing hockey.

I think that one is generally true other than the odd decent sitcom.

How is that not true? :lol:

Yep, know where he's coming from.

The British are the world's most opinionated people on subjects they know nothing about, which is in part imo why they had an empire, i.e. went around the world telling people what to think. Epitomized nowadays by Nigel Farage.

Well, sort of true, but a bit rich coming from a Canadian!

Element of truth there too.

Well that's definitely true.

Well it is compared to this part of Alberta but yes, that's overstating it a bit.

Well that bit is true, but it's better than travelling via the 401 in rush hour.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I couldn't agree with you more, other than to say the drive from Calgary to Edmonton is even more bland. At least going from Montreal to Quebec you get to see a hill just east of Montreal and also Via Rail trains.

People tell me driving to Regina is even worse, haven't had the courage to do that one yet.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

If you go into a Swiss supermarket there is an aisle of chocolate bars;
if you go into a German supermarket there is an aisle of processed sausage;
if you go into a Russian supermarket there is an aisle of vodka;
if you go into a Canadian supermarket there is an aisle of Kraft Dinner.

To which one of my friends responded, and if you go into an American supermarket there is an aisle of Oreos...

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Yeah, it's all that that gets me pretty cross.

Some of the houses in NB would give the old woman who lived in a shoe the feeling that she was in a dez rez.

How a nation that eats the offerings of "Deluxe Fish & Chips" is in a position to take a high tone over anyone else's cuisine leaves me speechless.

Lots of people with money have mouths filled with huge white tombstone like teeth....but there are a lot who have rotting stumps too (maybe that's just an NB phenomenon?) dentistry is definitely only for the well heeled in Canada.

Anytime I make a cursory negative remark about the Canadian climate, of the sort of "gosh, bit grey today" genre, they leap down your throat with "well it's much worse in England" ....but it isn't...

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Classic Canadian. I'd bet he's never been outside of Canada, the US and maybe mexico/typical Canadian all inclusive sun travel destinations.

Grr exactly! People tell me "well doesn't it rain in Malta?" Well yes it does but its much better than this crap!

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Your youth and naïveté is showing........again.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Yes it rains in Malta....heavy sunny drops, and angry winter sloshes....nothing like the Canadian unremitting constant ones:blink:

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

You could say that's classic of a country anywhere... There's always a certain percentage who don't move from their armchairs or go only where they comfortable- home from home so to speak. It would be really boring if we were all the same- some people just want to take a holiday where they can relax entirely.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I think this is it. I was struck by the number of comments in this thread that were familiar to me from my early days in Britain. Well, except the Kraft Dinner one, but I will give you scotch eggs in return....

The UK has changed a lot since I came here from Canada in 1991 but an 'off the top of my head' list of things that struck me at the time include:

- absolutely dreadful coffee... instant coffee with some hot chocolate added to make cappuccino [now fixed by Caffe Nero and thousands of others... and I am not defending Timmies!]

- long sandwich shop queues out into the rainy street at lunch time to get a mediocre sandwich [now fixed by Pret, Eat, Pod and thousands of others]

- that if I was unable to afford a house, I could pay extra tax so someone who could afford one would get tax relief on their mortgage [now fixed in a budget some years ago]

- that if I was not bright enough/switched on enough/had the right kind of parental 'encouragement' to go to university, I could pay extra tax so that those with these attributes could go to university for free [now fixed by charging for tuition]

- the ability to find a traffic jam anywhere and at any random time... it may be different now, but when I lived in Toronto, the traffic jam locations and times were generally predictable [accidents on the Gardiner/DVP excepted]

- what people were willing to put up with on public transport. I felt it should be obligatory for Cabinet Ministers to travel by public transport at peak times. And send their children to state schools.

- the passive aggressive comments about Canadians was mirrored by my experience of Brits in the UK. Often there would be a striking comment, followed by a total unwillingness to engage. Unless the person was wearing a shell suit and had very short hair... like the one I found urinating against the wall of my flat one night.

- apparently there have been some issues with Germany in the past....

Another anecdote: an English friend came to see a baseball game back when the Jays were able to win championships and had a real rivalry with the Yankees. She was astounded that the fans of the respective teams were not separated. I was astounded that it was necessary to do so for football games in the UK.

For balance:
- it took me a while, but I learned to appreciate roundabouts over 4 way stops
- the sense of humour [that took me a while, too]
- the quality newspapers
- my wife... [it is why I am still in the UK]

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Isn't the drinking water salty?

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

That's the tears, (they don't want to talk about it). ;)

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Haha :D!

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Can't see any similarity between the 2 really. It's not necessarily just that the stuff is vile though (obviously everybody has different tastes) - it's the fact that lots of restaurants here are selling pre-packaged dried foods on their menu as an actual meal choice.
And many mums I have spoken to seem to think that it is a perfectly healthy meal for their toddlers. :unsure:
Whether or not you like scotch eggs at least they are actually made from real eggs and sausage meat (as opposed to dried powder reconstituted)

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

Kraft Dinner is not as abominable as you make out. Dried pasta is dried pasta. The cheese sauce is in powdered form as opposed to a bottle of the stuff. Unless you're making the sauce from scratch, not a great deal of difference. How different, for instance, is it from a tin of Heinz spaghetti which many mothers in the UK feed to there children.

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

You just made me hungry. I want a Scotch egg, now.

Am I going to find one around here? No.

I'd settle for a pork pie and some strong mustard. I'm equally screwed (apart from the mustard).

Re: Canadian stereotypes of Britain?
 

I enjoy Scotch egg - minus the egg part - may need to pour one a little later. ;)