La Reputation

Well, félicitations les anglais, we have made a bad reputation for ourselves...just about everywhere that's not England. During numerous conversations had while I've been living in Paris, people have asked me 'Do you know what the French think of the English?' Apart from 'not much' I wasn't really sure that I did. I know that Americans think that we Brits have bad teeth and all speak the Queen's English. I knew that people from Eastern countries see the English (although, maybe most of the Western world as well?) as somewhat promiscuous. So, with these stereotypes in place I was preparing for something I could confidently deny and respond with 'C'est pas vrai de tout le monde!' Instead, I am met with "Nous pensons que vous sortez, buvez trop, faisez n'importe quoi et sont tous gros." (We think that you all go out and drink loads, get really drunk and act stupid...and are all fat.)

Sadly, I did not feel like I could deny these claims with any substantial evidence to the contrary. With TV shows such as 'Booze Britain' and 'Fat Families' we haven't really helped ourselves to shift the stereotype, and I suppose going out and drinking every weekend, getting into a state and finishing the night with chips and a kebab has helped much either.

Anyway, this forces me to wonder why we are a culture so heavily based around drinking / alcohol. Is it because, as psychologists guess, alcohol is a taboo? In France children are exposed to alcohol at a young age so it does not seem so forbidden to them. Another scape goat I am tempted to turn to is the US. Having such a huge world influence makes America accountable for a lot of our troubles (or so we would like to think). In this instance, perhaps America is responsible for the rise in obesity levels, as they have a higher obesity rate than the UK, but I'm not sure we can blame them for the excessive drinking.

Who knows. I never really thought much of it back at home, I was quite happy to leave it up to the government to sort out but it has definitely made me a little more self-aware. So, time to cut down on the drinking? Well, don't know if I'd go quite that far...