Keeping up the Stereotypes
 

I'm a Brit in America. Like most, you will see me with a travel mug in the morning, but it will contain tea. Real tea -none of this namby-pampy antioximoxipoxiagentium pomegranate and gnat's cum infusion business.

What do you do to keep up the stereotype?

I like this thread idea, and will not derail it by pointing out that tea has 8-10 times the antioxidants as fruits and veggies, or that J bought some excellent loose teas at Harrods and brought them back for a gift for me.

As a white, male American, I do my best to feel absolutely entitled at all times.

As a central Pennsylvanian, in the tradition of the Pennsylvania Dutch, I sometimes eat meat products that people find to be horrible, such as Lebanon bologna and scrapple.

As a musician, I smoke weed. Don't hate me, it helps me deal with some side effects of my legal medication.

Hmmm.

As a Brit, I drink a lot of tea.

As a working-class northerner, I drink it out of a large mug, rather than a tea cup.

As a student, I sleep late and smoke pot.

As a teacher, I have appalling handwriting.

As an Australian, i like to drink booze and swear a lot. I also like to add an a or an o to the end of peoples names.

Oh yeah, and as a woman, I have zero sense of direction and a complete incapacity for using maps.

As a (eventual) divorcee, I have a younger, blonde girlfriend? And a motorcycle.

As a member of Toastmasters, I often discuss things by giving 3 answers to almost any question.

As a professor, I have a beard, wear wrinkled clothes, used to smoke a pipe.
As a state employee, I carry a cell phone and a pen in my shirt pocket,
- and despise elected politicians who want to run government as a business
As a businessman, I smile a lot, pay attention to $, and talk as if taxes are too high.

As a westerner, I go camping and fishing and prefer traveling by car
As a dog owner, I have Labrador Retrievers, and little tolerance for cats and none for caged birds
As a liberal, I'm a news junkie, and drive a pickup with bumper stickers that poke fun at the GOP

As an adult married male, I try to fix things around the house.
As a grandfather, I give stuff away to my g-kids when they visit
As a husband I love and kiss my wife daily, and pretend she is always right

As a mom... I drive a minivan, live in the suburbs, and enroll my children in hoity-toity extracurriculars like violin lessons and Tae Kwon Do.

As a Texan... I say y'all, rode horses throughout my youth including rodeo barrel races, and have worn a cowboy hat on a regular basis. My father wears cowboy boots every single day.

As a computer programmer, I am a fat, white, single man in my 30s who has long hair and likes science fiction and computer games. And, while Mountain Dew isn't my beverage of choice, it's up there.

As an Asian-American who wears glasses... I was a straight A student in every subject in school.

(Hmm... this is harder than I thought it'd be...)

Be careful you don't wind up being a serial killer. ;)

I mentioned this thread to Mr. Clod, saying that I couldn't think of any stereotypically-woman things that applied to me.

He encouragingly suggested, "Well, everyone knows women can't be funny, so there's that."

I'm a middle aged white guy working in a high powered law firm in the city, and I donate money occasionally to food banks and homeless shelters so I won't feel guilty walking past dozens of homeless people on a daily basis.

The only ones I've come up with for myself:

As an ultramarathon runner (however poor at that I am) I will suggest that you train for an ultramarathon no matter how fit you are. If you are training for your first 5k I will earnestly insist that if you train for another month or two you can run your first ultramarathon.

As a trail runner I am baffled that people run on roads as anything other than a means to get to the trailhead. A road marathon is almost incomprehensible, though I have run one out of a sense of perversity.

(My wife's friend is a pretty fast runner. She does half-marathons. Has never run trails. I convinced her to go run trails with my wife. The poor woman fell and got 11 stitches. Woops.)

PW, is your sig line coincidental, or did your wife write that for you after the fall ?

:rolleyes:

It's coincidental.

What's the eye roll for? I'm not sure I'm catching the conclusion you've drawn.

I related that anecdote to poke fun at the reality distortion field that some crazy runners project. The same reality distortion field that pulled me into ultras in the first place. It's basically a cliche. Wasn't intending to judge or laugh at anyone, except maybe myself.

The stitched woman is already raring to get back on the trails. I've no doubt she'll adjust quickly and become one of the best tail runners in town if she wants to. She's a personable, super driven and successful person.

harrods is for tourists ;) As a brit, I don't care about the health value of my tea, just how strong it is, whether or not the milk precedes the tea in the mug, and how soon after waking up I can drink it :D
Dana, at home we only drink tea out of mugs than can hold at least a pint -didn't realize it was a Northern thing, but if it is, I'll join you on that one. beest is Midlands, tho.... (but actually I introduced him to real mugs, now I think about it.....)

Possibly more of a working class thing than a northern thing...though, as far as the South are concerned I think Northern and working class are synonymous :P

Sorry PW, no evil intended.

This is the impression I have gotten. On "Would I Lie To You," the comedian Lee Mack is regularly implied to be working class because of his strong Northern accent. On the other hand, that may be mostly to serve as a counterpoint to always mocking David Mitchell for being too posh.

You hear how hard-core Brits are with their tea. But then they put milk in it. Which seems - less hard-core.

Do most British put milk in their tea? Or does it vary like with coffee?

Most, I'd say.

Programmer. Logical. Overweight. Science-fiction. Glasses. Averse to manual labor. Geeky jokes. (Nerds are in a different group) Used to buy Mountain Dew in bulk. But now I am an old damaged programmer and Mello Yello is easier on my system.

We're harder to spot now. Instead of pocket protectors, slide rules, and calculators, all we carry is a smart phone. Perhaps it's some modern form of evolution and we've learned to blend in?

No worries. I was genuinely concerned that I'd unintentionally been an asshole.

Even American British Breakfast Black Teas are unbelievably weak compared to real tea.

You can drink it black (I do if there's no effing milk), but it's better with some (tiny dash, in second). Occasionally I drink Earl Grey and I would never put milk in that.

Coincidentally, I was working on the tea and coffee section in the store today and I couldn't believe the crap they were selling as drinkable. Tea and Coffee should be just that. they don't need any Vanilla Caramel, Ginger Chamomile or Ground Goat's Gallstone infusions.


---


Today, no stereotypes were reinforced. Must try harder tomorrow.

Spencer breaks Ripley's box because she puts milk in her tea. Says she hates America. It's a whole thing.

Reinforcing my old woman/mother stereotype, i went to get the new GTA game for Aden and almost got last years version. Thankfully the pimply guy behind the counter was able to help me out.

I admit ... I'm happy to let my husband take my car, give me his, and return my vehicle with state inspection, oil change, and meticulous inside-'n-out cleaning done. Also, I'm a Scot who loves single malt.

But I never put milk in my tea, nor did my Scottish grandparents. Must be a Sassenach stereotype. ;)

My brother says that to me because I hate cherries or anything cherry-flavored. It's a whole thing, too.

Oh man, I hate that stuff.

When I was a kid I wasn't allowed milk (for a while). Couldn't stand tea without milk. Drank rosehip tea and peppermint tea instead.

Gak!

That did not last long.

No, we won't be giving it another few months. It hasn't made a difference, now pass me a mug of PG Tips with milk. Thankyou.

Looking back I should have gone for Earl Grey or Lapsang.

Y'know though, tea seems to have gone a bit shit over here just lately. I don't know if they'v been having problems with the tea harvests or if they're over processing in some way, but a lot tea seems to be really weak these days. Even if you leave it in till it looks orange, it still tastes watery.

Sundae sent me a package of Tetley tea bags as part of Secret Santa one year. Are those strong? They tasted damn good, but is that because the flavor was different than teas over here, or because it was just stronger than teas over here?

I've been drinking Twinings Prince of Wales lately - which is a mild black.

On the other hand, I don't add anything to it.

We usually drink Dilmah tea in our house. Its my favourite because you can get a nice flavoursome brew without the tanin residue feeling you get on your teeth from some of the other brands.

Ahem.
As a Dwellar in Scotland I enjoy porridge for breakfast.
As a Sassenach I make it with (porridge) oat flakes, instead of oatmeal.


Sent by thought transference

I handed out cigars to my boss and the big wigs from capital one last night at a dinner event. The evening ended with the top 3 cap one guys, 2 attractive female sales reps, my boss and I sitting out on the patio smoking and drinking and telling golf stories.
Mmmmmm, capitalism.

I was so naive when I was younger. It took me a while to catch on to the whole attractive female sales rep thing. I thought it was a coincidence that I'd always be going out to lunch with sales reps and they just happened to be gorgeous. :smack: