Transcription
Hello, and welcome to Elephant English podcast. In today's video, we're going to be discussing some British stereotypes, and we're going to be talking about whether we think that they are true or not.
The first one is: British people love talking about the weather. Do you think that's true?
Yes, I definitely think that's true because the weather in England and Britain is very changeable. You can often get four seasons in one week, and so we discuss the weather a lot with friends, family, and even with strangers.
Yeah, I think when you're sat at a bus stop, for example, uh, people normally bring up the weather. You can always comment on the weather, and it's not something that you have to have in common to have a conversation with someone. And it's a conversation starter, isn't it?
Yes, because everybody is experiencing the same weather. And often at a supermarket checkout, the person working there will comment about the weather just to be friendly. It's small talk, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
The next one is: It rains all the time in Britain. Do you think that's true?
I don't think it's necessarily true, but somebody visiting Britain for a week or two weeks might be unfortunate enough that it does rain for all of their stay, so they would get the impression that it rains all the time. I think the problem is that it is quite unpredictable. So when you look at the weather on an app, it says that it's going to rain all day, but in reality, it doesn't. It might rain one hour in the morning, one hour in the afternoon, but the problem is that you can't plan what you're going to do that day because it changes very quickly.
Yes, because on the app it shows rain all day, but for example, this morning it showed that it was going to rain all morning, but we went out for a very nice walk, and it was very light rain that wasn't a problem. But it could stop you from planning to go out to the park or for a picnic, for example.
The next one is: British people love to drink tea. What do you think?
Yes, I think this is definitely true, although there is a fashion now for drinking different types of coffee and going out to drink coffee. So I think maybe it's something that the older generation enjoy more than the younger generation. I think that in general, a lot of young people have coffee in the morning and then during the day they have a cup of tea. But a cup of coffee is a lot stronger than tea, so if they need the energy in the morning, they would have a cup of coffee.
The next one is: British people are obsessed with the Royal Family. What do you think?
I don't know that old people are obsessed with the Royal Family, but often it's a case of the media are obsessed with the Royal Family, and they push it onto us on Facebook and on the online newspapers. I think that a lot of people don't really care. I think that it doesn't really affect people's day-to-day lives, and they're not as interested as what the media say.
Yes, I think that's true. Uh, often there would be a post on Facebook about the Royal Family, and there are a lot more negative comments than supportive comments. And the newspapers normally exaggerate what the population thinks.
Yes, that's true. And also, I think that maybe now that we have a King instead of the Queen, then opinions are changing as well.
The next one is: British people love queuing.
I don't think that they love queuing. I think that it's a tradition; it's a traditional part of British lives. I think it's respect as well, isn't it, really?
Yes, it is. It is. We've been brought up that you wait in line; you're waiting a queue for your turn, and it's just that other cultures don't queue as much as the British do.
The next one is: British food is terrible.
I don't think you agree on this one.
No, I don't, don't agree with this one. I don't think that any food is terrible. I think that typical British food is fish and chips and roast dinner. When people think of British food, people automatically think of fish and chips, but I, I wonder how many British people and British families actually have fish and chips.
Yeah, it's the same with a full English breakfast. People think that English people have a full English breakfast every day, but that's not true, is it?
No, I can't remember the last time that I had a full English breakfast. I think it's very hard to prepare bacon, eggs, sausages, fried bread, and hash browns every morning before you go to work. So people tend to have it on a Sunday when they wake up late at 11 o'clock, don't they? It's not something that they have every day; it's something special. I don't know that many people would even have it at home. I think that most people would have a full English breakfast when they went on holiday or when they went out to eat at a cafe or a restaurant.
Yeah, because it's not easy to make, is it? And it takes a lot of time, and you don't really want to spend that much time preparing a breakfast when you haven't had anything to eat that morning.
Yes, I think most people would have it as a brunch, really. And what is your favorite British food?
I think that the cakes are the best, aren't they? I like a traditional roast dinner, which is a roast chicken or roast beef or roast lamb with potatoes and maybe five or six other vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, potatoes, carrots. And that's the normal thing that you would have if you go out for lunch at two o'clock on a Sunday, isn't it? I think also that most households would make it on a Sunday at home too, whereas the fish and chips and the um traditional English breakfast would be out; you would have out at a cafe. A Sunday roast is what everyone can make, and they have it at home normally.
Can you think of other British foods?
I can think of pies. So there are different types of pies. You can have a steak pie, chicken and mushroom pie, minced beef pie, and one that's popular is steak and ale pie, which is steak with beer in a pie. Um, then there's shepherd's pie, which is very popular; that's with meat, minced meat, and potato on the top instead of a pastry top. I think those are the most typical British foods, aren't they?
I think so, because they were big dishes, big wholesome meals for when it was cold in the evenings. If you have enjoyed today's video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel. Thank you very much, and I'll see you in the next one.