Why do continentals seem to think British people are stupid?Is it the drinking?Is it something else?

Answer 1

british people watch big brother,the x factor,east enders, and the like and think it's reality. we used to think the yanks were stupid, but now we are like them, it's no wonder foreigners think we are stupid

Answer 2

This is one of those questions which looks so simple, but which is almost impossible to answer.

What do we mean by "British people?" There are now so many diverse groups of people, it is almost impossible to know what the typical "British" person is, even if they've been born and bred here, so maybe it's easier to look at the continentals and decide if they are any smarter.

The Germans have many people who drink too much, and a thuggish right-wing exists in Poland, Germany and even normally benign Holland. The Danes have gang fights between motor-cycling mobs, the Irish have been murdering each other for centuries, the Scots fall into gutters regularly, the Italians (and some other Europeans countries) have the Mafia and organised serious crime, whilst Albanian exiles import sex-slaves and beat people up in London. Black youths go around stabbing each other with knives, or shooting their opponents with handguns. The French and Germans sometimes burn down the houses of migrant Turks, when the young Turks are not rioting and burning cars. Across Europe, the main link to the drug trade is to be found in the Asian and Caribbean communities.

So wherever we look, there are problems and a lot of stupid behaviour going on to rival our own.

But that doesn't answer the question does it?

Maybe we do not sell ourselves well as a nation, but at the top-end of the food-chain, we have many superb managers and entreprenuers, many brilliant scientists, academics, lawyers, musicians, writers and other creative people. We even have young Lewis Hamilton! We even have some good politicians, even if most of those who steal the limelight appear to be Scottish.

Obviously, we are NOT a stuipid nation, but we have a lot of stupid people who drink too much, get into trouble, make a mess of their lives and who depend on the state too much.

Perhaps the one real stupidity, is the fact that we do not care enough about children and young people; a fact reflected in the league-table of countries on this very subject.

Take a group of young Poles, and I will show you mentally healthy, relatively happy people who stick together and make friends with everybody. They are generally well-mannered, well-educated and well-behaved, and they make a very interesting comparison to our own.

But does that make them any less stupid or any more smart individually? Of course not!

However, it does mean that we, in the UK, are stupid enough to allow society to be wrecked by a combination of official indifference on the one hand, and youth addiction and yob-culture on the other.

Of one thing I am certain; the Eastern Europeans have retained the values of their respective societies, which also goes for countries like Holland, Germany, Austria and many others. That probably makes them less stupid than us, but make no mistake, there are a lot of stupid people on the continent, but unlike our own, they know their place!

Answer 3

It's because English first language speakers write like 'Ty' (the first answerer), their grammar (and spelling) is awful.Many English second and third language speakers from the continent can write more correctly . Many English people can't tell the difference between simple words like 'then' and 'than; 'lose' and 'loose'; 'were', 'where' and wear','there' and 'their'.
They say 'could of' and 'would of' instead of 'could have' and 'would have' and have no idea when to (and when not to) use an apostrophe.
You can't be that clever if you can't master your own language.
No wonder Continentals think English people are stupid.

Ooh, thumb down eh?..has the thumb-downer enough guts and eloquence to explain why I'm wrong??...No?.. I didn't think so.

Answer 4

It is called "Pride". The Bible says to be Christians we are to give up our pride. But most don't. And since we believe that the U.S.A. is better than anywhere else, then others are stupid.
We don't even teach the whole truth in our history classes. Or one might say it has holes in it. Like we teach/claim that Ford invented the car. BUT the first manufactured car was made in 1898; not in the United States. I forget where, it could be England?

Answer 5

Well, I have always heard that if you have a British accent, your IQ goes up automatically 10 points. I would think the only country that would think the Brits are stupid is France. There has never been a time when England and France were friends.

Answer 6

It`s probably because they`ve witnessed the cavemen drinking/drug attitude of our yob culture and the fact that this country`s Government are not prepared to do anything about it.
Then again, I suppose every country has the same problem, it`s just that this country is the leader in disrespecting people and their property.

Answer 7

It is the drinking, but more generally its the total lack of self discipline and the loutish behaviour that accompanies it. You only have to be around it for a short while to start agreeing with them and feel ashamed to be British.

Answer 8

Because that's all they see when they are shown British people on their T.V's.

No one is going to make a documentry about a normal lot of people, they are going to make one about the poor areas, drunken jobs, football hooligans etc.

Answer 9

Could be the way the Brits spell [ some of them] for instance ' i wore 'ere,me name was tracy', i have seen some terrible spelling here and just wonder why people do not use the 'Check spelling' if they are not sure how to spell something.

Answer 10

I've asked a few of my Ex Girlfriends this question, having had the luck to date Belgian, Polish, 2 Germans, and a Slovakian. It is because of our government, and their policies, they think British women are easy and not very ladylike (and i'm not goin to argue with them on that!) and because of footbal violence and behaviour of the guys when they are abroad.... we don't really do ourselves any favours though, do we? :-)