Britons Not Up To Snuff On History?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080204/od_afp/britainpeoplehistoryoffbeat

I was torn whether to put this here or in Political Humor. 9sub, do you have anything to say?

 

We always had Americans down as the ignorant stereotype who don't know where milk comes from but - oh well - I guess the whole word is just become one giant orbiting ball of stupidity.

But then again - I'll maintain a little bit of faith. Hopefully the 3,000 people they surveyed all looked like this:



Above, Britain's chav culture phenomenon.

 

^ are those neds? oO I have often heard about Neds, but no one can give me a clear definition of what they are. I understand that they are like American wanna be-gangstas. Only British. And therefore even less badass then the american super white wanna be.

 

Yeah, neds, chavs, townies. All the same.
(Ned incidentally stands for non-educated deliquent)

They basically look the above and partake in drinking the cheapest cider avaliable (I believe Sainsburys is offering 26p a pint) - drinking it as fast as they can on a park bench while listening to some piss poor garage on their mobile phone. Once nicely pissed up, they will go out looking for a fight, preferably 10 or more of them on one or two innocent bystanders. They all think they are gangsters but tend to live in former industrial and market towns. The female equivlant will be pregnant by the time she's thirteen and will be living in a council house with her chav boyfriend by the time they are 18, where they can take as many ecstasy pills as their dole money can afford them. You can recognize them by their fake burberry hats at a 45 degree angle and trackie bottoms tucked into their socks.

If you ever come to England, watch out for them. They probably like beating American tourists especially. Rant over.

 

Hey There 9sub,
I just want to point out that even though I live in the middle of nowhere and have no concerned at all about any sort of gang violence, I have a tough time taking English street gangs serious. I am sure in a group of 10 they are not something to take lightly. Maybe it is the accent.

When I hear Lennox Lewis (heavy weight champ of the world) talk with his accent, I think to myself...yeah I could take him. Even though one punch from him would send my head flying across the room.

 

Also, the article is about Churchill being a myth. I mean I could understand Chamberlain being considering a myth, but Churchill, it would be tough to discount his reality. But then again, it seems the Europeans are the ones who discount historical reference. See any number of holocaust denial studies.

 

Part of me is tempted to say that if you look at the current crop of leaders in Britain (or anywhere else in the Anglosphere, hell), it must indeed seem pretty hard to believe that it ever produced men like Churchill or Richard the Lionhearted ever exist.

But a bigger part of me is inclined to just pin it on the wasteful non-education that westerners have been getting the last few decades. Why know anything about your own country when we live in a multicultural globalized community of nations and yadda yadda yadda?

 

Yeah, I definetly think its the accent. But seriously, parts of London are as rough and as ghetto as many parts of the large North American cities and I live in a small market town where a 30 man brawl kicked off the other day with bricks, glasses etc. being used - a friend of mine was glassed by a chav, thats how it started.

EDIT: you probably have a misconception about the British accent as well haha. We don't speak like the English people off friends.

 

I dont doubt what you say about the English ruffians, and the ghetto etc. My conceptions about the accent also come from extensive travels in Australia where there are tons of Brits and the Aussies give them a hard time as well.

As for your buddy being glassed...what the hell is that? getting cut with a bottle or something? Throwing bricks? Why cant they just get handguns like the rest of America.

 

They should probably listen to more Arctic Monkeys. I believe young Mr. Turner has written a song specifically about this called "A Certain Romance?"

Kids are stupid the world over.

Or, as has been suggested, the survey was flawed. I've taken a few, and lied on every question.

 

The survey, according to the Telegraph, was out of British teenagers. I think that gives the adult population some credit back for their own personal knowledge, but it shows the youth are screwed and they are to blame eh?

Being glassed? Its when someone who can't pack a decent punch has to throw a pint glass at someones head. By the way, the story ended that the whole pub got up and gave them a royal kicking because they didn't realise the pub was full of their victims mates. Got a taste of their own medicine.

 

Yeah, the Arctic Monkeys sum up British nightlife pretty well in their analysis.

 

Ah a little mob justice. As for glassing, or being glassed, you Brits are something else. If that happens enough for it to become separate terminology, you guys really need more guns

To me, glassing is looking through binoculars trying to find game while hunting.

 

Normally I just hire people for that sort of thing.

But seriously, whats the point of the article the survey came from? Why, it's just a bunch of stupid numbers twisted up to make the reader do two things.
1. Get pissed off.
2. Become full of despair.

And rag on the Brits, who really don't need, or deserve it. I keep telling you people, it's MALTA we should be worrying about.

As long as at least one Brit knows who Guy Fawkes is, the country's doin' fine.

 

Haha - too true. Although when you look at it - shootings, stabbings, glassings, brickings, bottlings - I guess we just put igns on the end.