Stiff upper lip?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Stiff upper lip?

- Channel broadside: Frenchmen like women Englishmen don’t, BaltimoreSun.com, June 21, 1991.

2. It used to be regarded as a national trait that set the English apart from more emotional nationalities.

But the stiff upper lip could be a thing of the past, it was claimed yesterday.

The ability of the English to remain stoical and visibly unmoved under pressure has been replaced by a tendency to show off our emotions in public.

The outpouring of emotion over the death of Princess Diana and watching footballers such as David Beckham and Paul Gascoigne cry on the pitch has given us licence to display our emotions for all to see, a survey suggested.

The research, commissioned by the think tank British Future, asked 2,360 people which qualities summed up the concept of being English, and which were outdated.

Fifty-one per cent of those questioned think the stiff upper lip is an ‘outdated stereotype’, while other familiar characteristics - a fondness for queuing, apologising and talking about the weather - are all still well ingrained into the English mind set.

Seventy per cent of those polled said the English sense of humour as a national attribute, while the vast majority chose talking about the weather as the most quintessentially English trait.

Sixty-nine per cent said the English were happy to queue and wait their turn, and 60 per cent described ‘saying sorry unnecessarily’ was a national trait.