Quotes / British Stuffiness

"Nearly all English humorists today are too genteel, too kindhearted and too consciously lowbrow... It would seem that you cannot be funny without being vulgar—that is, vulgar by the standards of the people at whom English humorous writing in our own day seems mostly to be aimed."

— George Orwell, "Funny, But Not Vulgar"

"As us Brits are fond of saying: try your best to hide your sadness!"

— Tahani al-Jamil, The Good Place

"Now that is going to piss off the British, and you do not want to piss off the British because if you do, we will say, 'Oh, dear', shake our heads, swallow the anger, and carry it around until we die".

— John Oliver, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

British Newsreader: Hmmm... total shock, really, from where we started in the evening.
John: Now, to be fair, that is about as emotional as a British newsreader is capable of being. The American equivalent of what you just saw would be Wolf Blitzer stripping naked and setting fire to his own beard.

— Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2 episode 13 about the UK's 2015 general election. The quoted moment is 7 1/2 hours into ITV's coverage, corresponding to 05:30 in the morning.

Child 1: ...Therefore, any proper utilitarian system should favor deep-seated loathing of other people's tastes and habits, hidden beneath an opaque cloak of civility.
Child 2: I dunno... what sort of people would want to live in such a system?
Child 1: Did you know that utilitarianism was invented in Britain?

— Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, "Utilitarian Judgment"

"In our experience, Americans are uncouth misfits who should be run out of their own barbaric country."

—Major Ashley-Pitt, Quigley Down Under

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