In Mississippi, I only had the fortune of meeting a few people from countries other than America. Most of my knowledge of the rest of the world had come from movies, documentaries, YouTube and books. Since I am lucky enough to be studying abroad, I have now had the chance to experience a different culture firsthand. There are many stereotypes and assumptions that now seem incorrect after my stay in England. In this post, I am going to discuss a few of the common British stereotypes and my experiences with them.
Some of the things that come to mind when thinking about England are the queen, tea and an accent that many Americans seem to love. While some of these are true, like Queen Elizabeth II, and the prevalence of tea. However, one of them is not. In my two months in England, I have heard almost no one that sounded like the stereotypical accent which is called received pronunciation. Many Americans associate this with England. This is only one accent while England is a country made up of numerous different styles of speaking, just like the United States where we have Southern, Boston and Midwestern accents, just to name a few. In the U.K., I live in Devon where locals speak with a burr and casually refer to people as "luvver." This is just one of the many accents found in the U.K.
