➢ Many idioms concerning other nations suggest that the British’s used to hold others in derision and contempt. But all those related to the British themselves indicate that the British used to view themselves in positive ways.
“And how did you get the American to jump?”
“No problem,” said the captain, “I told him he was 6 insured!”
➢ Of course, what the story tells us about people of those different nations can only be partially true at best and we must be aware of such overgeneralization and oversimplification in our perception of people of other cultures.
Danish pastry, Flemish bond, Irish stew, Italic handwriting, Portuguese man-or-war, Russian roulette, Spanish fly, Scotch pine, Swiss roll, Turkish delight and Welsh rarebit.
French Leave and Dutch
Courage (p265-267)