I once met a Professor who had really long hair, a bushy beard and glasses. You’ve got to admire a person that embraces their stereotype. Actually, it’s pretty amazing to come across someone who fits a stereotype, despite the images we are fed in various forms of media. It’s kind of like meeting the one person which someone, somewhere has unilaterally decided personifies a particular type of person. Ironically, I think it takes a particular strength of character to stick with a look and/or behaviour even if it makes you a stereotype. Maybe this could develop into another lame activity that the British could become famous for, like train spotters*? Stereotype spotters could be out, lurking in various urban and rural settings, trying to spot librarians with glasses and buns, accountants in a pin-stripped suits and bowler hats, matrons with ample bosoms and jotting them down in notebooks to discuss later with on their online forum where debate rages about extremely boring details like whether someone can be considered a dumb blonde if their hair is, in fact, dyed.
Some years back I was working in Washington DC with some students for a few days, around the subject of what makes a culture. They were having a bit of a social on the Saturday night and asked if I would teach them some “Scottish dancing.” This was quite ironic as I usually avoid ceilidhs** like the plague. However, I agreed to teach them the Dashing White Sergeant. It just so happens I can do a slip-step like a near professional due to a misguided enthusiasm in my formative years. The Scottish dancing went down an absolute storm with the American students and appeared in most of their evaluation forms as their favourite thing about the weekend. You could tell they thought they were doing something authentically Scottish and were under the impression this was the sort of thing we did most evenings when we took a well-earned break from roamin’ in the gloamin’. I’ve got to admit, sometimes embracing my cultural stereotype is irresistible. Have you ever embraced yours?
* train spotting is undertaken by amateur enthusiasts of the railway system. This usually involves men standing at the end of railway platforms dressed in parkas for hours on end while writing down the numbers of the trains coming into the station. I believe this is an activity peculiar to the UK and why someone might find this a good way to spend the day is a mystery to me.
** ceilidh means social gathering, which usually involves traditional Scottish folk dancing and music (pronounced kay-lee)
Bec & Call 