If You Are A Brit, Clap Your Hands!

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Thankfully this even tempered nonsense never made it across to Ireland, sounds fairly boring.

 

[camino no tomado]

You appear to have absorbed 19th-century pseudo-Darwinist values.

As someone who has traveled frequently between the warmer and colder parts of the planet, I'm not so sure there's anything "pseudo" about it. Harsh climates tend to promote cooperation; for much of human history, getting banished from the tribe in a place like Scandinavia or Canada meant certain death. Having said that, there is the anomaly of Russia where cold weather and fiery tempers appear to coexist.

Also, even temperaments are not necessarily a universal positive. Speaking for myself, whenever I'm too long in Canada I can literally feel the passion draining out of me.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

As someone who has traveled frequently between the warmer and colder parts of the planet, I'm not so sure there's anything "pseudo" about it. Harsh climates tend to promote cooperation; for much of human history, getting banished from the tribe in a place like Scandinavia or Canada meant certain death. Having said that, there is the anomaly of Russia where cold weather and fiery tempers appear to coexist.

Also, even temperaments are not necessarily a universal positive. Speaking for myself, whenever I'm too long in Canada I can literally feel the passion draining out of me.

This is utterly discredited nonsense: http://tinyurl.com/pmk5h6b

I could even say the opposite: the great civilizations of the Americas arose in the tropical latitudes of Mexico and Peru. That, however, would be an oversimplification (as opposed to being totally wrong).

 

[TWB103]

In response to

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]--As a Brit , i personally think the secrets are in the genes, the cold temper sort of accounts for most far Northern European people ie Scandinavians, Dutch, Germans,etc anything above France basically.[/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I can see it first hand, I have two young sons by my Argentine wife who is Italian decent. One of my kids is darker skinned, has a terrible temper and cant lower his voice below max volume most of the time. He also has no sense of others personal space (joke!). Anyway, Hes the Latino. My other son is blonde , blue eyed, no temper, sweet natured and generous , if he has 2 sweets, he`ll give you one if you ask. Hes the British one and people say that here--[/background]



The commonly used phrase of children here (such as my wife's 5 year old) - 'give me a drink' etc - translates for an anglo as

'I demand a drink, now, servant. Just do it. You make me sick'

Will never get used to it!

In the UK even the poorest estate kids will say

'please mater, may you find the time from your busy and noble schedule to provide me with a liquid refreshment. You know that I will care for you in your advanced years. I thank you in advance'

 

[camino no tomado]

This is utterly discredited nonsense: http://tinyurl.com/pmk5h6b

I've heard of Huntington, but his environmental determinism woo is most assuredly not what I was talking about. I'm not theorizing as to which climates produce the greatest civilizations, or making any value judgments whatsoever. Do you seriously doubt my very simple observation that harsh climates require greater cooperation of their inhabitants? If so, I invite you to live with--and constantly violate the social norms of--a small and remote Inuit community on Baffin Island.

 

[Gringoboy]

I always liked that TV ad tagline in the UK for a certain insurance company:
'We don't make a drama out of a crisis.'
Wouldn't work here of course.....

 

[Borracho Britanico]

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I've heard of Huntington, but his environmental determinism woo is most assuredly not what I was talking about. I'm not theorizing as to which climates produce the greatest civilizations, or making any value judgments whatsoever. Do you seriously doubt my very simple observation that harsh climates require greater cooperation of their inhabitants? If so, I invite you to live with--and constantly violate the social norms of--a small and remote Inuit community on Baffin Island.

What you're saying is silly. It has nothing to do with "harsh climates" and everything to do with small scale societies: http://tinyurl.com/lm2rwld

Most such societies have disappeared or been absorbed into something else, which is another topic entirely but also has nothing whatsoever to do with climate.

 

[johnw100]

As someone who has traveled frequently between the warmer and colder parts of the planet, I'm not so sure there's anything "pseudo" about it. Harsh climates tend to promote cooperation; for much of human history, getting banished from the tribe in a place like Scandinavia or Canada meant certain death. Having said that, there is the anomaly of Russia where cold weather and fiery tempers appear to coexist.

Also, even temperaments are not necessarily a universal positive. Speaking for myself, whenever I'm too long in Canada I can literally feel the passion draining out of me.

I think the Russian fiery temper has to do with copious amounts of cheap vodka

 

[johnw100]

In response to

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]--As a Brit , i personally think the secrets are in the genes, the cold temper sort of accounts for most far Northern European people ie Scandinavians, Dutch, Germans,etc anything above France basically.[/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I can see it first hand, I have two young sons by my Argentine wife who is Italian decent. One of my kids is darker skinned, has a terrible temper and cant lower his voice below max volume most of the time. He also has no sense of others personal space (joke!). Anyway, Hes the Latino. My other son is blonde , blue eyed, no temper, sweet natured and generous , if he has 2 sweets, he`ll give you one if you ask. Hes the British one and people say that here--[/background]



The commonly used phrase of children here (such as my wife's 5 year old) - 'give me a drink' etc - translates for an anglo as

'I demand a drink, now, servant. Just do it. You make me sick'

Will never get used to it!

In the UK even the poorest estate kids will say

'please mater, may you find the time from your busy and noble schedule to provide me with a liquid refreshment. You know that I will care for you in your advanced years. I thank you in advance'

No my 5 year old goes "Quiero Agua!!" to my wife, but says "Please daddy , can i have a cup of water if youre not too busy, thank you" to me.