@Lordyaswas,
I can imagine that this is as funny to some Brits as an article stereotyping Brits might be to some Americans. I'm sure it's author has nothing but good intentions (after all the final "pitfalls" are hardly insulting), but for it to be funny to me it would have more closely hit the mark. Like all French smell, and all Russians are drunks. Closer to home, all Floridians are old Jews from New York and all West Virginians have sex with their siblings.
I don't know how true it is that Americans are desperate to find Mexican restaurants in foreign lands, but they do seem to really like them over here. Actually they really like Tex-Mex restaurants, but then for many years they thought Cantonese cuisine was the only Chinese food available and had no clue that Chop Suey was an American invention.
This is pretty typical though and I expect that the British embrace of Indian cuisine has a similar element of imposing national tastes. Surely every Indian in every city, town and village isn't eating Tikka Chicken Masala.
The affinity for all things New Age is a really off the mark but to be expected from someone for whom "Americans" are those who live in cities on the East and West coasts. In any case, I know I saw a show on The History Channel wherein all sorts of Brits congregated at Stonehedge at certain astrologically precipitous times, so I would bet there isn't a real shortage of them who obsess about their chakras.
The bit about "woo" is just ridiculous, unless "woo" is simply the author's stand-in for generally willing to verbally express excitement. Such a practice would seem to butt up against the stereo-type of the reserved, emotionally restrained Brit, but then one only has to attend a football game in the UK to know this is baloney. I agree though that anyone constantly shouting Woo! Is insufferable, which is why I was never a fan of Ric Flair.
Americans in general, sad to say, don't know a whole lot about their own country, so I don't know why anyone would expect them to know much about the rest of the world, but I've never seen any evidence that the average Brit was steeped in global current events, and I suspect that the author really hasn't met very many Americans who defend their ignorance with "I'm an American." The ignorance is not born of arrogance, nor some sort of notion that all Americans are or should be geo-political dullards. They simply don't care, and there, apparently, is no compelling reason why they should. What is happening in Brussels or even the Ukraine has virtually no impact on their daily lives. And it's certainly not a manifestation of a lack of curiosity. American curiosity is deep and wide when it comes to the antics of boozy starlets and whether or not some cheating bastard murdered three of his four wives.
Cutlery habits. I suppose the British way of manning a knife and fork is more efficient than the American way, but since when is eating a race against time? Perhaps it means the Brits are culturally closer to prehistoric relatives who literally had to eat and run to avoid being eaten themselves. When I watch a Brit handle utensils there is a sense that I am seeing an expression of national anal retentiveness, but then getting bugged by a Yank's use of fork and knife could never be considered anal retentive.
Our notions of distance aren't absurd, they are American; and born of not only our geography, but our focus on personal transportation. I imagine the Mongols of long ago had similar absurd notions.
I'm writing this from the end of a trip to the Carolina's during which I met with several UK clients. One group made the odd decision to drive from Nashville to Hilton Head, and then could hardly talk of anything other than how the seven hour drive was torture. For most Americans a four hour drive is preferable to a flight of 60 minutes and a seven hour trip is hardly an ordeal. Different points of reference, but I guess you have to live on a relatively small island to find it funny.
To be fair, the author's final three nods to Americans are no more on the mark that his preceding playful criticisms.
We have plenty of snooty snobs who are quite comfortable looking down their noses at the genuinely down-to-earth folks who live outside of coastal cities, it's just that these are the very Americans who travel to the UK and assume an obsequies demeanor of subservience, hoping against hope that the culturally superior European will recognize that they are not the typical American. They're probably also the ones who gave this guy the idea that Americans are proud of their ignorance of international affairs.
I have no clue as to whether or not Brits enjoy sex. Americans sure do, and I bet Uzbeks, Congolese, Indonesians, and Australians do too.
I have to admit, the bit about teeth seems to hold truth. This is not to say there aren't millions of Americans with cesspits for mouths, but they certainly are rare among even the Middle Class. Could be the most successful Commie Plot in America: Imposing fluoride in our public water. As for the sort of snaggle teeth that can benefit from braces, I can only imagine the average Brit doesn't care, because the average Brit is snaggle-toothed.
This sort of stereo-typical ribbing can be funny and shouldn't be resented, even if one doesn't find it particularly funny. We all have to take ourselves less seriously.
and it proudly said on the menu "Made with Real Mexican!"