An American who divides his time between the United Kingdom and Spain has gone viral after calling out five widespread myths that his fellow countrymen believe about British life — and some of them may surprise you.
Zach Lincoln, who posted the video on Instagram, was quick to add that not every American holds these views, given the sheer size of the country. But he insisted the misconceptions were common enough to be worth addressing head-on.
The claim he tackled first was arguably the most persistent — that British food is terrible. Zach put the myth down to an outdated image of wartime rationing that has somehow stuck in the American imagination. A country with Britain’s size, diversity and cultural mix, he argued, could not possibly have a poor food scene, and he urged sceptics simply to visit and find out for themselves.
The idea that the British only drink tea also came under scrutiny. While Zach acknowledged he drinks plenty of tea during his time in the UK, he pointed out that coffee is arguably just as visible on British high streets. His one caveat — he prefers to watch it being made himself rather than trust anyone else to do it properly.
On the subject of teeth, Zach was blunt. He said the joke had come up repeatedly when he told people he was heading to the UK, and that he genuinely had no idea where it originated. His verdict was straightforward — people with bad teeth exist everywhere, and singling out Britain for it makes little sense.
The diversity of British accents was something that had clearly caught Zach off guard since arriving. He described an American assumption that everyone in Britain speaks in a Mary Poppins-style received pronunciation, when the reality is closer to 28 different dialects within a relatively small geographic area — some, he noted with a degree of diplomacy, more immediately welcoming to the ear than others.
His final point was the one he found most entertaining. A surprising number of Americans, he said, appear to believe that ordinary British people have some form of personal connection to the Royal Family. He had seen the question come up repeatedly in his comments, and had heard from British people who had been asked directly — while visiting the United States — whether they personally knew members of the Royal Family.
