Two Englishmen, two Welshmen, two Irishmen, and two Scotts are left stranded on an island after their cruise has crashed. After two days, the two Welshmen started a choir, the Scotts built a distiller, the two Irishmen were still fighting on the beach, and the Englishmen were still waiting to be formally introduced.

My informant is a 19-year-old boy who came here from the UK for college. After he told me this joke, I obviously did not understand it because I have lived in America for all of my life. I asked him to explain it. He said that this is actually not a great joke but that everyone who has lived in the UK would get the joke immediately. I asked him where he heard it from and he said that one of his father’s co-workers in England taught him the joke. He said the setting was during a dinner that included his father and his father’s friends. My informant had tagged along to dinner with his father and they were all just talking and socializing.

This joke is merely another reinforcement of stereotypes in Europe. The Scottish are known for drinking, the Irish are known for fighting, and the Welsh are known as sissies and the finally, the English are known as snobs. My informant says that although he did not burst out laughing at the joke, he did find it amusing. In addition, the people at the table all had a good laugh over the joke. It was told in good fun and it was a nice way to break the ice.