British people are Americans’ evil twin (I’m sure they feel the exact same way about us too, so I don’t feel bad saying it). With that, there are a lot of worthwhile things to rag on British people for — the food, the teeth, the annoying accent, all that passive aggressiveness — but what makes them most deserving of our derision is the sense of superiority. Do they think we like all the school shootings that happen here? That we enjoy not having health care? Moreover, who do they think is responsible for the establishment of America? My brother in Christ, you made the 13 colonies!
In any case, the mockery that British people inflict toward Americans isn’t even really worthy of a proper comeback. All you need to do is repeat back what they say to you in an exaggerated accent and include a picture of an ugly deep sea creature to compare them to. This method is so foolproof, it’s now become its own Twitter and TikTok meme.
The meme was incited by a TikTok skit from creator @VonViddy titled “British ‘People.’” In it, @VonViddy, an American, asks an imagined British person a series of innocuous questions about their culture with genuine interest. “So you guys drive on the other side of the street? That sure is peculiar,” he says. The video then cuts to a picture of some horrific looking zombie-like Halloween prop with a jumbled mouth of teeth, protruding eyes and decomposing blue skin. “WELL AT LEAST OUR SCHOOLS AREN’T A SHOOTIN’ GALLERY, MATE,” the British person says.
The video goes on, with the American asking more innocent questions, like how British people call french fries chips, with the British person continuing to retort about how at least their kids aren’t getting shot while in “mathematics” class.
From this, a trend has emerged. On TikTok, someone will share a video asking a question about British culture or infrastructure, and it will cut to a picture of a mutated donkey or viperfish essentially quoting a line from @VonViddy’s video. Evolving the meme further, some videos will cut to a picture of a mythical cryptid like Cthulu or some other sci-fi creation, and play audio of indecipherable clicks or radio static instead of words.
With the popularity of these TikToks, they’ve become common fodder for responding to British people on Twitter when they’re rude. On April 20th, @X_3400 posted an image saying, “Repost If Your Account Is Not A Safe Place For British People.” People began reiterating the TikTok meme with pictures of toothy fish and quotes from @VonViddy, which appears to have set off some Brits. “America, home of the r*tarded,” one guy wrote, following up with, “From a school shooter?”
This was a big mistake, of course, as he was promptly ratioed with more @VonViddy lines and pictures of the terrifying men from the children’s book In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories, primarily by @xTrillValentine. It didn’t matter what this British man said as a comeback, it was immediately thrown back at him with an increasingly scarier photo.
The message, really, is that British people shouldn’t dish it if they can’t take it. You’re not better than us, even if you do have better health care and gun control. You guys started all of this — both by colonizing America and by continuing to think you’re superior. At the very least, find something new to bring up besides school shootings — we know that already. As individuals, we can’t do much to change the bad things about America, but you can choose not to be so annoying, mate.
Magdalene Taylor
Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.
