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About this quote

What does it mean?
This satirizes English reserve by suggesting they substitute physical intimacy with the comfort of hot-water bottles.
In plain terms
Continental people are open about sex, while the English prefer physical comfort items.
What can you take from it?
Restraint in intimacy can manifest as reliance on material comfort.

Where it applies

  • dating advice
  • cultural critique
  • relationship dynamics

Putting it to work

  • discussing intimacy barriers
  • analyzing cultural stereotypes

Questions to consider

  • How does culture affect intimacy?
  • What comfort items replace connection?

Another view

The comparison oversimplifies complex attitudes toward sexuality.

More from George Mikes

  1. On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.

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  2. An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.

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  3. The trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink. So a group of the most eminent British scientists put their heads together, and made complic…

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