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Reader question: Please explain “the stiff upper lip of the Englishman”. My comments: This is descriptive of the stoic facial expression of the Englishman, generally speaking, especially in the past. At least I used to hear of this description more often in the past. The young people of today seem to be happy and carefree everywhere. In comparison to the old generations, the kids seem to be laughing all the time. Anyways, when one is serious and solemn looking, one’s upper lip remains literally stiff, unmoving – hence the phrase. This is believed to be the typical facial expression of the English gentleman. Certainly this expression is more often used to describe English people than, for example, the Americans. The Americans, no doubt, are all fun loving and cheerful, showing their pearly white teeth like a movie star. This is not to say that the Englishman is not fun loving or anything, of course. Of course, but still as generalizations go, the stereotypical Englishman looks more like, say, Michael Caine than Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). Watch that movie to find out exactly what I mean. Well, I mean, both play clownish characters but still, the British clown (played by Caine, no doubt) manages to retain a stiff upper lip day and night while his American counterpart, an younger, amateurish and, to be sure immature swindler, seems to be having a good time all the time, laughing and grinning from ear to ear – and often for no particular good reason, too. | 
