Is Being Reserved Such a Bad Thing?

choi

琳达·盖德思, 保守矜持是好事还是坏事？BBC Chinese, June 16, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/ukchina/simp/ ... ed-such-a-bad-thing

, which is translated from

Linda Geddes, Is Being Reserved Such a Bad Thing?  The British are often portrayed as reserved and unemotional. But is there actually any evidence to support the stereotype? And is keeping a lid on your feelings really so bad? BBC, May 18, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/ ... ed-such-a-bad-thing

Note:
(a) "if there’s a national characteristic that defines the British, it’s probably the stiff upper lip. Crying in public is frowned upon in all but the most exceptional circumstances; the plucky Brit prefers to keep calm and carry on."

Keep a Stiff Upper Lip. The Phrase Finder, undated.
www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/keep-a-stiff-upper-lip.html
(i) The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade_(poem)
(1854)
(ii) Keep a Stiff Upper Lip. The Phrase Finder, undated
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/keep-a-stiff-upper-lip.html
("The name 'Jeeves' comes from Percy Jeeves (1888–1916), a Warwickshire cricketer killed in the First World War")

(b) "Despite the national stereotype, the British stiff upper lip attitude was actually confined to a short period of British history – from around 1870 to 1945, says Thomas Dixon, director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Weeping Britannia."
(i) Queen Mary University of London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary_University_of_London
(public; a constituent college of the federal University of London; named after Queen Mary of Teck [wife of George IV; her father was Duke of Teck])
(ii) Thomas Dixon, Weeping Britannia; Portrait of a nation in tears. Oxford University Press, 2015.
https://global.oup.com/academic/ ... us&lang=en&

(c) "Take Charles Dickens, who used the suffering of characters like Tiny Tim to pull on the heart-strings * ** "

Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Tim_(A_Christmas_Carol)
(d) "According to Dixon, the stiff upper lip attitude started to loosen up after World War Two; by the 1960s, Agony Aunts were publically encouraging people to talk about their emotions."

Agony Aunts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agony_aunts
(can refer to: "An advice columnist writing an Advice column")

"Aunts" because advice columnist tend to be women, and "agony" because those who write them are seized by agony.
(e)" 'The negative costs [of suppression] may be diminished in a social context where it is really the norm to suppress [emotions],” he [James Gross, professor of psychology at Stanford University] says."

(f) "And emotional suppression can occasionally have an upside. Take the so-called Blitz Spirit: showing stoicism and determination to carry on in the face of difficult situations, such the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings in London."
(i) Blitz spirit: "also the spirit of the Blitz"
www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/de ... nglish/blitz-spirit
(ii) 7 July 2005 London bombings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings