British more intelligent than Americans says Paltrow

I never thought I’d be in the position of having to defend a Hollywood star but she’s absolutely right about this. First, here’s the complete article. Then I’ll tell you why she’s right-on about this.

British more intelligent than Americans says Paltrow

By Stone Martindale

Dec 2, 2006, 19:00 GMT

American actress and now British resident Gwyneth Paltrow has shared her thoughts on the differences between the UK and USA, and feels the Brits win hands down in the scintillating dinner talk department, among other things.

"I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. People don't talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner," she told "NS," the weekend magazine supplement of daily Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias on Saturday.

"I like living here because I don't fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans," the 34-year-old added.

Paltrow lives in London with Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin.

Neighboring American and now transplanted Brit, Madonna, 48, who married British film director Guy Ritchie six years ago, offers Gwynnie good advice.

"She's like an older sister. Everything I have gone through, she went through ten times worse and ten times longer. She gives me good advice about how to say no and take care of myself," said Paltrow.

Several American actresses have declared their love for living the British life, including rocker Courtney Love, who recently made an announcement she was thinking of relocating permanently to Britain.

What is left out of the story is the terrible treatment she received at the hands of her stupid dinner guests in America. Whenever Ms Paltrow started to explain her views on worldly matters, her dinner guests took turns at doing spit-takes. That is just unbelievably brainless not to mention bad manners. In addition, three women and one man peed in their pants at the dinner table while Ms Paltrow was giving her solutions to world problems. No wonder she was disgusted with Americans.

The English are far more intelligent. Has anyone ever heard of a British gentleman doing a spit-take no matter what the inducemant? Has anyone ever heard of a British lady peeing her pants at the dinner table? Of course not. They are too intelligent.

And polite.

UPDATE: Gwyneth explains:

As for where the quotes came from, Paltrow says she did not give an interview to the Portuguese daily newspaper, though she did give a press conference – in Spanish – for an endorsement she did in Spain.

"This is what I said. I said that Europe is a much older culture and there's a difference. I always say in America, people live to work and in Europe, people work to live. There are positives in both," says the actress, adding, "Obviously I need to go back to seventh-grade Spanish!"

ME: I believe her. That is a very reasonable explanation. The original report did come from a Portuguese newspaper. I think she is telling the truth.