Gwyneth Paltrow Barb Enrages British Romeos

Yahoo News ^ | August 16, 2002 | Paul Majendie

[Tancred]

Gwyneth Paltrow Barb Enrages British Romeos Fri Aug 16, 6:44 AM ET

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Gwyneth Paltrow's mocking complaint that British men never asked her out on dates struck a raw nerve on Friday with Britain's stiff-upper-lipped Romeos.

The American Oscar winner whose hunky Hollywood dates have ranged from Brad Pitt to Ben Affleck lamented: "British people don't seem to ask each other out."

The winsome 29-year-old had just two dates when she was in London to appear in the critically acclaimed play "Proof." One was with gallant "A Knight's Tale" star James Purefoy. The name of the other date was not revealed.

British men are constantly taunted for being the epitome of reticence and Paltrow agreed they were distinctly rusty at the dating game.

"If someone asks you out, they are really going out on a limb whereas in America, it happens all the time," she told Now Magazine.

"Someone will come up to you and ask you for dinner and you'll say 'Sure.' It's no big deal and no weight should be attached to it. It's only dinner for God's sake," she added.

For British tabloids mired in the summer "silly season" when any news will do, Paltrow's "Casanova moan" was a gift.

They sprang to the defense of the beleaguered British man whose prowess was also questioned earlier this year by Canadian arts journalist Leah McLaren. After dating 12 Englishmen, she said they were inept at seduction.

"Sorry Gwyn but you nasal, gum-chewing U.S. girls are frighteningly sexless and just plain dull," thundered The Daily Mirror tabloid on Friday.

"Give our British men a break, Gwyneth," pleaded the Sun.

The Daily Mail suggested Paltrow still longed for old flame Affleck, who has found new love. "The real reasons Gwyneth is unhappy: she's lost her man to Jennifer Lopez," it said.

Even The Times, once the venerable mouthpiece of the British Establishment, got into the act, offering a list of eligible bachelors who might tickle Paltrow's fancy.

Steeplechase jockey Richard Johnson could be ideal as he has just broken up with Queen Elizabeth's feisty granddaughter Zara Phillips. But the paper did admit: "He is a tad boring and rumored to be prone to jealousy."

But Englishmen, who would rather die than let their emotions run riot, were most unforgiving about Paltrow's tearful outburst when she won a 1998 Oscar for her role in "Shakespeare in Love."

Daily Mirror commentator Kevin O'Sullivan recalled how he "frantically searched for a sick bag. I believe I speak for millions of unromantic Brits when I say I will NEVER forgive you for your Niagara Falls weeping as you thanked everyone you'd ever met."

[Pern]

"Sorry Gwyn but you nasal, gum-chewing U.S. girls are frighteningly sexless and just plain dull," thundered The Daily Mirror tabloid on Friday.

HUH?! I've been to England several times recently, and all their girls look like they're strung out on heroin.

American woman......

[TightSqueeze]

"Sorry Gwyn but you nasal, gum-chewing U.S. girls are frighteningly sexless and just plain dull," thundered The Daily Mirror tabloid on Friday.

This guy has been having a long term relationship with Rosy Palm and her five sisters, rumor has it that he really likes the little one.

[Paul Atreides]

You should have read what Ozzy's daughter said about California people. She said they were all ugly. Kind of a pot/kettle thing,if you ask me.

[Peter Libra]

Vintage Daily Mirror. Read my first copy in 1939- kids could read early then. Had a picture of Adolf Hitler with a dart board motife. The Mirror invited people to throw darts at him. It is Clever low life journalism. Get people stirred up with some trivial controversy- then sit back and laugh- all the way to the bank.

As for the six million Daily Mirror readers- there is a sucker born every minute.

In 1949, Editor Sylvester Bolam, served three months of six. He tried to pervert justice by printing a "vampire" story. It could have got serial murderer Haig off- if the jury had bought the defence of insanity. Most of 'em must have seem the lurid black headlines of corpses being tapped for blood. They didnt by the defence and Haig was hanged.

I could never get mad at the Mirror, just a little peeved at those who cannot see through their policy.

Hmm, Paltrow is getting a little long in the teeth though, Britany Spears move over.

[Mudboy Slim]

Who the heck's Gwynneth Paltrow and why the heck should I care?!

MUD

[Tancred]

See yesterday's post about Gwyneth:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/733545/posts

[hopespringseternal]

Dull British men drove her to the other side.

[agrandis]

Sometimes I hate the Brits, but I love their sense of humor!

[Pokey78]

Finally Gwyneth gets a date

by Patrick Sawer

At last! Someone has finally had the gumption to ask Gwyneth Paltrow out for a date. But typically it's not a Brit.

		Out on the town: Gwynnie went out with Bryan Adams last night

One man obviously saw an opportunity after the Hollywood star complained that nobody in London was asking her out. It turns out, however, that he is the Canadian singer Bryan Adams - once again putting the British male to shame.

Following Paltrow's comments that we just don't do dating, unlike normal all-American guys, Adams must have picked up the phone.

The pair spent a date at the members-only Wellington club in Knightsbridge, leaving on a Italian moped in the early hours today.

It was an informal affair. Jeans and pinstripe jacket for Gwynnie, 29, denim and leather for Bryan, but a date's a date and if her comments are anything to go by she's in no position to be fussy.

Earlier this week she said: "British people don't seem to ask each other out on dates. I did get asked out a couple of times on my last trip to London - and I went out on both. They were very charming. I only go for the toffs. If someone asks you out, they're really going out on a limb, whereas in America it happens all the time.

"Someone will come up to you and ask you for dinner and you'll say 'sure'. It's no big deal and no weight should be attached to it. It's only dinner, for God's sake. Yet in Britain, mostly what happens seems to be that people meet at work. If there's a little something there, then they hang out together and, all of a sudden, they're boyfriend and girlfriend."

Gwyneth, who is promoting her new film Possession adapted from the AS Byatt's 1990 Booker Prize-winning novel will, after all, be in London for a little bit longer.

In the film she plays Maud Bailey, an academic who teams up with an aspiring scholar, played by Aaron Eckhart, to uncover a love affair between two Victorian poets. Along the way, they too fall in love.

So, if double dating is not a problem for Gwyneth, that surely leaves the way open for British rivals to whisk her off somewhere nice.

Daily Mail

[Far Right Of Left]

Here in Detroit,we'd say he's been dating Miss Michigan...

[Mamzelle]

Not to mention those pudding figures in the excellent tweeds...

[KC_Conspirator]

Please explain yourselves...

;^)

[MadIvan]

Gwyneth says she only dates toffs. Apparently she likes the more effeminate kind. Well, given that, what the bloody hell does she expect?

Regards, Ivan

[Mudboy Slim]

LOL...bread and circuses, my FRiend.

FReegards...MUD

[KC_Conspirator]

Ok, I need a precise explanation for some British terms. I am pretty sure I am pretty much aware of their meaning, I just need confimration for:

Toffs -
Poofter -
Yob -

[Kermit]

Gwyneth Paltrow criticizes British men for not asking her out. The Mirror, well-known anti-American rag, then attacks American girls???? Huh, what do they have to do with this spat?

[MadIvan]

Sorry, let me help you here:

Toffs - Upper class people, usually related or part of the landed nobility.
Poofter - homosexual
Yob - uneducated lout, usually drinks cheap lager, is loud and throws up a lot, also gets into a lot of fistfights.

Regards, Ivan

[KC_Conspirator]

Thank you for comfirming that for me.

[Billthedrill]

Uh, I dunno...when I was last in Australia a rather large fellow told me that "pommy poofter" was an affectionate term for a New Zealand gentleman...told me that if I used it in a bar there they'd buy drinks for me and everything...