Exercise 8.3 - Solution

Sample answer.
Commentators and presenters used a stock of national images (the stiff German, the excitable Italian, the formal Englishman), and viewers generally enjoyed it as affectionate teasing, helped by the fact that everyone wore equally silly costumes. With hindsight the same jokes can look lazy or unkind, because they depend on stereotypes about nations. A fair account notes both: the affection many viewers felt and the fact that the humour was built on stereotypes.