While appreciating the fact that “the British remain relatively undemonstrative”, Dalrymple nonetheless disagrees with a recent study that says the British exhibit more fortitude than is good for them by a frequent refusal to see a doctor:

[F]ortitude is not the same as fear. Fortitude is facing adversity without emotional display and with a certain degree of acceptance; fear in this context is not facing reality because of what that reality might be.

A person who goes to the doctor with symptoms suggestive of cancer may in fact be displaying more fortitude than the person who cowers at home. Fortitude is not denial.

Read it at the Telegraph (hat tip: Colin R.)