Forster was British and was poking fun at his own national character (if it wasn't him it was... Maugham, I suppose? Definitely British). You'll note how it's n

Forster was British and was poking fun at his own national character (if it wasn't him it was... Maugham, I suppose? Definitely British). You'll note how it's not really clear they come of better-seeming, overall, and the "punch line" amounts to a complaint about the British. [EDIT: and, go figure, another common characterization of the British is that their humor is often this sort of thing] And there's usually something to those stereotypes, even if assuming they're true of everyone is plainly not a great idea.