It can be funny to ask around about what other cultures think of your own, but only if it’s done in a tasteful way and people understand the comments are meant to be fun.
I think that’s what we’ve got on Reddit, when someone asked “what do you think of the British people,” because the answers are legit hilarious.
16. It weighs heavy.
2000 calories of drink followed by a 2000 calorie kebab in a matter of hours.
Can’t forget about the hungover Sunday takeaway either!
I’m Irish but I feel like our drinking culture and diets are very similar from my time spent in the UK.
15. There’s no middle ground.
Studying at UK university – They really seem to exist on polar ends of the spectrum – they’re either really really lovely or absolute d*%kheads.
And there’s an obvious class divide. I’m from Canada and mingle among all classes. That doesn’t happen in u.k
14. A happy mess of a time.
Got off the train into London from Edinburgh around the time everyone was getting off of work. It was mid-week and I just sauntered around watching the swarm of people in work clothes going immediately to the pubs or take-away shops to grab some drinks.
Decided to join in and grabbed a sandwich and two beers, then proceeded to a park where I watched two women in work clothes down a bottle of wine — the last sips of which were poured sloppily and jovially as they laughed when one spilled a little on her purse before they got up and went on their way. It was quite a lovely and specific afternoon.
The evenings though! Everyone wanders the streets already drunk it seems, no pub in particular is too crowded and the entire place is just a somewhat rowdy (at least in the eyes of this American woman) happy mess of a time.
It was really interesting to see.
13. A colorful folk.
I like when they say “Twat” or “Blimey” unironically.
And Bollocks. That’s up there with “todger”
12. Lots of people complain.
I like British culture, it is interesting. though I think virtually every culture is.
I have seen a lot if anti UK comments here referencing their colonial history and I want to push back on this a bit.
Virtually every country throughout history (worldwide) was imperialistic and committed atrocities, up until modern times. The idea that the UK was unique in anything they did is just being historical illiterate.
The world we know today with all its freedoms and advancements and its progress towards equality for all people is really a result of british and other European societies almost entirely.
It is good to recognize the past injustices of these lands and attempt to fix them where we can. But demonizing these countries as net negatives in the world is super idiotic, in my view.
It you remove the uk and other western European countries from history it is exceptionally likely that we would all still be living in a world where virtually every plot of land is ruled over by some sort of king or emperor and where, like throughout most of history, 99% of people lived as powerless poor people that died in the droves due to hunger, poverty, war, sickness etc.
Lots of people complain about the injustice in the modern world and there is a lot of political and social divide currently. However relative to history, virtually everyone alive now is privileged beyond belief.
Really, I think most people don’t realize just how terrible most of our lives would still be had it not been for the European empires and the social and technological advancements that came out of them.
Life before modern times for the common person in history was, relative to today, exceptionally terrible and hard, unless you were rich or royalty, but even then it was still pretty crap.
11. That about sums it up.
My British buddy told me he lost 50 pounds.
He was upset when I congratulated him.
10. They know how to queue.
Lived there as a kid, so hearing an English (especially Yorkshire) accent where I live now is always nostalgic.
Just as arrogant as most western Europeans but also more self-deprecating so it’s not as annoying. One of the few cultures that can reliably form a proper line.
9. Nothing to hide.
My experience Is kind of limited, but I’ve been to the U.K. several times and have plenty of British colleagues.
For some reason I seem to get along better with the working class Brits that I’ve met. They seem to be decent straightforward people. If they’re wankers, you can kind of tell right away.
The further you move up in class, the stranger the behavior seems to get, and the more difficult the people are to read. That surface politeness can hide anything from a very decent if somewhat stiff person to a complete f**king psychopath.
8. Pardon me.
I went to the UK with some friends from the US back in high school. We were in line somewhere when this little English girl asked my friend “pardon me but are you in Queue?”
He was like “what?”
She repeated herself.
He stares at her for like 30 seconds, and then he turned to us and was like “who the fuck is N.Q.?”
We just died laughing, and the poor little girl just got in front of us. He was so absolutely clueless, but she was charming. He’d just never heard it called a queue before. When we explained it later he thought we were making up words to mess with him (which we often did).
“Q-U-E-U-E? that’s not a fucking word!”
7. A good sense of humor.
I’m in the U.S. and work with our British (and Ireland) office daily. We tease each other over our stereotypes a lot and it’s all in good fun. I believe it was 2010 when England played the U.S. during the World Cup series. I bought a bunch of U.S. jerseys and shipped them to their office without telling them for some inter-office trash talking.
In return, they shipped me a huge box that contained an England Jersey, A beach towel with their emblem on it, a bunch of biscuits and tea, salt and pepper shakers in the shape of phone boxes, and a toy double decker bus without telling me.
All and all, I love those guys and gals over there. A fun bunch of peeps.
6. They’re actually funny.
I like British humor a lot. You guys drink hard – very hard. I haven’t known any British people as an adult but the ones I’ve met have varied from fine to great people.
5. They love to talk about it.
They always complain about the weather, no matter what it is like outside – you’ll hear most of them complain.
4. Even the men have emotions.
When I watch the Great British Bake-off and see grown men hold back tears when Paul gives them the handshake, I think I need to move there.
Holy cow thanks for the awards! I want to move to northern Wales some day.
3. That’s true.
All I know you don’t want to become between English or Scottish person and his/her drunken night kebab…
2. The cursing is fun.
Well only lived in England for sometime, so my opinion is based mostly on English people and obviously not all are same. But based on what I’ve experienced they are just absolutely great.
I love their humour and the way they are just what they are, not pretending and saying what ever they like and cursing, but also being polite and warm.
It is hard to explain but I felt right at home over there, would move back anytime. oi oi savaloy!
1. Which is a double-edged coin.
Those bastards can drink.
We drink because we’re unhappy haha.
Even the Brits on the thread can’t help but agree, so there must be something right.
What do you think of Britain and the Brits? Let’s keep the (respectful) fun going in the comments!
