What do other nationalities think of the British

[Baggingarea]

For non UK MNers, what are your general impressions of the British?

I was watching a documentary recently and a Spanish man said our houses are all dirty. I'd never heard that before but can see why someone might think that with muddy weather etc etc.

What do you think about us? Promise I won't be offended (no racism/sexism/general bigotry though please). Can't vouch for others though.

Don't think English hygiene so bad apart from not clean bum properly. I notice more other countries where lots men not even wearing deodorant and smell of armpit. Even some women. And UK men not looking greasy like some other places like Turkish men maybe.

An American friend told me she was really disappointed when she went to Scotland. She thought everyone would be ethereal fiddle players but instead they were all really fat, drunk, loud and poorly dressed.

@timeforanewstart french is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world! It's the OFFICIAL language in 29 countries!

25 speak Arabic

20 counties have Spanish as their official language

This notion that English is the ONLY language spoken widely is far from true

More people migrate from the eu to the Uk than the reverse But it's not a huge difference, but the original comment wasn't just about the eu, net migration is very small when compared to other countries generally speaking.

-that women have wide backs and are not very pretty

😂😂😂😂

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

It would be interesting to know what the nationalities of each PP is.

(I am British but could be English soon depending how things holds together.)

How can you become English ?

@Sojo88

I have always wondered why the British put a wash up bowl in the sink. Why not just use the plug?

I used to wonder this, even though we'd always done it. When I tried using just a plug I realised exactly why - you can't pour anything down the sink if you fill up the whole sink with washing up water. If you use a washing up bowl it means you can still use the plug hole without having to get rid of all your washing up water.

We use a washing up bowl even though we have side by side sinks 🤷‍♀️

So they were racist, they assumed things about you based on your race?

French and English are not different races.

I’ve lived in Britain for a few years. My observations and actual experiences are that Brits in general are:

Tea obsessed
Class obsessed
Largely Socialist
Fabulous humour
Loathe Americans
Wonderful NHS
Benefits culture
Stunning countryside
Terrible Mexican food, but a damn nice curry
Lots of anxiety and depression

Poorly dressed! That’s funny coming from an American - have they looked around their own country?

@Offyougo

Sorry to say its true we think English houses are dirty. The standard of cleaning its just not the same. Not helped by carpets everywhere. Another thing that comes up a lot is that British people have "blinders" On their eyes, meaning not being able to other then what they re looking at, inflexible thinking.

Don’t you mean blinkers?

Haven't read all the threads - there is some truth in most of the comments, but I've lived lots of countries and I prefer here, and people are literally dying to get to the UK, in fact crossing the whole of Europe to get here.

@Twatalert

No proper bread.

Beating around the bush rather than be frank.

Why are people wearing their outside shoes in their living room?

Less stress as not everything needs to be perfect (love this)

How many types of ham can there be on one supermarket shelf? What about all the other meats that can go into sandwiches?

No proper bread?!

That's just nooooot true. Our bakeries are fabulous

@Elcantador

Ah, another thing. Wearing outdoor shoes inside the house. Im from a country where we have indoor slippers,and we take our outdoor shoes off as soon as we enter a house.

Germany

My dm is not British but the lists of weird things I can see like a dirty house is not of her opinion.
She does think we’re class obsessed though and rolls her eyes at it. She’s under the impression the Brits can’t cook though, probably because of the convenience foods we have.
My cousin found us odd that we add milk to tea. I gave him tea with milk, that shut him up, he loves it 😂

When I was a teenager I took part in a German exchange programme. I asked my exchange student what German people thought of us and she said they call us a name that would roughly translate to 'island monkey'.

Don't think English hygiene so bad apart from not clean bum properly.

How on Earth can you know that?

My husbands Austrian and his parents couldn't believe whenever they landed in UK how much black / dark colours people wore. Other things were (i love their observations so most of these are from there list(

Small houses / rooms but everyone has more than one home
Everyone has an apple tree
Young people stay in their country long term (bore out of distress at how many Austrian kids leave Austria)
Less class based than Austria (class is based on location people live villages top, cities next, towns then farmers bottom of all)
Lack of language skills
Too relaxed on allowing others to settle here which was diluting the UK (ironic with their son living here forever obviously!)
Why does the UK have different bricks to the rest of Europe
Pretty villages that visitors do not visit!

They were respectful people so didn't say anything offensive, not sure if they ever thought it.

Reading so many negative comments in here does reaffirm that the UK is disliked in Europe and i hate to say it the Brevit vote.

Far from being a light hearted thread a la Bill Bryson “let’s poke gentle fun at the Brits”, it has turned into “let’s slag off the dirty, arrogant, fat ugly English” with lots of downright nasty and rude comments. And posters are deliberately not saying where they are from because they will get as much back.

I don’t identify with most of the stereotypes on here, and don’t know anyone who fits these stereotypes

1. How many people who hate the English have actually lived here?
2. If you are “forrin” and hate living here, why are you still here?
3. I don’t understand the hysteria about having washing machines in kitchens. Housing is expensive here, and most of us don’t have room for a utility room
4. I don’t understand the hysteria about having carpets in the home. I vacuum and clean my carpets regularly. We are a pet free and small child free home, and we don’t wear shoes indoors, so they don’t get very dirty. We also live in a cold, damp part of the country, and heating bills are expensive, and a carpet helps keep the house warm
5. When we travel abroad we avoid the kind of places that attract the “typical English stereotypes” and have found the locals welcoming and friendly. We never have AI holidays, instead preferring to immerse ourselves in the local culture, eat the local food, drink the local wine and see the sights
6. Some people eat boring and unhealthy diets, but we have embraced the different foods, wines and beers from all over the world, and have a much more varied and interesting diet than many countries. The Italians, in particular have a reputation for being very precious about only eating local, regional food for instance

However, I agree:

1. That we have an obesity problem, and too many people eat too much of the wrong foods
2. That far too many people have an unhealthy attitude towards drinking, and just don’t know when to stop.
3. We are rubbish at languages, but that is because language teaching in schools is so dire, and so many people find it pointless learning another language (an arrogant view IMO)
4. Our shops aren’t as good as they used to be because far too many mumsnetters people think that going shopping is beneath them, and ordering online is a morally superior thing to do (just my impression from the many shopping posts here)

And I am a massive tea drinker and I voted remain

Heavy drinkers. A bit phony but nice. But what you see is not what you get. Very gossipy. Not very reflective. A bit pig-headed. Not at all philosphical. Hard to crack, as in hard to reach/read. You never really know where you stand with a Brit. They're really closed books and put on a facade.

Although, I can see why many people think we are dirty if they have read this thread

For the record, I don't think it is OK.

I am German and most of my family and friends comment on these:

Lovely countryside but it rains all the time (that latter one is wrong I think)

Why have pubs so weird carpets?

Again, the Brits are blocking all the sunloungers

You are always drunk after work.

Too many girls are pregnant while still in school.

Why do children eat dinner at 4-5 and parents when the kids are in bed? And, why do you feed children rubbish instead of normal food (a friend shaking her head at the children menu in a restaurant)

Why do Brits see themselve as special and not part of Europe?

Shaking heads about two tabs in the bathroom sink.

The underfunded and in their view oldfashion and basic NHS and why it is not possible to just see a specialist without making a huge dance and a hospital appointment.

That I didn't have a room with en-suite when I was giving birth to DD, either single or double, and had to go up to get breakfast in the corridor.

The horror that DD had to start school with 4 and had to wear uniform.

I think lots of things are seen more as eccentric and worry that we are not really sane.

but instead they were all really fat, drunk, loud and poorly dressed.

Your friend met EVERYONE in Scotland @garlictwist? 😂. I hate to disappoint but I'm not fat, not loud, I don't drink alcohol and I don't believe that I'm badly dressed (though that's subjective obviously!).

I've never heard of Brits supposedly having dirty houses, what nonsense. 😊

I asked Dh (who is Dutch) if the Dutch think we are dirty. He said yes, but the Dutch think everyone is dirty except the Dutch.

Why do children eat dinner at 4-5 and parents when the kids are in bed?

@reluctantbrit I don't know anyone who does this. We, and the families I know, all eat as a family. Where on earth do these assumptions come from?

My DP is Romanian and says their perception of us brist is we are quite "cold" emotionally, the women are lazy since after the war ie. Not being the perfect housewife while child rearing etc. I challenged him on this after I went back to work and he had to look after our lo and he has sort of changed his mind now 🙄.