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.

Lighten up - whatever happened to the British sense of humour?

Agree @AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

I think a lot of people are focussing on some of the negative impressions of Brits - rather than the huge amount of positive ones posted! We are funny, we have good TV and despite our wide backs a lot of you seem to like us.

Re the Scottish v Eng v Northern Irish abroad discussion. I'm Scottish but live in England so often abroad introduce myself as British. I've worked abroad in a few different countries and realised when I said Scottish some people would think I was either Swedish or Swiss as they get the countries confused.

I wonder if that's why e get such a good reception abroad?!

Being told you are dirty by someone who most likely doesnt wash their hands after using the toilet is funny.

Being told your food is bad by someone who doesnt try anything other than their own food is funny.

Some is fair comment.

I also think with regards to being a ‘laughing stock’ due to Brexit that a lot of other European countries wish they could do the same but haven’t got the guts/need the EU to prop them up.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles
I suspect if this thread had been titled.

What do the British think of the 'insert nationality here'

It would have been taken down by now.

100% agree and yet this thread is allowed to stand.

Oh other things which are true-ish and I didnt think about till I lived abroad:

1. central heating/insulation in the Uk being crap - to be fair it is compared to a lot of places. I always says its because we are tougher
2. Absence of mixer taps. I had a greek friend who used to go on and on about why do they always have seperate hot and cold taps in the bathroom/kitchen.
3. Tea. Everytime I make a cup of tea I get "ah, you're English you drink a lot of tea ha ha" but the thing is I do.

Also, whereever you go in the world, it is a known FACT that foreigners (from outside wherever you are) are dirty. One exception being the Swiss, maybe the Japanese, whom everyone acknowledges are clean.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

I suspect if this thread had been titled.

What do the British think of the 'insert nationality here'

It would have been taken down by now.

Yeh but it's not titled that. It's posted by a Brit wanting to know what people think of us. I'm just being curious and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

I know hearing bad opinions about your own nationality can feel like a bit of a gut kick at first but remember impressions are never 100% accurate. And actually we have had a lot of compliments on this thread too!

One of my best friends now lives in Spain. When she was in hospital having her baby, a few of the staff had worked in British hospitals. They told her they had been shocked at how dirty and unhygienic our hospitals are, and how scruffy the nurses, midwives always looked

I've got no problem being disparaging about my own home country. Everyone is always late for one thing, that drives me crackers. And the men are generally very misogynist.

Lol, some still think other are jealous of Britain's empire 😂
This s thread was never going to end well. A lot of people live here not because we live the English, but for purely economical and job opportunities reasons. I have been here years and years and have still not integrated, between me and all of my friends there isn't one that has made proper friend with an English person.
And those complaining"but we do have clean houses! And we do have proper bread! ".the problem is that your houses are clean for your standard. And the bread is good for your standard. That's the difference. A lot of good things here, employers are more open minded then in other countries regarding employing minorities, benefits system is very good, people are friendly if you r not looking to make friend but just shout a you alright? whilst passing you on the street.
The following rules blindly gives me the rage tho, can't stand it. Same for queueing, sometimes it reaches unbelievable levels. Child dieing for the toilet and no one offering to let them go ahead? Queueing in the rain whilst no one dare to sit under bus stop shelter?

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

We eat after the kids because they are hungry at 5.30 and we are not. And they go to bed at 7 and we do not.

We eat breakfast and lunch together everyday.

Yes this. Also husband is not home until after 6 which is a big factor.

We eat together at weekends.

The whole kids food thing is terrible but true. I know that on the continent kids just eat what the grown ups are having but here young kids generally do not. My own sons just won’t.
It might be because we pander to fussiness more?

The Japanese are clean - but rude behind those bows. They dress almost exactly the same when heading to the office - the brave male wears a cream shirt instead of white. And they hate foreigners (we ate with a friend who spoke fluent Japanese, we knew exactly what was being said). As for their toilets - they are amazing but why do international hotels not have English instructions?

Actually one other thing I don't get about British culture is the deification of the NHS. It's good if you have a disease which might kill you like cancer but anything debillitating but non-life threatening they are useless at.

Maternity and menopause provision in particular is shocking IMO.

Some of it is down to underfunding but some of it is down to bad management.

Yet everyone talks about it like it's the holy grail.

Preschool and nurseries as well are known for being dirty compared to other countries, this has been noticed by people that worked in nurseries in both countries.

What do the British think of the 'insert nationality here'

It would have been taken down by now.

Agreed. I'm not sure why it matters what other nationalities think. These assumptions will never be accurate will they.

I know that on the continent kids just eat what the grown ups are having but here young kids generally do not

I actually think this is a common misconception. I have Greek and Spanish family and kids are as fussy as British kids, they just eat different things.

I hope this thread isn't taken down, (as a Brit) I'm finding it quite amusing and interesting.

If we're that bad, how come 75 percent of the people I work with have chosen to come over here to work from other countries? And often stay. I think we are a welcoming country on the whole.

I recall back when Interview with a Vampire was filmed, reading that for one of the victim actresses they had to go to France for the delicate features they couldn't find here!

“I think a lot of it is jealousy as we had such a powerful empire.”

😂

That is a very MN thing to say. Half the threads here tell someone their problem with their friend/colleague/neighbour is because of jealousy!

But no, I am pretty confident the rest of the world is not jealous of Britain’s past glory!

Experience of hospital treatment elsewhere - first thing you are asked for is your insurance and if it's an emergency and you dont have details to hand (a mistake never to be repeated) you need a credit card before they will look at you.

As for the treatment thereafter, it was poor.

There are reasons we value the NHS.

@Completmentfille Regarding the NHS I think British people often compare themselves to America rather than other European countries. So (and Im not slating everything about the US health care system here) but you see a lot of negative stories - in comparison the NHS looks good. We don't hear as much about other European systems. Also I have received medical treatment in other European countries and it was a bit of a shock to the system being presented with a bill (Im not complaining and I had insurance but its odd if you arent used to it). I also would say sometimes the differences are exagerated - I have turned up on time for a pre-booked appointment in Germany and had to wait 2 hours for example.

Used to have a French friend, until her negativity became too annoying. She thought everything was better in France except the mysogynist males.

What is the alternative to queuing though from where you’re from OffYouGo? Do you never have more than one person waiting for the same thing? Obviously we have way too many people here?

Just because you have to pay for care in other countries (which I don't agree with) doesn't mean the NHS is automatically better.

The healthcare in Scandinavia, when I lived there, was wonderful.