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.

I don't think people are saying it's fabulous- more that it's better than most!!
Which it is.

Young women fixated on having long hair. Why in your country are they fixated on having short?

You throw buckets of water over your kitchen and it runs off dirty? Gosh, you must be filthy if needing to do that daily.

Yes, those countries that wash meat tend to have poorer hygiene standards. Probably not as educated.

all those people from foreign shores feeling negative towards us for not wanting to be friends anymore

It's a bit too easy to generalise when there were a variety of views on both sides. Not wanting total political integration doesn't necessarily mean you're 'not wanting to be friends'. If you move out of a house-share with all your mates, to live a more independent life. It doesn't mean you dislike them or don't want to be good friends.

I stopped travelling on my UK passport a long time ago, the British are not liked in many places. I was getting a rough time at an airport surely not in Europe, I've travelled across it many times, different countries, never had anything but people be polite and nice (except in my husband's home country where people are a bit blunter with each other full stop).

Fish- no we don't eat much fresh fish, I grew up near the sea, seeing trawlers, never had fresh fish, one fishmongers in town and theirs was all frozen! I'm sure in some posh restaurants in Cornwall they serve fish, but it's very expensive when it should be cheap, unless you count fish and chips which I do love occasionally but can't really be described as eating fresh fish!

Non Brora = non British! Daft typo.

The people making these comments were from Germany, France, Denmark, USA, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Mostly students studying here for a year.

[quote wightwine]@TableFlowerss your attitude is typical of brexiters - everything about the UK is fabulous. Posters are talking about the british empire because we are in britain. can you tell me what fabulous things the UK did for the people outside britain? my family is from Jamaica and is black, what did you do for us - apart from stealing our very identities and then breaking our backs?

The UK was well respected in the EU as a country that could stand up to France and Germany.

As for criticism of this country by other europeans, I have heard english people say that the spanish/greeks should not have been allowed to join the EU as they are backward and lazy, spending all afternoon asleep, not industrious like the northern europeans. the stereotypes and criticism goes both ways.[/quote]
The industrial revolution and the civilised society in which the modern world is based upon. That’s what Britain brought to the table. The inventions and ideas that technological advances that we all benefit from today

No one says it was perfect and was there wrongs? Yes there was, but that doesn’t take away the fact that they also contributed greatly.

Most of the western world laws are based on British Laws though somewhat modified.

You don’t know me at all. You’ve got no idea whether I voted to stay or leave. You’ve got no idea of my heritage. You’re basing your opinions on the fact I said I’m proud to be British and presuming I voted Brexit.

And when you say ‘what did you do for us?’ As oppose to saying ‘what did Britain do for us?

I didn’t do anything to you because I wasn’t alive back then!!!

As I say, there were terrible wrong doings that wouldn’t happen today.

@Katgolde

all those people from foreign shores feeling negative towards us for not wanting to be friends anymore

It's a bit too easy to generalise when there were a variety of views on both sides. Not wanting total political integration doesn't necessarily mean you're 'not wanting to be friends'. If you move out of a house-share with all your mates, to live a more independent life. It doesn't mean you dislike them or don't want to be good friends.

That’s the strangest metaphor for Brexit I have ever come across. To the rest of us, it’s more like watching an old friend try to win a Darwin Award.

On a positive note, To balance out my negative feedback lol:

• multicultural tolerance and awareness is amazing
• honest and clear with their communication
• emotional maturity when it comes to conflict
• value their sleep and routines
• conscious of the environment despite of their excessive consumerism
• can have great empathy with cases of clear human rights Violations. However deeper issues usually remain untackled because there is lack of clarity around them.

Fish- no we don't eat much fresh fish

I love fish and seafood, really love it, my favourite thing to eat. I think I'm going to stop eating it though, or greatly reduce the amount I do eat. It can be a birthday and Christmas treat. This is because of over fishing and the environmental damage fishing does.

We think it's a lot like Downton Abbey in the country and Bridget Jones in London.

@WhatifIfeellikeacat

I am interested why does it still matter which hand do I use to hold my knife and fork (was corrected by a few people)? It's obviously a class thing but it's also a 21st century and there is no such thing as wrong hands. Both are hands. I prefer to hold my fork in the right hand as I feel more in control of it.

i agree with you. am born in UK. parents came from a nearby country. no problem at all with this. their priority would have been that people had food to eat and were able to eat. but you try saying that over on Gransnet. they go mad. say it's bad manners. causes lots of angst with DILs re GC. cuckoo.

most western law is not based on english law. scottish and irish law is not based on english law. western european law is not based on english law.

british achievements are based on other unsung people's efforts. the british considered entering the american civil war on the side of the confederacy because english cotton mills relied on slave produced cotton from the southern states, did you know that?

when i said 'you' i meant britain. what did you/britain do for us? you did not answer because you know that the answer is nothing. you gave the white british cop out ' it wasn't me, i wasn't there/my family was poor, it wasn't us!' always this cop out but you are happy to puff your chests out and boast about the empire and bask in the reflected glory. you are all still living on the proceeds earned from the empire.

@SeaEagleFeather

TableFlowerss Thu 29-Oct-20 10:38:30

<span class="italic">Caeruleanblue</span>

<span class="italic">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</span>.

You’re so right. It’s utterly tragic that they are that desperate to get here that they literally risk their lives and dying. Hundreds of them each day

When people try to deny this it makes them look foolish

well yes.

have you met any would-be immigrants, and then successful immigrants? The level of dreams is so sad, because what they have grown up on and what is the reality in the UK is so so sad and sometimes really irritating. They won't listen. Desperation I suppose.

Just because people want to come to the UK doesn't mean it's what they think it is.

i think unfortunately one of the reasons some people put themselves at great risk to jump across from a civilised country like france to get to uk, is because here we do not require most people to register their address/ carry ID papers, which can be demanded for as a matter of routine. so people can go under the radar, also known as the unofficial economy. this may have to change though.

@wightwine

most western law is not based on english law. scottish and irish law is not based on english law. western european law is not based on english law.

british achievements are based on other unsung people's efforts. the british considered entering the american civil war on the side of the confederacy because english cotton mills relied on slave produced cotton from the southern states, did you know that?

when i said 'you' i meant britain. what did you/britain do for us? you did not answer because you know that the answer is nothing. you gave the white british cop out ' it wasn't me, i wasn't there/my family was poor, it wasn't us!' always this cop out but you are happy to puff your chests out and boast about the empire and bask in the reflected glory. you are all still living on the proceeds earned from the empire.

You’re first paragraph is incorrect. British law is the basis of most modern day legal systems.

Again, I’ve already said that they done some atrocious things, exactly as you described and so of course I’m not proud of that. It was disgusting the way they treated slaves. You’re right and no one is disputing that.

It was a different time from the world we live today. Thankfully we live in a much more civilised society where everyone is considered equal - to a degree I suppose. Even woman aren’t really equal to me but that’s another thread.

The British were the ones that outlawed slavery. God knows how much longer it would have gone on in southern states of America.

So yes you have some god points but equally it wasn’t all bad and again it was a time where ethics issues didn’t seem to be the forefront of anyone’s mind - not just the British.

There’s still countries to this day where being gay is a crime. How disgusting is that that in this day and age you’re not allowed to gay. Yet it’s someone how accepted. They clearly haven’t moved on with the times.

So I’m proud that Britain seen the error of its ways and is not one of the most tolerant countries.

Women aren’t equal to men I mean

now one of the most tolerant countries

Never thought I’d see a thread where slapping children was seen as a good thing

Love the ugly house comments too. Very few have the luxury of designing and building to their own specification and are therefore living in houses built mainly during the booms of the 20’s and 50’s where housing was built quickly.

I live in a 20’s one and it’s small but lovely and I’ve got family in former council owned 50’s houses which they’ve made fantastic too

I’m glad we haven’t got the stereotype of the Belgium houses which have whole websites and Instagram pages devoted to ugly weird houses

I see a lot of people picked up on the wide back thing. I didnt mean wide upper backs or broad shoulders. I meant lower backs with rolls of fat but that sounds even more insulting

It sounds misogynistic. This thread should have been about perceived national characteristics. Silly premise for a thread and could have been light-hearted but people quickly started throwing insults.

The British were the ones that outlawed slavery. God knows how much longer it would have gone on in southern states of America.

Actually there's an excellent new book, The Interest, by Michael Taylor, complicating the idea that slavery was a normal state of affairs worldwide, and that enlightened Britons pioneered the campaign against it, that Britain ended the slave trade in 1807, before any other nation, and then campaigned zealously to eradicate it everywhere else. Slavery stayed central to British economic and political interests long after the cessation of the transatlantic slave trade in 1807 there were still 700,000 enslaved people in Britain's West Indian colonies, Britain actually acquired more slave territories in Sth America, and while slavery had been banned in Haiti since 1804, and was banned in most states in the northern US and in most of Latin America in the 1820s, and slaves in the Caribbean were continually protesting their enslavement, in Britain public opinion stayed overwhelmingly in favour of slavery for decades. Not surprisingly, as the labour of those West Indian slaves produced huge public and private wealth for British governments, cities, traders and private citizens and those influential people, including politicians, landowners, judges, C of E bishops, civil servants etc thought that even a gradual abolition of slavery was extremist, and were in the right place to influence public opinion.

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/29/the-interest-by-michael-taylor-review-busting-the-british-slavery-myth

'
I see a lot of people picked up on the wide back thing. I didnt mean wide upper backs or broad shoulders. I meant lower backs with rolls of fat but that sounds even more insulting'

Never heard of that in my life as being a stereotype for Britain or are you just meaning fat? What a weird thing to focus in on such a specific body part
Seems people are just inventing their own stereotypes on this thread! Oh I have a small waist and thin back for the record

I meant lower backs with rolls of fat but that sounds even more insulting'

It is insulting, but sadly it is true. I see so many women in my area in skinny jeans with muffin tops spilling over the sides and backs. I can see why people from elsewhere might think it is an English thing.

In our local authority a third of children in year 6 are classed as overweight or obese

I think it is the cut of the jeans particularly when they were not high waisted