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.

We have a far better range of bread than in a typical French boulangerie. There it's white flour in various shapes or pain complete. No seedy breads, ancient grains, caraway and rye, walnut loaves etc.

I love the bread in the uk! Here in Portugal, the run of the mill loaf of bread on the shelf, isn’t great. It’s a whole different experience eating some Warburtons-proper bread! Or maybe that’s just my Northern childhood 😂

I'm not keen on Warburton's, apart from the seeded batch loaf.

That’s because Your boulangerie is crap @dolphinpose.

So many of these stereotypes among Europeans are based on exchange visits back in the days when those were a thing.

I have heard so,so often that Germans think it's odd that we have carpeted bathrooms. What carpeted bathrooms? Does anybody you know in the UK have a carpeted bathroom? Somebody went on an exchange trip to the UK in 1975 and the family had a carpeted bathroom becomes an idea that all British people always and forever have carpeted bathrooms.

As a tourist most of the bread you see is in city convenience stores or sandwich shops so yes it's likely to be white sliced a lot of the time. Does it not occur to people that it might be different in people's homes? Another thing I've heard is 'English people just eat chicken and chips all the time' on the basis that there are a lot of chicken and chip shops on the high street (in London). Go to somebody's actual home! Of course people don't eat chicken and chips all the time.

I spend all my working life with people from other countries and I've heard so much stuff like this which is simply based on old anecdotes.

We all do it of course and I'm sure I do the same.

We bought a house in an upmarket village in the midlands in 2015, and it had cream-coloured carpet throughout the upstairs, including the bathroom and the en suite loo. We’d have shrugged and thought ‘Other times’ if the carpet had been old, but the house had been inherited by adult siblings on their parents’ deaths, and redecorated in order to sell, and the carpet was brand new — the invoice for its installation was still in the house.

I thought it was weird, but clearly some people still think carpeted bathrooms are normal or even a selling point.

Not read the whole thread but...

This distinction between Welsh, Scottish, English and N Irish.

I am ‘English’ but have grandparents from Wales, N Ireland and R of Ireland.

So am I a ‘nice’ Brit or a horrible English Brit?

What about my ‘English’ friend who’s parents are from Iran, are her kids horrible English or Ok because they are from Iran?

I struggle to find ONE family of all my friends who is just English????

This is not to deny our horrible history towards the other nations and across the world. But if we’re basing our character purely on our history France and Spain don’t look too hot either!

Also I’m going to defend our bread. We have such a variety of bread, many different breads compared to when I’ve been abroad. In France it’s all the same, I’ve never seen whole meal or seeded bread in France just white bread. Maybe going to the wrong places!

And finally...the whole washing up saga....I use a dishwasher. So does most of my friends

Sorry clearly this thread got to me 🤪

I do agree with many of the stereotypes though!

Ask the Incas on their opinion of the Spanish don't think they like what they did. In fact every country in world have a history which they are ashamed of.
Instead of looking back which cannot be altered let's change the future.

@Rory786

Programmes like World's Strictest parents have not shown English teenagers in a good light.

I will never forget this one!

👏You👏Are👏In👏Barbados👏

OhDear2200, great choice of bread here if one knows where to shop.

@WelcomeToManderley
I agree. The English girl with the Chinese American parents was awful too.

I can only speak for my scandic country but here babies nap out side year round, even in kindergarten, it's considered healthy. (As a first time mum it was bloody hard knowing how to dress dc not too hot or cold in the midst of winter).

Re. Bathroom carpets, it's hard to forget once seen , admittedly it was a long time ago, but eww .

My grandmother had floral carpets in her bathrooms.

You have to view it in context though. She grew up in grinding rural poverty in a Scottish bothy with a dirt floor. The children (eleven in total) used to steal coal in the winter and apples in the summer. They constantly had the threat of homelessness hanging over them. The one thing that really stuck in my grandmother's mind when remembering her childhood was being cold, really really cold, for much of the time. As a result, having managed to claw herself out of that situation by working first as a nursery nurse and later qualifying as an English teacher after attending night school, she valued warmth and comfort. Her whole house was carpeted and she had the heating on from October to March. That was luxury for her.

@MessAllOver

My grandmother had floral carpets in her bathrooms.

You have to view it in context though. She grew up in grinding rural poverty in a Scottish bothy with a dirt floor. The children (eleven in total) used to steal coal in the winter and apples in the summer. They constantly had the threat of homelessness hanging over them. The one thing that really stuck in my grandmother's mind when remembering her childhood was being cold, really really cold, for much of the time. As a result, having managed to claw herself out of that situation by working first as a nursery nurse and later qualifying as an English teacher after attending night school, she valued warmth and comfort. Her whole house was carpeted and she had the heating on from October to March. That was luxury for her.

This is very similar to MIL's upbringing. Her house has carpet in the kitchen and bathroom.

The other reason she wanted carpet was because she was afraid of slipping on a wet floor and falling.

@Ginfordinner

I'm eatiing a slice of toast made from a French boule loaf that I bought in Tesco. It is crunchy and full of flavour. I don't understand the comments saying that all bread here is tasteless pap. The wrapped, sliced white bread is, but I don't buy that.

You have to look hard for it and I am finding quality is rarely consistent. The only proper bakery I knew that was selling real bread with consistent quality got shut down in the current situation, oddly enough.

Supermarket bakeries in France and Italy tent to also sell not very tasty bread. You can’t really compare a bakery loaf to a supermarket one (although some do very nice loafs).

There a difference between ‘bad’ and ‘not to my taste’.

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

That's not true. There is no such thing as 'British law'. Even Scottish law is a hybrid of common law and civil law. So is Jersey's legal system.

Western European law is based on Roman law, aka a civil law system.
Middle Eastern legal systems are based on Islamic precepts with other sources intermingled.
Current Russian law is an amalgam of Communist and Imperial systems, both based on civil law.
Chinese law is also a loosely civil law based system.

Only those legal systems which developed under the British Empire in countries which are now predominantly English-speaking are related to the Common Law. That is, Ireland, USA (with the exception of Louisiana, which has a hybrid system), Canada (with the exception of Quebec), Australia, British West Indies, New Zealand.

Other countries - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, Singapore, Malta, Cyprus, and former African Imperial possessions follow common law precepts to varying extents. Most have hybrid systems that incorporate customary precepts, common law, and ideas and practices from other sources.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_legal_systems#Civil_law_and_common_law[/quote]
Yes it is. Well English Law rather than ‘British Law’, as you point out. It’s basis of the legal systems in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand to name but a few.

Supermarket bakeries in France and Italy tent to also sell not very tasty bread

It's like when I tried pizza in Italy. It was terrible. I imagined that in Italy pizza would taste like God

I have had some lovely pizzas in Italy.

I have had the best pizza in Italy - and the worst pasta!

I only tried pizza in one place so looking forward to trying a proper Italian pizza next time I go there.

Best pasta I ever had was in a shack in Cape Verde!
Best Pizza was in Austria
Very confusing