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 will also say that there is no "typical" in Britain.

It is an island. It is so multicultural, especially compared to every other European country which seeks to be super mono-cultural.

So I think it's difficult to generalise, as it's definitely the most multicultural country in Europe.

And you also treat heating as an optional, luxury product. In any other country where I have lived, heating goes on in the autumn and off in spring. All my British friends seem to spend their lives turning it off and on constantly - an hour here, half an hour there - and many will rather wear several sweaters and gloves indoors than heat their houses to comfortable levels. I mean great for the environment and all, but it can't be that pleasant?

I never understood this either until I moved to England and realised how expensive utilities were/were. This was in London though so that might be why.

Now, living in a Scandinavian country, my heating goes on in November and off in March.

*were/are

[quote HappyDinosaur]@Blackberrycream Interesting, I wonder where it is normal to wear shoes inside then, if anywhere. I know friends in Florida who always wore shoes indoors, but they must have been unusual![/quote]
I moved back here and found it a bit shocking at first after so many years of shoe removal. Especially since so many people here have carpets. Maybe area dependent.

If you put this post up about any other nationality it would be frowned upon but its ok to bash the british according to some
And also judge everyone who lives here the same

I can't argue against what people think of our government or Brexit. I voted for neither.

Interesting about the house cleanliness. I've heard this come up in several conversations before. I'm up in Scotland and I've heard a lot of people here comment on how dirty English homes are. It's an affront to have a dirty house in Scotland. For example someone could say 'oh wee Anne, she's a lovely kind woman but her house is stinking', so she's got a black mark against her. And then you can hear someone say 'oh that john down the road, he's a horrible wee man but he keeps his house beautiful' so he's automatically earned respect.

And I'm sorry to say, I've been in lots of houses owned by English people, both up here and down south and not one of them was clean. The only clean house I've been to in England was owned by a Scottish couple.

Prepared to be shot down in flames 🙂

[quote MissingCoffeeandWine]@Mydogmylife

“Interested to know if people have different views of the devolved nations? Ie is British really just English ( a particular bug bear of mine) do Scottish Welsh and Irish have their own character ?”

The Irish are not British (Northern Ireland is devolved, but culturally different in many aspects from the Republic). For the most part, many Irish people would have very different relationships with the scots, welsh and the English. Especially post Brexit.[/quote]
Apologies I should have course have said northern Irish.

Who are all these people who don't keep their homes clean?

@ssd

Actually most people said British not English.... Am still wondering what folks think of the Scots though

Well, Scots - the ones I have encountered (not many) they seem to take themselves less seriously than the English, but with an undercurrent of stubbornness . And they have been very friendly and talkative, perhaps I've just been lucky?

I'm Scandi, since brexit in particular brits seem to suffer greatly from megalomania. Your way of handling Brexit seems to be the same way you speak to foreigners 'just shout, they are either draft or deaf'.

I've answered threads like this before, they could be fun but are always flooded by offended posters. But we are here and like you anyhow and the best British humor is priceless .

I've been here 20 years now.

First impressions and general observations:

The houses are only as dirty as whoever cleans them, or doesn't. I've seen worse abroad but appreciate that a clean polished tile floor is probably cleaner than a freshly hoovered carpet but not as practical in this climate.

Fairly law abiding people, peaceful and often fair minded, and it is a credit to society that police can observe the Peelian principles of policing by consent and not carry guns.

Beautiful countryside unblighted mostly by anything that shouldn't be there. Next time you want to curse planning laws for your new conservatory, remember that.

Saying sorry when it's completely not your fault is humble and kind and beautifully endearing.

Teeth are better these days, it's the baby boomers and the generation before who missed out there generally. Teeth are not meant to be optic white and veneered, just clean and reasonably straight.

The men can be rather pervy and a bit kinky.

Dogs are generally doted on just a little more than the bothersome children 😆

Most of you are more socialist than you realise, even if you voted Tory.

The government is not as bad as you think (any of them), you just have high standards if you think of this globally.

But the roundabouts, and the inability to indicate at them, even the insane ones with 4 lanes and 2 mini roundabouts coming out of it...wow! 🤩

Having been to lots of various international events all I have to say is that a British person I've always been subjected to hearing these stereotypes said to my face. Quite frankly I think it just shows how incredibly rude those people are.

I have yet to hear British people openly stereotype someone from another country to my face and I met alot of British people at these events and they never behaved in such a rude manner to other nationalities.

So I for one am proud of how polite we are. I'm proud that we queue up besides how ironic now xocid is here that other nationalities are effectively having to learn to queue up to keep distance etc 😉

Old Britain was the twin to Japan. We miss how it used to be. It's a big shock coking here, and the image is shattered of what modern Britain is like, however, the countryside is still very "British" to us.

*coming.

@Qwertybertie87 funny as of all my friends my scottish friend keeps the messiest dirty house as do somw of her family
But from that i wouldn't take that as all scottish houses are dirty
Think thats really poor of you to say maybe its the company you keep as surely you only go in friends houses

A bash a Brit thread. All nationalities have negatives. For the British I believe I have heard -

Dirty houses, ugly women, dirty bums, unclean, bad teeth, fat, drink too much, eat shit food, cold, reserved, unfriendly, football hooligans, poorly educated, blah blah blah. I don't recognise any of this in the people I know. I do recognise ignorance in people that can't see beyond a stereotype.

I'm finding it fun.
I couldnt say if my house is clean or dirty compared to scottish houses but can confirm hard floors and no shoes are order of the day round here. I can also say the air pollution means we have to paint more often than my rellies in rural wales.

@ssd

Interesting that the op asked about people abroads opinions on British people and most posters have discussed opinions on English people.... I wonder what people abroad think of the Scots?

My mum is french and my aunt came over to visit. We took her to Edinburgh for the weekend. She loved every minute Loved the whiskey and distillery Was ecstatic when we saw a wedding and the men were wearing kilts. Loved the friendliness of everyone, especially the tour guide around Sterling Castle who attempted to translate what she was saying to french.

The Scottish have now got excellent PR in the West of France from my aunt

@cyclingmad

Having been to lots of various international events all I have to say is that a British person I've always been subjected to hearing these stereotypes said to my face. Quite frankly I think it just shows how incredibly rude those people are.

I have yet to hear British people openly stereotype someone from another country to my face and I met alot of British people at these events and they never behaved in such a rude manner to other nationalities.

So I for one am proud of how polite we are. I'm proud that we queue up besides how ironic now xocid is here that other nationalities are effectively having to learn to queue up to keep distance etc 😉

I spent twenty years living in various parts of the UK having incredibly unpleasant, ill-informed, wildly offensive stereotypes of my country of origin said to my face by a minority of of people, but on a semi-regular basis.

Everywhere sells proper bread these days, even supermarkets. Depends what you call proper bread! I can rarely find anything that is processed crap in the local supermarkets.

My family in Ireland and Australia think the Brits have lost the plot and everything's going to shit with Brexit, Boris and Covid. And there are two types of England people - the insufferable snobs with the posh accent -obsessed with class -who think they are above everyone (you see this kind on here a lot) and the football hooligans who are insufferable too.

I've been to Norway, Finland and Iceland a lot, and love that dark rich bread but can't find it over here. What is it? Rye or pumpernickel? It's soft. Made Rye but took forever and tasted too sweet.

Scots as seen as lovely, good fun but the "you'll have had your tea" stereotype still holds some water. We never met Welsh people - they don't seen to travel much.

Interesting that the emphasis on the U.K. having ugly women rather than people? That just smacks of misogyny, oh what a surprise!

@Iceniwarrior exactly its ok to stereotype the brits especially the english if we did this about any other thread it would be removed
Yes some on here are light hearted but some are frankly quite rude
Personally i don't judge people on their country of birth more so in the person who they are
Fun stereotyping is fine but blantantly being rude isnt

That we have a huge pedophile network and SS services steal children.

I was visiting a friend in Portugal and was joined by her friends - two Portuguese, one Russian and one Spanish all people that had moved to Portugal. They were all in agreement

Apparently there was a tv show on about it