Why do English people look German?

[sarahlayton06]

Why do some white English people (especially women not so much men) look so extremely German? Not French or Italian or Spanish but German.

This is not so much the case with Welsh or Irish or Scottish people.

For example, don’t you think Samantha Womack (who plays Ronnie Mitchell in Eastenders) looks extremely German?

All the women in my family have black hair, pale skin and light eyes.

@Betchyaby It is a nice combination - pale and interesting. Sadly the men are not so pretty in my family...quite long faces, flattish noses.

Not everyone has the obvious big Irish head look to them.

😆

When on holiday my husband and myself are quite often mistaken for Germans, perhaps it’s because we don’t wear football shirts for evening wear 😲

The hotel we stayed in recently was mainly occupied with German guests and you wouldn’t know it, they very much looked English. They were also terribly polite and gracious, and most spoke English really well.

In the South East of the UK there a definitely more germanic looking people and more Scandinavian looking in the North East. Many Welsh people seem to be shorter and with darker features I think. I can always spot an Irish person too. I don't think they look Scandinavian at all, usually pale with dark hair and quite short.

Do they

That's the freckles and the GAA jerseys.

I can definitely tell some irish people when I see them.

But many of them - I couldn't.

I have two friends that were born in Ireland. One of them has very very dark looks. People usually think he is Italian. I think that one of his grandads is Italian

My other irish friend (blrn in ireland) definitely doesn't look irish. Her mum is irish and her dad is south African.

Err... you know where the Angles and Saxons came from... don't you???

Many of us share common ancestors from the ancient Germanic tribes. People from the Netherlands also. English is broadly a west Germanic language.

(some of my ancestors actually are German on my mother's side btw)

What does a German look like?

My dad was very olive skinned, dark hair, dark eyes, always got a cracking tan in the summer, his grandad had the same colouring. We always joked he had overseas ancestry somewhere but I’ve recently had my ancestry done and nope there’s nothing. I’m 92% english and Northern European 3%danish, 5% Welsh and most of my ancestors lived and were born in the south of England, Norfolk, Yorkshire with the odd Welsh and Scottish wayyy back. I did find 1 French ancestor though about 300 years ago.

so no clue (unless there was an illegitimate ancestor somewhere)

i was very blonde as a child with very dark brown eyes, my youngest daughter has my dads colouring and has been bullied for being mixed race which she clearly isn’t.

But on her own dad’s side there is Romany gypsy, Irish traveller and she is 27% Irish.

it’s fascinating. We are all such a hodge podge

I went on holiday on my own once, years ago, to Majorca. All the other British tourists thought I was German, all the German holidaymakers thought I was German and spoke to me in German, and when I went to the post office to buy stamps for my postcards, the chap behind the counter tried to sell me stamps to go to the Netherlands. He said I spoke (my extremely) basic Spanish with a Dutch accent, whatever that is.

Beyond blue eyes and blonde hair I can't think of any typically German features that don't also fall into Scandinavian or just generally northern Europe features. Specifically facial features I don't think I would be able to distinguish a Brit from a french, German, polish or swedish, obviously fashion and how they carry themselves etc would sway me.
But we are mostly descended from Anglo saxons, and vikings, so makes sense some of us have similar facial features

Is this a racist joke or what ?

Imagine the uproar if this was another nationality being compared against another.

No British white people don’t look German imo.

I really don't think they do look German.

Yeah having spent time in Germany I really don’t see it.

Some do.
As a family whenever we were on holiday abroad with the DC people would assume we were German. All tall slim and blonde, but not Scandanavian blonde.

One of our favourite holiday people watching games is trying to guess nationalities and we generally do well

Although I'm always being greeted in German, so must look it. But I'm Scottish not English

Whenever I'm abroad in Europe I'm spoken to in German, except in Scandinavia where I'm spoken to in the local language. DH is always spoken to in English 😅

Dh and I are both Welsh. Grandparents from villages within 10 miles of one another.
He has black hair and blue eyes. Tans at the merest hint of sun. Bit hairy. Tallish. Carrot shaped.
I have reddish brown hair and very dark eyes. Struggle to tan. Not hairy. Tall. Athletic build. Long face and nose.

I would say I probably look more northern European than Welsh or English. But I think that tends to be the height. People used to mistake us for an Italian or Greek couple on holiday.

Womack is of English origin. It's definitely not Polish or Eastern European.

Thanks OP, I’ve learnt a lot from this thread. I don’t know a huge amount about history so it’s been an accessible interesting way to learn something!

I’m English and am frequently told I look German- specifically when I am visiting Germany and people assume I’m German then tell me I look German when I can’t speak German; and also I’ve been told this multiple times by Germans in the uk. So it happens!