To believe that Brits stand out a mile when abroad?

[ChickenSkin]

And I don't know why!

When we were in Florida we were walking through a mall and people definitely look twice at us. Little kids especially stared at our kids like they KNEW they were different.

So what is it about Brits that make us stand out so much?

neck down bonsoir, clarins factor 50 on the face and neck

Not really. DH is usually mistaken for a native on Spain, Italy, France... He has had many an annoyed native trying to have an indepth conversation with him and wondering why he can't speak back very well (although he does try and is very good a pickings up languages, so often comes out with some gems of information from a local).

He usually pretends to be asleep on long joirneys now (once cornered by a spanish lady on a plane who refused to believe that he wasnt spanish. I did get mistaken for a local in Holland (noooooo idea why!).

A lot of the time you can spot a Brit a mile off but I do get taken for a local, especially in Turkey as my husband is Turksih and my children look very Turkish too.

'I've no idea what it's like in Russia but it is funny when fabulously wealthy Russians with their bad teeth and rough manners pitch up in Italy and other genteel parts of Europe.

They get fantastic service because they're so rich. But the palpable and helpless distaste from the locals, which they don't notice or don't give a shit about, is a wonder to behold.'

I know a few Russians, and I would consider them uber polite in an olde worlde way. They are quite flamboyant in restaurants, with maybe a hint of the old fashioned grand manner, use hand gestures and overstated body language, and have a sort of gruff way about them when ordering, a manner that I understand was necessary in the Soviet Union where you got the service your manner and status seemed to indicate you were entitled to. They do notice the helpless distaste of the yokels (at least the ones I know do) but they don't care, not in a nasty way though. They shrug, pay, leave a tip their attitude is that their money is as good as anyone else's and who are the waiters to be snooty they are waiters after all. I have seen Irish people doing this abroad too, more so during the 80s than now, but there was definitely a bit of 'here we are, deal with it' to them. It's not the British way, which tends to be over polite to the point of apologising for their presence.

I love all the Russians I know, from the perennially cheerful girl who serves in our local best Alsatian boulangerie to the lovely family of five who lives in our building to the über sophisticated mother (ex magazine editor) and father (film director) of a contemporary of DD's at school. I have no idea why they have such a bad reputation!

The Russians who sat next to me on that occasion were not uber-polite, did not have tip-top standards of dentistry (but I'm sure it's next on their list) and however they made their money, I'd guess it wasn't through publishing or the arts.

No matter. They seemed nice people and had every right to be there.

It's just that some people are envious and some of those people have a very hard time hiding it, particularly when they have a sliding scale of superiority based on nothing more than nationality. That's what I find very funny.

DH has a lot of Russian and Ukranian clients and they are generally good fun. They have an eighties vibe, both in their dress sense and their outlook on life.

But these are the super rich. Men who did well after the fall of communism, buying up state entities for a song and making a packet into the process.

DD's friend's Russian mother dresses almost exclusively in Marni and used to be the editor-in-chief of Wallpaper.

I've no idea what it's like in Russia but it is funny when fabulously wealthy Russians with their bad teeth and rough manners pitch up in Italy and other genteel parts of Europe.

They get fantastic service because they're so rich. But the palpable and helpless distaste from the locals, which they don't notice or don't give a shit about, is a wonder to behold.

Oh God, yes, tell me about it! When we went to a quite posh and exclusive hotel in Sharm El Sheikh (ok, I know that might be an oxymoron) the place was over-run with newly moneyed gangsters 'White Russians'. They had the most appalling manners, (particularly their table manners ) were greedy and wasteful BEYOND BELIEF at the buffet tables, and basically just came across as a loud, crass, brutish, uncouth bunch of neanderthal bullies, with their molls girlfriends sitting obediently and twiddling their hair and smiling tightly and looking bored and a bit scared at the same time.

The way they spoke to the waiting staff was un-fucking-believable. DH and I had great fun having silent conversations with the poor long-suffering waiters, using only , and facial expressions.

Russian Watching with a cat's bum mouth became our favourite holiday pastime.

(someone will flame me for that. I don't really care. Yes, I know not all Russians fit the brief, blah blah, in the same way that not all Brits wear football kits and only eat egg and chips, but we take the piss anyway, so just deal with it, and get off yer high horse.)

My DSis lives in Spain in a Very touristy area. Over there, I can always tell the Brits because the ladies' hair is always nice, even at the beach. Their dress sense might be so-so, but the hair is always impecable. The Brit teenagers have great skin, and they normally wear make up, even for the beach. Compared with Spanish teenagers, they look inmaculate. The Germans stick out because of their height, especially the kids.

In London, I can tell a Spaniard even before they open their mouth. So, I guess we all recognise "our own". They dress very practically, speak very loudly, no make up and always with a rucksack attached to their back.

My own Russian friends are not super rich. They led lives of privilege in the Soviet Union because of their jobs, and they got those jobs because of their intelligence and application. Their jobs in the west are only marginally related to what they did back in the USSR, but they work incredibly hard and they are spectacularly devoted to the education of their children and the development of their talents. Their two daughters are now a doctor and a lawyer (English not the first language of either one but they have done exceedingly well) and there are four grandchildren who have all been taken care of by the grandmother from birth so that the daughters could go to university and on to med and law studies full time, and so that the careers of the sons in law would not be compromised by child care duties either. They are incredibly hospitable and fantastic cooks.

....
Having seen the behaviour of British stag parties in Temple Bar and other hot nightspots in Dublin I am feeling a flaming coming on, directed at HillyWallaby. There was a lot of ill feeling against Brits in general and particularly Brits of the stag variety in Dublin when the disgusting stag trend got going.

You're dead right hilly.

We all have cultural differences that we should try to understand. It is what makes life interesting, though there are some cultures that I find too 'interesting' to spend any more time with than is necessary.

I guess you won't be going back to Sharm any time soon. I won't be going back to Cannes, for instance either, except for work, because the combination of extreme wealth and vile attitudes to fellow human beings is where I draw the line.

It doesn't matter whether we are customers or servants because, luckily, some of us get the chance to turn tables in our world. But some people never get that chance.

This thread has turned heavy, hasn't it?

Oh math trust me, I won't be doing any defending or justifying of vile loutish Brits abroad!

I'm Scottish but am not infrequently get taken for Dutch, sometimes German, but mostly Dutch, doubtless on account of my ridiculous heightage (6') and colouring, brown hair and greeny blue eyes - but hey ho, what's wrong with being Dutch? It does sometimes make me wonder about how I speak my own native tongue though (English btw)

Me too! Scottish Dutch! Or Jewish. Never anything very exotic.

people always assume I'm French except in France but they don't have a clue where I might be from.
I do have distant French ancestry though my great grandmother is French so wonder if it's coming through the genes more than I realised

Younger British men/teens tend to have fancy hairstyles and dyed/bleached hair, something uncommon in Americans

agree, when we went to US with son sporting a blue Mohican, we did get the odd sideways glance LOL. In fact many restaurants we went into, they had already heard of him beforehand

Because the British are flabby, frumpy and have terrible haircuts

I can usually spot the Brit tourists here in California and I don't live in a tourist area. I see them passing though in rental cars occasionally. They stop and pick up drinks, snacks etc in the local stores.
Last group I spotted, men in their late 40's early 50's wearing sleeveless shirts and shiny shorts, and sandals. Women in full make up and what looked like an Marks and Spencers sun dress and heels, way over dressed to be with the shorts and sleeveless tee shirt guy. Also they tend to have a pinkish sunburn no matter what time of year here.
Then driving home I noticed the British soccer camp this weekend signs on a fence, so I'm assuming thats what the men were doing, teaching some little American kids to kick a ball.
The only Russians I have met here are immigrants and not to tar them all with one brush, but they turned out to be Russian gangs who are growing in numbers here

It is in part the clothes ( sports clothes with logos or football tops are the most obvious) but also complexion and height I think. Saying that, I'm Scottish and get picked as Dutch, German or Russian (by locals and holidaying Russians). DH tans and gets mistaken for French or Italian so I'm not sure what we look like when together!

Whenever we go back home to Italy my mother and I always have a manic panic about our lack of style and feel the need to a few new bits/get hair cuts/eat healthily before-hand so that we are a suitable level of groomed and stylish when we get there!

DP has only come once before in winter (fine in his standard uniform of converse, jeans, shirt and jumper), but as he's probably going to come with us this summer I may feel the need to pack his suitcase to avoid garish T-shirts/long socks with shorts/lots of other British stereotypical holiday clothes!

We were camping yesterday and my younger two returned from the campsite play park rather confused at being asked by two other children if they were German. This was in Scotland and all children involved were Scottish. We were the scruffiest family there (it was an immaculate Caravan Club site) and rather than nice matching outfits from Next or new football strips my two were wearing whatever hand me downs happened to be clean at the time ( they are a bit nerdy and don't care what they look like as long as they are comfy).

I can never distinguish between Brits and Americans (on the whole) in places like Florida. They look the same to me. However it's much easier in California and on the East Coast.

Agree we're easy to spot all over Europe whether it be in cities, on beaches or skiing unfortunatley.

The whole self-flagellation thing about Europeans being more stylish gets on my tits. Especially as I once stayed in an Italian pensione run by a woman who looked like Waynetta Slob on a scooter.

My job brings me into contact with lots of foreign folks. The differences are far more subtle than that - we notice them, but it's not always easy to pinpoint what they are.

Nah, tend to blend in when it's places like Spian and Turkey, husband as well. Very rarely assumed that we are British.