To ask overseas folk what British quirks they think are weird/funny?

[Burntmybiscuits]

Us Brits are always on our high horse, making light humour over the habits of other countries (particularly the U.S!), so I thought it would be funny to see what people overseas find 'unique' about us!

Most bathrooms in the UK are tiny. 3m away from the bath/shower for safety for an electric socket would be in the next room. Shaver sockets are allowed, though.

Oh yes teachers having to diplomatically describe misbehaved children as ‘testing boundaries’ or ‘having a lot of energy ‘because parents get offended if their child is described as a naughty little shit who won’t listen and can’t sit still .

@alloutoffucks What do you mean about people being selfish?

Birthday cake agreed (we have the cake at the party in Denmark but shaped like a person and you cut the neck off first and ALL the kids scream as you do this - I know this is weird but its fun)

Thank you cards I had never come across them as a standard until I came here. For weddings, they are done in Denmark but then with a picture in of the bride and Groom.

Milk in tea. I have lived here for almost 30 years (next month) and I still take my tea black. Also, WHY do so many places insist on serving earl grey with milk that is NOT meant to have milk in it.

Your over-politeness like you cant send an email saying " please send me your work" it has to be one paragraph of niceties and then please if it is not too much trouble could you consider to perhaps send it to me and then if not it's ok just please let me know" I get accused of being very blunt at times. I just think I get to the point quicker.

Cheese.. how you cut it. Why do you not have cheese slicers as a standard? Even now 30 years on and my perfectly able to cut a piece of cheddar with a knife we use a cheese slicer. both DDs who has gone to uni has requested a cheese slicer with them.

Why do you not sell flødeboller anywhere? I miss them (its nothing like snowballs and not like a walnut whip and yes I know they look similar but they don't taste the same) Its the only thing I really miss from Denmark food wise.. (so we buy them back with us when we visit)

Also never got the acceptance of sports spectators being rude to the players/each other. The name Hooligan when I grew up was considered a real put down. However, when I moved to the UK I found many were almost proud of that name. I don't get it and I still don't.

Having said all of that.

Bacon nutty food of the Gods 100%
I love a good Roast

I love how the British queue (usually not just as we do right now 2 meters apart) here the politeness 100% wins over.
I enjoy how people are politely saying " yes Sir / mam" to you when out shopping.
When I go to Denmark I get told I am very British now so a lot obviously has rubbed off on me and I don't mind one bit.

Saying goodbye on the phone.

"Ok, bye then, yeah, bye, byebye, bye now, bye, bye... byebyebyebye!"

The pitch gets progressively higher until it's almost a squeak at the end – OR disappears to a whisper as the phone comes away from the face....

I didn't realise it was a thing until my Spanish partner would mimic it (chuckling) as soon as he realised I was coming to the end of a phone conversation

It's 2020! Surely nobody washes chicken anymore. Come on!
Old habits die hard!

Thanks @MillicentMartha, I'll have to try that!!

Probably was mentioned already but... Asking people how they are and walking off without expecting an answer. Such a meaningless question on the UK. I used to start answering when I first came but quickly learned no one a really wants to know 😅😂

Oh I forgot This idea that calling your teacher " Mr/Mrs x" as posed to their first name is a matter of respect? I called all of my teachers by their first name (bar one and he was known by ALL even friends by his surname) and we had no issue with respect.

@iliaria I'm African . Kids stay at home until they get married, although people are started to be more and more influenced by western ways of living so some are started to move out if they get a job in a differnt town to where their parents live. But its done in such a cut throat way here. You see threads here with posters are discussing 'converting' their dc's room into a study etc which basically means GOODBYE AND DON'T COME BACK[SHOCK]

@onceandneveragain what happens here is that there's a wake the night before the funeral in the family home. If you're unable to attend the funeral itself you just go to this part. If you're close family/friend you can stay for hours at the wake. There's food and drink for everyone.

Nowadays a lot of wakes are in funeral homes where people just file in to sympathise and leave immediately.

After the burial there's usually a meal for everyone who attended but mostly only relatives and close friends would go to this.

Your over-politeness like you cant send an email saying " please send me your work" it has to be one paragraph of niceties and then please if it is not too much trouble could you consider to perhaps send it to me and then if not it's ok just please let me know" I get accused of being very blunt at times. I just think I get to the point quicker.

I am glad I am not the only one scaring people with apparent bluntness 😂

YetAnotherSpartacus Wed 08-Apr-20 14:02:46
I miss carpeted pubs.

Er.......You should frequent Wetherspoons. Not only are the pubs carpeted, but every one has a unique bespoke design; 874 pubs.....874 different carpets. There's even a Wetherspoon Carpet Appreciation Society, with 3.7k members.

@Enko at my DC’s school, you have to call them ‘sir’ and ‘madam’. ‘Miss’ is strictly forbidden

I'm a foreigner.

I've a list that's long.

Punctuation on signs. Saw one in Yorkshire

'Dead slow children crossing'
Carpet in bathrooms and kitchens.
Separate taps
Drinking tea and coffee with a meal. That is so weird.
Clothing and women wearing awful shoes they can barely walk in.
Men in football shirts
Men going out shirtless
British relationship with nakedness. (We can't possibly see our family naked)
Christmas day hats and jumpers (People sitting around the table looking bizarre in paper hats)

Great thread though, OP.

But, there is no sense of humour like the British. Anywhere.

Ilariayaya mashed or sliced banana between 2 buttered slices of bread. Delicious.

Cake is always served when cut in our family 🤷

Washing up is rinsed 🤷

Day/evening guests and making people pay for their own drinks or meals at a wedding is a tight bastard thing, again not done in my family 🤷

So these aren't British traits.

Stereotyping traits to a particular race is racist, is it not? Or does that only apply when it's not being done to Brits?

Being able to “jay walk”

This is practically regarded as a human right in the UK!

When we were in Germany, my mother was horrified by the fact that police officers would tell you off if you crossed when the pedestrian light was red, even if there wasn't a vehicle within half a mile.

Of course, being of the generation that grew up in WW2, this simply reaffirmed her abiding belief that Germans were all fascists.

Our neighbours think it is hilarious when they hear my husband yell "oh, bloody hell!"

Cucumber sandwiches, here in Portugal they don't understand this and I have never seen one here ( I'm a big cucumber and cheese sandwich fan)

@illarya I mean everyone pretends to be unselfish, but are selfish. A good example is on any thread here asking people not to book supermarket deliveries if they are not in the shielded group. Everyone justifies why they have to book a slot, even if it is only - well we are supposed to stay in so how can I do that if I don't have a delivery?
But they would all I am sure say they are not selfish.
So I guess it is not so much that most people are selfish, but how they all insist they are not. It is just another form of lying that seems so common in England.

When I lived in the UK, I was always amused that the jelly (Jell-O) to us came in packets of premade jelly you could bounce off the floor instead of boring powder, like what we get.

I cannot overstate my love of British tea culture and the idea that any kind of shock or upset needs a bracing cup of tea. Nobody considers a cup of tea bracing in the U.S. Just Why?

I don't think brits are that selfish in general. There are impressive numbers of volunteers. It's like everyone volunteers somewhere. This is not common where I am from and I find it very impressive

And yes the thing about over politeness in emails! DP actually taught me this. He was horrified when he saw an email I sent to a mutual friend saying something like - Dear x, see for for dinner at 7 pm on y date. No, no, no DP said, you have to put other things in as well. So I have learned to put all the fluff in as well.

@Longtalljosie

You must be in Germany, my friends told me about Dinner for one, so bizarre