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!

The separate taps really did have a point before when people had the tank thing in the attic. Because something could have fallen into the water there and make it undrinkable, pipes and taps were separate so the cold drinking water wasn't affected.
Apparently.

When did it become the norm to have the cold water tap to kitchen sinks and bathroom basins run straight from the mains? I've known them like that all my life, and I'm ancient. Even when we lived in a flat with an outside lav and no bathroom (early 1960s), the cold tap was straight off the mains, and it was the same in our upstairs neighbours'.

I believe it's a requirement of building regs these days, so that cold water in kitchens and bathrooms is of potable quality, and why bottled water is nowhere near as big a deal in the UK as in many other countries.

okay so I am from a Scandinavian country but have lived in England for about 5 years. Did not expect to find so many things strange as I assumed things would be very similar to where I am from. I was wrong...

(some of these have been mentioned more than once already but I just can't ignore how weird I find them)

no proper summer holiday. why are people here so excited for it to be summer when they still have to work all the time? I am used to 4-6 weeks off every summer, and not just for school (schools get 10 weeks of).

wearing shoes in the house.

Washing machine in the kitchen.

not having a hallway and space for coats etc. by the front door. sometimes even entering a home straight in to the living room??

cakes... basically just dry sponge with icing/jam? where is the fresh cream, berries, custard? being able to by a cake from a supermarket shelf and have it sitting out of the fridge for days and still being edible scares me...

lack of flavour in food

poor quality houses. shocked at the amount of homes having issues with mould and people just living with it?

having heating that has to be turned on and off instead of a level temperature all year around.

I find carpets disgusting! especially since people wear shoes indoors.

sorry for this one... but terrible taste in interiors/home décor. it is either an odd mix of yellow walls, wooden furniture and awful carpet. or if someone is trying to make an effort there seems to always be an accent wall somewhere with a patterned wallpaper and add something in crushed velvet.

Gas hobs... I had never used this before moving here and found it terrifying to being with. Now I love it!

why eat dinner so late, even on weekdays? I find 8 pm is way to late to eat a proper meal ... I am used to dinner between 4-6 pm and then having an evening snack.

Sandwiches for lunch?? -I considered this really unhealthy when I moved here. now I quite like a meal deal- but do consider it a "treat" and would not have multiple times a week.
and crisps??? people feeding their kids crisps and chocolate every day as part of their lunch box. And sugary drinks...

the supermarkets, all selling the same items but for different prices? some are posh and some are not? M&S is still a mystery to me.

wow this was longer than expected lol.

Ps. I love this country and living here, I find my self slowly turning in to one of you so no hard feelings :D

Stereotyping traits to a particular race is racist, is it not? Or does that only apply when it's not being done to Brits?
British isn’t a race and it’s not stereotyping, it’s what we people find amusing about Brits. Often this includes good things too like sense of humour...clearly you missed out there though

I agree formal volunteering is common here and that was something I was not used to. I was much more used to Mrs y popping to an elderly neighbour every morning morning to help her get dressed. Or people feeding each others children. I guess a lot more informal things happening.
Also how much of you don't know who your neighbours are. I was shocked, but secretly I can now see the advantages. When I was a child I knew the names of every single person who lived round about me in about 30 houses.

Negative
The birthday cake ritual
Snobbery - about class, about accents, about nationality, about schools, about backgrounds, about everything
Adults and children not eating together and children being given crap to eat.
Children not being out even in the early evenings with parents.

Positives
Transparency
The NHS
Cornwall
London (the best city in the world)
People minding their own business (usually!)

British sense of humour is indeed one of the kind!

Brit, brought up in the UK, been in Germany most of my adult life and now a naturalised German so think I can join in.

Cards - I've actually seen 'congratulations on your new car' cards in Germany but there's much much more of a value placed on cards in the UK, and not just in the way of sending them in the post (which is surely what they're for?) - I get very bemused when people here complain their dh didn't acknowledge their birthday (fair enough) and 'didn't even get me a card'. Germans want phone calls for birthdays, IME. Also the 'particular cards for particular relationships' thing - 'happy birthday to my wife/son/sister-in-law/hairdresser's dog's second cousin'

School uniform - not so much the uniform itself, in fact, but the absolute pedantry and rigidity of the rules. That wasn't the case when I was growing up. We had 'school dress', which was 'any reasonable item of clothing in a particular set of colour/s'. And the energy that goes into policing and sanctioning them. It does make me wonder how much learning time is lost to it.

Also the attitude of early years development and learning being a race, and the constant churning out of 'fun' worksheets and flashcards, and the anxiety over 4yos and phonics. Having had my children in a country where parents start organised campaigns against any attempt to put the school starting age forward to five and a half from 6/7 - and having seen how very little, once they get to a certain level, that very early formal learning means - I find it bemusing.

Same for the extreme anxiety about letting primary-aged children gain any gently measure of independence whatsoever - and then bam, they're going to secondary and going on three buses across a busy city having only ever been allowed out by themselves before to go to the shop two minutes down the road, and that was with their mum following them. I exaggerate, but only a little.

scandi* the housing issues you raise are down to the fact it is a small overpopulated island so housing is expensive, rentals are poor quality and wages haven't risen in real terms particularly in the South East.

The builders cram as many houses into a small area to maximise profit.

Older housing tends to be more spacious.

Every culture has its pros and cons. Problem is we often like aspects of other cultures that we don't have in our own, forgetting there is a price to pay for the bits we like. E.g just cultures where you can just 'pop' in to your relatives house anytime you want without much ado. Its nice and warm and fuzzy UNTIL you consider that in such cultures people over step boundaries. Its not just about popping in for tea, its having opinionated relatives with no boundaries who are constantly in your face who you can't rid of, but you've got baby sitters on the tap .

In the UK people head count and price per head for big events like weddings etc secure in the knowledge they can cater for everyone.
In my culture you make a rough estimate for guests at a wedding and feed everyone that comes, but that usually comes at a high cost to people who really can't afford it but its unheard of to turn people away. This causes added anxiety and families do not want to 'shamed' by running our of food, or seats or tables etc.

I also find sandwiches for lunch every day strange. I usually have leftovers from the evening meal while DP and my teens have sandwiches! I always support the au pair in those threads where someone is complaining about the au pair eating meat and veg during the day instead of a sandwich.

I find cakes people have made themselves tend to be delicious. But cakes in cafes and shops tend to look gorgeous, but be very bland and disappointing.

Also how little fish a lot of people eat.

Can’t believe somebody referred to British a ‘race’. Mumsnet never fails me!

This has cheered up my day no end. THANK YOU EVERYONE. The Kraken has been truly released (the releaser has awkwardly mumbled "sorry, thanks, sorry!" and has put the kettle on).

Sandwiches quick and easy to make and take with you🙂

We have a utility room but only due to extending and a coat cupboard. We always take our shoes off

Tbf definition of race in Equality act does say it includes nationality

I didn't want to say anything about indoor decoration, but I partly agree with @scandiinlondon - although I have found it to be substantially worse in rented accommodation where often the landlord painted the walls magnolia some time in 2002, and bought (second-hand) furniture around the same time, and hasn't changed a thing since then.

@MrsGellar I have lived in that culture so know its pros and cons. I am in England because I prefer it. But I do think the English often have very weak family binds outside the nuclear family. And popping in has strict codes around what is acceptable. You don't pop in and stay for hours. You pop in if you are passing for 5-10 minutes. If the person is very insistent you can stay longer. But otherwise you insist you have to get on and it is nice to see them.
My sister would be so upset if I walked by her house without knocking on the door.
Obviously different if people live some way away, you ring to check if they are in. But I will never get over having to walk by SILs house and not knock without feeling very rude. It is like walking by a relative on the opposite side of the road and ignoring them.

Built in door mats inside the home?! Door mats are an outside thing to me. Wipe your shoes off before you go in the home. Also having a part of your flooring cut out to just to accommodate a mat doesn’t register with me. The size and density of regular sandwich bread. I did discover Wharbutons Danish which is similar to normal American bread. I did love all the varieties of sandwiches! Cold butter, corn with tuna, or heard of coronation chicken...was all different and delicious!

A lot of the previous mentioned got me to...birthday cake to go, feeding children a separate dinner, drinking at very non-drinking occasions like after the kids’s Christmas program at school. Lol! Drinks at school blew my mind. Loved my time in England! Miss it so much!

I come from a country where people are quite direct and mean what they say. I find it quite confusing how passive aggressive you can be but claim to be polite. You on the other hand just think I am rude.

Separate taps are cheaper to repair than mixers but I prefer mixers

Also how you can't look at people. That is called staring and rude.

I am grim !! 🤣

My DH is from Southern Europe. Things he struggles with : we don't use bidets. He finds it unhygienic that we don't wash our bums with soap and water immediately after going to the loo. Having separate hot and cold taps. He asks why?! The fact that men walk around with no shirts on when it's sunny. He finds that very undignified. The fact that British people think it's normal to drink until drunk. Putting vinegar on chips. Not having a culture of cafes that stay open until late night. If you want to go out in the evening for a drink it has to be a pub. That many people don't have a proper sit down meal at lunchtime and will eat a sandwich at their desk or something. A sandwich is not a meal in his eyes but snack food. There are some things he likes too!!

Let's not forget the land. Every little bit is fenced off

There are lots of areas where this is not the case, especially in our national parks. And in 2000 a law came into force (the Countryside and Rights of Way Act) that gave rights of access to a lot of land where it wasn't previously allowed, thus enraging some farmers and landowners.

Even where there is no "right to roam", there are often footpaths (for walkers only) and bridleways (for walkers, riders and cyclists) where anyone is allowed to go. And we have a fantastic maps called "Ordnance Survey" maps, that show exactly where you can go!

All land was open access at one time, but a little while after the Norman Conquest, the Norman lords wanted to stop their Saxon serfs from using their (the lords') land to farm subsistence crops and graze animals on, so that they could make more money for themselves. They started "enclosing" land, a process that continued until much later (16th or 17th century, I think), when land could only be "enclosed by an act of parliament.

Some historians regard the enclosures as one of the first privatisations.

TL:DR: it was the French that started it!

@alloutoffucks My post wasn't directed at you. It was actually self reflecting and for the benefit of those from other cultures.

Also the idea of children flying economy and parents being in business blows my mind. You might as well put your children in a separate house