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!

Am I strange for liking separate taps?

But... but why?

Oh I see the bitter bastards are here to ruin things as usual.

I am loving this thread😂
So many different opinions and explanations.
It's really interesting!

Sorry if these have been mentioned already - I haven't RTFT - but:

Food wise, mint sauce and salad cream. Sorry but WT actual F.

Giving greeting cards to people you see regularly, especially if you will be with them on the actual occasion (birthday, Christmas, etc.). I still find this odd and have been here for donkey's years.

Windows open outwards so that you can put plants and assorted crap on the windowsill.

I'm British and though my DC went to be early when they were young, they were expected to eat what we did. I thought the whole 'children's food' thing was just ridiculous.

And I think evening parties after the wedding and the reception began to become a thing in the 1990s. SIL had one in the mid-90s and that was the first one I went to.

Also shutters on windows are not good. I lived in France where all windows have shutters and refused to use them. The room is pitch black and you never wake up!

Yes to cards to people you are spending the day with being strange. My DP was upset that on the first Christmas we spent together, I did not give him a card. He was really hurt. I now give him one. But I still think why?? I am spending the actual day with you.

You need the dc in bed to keep your sanity imo especially if you have been on your own with them all day😊

I have got used to windows here now, but at first I was shocked that I couldn't just twirl them round to clean the outside. I was used to windows that did that, and we still had windowsills. You just took things off the windowsill before you moved the window to window cleaning mode.

My windows open put but have a latch that means they slide along once open so you can clean the outside.

Okay, on the whole tiered wedding thing. Am I right in thinking that the reason why couples choose not to invite more people to the ceremony is predominantly because of having to fork out thousands for the wedding breakfast??? I think if this part of the day was removed and it was ceremony followed by reception with buffet (as it was 30 or so years ago), everyone would be invited to the whole thing? It's often a crap roast anyway and very boring, having to make small talk with people you don't really know and won't ever see again!

Accountability - someone must always be sacked/ quit when there’s a transgression reported in the news - whether they were really responsible or not it’s just seen as important symbolically That a figurehead must go?

Yes to to dogs indoors/ not out on the street. I used to find that quite strange (but do like it and think it’s sensible!)

When someone hosts a BBQ but puts on a full spread - it’s always pot luck/bring your own meat and share salads where I’m from.

Invitations that say ‘7.00 for 7.30’.

I remember discussing with American friends that we have electric kettles. They seemed most confused

I really like England, but I am glad I have an English DP who helps me navigate a lot of this.

I remember discussing with American friends that we have electric kettles. They seemed most confused
Americans are the odd ones out in this case

Doormats have to be indoors here. It gets so wet so often that if you had a doormat outside it would be a soggy useless mess in your average November in (e.g.) Grimsby. Some rural/suburban dwellings have a metal frame type item outside (generally at the back door) to scrape the mud off your boots before you come in, but that seems to be a country house thing.

I agree the British never really got the concept of apartment living. I wonder if it's a class thing, as post-war in a fit of idealism we rehoused a lot of former tenement dwellers in shiny new high rise buildings. Which would have been fine, if they'd been properly resourced, and properly maintained, and we'd put some thought into the people as well as the places...but they were poor people, and the high rise blocks were maintained by the council and the state, and no one wanted to pay the proper price. So high rise blocks have been riddled with image problems ever since.

(Don't get me started on the dysfunctional building trade in the UK. I'm British myself but will happily say that our attitude to trades is a mess. Anyone wondering why DIY is a thing here should try and get a tradesman to change a socket at a reasonable price in less than a month.)

I actually think British people are the only ones to have electric kettles. They don't really use them in other a European countries. I introduced my European in laws to kettles and now they all have one in their houses. I haven't seen them in Asia or America either.

We certainly had them in the eu country i am from I don't know anyone there without it

@Mirada I have just shamelessly joined the carpet Facebook group!

we do an afternoon snack and dinner together 6:30/7.

My 2yo needs to be in bed by 7! He'd be way too silly to eat by then. And DH would have only finished work at 6. Do toddlers stay up later in other countries/have more snacks/nap longer? Just curious!

This is a really interesting thread. I think a lot of national characteristics of any country are largely dictated by environment and geography. So in the UK there isn't a lot of land that can be built on and it's a small country. This means that individual habitations are just smaller - hence having no utility rooms or bathrooms big enough to accommodate a socket safely away from a water pipe. It also means that people do genuinely see a two hour drive as a massive undertaking because in your mind's eye map that takes you halfway across the country! We also due to unpredictable and let's face it mostly quite shit weather spend a lot of time indoors so have developed all sorts of social conventions that aren't really logical to make up for the fact that we don't "bump into" each other the same way as people in warmer climates do - we still want to talk to each other! But given that for a lot of the year time outdoors is utilitarian we have to make up scenarios where it happens. I honestly believe that this is why we have pubs - we need a public equivalent of a living room. Pavement cafés are not for us.

With the kids going to bed early and eating separately from parents, I reckon that's a hangover from imitating middle class Victorian households - where children were cared for by staff who then had their evenings to themselves while parents socialised or otherwise engaged in pleasant or improving pursuits.. Victorian middle class mores still have an incredibly strong pull on the British psyche, whether you consciously subscribe to them or not. We had the empire, we were best in the world and so how these people lived still has powerful resonances as to how you should organise yourself in order to achieve success.

Calling swimming in a loch or a river 'wild swimming'.

Yes kids go to bed much later in many other countries. Everyone from DH's country are scandalised that I want to get my kids to bed at 8! They think little ones only need about 8 hours sleep. I've no idea how their kids cope with the sleep deprivation.

The best parties are the ones you get to eat cake AND take some home! 🥳 that's the kinda parent I wanna be. I'll likely just be making the cake myself anyway so I'll make a fancy one for at the party and a simpler vic sponge for home eatings.

@ArthurDentsSpaceTowel some of the 70s council blocks were visionary. The one I lived in as a child had underfloor heating, a balcony, a massive communal green for drying clothes and safe play for children.
The rooms were a good size too. We had a piano and sideboard in our front room! It was honestly massive. There's an estate near here that is very similar. It's only in the 80s that everything went open plan/balcony-less and cramped.