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!

@Reginabambina you sound so angry. It is a fun thread not an offensive one.

@MadCattery if you pay for your birth you can have a private room afterwards, you can also pay just for a private room (different to a private birth) on the NHS.

windows opening out

This is linked to the smaller houses - if our windows opened inwards we would loose a lot of room space / furniture space.

Oh and alcohol. How could I forget the alcohol. Celebrating your child’s 18th with a pint for breakfast and buying lots of booze as a present. One small example.

This isn't exactly a quirk but something I've read about on here that I find very confusing - house buying in England. So you sell your house but that is dependent on the buyer selling their house? And that's then dependant on that person selling their house? And so on creating a chain. That can collapse at any minute. Up until moving day and even on that day! Have I misunderstood because that seems absolutely mad.

Can I say one that is the opposite? A chip butty! What a great idea, you people are bloody genuises!

@HonkersVonFlapperson I grew up in a house with windows that could be swivelled on the centrepoint. So you could turn it almost completely round to clean. It really does not take up more space and is really practical.

There is so many lovely things though.
Pigs in blankets. So wonderfully brutal. A minced pig wrapped in it's own flesh and call it a blanket😂
I like the please and thank you. Alexa seems to enjoy it too.
Cheddar.
Full English!

The day guest /evening wedding guest is very unusual to me. I love hearing about other cultures wedding traditions as they are all so different and interesting.

It's come up a number of times: can someone explain why a washing machine in the bathroom is any less weird than a washing machine in the kitchen?

I'll read the full thread soon, but just a few things that spring to mind:

• Apologising for something that isn't your fault
• Apologising when you're about to say something in a passive-aggressive way
• Putting malt vinegar on things
• Carpets everywhere
• Strange tea rituals

I don't know whether this is just a British thing, but at work, if someone fucks up, the entire team is pulled into a meeting to discuss what went wrong, even though everyone else in the room probably had nothing to do with the mistake. 😂 I believe this is done so that nobody's feelings are hurt. It's really sweet, but quite irritating!

This has been interesting reading. Lots of agreement clearly.

I'm English (would never describe myself as British) and also find 2 tier weddings unpleasant; I rinse pots under hot water after a soapy scrub. My taps are mixers and my washing machine is in a utility room with direct access to the garden where I hang it out (if possible). Not seen a carpeted bathroom or kitchen since the 1970s!

I think mealtimes vary the world over. The owner of the restaurant we go to in Spain said that the Germans come in before 6pm, the English about 7-8pm and the Spanish about 10 pm so he's busy all night!

Can I ask, where children eat late with their parents, and go to bed late, does school start later so that they can get up later?

@alloutoffucks they wouldn’t suddenly get bigger if they were cheap though. Most were built before they became stupidly expensive, it’s a very long term trend and doesn’t have anything to do with the recent explosion in house prices, it cultural.

@WorraLiberty I actually laughed to myself when I read the comment about the 'long' English weddings... my (very asian) wedding lasted a week and that did not include the pre-celebrations (probably about 2 weeks long) ...

@UnderperformingSeal because you can close the door on the bathroom and ignore the noise fairly easily whereas you’re using the kitchen all the time and often it’s open plan with a dining room/the entire living area. It drives me up the wall. Also mixing laundry and food is kind of gross whereas the bathroom just has more soap and chemical in it anyway.

@Reginabambina The first British house I lived in was a council house built in the 1960s and the rooms were bigger than a lot of more modern homes I go into now. I know they are still smaller than in some other countries though, but they do seem to have got smaller.
Surely people would want bigger houses if they could afford them? After all more expensive houses are bigger with large rooms.

@OnceUponACat err no? I mean this is supppse to be about things we find weird, I guess if I were an English person these things might make me angry (maybe that’s why it sounds angry) but it’s not my country so I find it quite amusing and batty.

@alloutoffucks the vast majority of British houses I’ve seen have been tiny barring really expensive houses. I think you have to go to a different country to realise just how tiny British homes actually are. I’m sure that people would live in a bigger house given the option but it’s more the fact people people find the tiny houses normal or acceptable that is weird. If you tried to sell a 30’s semi with one of those long gardens where I grew up people would just laugh and knock it down immediately to build something bigger

I will never get used to people in the UK saying "Are you alright?" or "Are you OK?" as a greeting. It makes me want to ask why they are asking me. Where I'm from in the US, you would only ask someone this if they looked tired/ill/as if they are NOT OK.

I was desperate to have a utility room with a washing machine and dryer in there. I was so pleased when we could finally afford here a house large enough to have one.

@Aislingsmittens I used to respond with yes/similar. I took me ages to figure out it was rhetorical

It’s also quite an aggressive thing to ask a stranger in the absence of genuine concern where I’m from so I found it quite alarming.

@Reginabambina Most British people have been abroad on holidays you know? I am sure they know this. Are you from America? Because yes I think the houses are small but not that much smaller than some places I have lived.

I'm English and I can say that none of my friends or work colleagues would greet each other with an "alright?" we'd say "how are you?" and then the response would normally be "I'm well, how are you?".

Also I assume that our houses are small because of the cost of heating them? A lot of the Victorian houses in my part of London are pretty huge, with big rooms and high ceilings. Cost a fortune to heat and are pretty badly insulated.

Great thread 😃

I’m British but live abroad, so there are things I’ve been told are ‘Strange’ and things I now notice from My British family and friends.

I’d eat birthday cake there and then and give to the kids, parents etc, but I do remember getting it in the party bag as a child.
Politeness and not being direct enough, in cafes, they don’t understand why we ‘Ask’ so much and use please so much.
Drinking culture 😬they don’t understand the binge drinking thing.
Punctuality, everyone I know is late, on average up to an hour at times. Brits generally turn up on the dot.
Going out at night without the children, they don’t understand why we’d want to and will happily keep the kids up until almost midnight in the summer months and eat and drink as a family together.
Eating dinner so early.
Putting the kids to bed early.
Opening presents on Christmas Day, they generally have their main meal on Xmas eve and open presents at midnight.
Always talking about the weather
Always decorating/home improvements

Oh and the sandwiches 😂
My dp takes in sandwiches for lunch at work sometimes, which they don’t really get, why have a limp tuna butty, when you can go to a restaurant for a cheap 3 course lunch with wine 😬
No kissing on both cheeks when you meet up with a friend, they do it where I am as a matter of course when meeting aquantances male or female, young or old. In the presence of English friends who have come to stay, they often look surprised and very awkward when they see us doing it 😅

Baked potatoes as a meal.