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!

Oh I thought of another one - no electric sockets in bathrooms!

TEETH- and the fact that few people seem bothered by crowded, black, crooked, stained or missing ones!

"You English will put anything between two pieces of bread and call it a sandwich!"

100% true. My dad puts a scotch pie on a sandwich with ketchup

I'm only 6 pages in so apologies if it's been said already, but washing up bowls are used to protect more fragile china and glassware from the sink; not all sinks are aluminium.

But other countries have non-aluminium sinks and manage not to break all their things, I think is the point many are making.

When this is given as the reason I always think British people must wash up really angrily.

We had one for my first few years living with my husband but I eventually convinced him it was just clutter and not necessary.

I can see the saving water thing if you’re using a huge Belfast sink, but otherwise it’s marginal - but you have brought up another one I find weird and that’s the British attitude to water, so much waste! I know it’s because you don’t have a huge tradition of drought but in fact there are lots of places where the water supply isn’t always plentiful, plus the costs of water treatment.

This has made me think of another one - the weird outlet pipe thing two thirds of the way up the side of the bath that means you can never have a proper soak in a full bath! Why? Was there a spate of terrible accidents were people forgot to turn off the taps?

Can I ask how the bidet fans clean their arse/bits when they are at work, out at a restaurant, at other people's houses?

Oh I thought of another one - no electric sockets in bathrooms!

Oh god yes!!!!

Love the humour in this thread, good to have a distraction from more serious matters.

Interesting to know that if WWIII does ever kick off it will be due to disagreements over how to wash up, all nations will observe our 4pm tea break and no one can invade each other as we can't figure out each others windows.

Omg! I totally forgot.
Waste pipes in the outside.
It's an art in some cases😂

This has made me think of another one - the weird outlet pipe thing two thirds of the way up the side of the bath that means you can never have a proper soak in a full bath! Why? Was there a spate of terrible accidents were people forgot to turn off the taps?
Isn't that a standard everywhere? We have it on baths too

The continued love of carpets in the UK does baffle me, if I'm honest. I obviously grew up with them everywhere incl in the bathroom. When I got to Germany they were already seen as rather old-fashioned, and I'm such an anti-carpet convert now that it surprises me when you read about people moving into houses and doing 'new carpets throughout' instead of something more practical (esp if there are beautiful floorboards to sand down). Carpets particularly make no sense when shoes are worn in the house.

Unless you live in a detached house, bare floors can be very noisy. I don’t have carpets downstairs only in the bedrooms.

Some of these things are very true but some are not British but regional. In most parts of Wales, ‘popping in’ on friends and family is the norm. We found it strange to adjust to that when we moved to a part of the south of England. We didn’t see it as unfriendliness though - just different culture.
Also, surely people don’t routinely put children in economy and go business class themselves? Someone wrote that but I don’t know any British people who would do that!

@S0upertrooper I've lived in several countries and it's totally normal in all of them. Yes you would normally own both houses and get a bridge loan until you can sell the old one. Yes there is the risk that the market will collapse and you will not get as much for the old house as expected - but chains collapsing seem to be a common issue in the UK.

Oh yes, and I’m not sure itms a british thing to take tests over a two hour journey. We’ve never done that, nor do I know people who do it. So I don’t think it’s a British thing. I’m sure some British people might do it, but I would put that down to individual quirks rather than a national one.
The outdoor waste pipes though - it is weird. And so messy looking in many houses. And why are the pipes so often a different colour from the house - just to bring more attention to them!

I'm British living in England, but I would much prefer the attitude of keeping kids up later and having one family meal. I never really managed it except on holiday abroad. How does the school day adapt in countries where this is the norm? Does it start later or break for siesta?
I'm coming round to the idea of windows opening in, great for cleaning. Would it put window cleaners out of business though? I'm keeping my washing up bowl though!

Honestly the idea of ‘British’ quirks is a nonsense in itself. Most of these alleged British traits are white middle class English stereotypes, rooted firmly in about 1975. It fundamentally misunderstands the UK of GB & NI, and how different the constituent countries and regions are!

This thread should be re-named, 90% of the contributions are what are the outdated stereotypes about Britain that other countries hold.

Always use a washing up bowl , but never had a sink with more than one sink bit and never rinse, do also have a dishwasher though. Washing machine is in the kitchen because that is where the plumbing is for it and this is common in UK homes unless they have a utility area, wouldn't be happy to have it in the bathroom as regularly have to semi flood the kitchen to unblock the filter. Need to get better at checking pockets.

Bookmarking! I shall ponder and return!

Yes, a lot of these, the alleged obsession over bedtime being one of them, are firmly middle-England rather than a general reflection of the UK.

People who don’t rinse their dishes, a question.

When you wash your hands do you
A rinse of the soap suds and grime then dry your hands
Or
B don’t rinse off the soap suds and grime and then dry your hands

I know this is not everyone or even the majority of British people but, the ability to be intelligent and highly educated yet ignorant about places outside Britain.

YES! This!!!

Such a self-centered, inward-looking nation compared with others.

Disagree. I await correction but I think this is a common view among people from continental Europe who assume that "places outside Britain" means just Europe.

This thread should be re-named, 90% of the contributions are what are the outdated stereotypes about Britain that other countries hold.

How does that factor in when many of these are from people’s personal experiences living or having lived in the U.K.? Granted, people should say what country in the UK they experienced these, but would that bring up the sentiments that countries in the U.K. have for each other?

This thread should be re-named, 90% of the contributions are what are the outdated stereotypes about Britain that other countries hold.

I’m sorry our foreign observations of our experiences about what we find different in this country don’t meet your exacting standards.

Yes, the shops opening at 10 and closing at 5:30, and then the Sunday closing hours! That's another good one. Why only 6 hours on a Sunday? It's part of the reason I shop online so much in this country. Between getting kids to school and commuting an hour or more to work, then doing it in reverse I don't have time to go on weekdays. On Saturdays we have morning activities and birthday parties. And then on Sunday mornings when I'm actually free to go and do something, they're all closed until 11am-12pm.

My relatives at home go to the shops all the time. I just can't fit in a casual trip to town when I work an hour away and everything is already tightly scheduled around trains and childcare.

Isn't that a standard everywhere? We have it on baths too

Definitely not on the Australian baths of my youth! Such a shock when I moved here that unless you had an unusually deep bath it was hard to totally immerse yourself from the neck down. Results in Cold Boob Syndrome.

My relatives at home go to the shops all the time. I just can't fit in a casual trip to town when I work an hour away and everything is already tightly scheduled around trains and childcare.

I wonder if this is one reason retail is having such a uniquely difficult time in the UK? Consumer behaviour patterns driven not just by the availability of online shopping but by the unavailability of bricks and mortar retail at a convenient time?

I'm British living in England, but I would much prefer the attitude of keeping kids up later and having one family meal.

Ditto to British living in England, but have (they're grown up now) always had one family meal - we all ate together at about 6pm so didn't keep the children up late either. The children would have a drink and a biscuit when they came in from school so weren't starving. If we had guests for dinner we would eat in two sittings, but not otherwise.