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!

Sending Christmas cards to loads of people but without actually writing anything in them!

I think Janet & Roy would strongly disagree with you there

Scientists have actually proved that the single most definitive marker of being British can be ascertained from one simple question.

If you are in a canteen or pub and somebody drops a plate or glass, which then smashes noisily on the ground, do you:
A. Discreetly rush over to help them clear it up, with minimal fuss, and assure them "It's no problem at all - accidents will happen";
B. Cheer loudly, whoop, applaud and laugh heartily for at least two minutes ?

PM me if you can't work out which is which

For anyone searching for how to add bug screen in Britain. I got velcro and magnet thing like this one. Works well

Queing
Saying please and thank you.

(I like both but other cultures just don't do that )

Carbs on carbs (macaroni cheese with chips, pizza & garlic bread, chip butties). One type of carb is enough (unless drunk/hungover).

Lack of mixer taps in kitchens & bathrooms.

Preference for cube-like detached houses. Preferably with the garden completely fenced in.

Letting dogs poo on the pavement. Luckily most people clean up after their dog, but where I grew up most people train their dog to poo on the grass.

choli check out these statistics. Only three countries in Europe take fewer sick days than the UK. www.mitrefinch.co.uk/blog/time-and-attendance/sick-leave-uk-vs-europe/

Also shutters on windows. Why is this not a thing here? No need for blackout blinds, they keep the sun out in the summer and the heat in in the winter. And home insulation. I don’t think I have ever talked about if or when the heating comes on outside of Britain.

Washing machines in kitchens
One of the main reasons I did a refurb! So it can go to bathroom where it belongs

I don't know if its a middle class British thing, but always drove me mad how my parents would have to spend half an hour chatting to guests on their way out the house. Its like "bye!" every one stands up. then spends the next 20 minutes chatting incessantly as everyone slowly and awkwardly moves towards the door. FFS just leave!

Not showering off after having a bath.

6ft fences.

Washing machine in kitchen

And they refuse to believe that every Christmas we don’t all sit down watching an obscure British film called Dinner For One. Because they all watch it every year and think we do too. They have not heard of It’s A Wonderful Life and don’t really believe that’s the nearest thing we have to it.

Don't forget "Ice Cold in Alex" and "The Great Escape" . . .

Funerals. British people are horrified by grief and funerals and etiquette around them and the shock of someone going to a funeral of someone they didn’t know.

I don't think it's so much that we are horrified by grief or funerals. It's more that it wouldn't occur to us to go to a funeral of someone we hardly knew. I mean... why would you?! I would be baffled rather than shocked by someone doing that. I'm 48 and I've been to 2 funerals in my whole life.

@SchadenfreudePersonified

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

Surely - this is the definition of a sandwich?"

True, technically anything between two pieces of bread is a sandwich, but it doesn't mean that item belongs there - most nationalities wouldn't even dream of putting fish fingers, crisps, fried eggs (boiled makes sense but fried doesn't), or last night's leftovers (coronation chicken sandwich...) into two pieces of bread and calling it a sandwich!

The "Wahay!" sound when anything drops and breaks in the pub/ restaurant :)

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.

I know it's not everyone!!! But some of the comments I got as an Irish person in England(Do we not still own you lot,technically?) and what people came out with regarding the border and Brexit baffled me.

This isn't a dig, just an observation.

One of the main reasons I did a refurb! So it can go to bathroom where it belongs
Bathroom?!
No no washing machines belong in utility rooms and at a push belong in kitchens if you don’t have one!

Things I do not understand

Your obsession with cards. Your love of dried fruit gallore and ginger in cakes.

The way your interactions create so much drama, nothing chill about that.

My last house had window openers that you could fully turn at a right angle so they were perpendicular for cleaning - great idea!

Cam77 No, that's standard. You stand up with "right then" and you're still there half an hour later.

B. Cheer loudly, whoop, applaud and laugh heartily for at least two minutes ? you forgot "sack the juggler"!

I lived in Hong Kong and California for a while.
Beans on toast is one that people seem completely mind blown by.

Washing machines in the kitchen

Being able to “jay walk”

I also met someone who thought Mr Blobby was terrifying and could not get their head around why that was children’s entertainment

@fernsandfeathers

It depends on where you live in the UK. Mosquitoes in London are horrible. And then you have all the tiny midges in some parts of Scotland.

@CaribouCarafe

I buy pre made coronation chicken sandwich filler in the supermarket. I had no idea you could have it as a main. What would you even serve it with. Do you eat it hot. Tell me more?!!

Routinely making unkind comments about the US President (even if he is an idiot)

I can't believe that only we Brits make truthful unkind comments about Trump.

A lot of these things that British people do I've never heard of!
Sometimes though, what people think we do isn't strictly true.
I worked abroad and a Romanian colleague, who'd never been to the UK, told me with confidence: "In Britain you drink warm beer".
I said, well no it's not warm, it's just not cold, it's cellar temperature, so 10 - 14 degrees.
She said "no, I heard you actually drink it warmed up"

Re Washing Machines in Bathrooms.
Building regulations prevent there being a power point in the bathroom.

Re Single Storey Houses.
The weird thing about this is that although I live in a London suburb, there are surprisingly quite a few bungalows around. (As a recently retired person, I have been checking them out). The problem is that they were mainly built in the 1930s, and strangely they mostly have very small rooms, but a substantial garden. Consequently, over time, they have often been extended, sometimes upwards, but often into the garden. (And often very badly). They are mostly a considerable distance from any shops, so therefore not what I am looking for in my next house.

Completely obsessed by 'weather' - Weather TV on how many times a day?!

And on the dishes front: my parents (not British) use a washing up bowl and dont rinse dishes after, and I am the same. Bo