Badly dressed and over weight English people

[Claustrophobiclown]

My sister, who has lived in Australia for years, was in England recently for an extended holiday. She was shocked at how many overweight, badly dressed and heavily tattooed people there were wandering around. I never really thought about it before, but looking at it afresh through her eyes I could see where she was coming from. I don't remember people looking like that when we were growing up, but we seem to have evolved into a race of very heavy and unhealthy looking people with absolutely no dress sense. Am I just misremembering my youth when I recall most people being a healthy weight and people generally dressing ok?

Australia has a higher rate of adult obesity than the UK.

She needs to go find some bogans to hang out with then

Times change. My mother and grandmother used to squeeze themselves into Playtex girdles every day. Men used to sit on the beach in sports jackets, slacks, shirts and ties or shirts and cravats. Do we really want to go back to that?

Well it's a better look than resembling a pricked sausage in a tracksuit. Having some pride in how you look is a good thing.

There's a happy medium surely between girdles and suits, and spilling out of clothes that are too tight or fitted for your body shape? Also, the whole weight issue is surely concerning, whether or not it's the same in some other countries. Young people are growing up with no idea of what a healthy BMI looks like. It seems that it's ok to (quite rightly) raise concerns about pressure on young girls to look like stick insects, but not to even mention the fact that a lot of them are receiving no guidance in relation to being unhealthily and dangerously overweight. One is 'concern' the other is 'fat shaming'.

@Claustrophobiclown I’m still not sure why being heavily tattooed is being lumped in with being obese and poorly dressed. Truly heavily tattooed people typically invest thousands in their artwork; there’s nothing slovenly about it.

I think you both need to find more important things to be shocked about.....

Why?
We're both also shocked by tragedies, wars, the cost of living etc etc. You can be shocked about lots of things.

In my opinion heavy tattoos look awful. They may be expensive but they look terrible. As do clothes that are too tight on overweight people. It has nothing to do with money. I know people who live in leggings and hoodies but always look neat and tidy. I know people who buy expensive clothes but who look dreadful in them because they just don't suit their body shape and they end up looking scruffy and badly dressed.

Also, it is concerning to see young teenagers already seriously overweight and to know many will probably end up hugely obese adults with diabetes, heart problems, joint problems and needing mobility scooters to get around; when this could be prevented by earlier intervention and less acceptance of this.

Can't disagree on that, but tragedy, cost of living, environmental issues etc affect you (and the rest of the world) so absolutely yes, be concerned/shocked etc about them.
How someone looks/dresses/adorns themselves had no relevance to anyone but them (unless you're actually in a relationship with them I guess...) so I don't see the need to stress over or pass any judgement on them when it doesn't affect you.
I couldn't care less what someone wears as long as they're a decent person. You could be beautifully attired and flawlessly skinned and still be an utter monster.

Is your sister from the 1920s when everyone wore suits? Fashions change - and yes, sometimes that even means the fashion is to wear, in your opinion 'clothes that don't suite their body shape'. WHat your sister is basically commenting on is a change in fashion.

As for tattoos, they've been around since the dawn of time. Being horrified and snobbish about them does you no favours really.

Your sister sounds extremely ignorant of Australian history and culture when it comes to tattoos. How many years had she lived there?? Bit embarrassing really.

https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/tattooing-earliest-examples/

You should send her this link too, so she can lessen her ignorance on obesity as well. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Australia

There's a lot of lashing out against Australia here, isn't there?

Has she touched a nerve or something?

Fact is Australians live on average about three years longer than Brits.

In many areas of the UK life expectancy is falling, whereas in Australia it's still rising.

So they must be doing something right.

Where does your sister live in Aus @Claustrophobiclown? Because when I was in Sydney it felt like every second person had giant, highly visible tattoos.

What rudeness and anger, op?

Most people are just pointing out that your sister is quite ignorant.

You, on the other hand, are calling people "dreadful" and such like.

I actually feel a bit sorry for you both. Must be pretty bleak living in your heads.

No not embarrassing at all. As I've already explained she wasn't making a comparison between Australians and English people. She was making a comparison between English people as she remembers them, and English people as they dress and generally look now.

See my post above.

People can by shocked by lots of things that don't directly concern them. Most of us don't live in a bubble but are aware and interested/concerned/surprised by all kinds of stuff going on in the society around them.

@Claustrophobiclown But that’s just one person’s opinion. I think they’re beautiful. There are other things I don’t find aesthetically pleasing but I don’t post on a public forum insulting people who do like and/or represent them. If we all looked the same the world would be a very boring place!

There are well done tattoos and bad ones, absolutely. Our food systems, professional lives and lifestyles have changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Very few people work in hard physical occupations than they did, even a couple of decades ago. We don’t wander around the shops, walk as a means of getting around or go outside recreationally as much as we used to. The extended family and people living where they were born isn’t as much of a thing anymore. Things change.

But these judgments you’re making are fairly sweeping and wide-reaching and obviously (to many people) offensive. I’m not sure what you hoped to get out of this other than being inflammatory and unkind.

True. They are fatter than we are. Maybe the sister lives in a teeny tiny enclave.

Or maybe you should read my posts properly.

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion. But my sister and I are also entitled to comment quietly between us on how English people's appearance has deteriorated and I am entitled to post about it on a public chat forum. If I was commenting on a particular celebrity or something like that, then yes it would be unkind. But talking about it in a general way, including the health implications and the general lack of ability by an increasing number of people to present themselves well is perfectly alright in my opinion. In fact it's been interesting as I hadn't been aware of the huge levels of denial around the issue, the latent anger waiting to burst out when anyone mentions it and the apparent lack of awareness of the huge damage our acceptance of weight issues is doing to a younger generation. As I said, I had a look through old photographs from the 80s last night and people looked so different; healthier weights and better dressed (not more expensively but with more awareness of looking good).

Has she been to Mandurah ?