Do Europeans hate the Brits?

[Floofydawg]

We're in Spain at the minute and have encountered some pretty hostile behaviour. Not so much from the Spanish, as we speak the language, but from other Europeans. We've been coming here many years and I've never before encountered such hostility. It got me thinking, do many Europeans dislike the Brits?

Why would Irish birth certs be given. Someone born to Irish parents in England is automatically Irish but they have a UK birth cert. The birth cert shows where you were born, which isn't always the same as your citizenship.

We found the passport applications very straightforward for our DC, but we both only have Irish passports which perhaps makes things quicker. I think we just needed to give our passport details (as we're in the system I guess) and their birth certs. Then the usual witness of the photos.

I know the process for those born abroad can be very lengthy, especially if claiming through grandparents as then you do need to claim the citizenship first through the foreign births register. But we found it no more complicated than my friends in Dublin.

"You might be unwittingly judging some of your fellow countrymen there!"
That's the problem with xenophobia or racism though I guess. It's nonsensical.

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LOL at Scottish people accusing the English of colonialism.

Ever wondered why so many people of West Indian descent have Scottish surnames? Or though about Ulster for one moment?

Not a new thing. I was studying in France with my friend in the early 90s. Always asked if we were English when we started speaking. Friend would reply she was Scottish. More than once heard that the French liked the Scottish more than the English.

This was way before Brexit was a word.

That's the auld alliance at work!

I heard a programme on Radio 4 about the vitally important role of Scots in the British Empire. The programme included an explanation of why Star Trek’s ship’s engineer was portrayed as a Scotsman. It’s because wherever you went in the British Empire, you’d find a bridge being built with a Scottish engineer in charge. It became the stereotype that engineers are Scottish.

That is very true. But Brexit was a new low.

English people retire in the South of Spain because of the good weather and good services like health care, however some still defend Brexit at the same time. I wittness this, Its bizarre.
I know this is not everyone and half of the country didn't support it though.

PP is talking about people born in Northern Ireland, not peoplle born in England. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement they can be Irish, British or both.

But in fact they are British citizens at birth, not Irish, which seems to contravene that agreement? There have been court cases about it.

PP is talking about people born in Northern Ireland, not peoplle born in England. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement they can be Irish, British or both.

But in fact they are British citizens at birth, not Irish, which seems to contravene that agreement? There have been court cases about it.

Wonder if they will still 'hate the British English' if Putin flares up.

a certain type of Brit abroad is understandably disliked

The only place I have found hostility for being British is Australia but only on a few occasions

back in 2016-2017 lots of comments about Brexit and more questioning why

I don’t think other nations are as obsessed with us as much as we like to think they are even if in a sneery way but that’s a hangover from our deeply intrenched ideas of Britain having an important standing in the world that we once did

travel with some Americans you certainly pick up on hostility towards them

I know PP was talking about NI, so was I. I live in NI and have NI born Irish children.

People born in NI don't have Irish birth certs because they're not born in the Irish state, that has nothing to do with citizenship.

If you look here you'll see that the conditions for Irish citizenship are the same regardless of which side of the border you're born. You automatically have the right to do it and don't need to submit any paperwork to claim citizenship. To get a passport you do need to evidence citizenship, and since 2005 that's not as simple as sending in an Irish birth cert because you have to prove your parents were Irish or British. Having two passports also slightly complicates the paperwork, but that's standard internationally anyway.

What the UK did with Emma de Souza was subtly different and does contravene the GFA, but I don't think Ireland does that with anyone.

The French I know keep harking back to the Hundred Year War!

100% agree with this.

When we travel, we are hardly ever asked where we are from by the waiters, hotel receptionist etc. How do you come to the situations where you have to explain where you are from?

Ok, you all scots/irish/welsh/anglo-french must be much more jovial as we just place our order and thats it. I’d bloody hate to be given “a cuddle” by some restaurater. (And I’m not English before anyone accusses me of being haughty so and so).

On occasion, when we are asked where we are from, we say from England, even though we are both not English. Because that’s where we live and that’s where we have travelled from. I’d feel really naff to go into a spiel to start to explain what my actually nationality is 🙄I don’t think the waiting staff is that interested, it’s just polite chit chat from their part.

We holiday in Croatia. We have definitely noticed a positive difference in the attitude from many other people (locals and tourists) since we have had an Irish number plate rather than a British one.

It's not and posts like this just reinforce the stereotype that the French have a deep seated hatred of the English going back to William the Conqueror. I've probably spent about 18 months of my life in France in total, and my parents lived there for a while. Sure, they had friendly banter with their French neighbours (who they frequently enjoyed socialising with) about cultural differences, but for the main part, my family's experience of the French has been positive. There are xenophobes in every country of course.

I agree with you about Brexit bringing more scepticism of the English perhaps, particularly coupled with the 'Brits abroad' stereotype. We've always just made it clear that we didn't vote for it! It has to be said though, that many people in European countries are also eurosceptic, so many don't have as much of a problem with us leaving the EU as we believe they do. Most couldn't care less as they're more focused on their own country's politics.

We certainly get a positive reaction from Croatians when we tell them that we left Britain because of Brexit. ( Croatia is atm the last country to have joined the EU and they are super proud of it).

How does this work? You mean less road rage? Surely when you're out and about in your car you're not really interacting with other people?

I agree with this and it is quite common for British people to have mixed heritage- Scottish, Welsh and non British heritage of Irish. I just think it is confirmation bias these interactions on holiday prove your views i.e I am more likeable than the English.

As I posted above, English is so commonly spoken across the world that in these small interactions on holiday e.g a shopkeeper serving you, they are obviously making assumptions based on your looks combined with the English speaking so you may correct them with the, "I am Scottish, I am Irish etc " but I think you are treating their response as more salient than it is as it aligns with the views you hold personally. Despite being English, speaking English, I am regularly assumed to be from a Scandinavian country, in the past the Spanish and Italian waiters didn't think I was English, they just assumed that I was using English to communicate with them as more commonly spoken across the world and they thought I was Swedish and Danish based on their own assumptions on what that looks like. I have Scandinavian heritage so not that shocking but when I corrected them, they didn't suddenly change the way they spoke to me, just as friendly, just as chatty. When I was in Denmark, I was always spoken to in Danish, when I made it known that I was English, they were still pleasant and polite.

As for colonialism, have a read of Heart of Darkness, (Conrad) if you think only the English were horrific colonialists, the Belgium's were pretty bad, as were the French as were the Germans(Prussia) as were the Spanish as were the Portuguese and of course the British which includes all of Britain!!

Do they wave to you while you drive by and give a thumbs up, while glowering and shaking their fists at any British plate? Go home Brit, you shall not pass 😂

I was shouted at whilst on a business trip in Barcelona - and I'm not even British! My DH is British and whilst on holiday within EU we have had no abuse at all - we live in EU and where we live people don't give a toss really - in fact, they speak English to us most of the time!

I've never noticed it when I've been abroad