What’s something that feels very British, but you’ve never really questioned why we do it?

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

I don't think hospitality, offering food and drink to visitors, is a particularly British thing. I don't think I've been to a country where that isn't the norm.

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1Marmalade@reddit

Thinking something almost universal is British though, not that’s British.

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h00dman@reddit

Why does every national behaviour have to be completely unique to that nation, for it to be considered a national behaviour?

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

It's not just national - I've lived all over the UK, it would amaze you how many towns have 'the oldest pub' or 'the biggest church' or the 'somethingist something' in Britain.

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Rr0gu3_5uture@reddit

I’d like to know how many accrediting bodies give out 'Best Fish and Chips' awards, lol. Pretty much every chippy in the UK seems to have one!

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Disastrous-Square977@reddit

Our hospitality is shite compared to just about anywhere else. A hot drink is the bare minimum a lot of places do.

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ihatethis2022@reddit

Seems to be tea specifically they mean tho.

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ProfessionalTree7@reddit

Most countries that are big tea drinkers wouldn’t even offer it to guests they’d just make it for them by default.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

Yeah I’m Asian. Chai is offered by default

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ihatethis2022@reddit

Well what if they don't want tea? We only have some in the house for when my mum comes over.

Saves having to either turn down something someone's already made. Which is going to be awkward, or choke it down regardless. It's not a huge problem sure but if you can simply avoid that entirely. Certainly had plenty of people say no which would have just been a waste of effort tho.

Different cultures i guess

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

It's very often from a pot, so if you don't want it the hosts will have extra 😊

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dave_gregory42@reddit

Specifically tea too. It's basically the default across most of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

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TotalBlank87@reddit

Coffee is more popular in the UK than tea. Think we all, especially on Reddit, need to accept this.

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Gillzy18@reddit

Just not true is it

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TotalBlank87@reddit

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1413905/regular-consumption-of-beverages-by-type-generation-uk/?srsltid=AfmBOoqMBI4YVtBhLxU8OFgc4RQYhtSazcM8nn7bqbKawcVJiulufy_l

I saw that, but it does appear there are a lot of sources that contradict it to be fair

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msully89@reddit

From personal experience, if I visit friends family, it's always a cup of tea that gets drank. Same at work in the morning or on breaks. You meet up outside of the house for a coffee. It's the new 'going for a quick pint' for a lot of people.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

I don’t even drink tea but I always have it in for guests and what I offer first

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paolog@reddit

That may be, but the customary drink offered to guests is very much still tea.

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dirtydenier@reddit

>Does the most basic act of common courtesy
>Why are we Brits like this?!

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

As Brits we have this weird superiority complex where we think we’re the only country with manners. We think no other culture offers guests drinks or food, and that no other culture apologises or knows how to queue. It’s a little pompous of us. But I suppose we do do pompous better than other cultures.

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Arabianmadcunt@reddit

After travelling around the world twice

It does feel like we are the only tourist with manners (when we're not wankered) compared to mainland European and Israelis who apparently all check out from using please and thank you when on holiday

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

But you’re judging “polite” by out cultural standard. It’s Spanish people don’t find Spanish people rude. They have a different understanding of politeness because they have a different culture. It’s ethnocentric and superior, we can only accept their behaviour as judged through our lens.

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Arabianmadcunt@reddit

Spaniards aren't one load of people I've actually met much. They're a bit loud speaking in public but otherwise theyre alright.

I was more thinking french, dutch, israelis they just have no manners in general. And I say this as a person friends with many Dutch people theyre just so blunt it comes across as rude as fuck

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

You’ve missed the point. It’s not about being Spanish it’s about not being culturally British. You’re assessing politeness with a British yardstick. It isn’t relative to French people because they use a metre-stick to measure manners.

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Rhinobeetlebug@reddit

We also act as if we invented tea and the rituals surrounding making and consuming it. I assume because our close neighbours (France and Germany aren’t big tea drinkers) and America as the other big anglophone nation isn’t. Arabs, Turkish, Chinese and Indian people all love tea as much of not more than we do and I’m sure if you went round to their house they would offer you some.

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Bacon4Lyf@reddit

But not in the same way

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

I was talking to my Indian co-workers about tea recently and asked them if they drank as much tea as our colleagues. They laughed at what we think tea is. One of them said “yes, but we drink nice tea”.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

Conversely though, people like to forget that the Japanese will simultaneously be incredibly rude whilst also being incredibly polite. Being told that absolutely no foreigners are welcome with a smile and deep bows is one that sticks to me.

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

We’re pretty good at being rudely polite too. We’re experts at a patronising back-handed compliment that people won’t realise was an insult for a few hours, or days if they’re American. We can use sarcasm so scathing it could peel paint off walls and lots of other people (mostly Americans) would never even realise they’d been had.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

Oh yes I don’t disagree with you. Can easily fly over many foreigners heads

But it seemed to be far more personal and nefarious in Japan.

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sparklychestnut@reddit

I was thinking that - it turns out that we're just as bad as everyone else when the pressure is on - e.g. panic buying during covid/adverse weather.

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h00dman@reddit

Does anyone else get tired of the response "that's not uniquely [x], loads of other [y] do that too" whenever the topic of national behaviour comes up?

A certain behaviour doesn't have to be completely unique to one place for that behaviour to become noticeably common to the point of being a part of the culture.

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jeffersonnn@reddit

Yeah, Britain is like the 3rd or 4th-highest consumer of tea in the world per capita. Also, I’m a big fan of how as always on the internet, exactly one person made a comment correcting OP about that. Everyone else checked first to see if someone had made that comment and then they didn’t make that comment

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ChallengingKumquat@reddit

Putting your knife and fork together at the end of a meal.

Saying hello to people I pass when walking in a green space which isn't very busy, but not saying hello when on a street, or if it's in the countryside but busy.

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Myavatargotsnowedon@reddit

Chippy chips, never seen any other chips like them abroad

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Rr0gu3_5uture@reddit

The chippy with the best fish in my town makes chips that taste like a weird hybrid between proper chippy chips and fries. I have to buy my fish at one shop and the chips separately at a different chippy across the road. My mates say this is strange AF, lol

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

What exactly is it about chippy chips that makes them so chippyesque? You don't even get chips like them outside of a chippy. Is there something in the cooking method?

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scarygirth@reddit

They are double cooked only. Fried first at a low temp generally in large volumes, then they left to cool and keep for service. When an order comes in they get fried the second time at a higher temperature.

It's also the types of potato we use, generally quite floury and lower sugar content ones like Edwards and Pipers. Keeps them fluffy and golden.

Triple cooked chips are your golden brown, very crispy exterior and fluffy interior. These are achieved by first blanching the potatoes in boiling water. This allows you to remove starch and fluff them up like you would for toast potatoes. You then treat the blanched chips just like above, doing a low temp fry and cooling followed by a high temp fry for service. The blanching step allows the finished chip to get much crispier.

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Previous-Ad7618@reddit

This guy potatoes

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chemo92@reddit

They are simultaneously soft and crispy. It's like some kind of potato based quantum superposition.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

I’ve always been partial to the soggy ones at the bottom

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

Aye, the smaller ones get crispy and the bigger ones are soft, almost to the point of seeming undercooked but they never are. I sent a Whatsapp to my boyfriend (chef) after posting that response and all he replied was "different potatoes".

I spend a decent amount of my childhood in the back-room of chip shops and I can't remember. All I remember is the big chipping machine that used to scare the shit out of me.

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VolcanicBear@reddit

I think it's the 1:1 ratio of potato to lard that makes them so brilliant.

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spsammy@reddit

Ireland? NZ?

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that-T-shirtguy@reddit

Which is madness because they're the best chips, closest I've seen is Portuguese fries which have a similar texture and flavour but are cut like french fries

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JohnnyDeformed89@reddit

When I was in Lisboh every meal seemed to come with crisps

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that-T-shirtguy@reddit

I've spent more time in Porto where it's less common but yeah that has become more of trend recently

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False-Strawberry-319@reddit

Train or airport drinking whatever the hour. 8:00 am but travelling? Four cans of Special Brew, please.

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Zarniwoop7@reddit

I never get this idea that queueing is somehow very British, most countries do it just as well if not better.

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BlueHornedUnicorn@reddit

I do the silent smiley "head-nod-up" thing when walking by someone if I have my earphones in.

Side note: My cousin has worked backstage at a lot of high profile gigs/concerts, and he once did the silent smiley "head-nod-up" thing to Lizzo, and then got roasted by her management because you're not supposed to make eye contact or try to engage her in chat!

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Maude_VonDayo@reddit

Apparently she hates it if you ask about Kwasi Kwarteng's disastrous mini-budget.

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Dear-Gas848@reddit

Saying sorry without needing to say sorry

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SurpriseGlad9719@reddit

Never taking a biscuit on first offering.

We have this weird ritual. I know I’m going to have a biscuit. You know I’m going to have a biscuit.

But I need to refuse it first, then you offer it again, then I act like it’s a big thing for me to take one.

I could solve everything by just taking it!

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Voodoopulse@reddit

That's defo not me I'm a greedy bastard

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phatboi23@reddit

aye, i'll take the fuckin' pack if you don't stop me haha

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gtr011191@reddit

I’m also a greedy bastard, but I’ll always refuse the first round of offerings. Probably have a 50% hit rate of regret when they don’t offer a second time and I sit questioning my Britishness. But when that second offering comes round, boy do I take advantage.

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theother64@reddit

Same, any offer of biscuits will be met with an 'oooh yes please'

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

Yes, please. Leave the packet and, if you want one yourself, take it now.

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Jlaw118@reddit

Was just thinking the same, I’m straight onto those biscuits 🤣

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tradegreek@reddit

Amen brother

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feetflatontheground@reddit

I'm taking it on the first offer.

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Bgtobgfu@reddit

Yeah same. I’ve never heard of the biscuit dance. Is if geographical?

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PickaxeJunky@reddit

Also, in larger groups, pretending you havent seen the biscuits doing the rounds and acting all surprised when they work their around to you.

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

Yeah I'm not sure offering a cuppa qualifies, but this biscuit dance does!

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Select_Yoghurt_1138@reddit

Offering a cuppa doesn't qualify as British?

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

In my experience every people in every nation offer you food and drink when you visit. No?

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Select_Yoghurt_1138@reddit

Not a cuppa, no

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ihatethis2022@reddit

I dont want the biscuit and this is why I get asked multiple times!

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BlueHornedUnicorn@reddit

As Dwight Schrute noted in The Office, women must always refuse something at the first point of asking...

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m3ggi3bunss@reddit

Saying hello to everyone you pass by in a small village

Saying sorry for absolutely no reason

The default conversation being about weather, or that some illness must be going around

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Sea-Still5427@reddit

Offering hospitality to a visitor is normal almost everywhere around the world. We're actually not great at it. And how rude would it be to sit drinking a cup of tea yourself without offering one to the other person!

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

Yeah I’m a British Asian. Doesn’t matter if you happen to stop by for 5 minutes. You’ll be met with a plethora of dishes to consume.

Compared to when I’ve been in English friends homes, it’s mostly tea and biscuits, maybe cake. This isn’t a complaint. Just an observation

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Sea-Still5427@reddit

I wouldn't dare not offer a workman a cup of tea and biscuits every hour or so.

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pigsonthewing@reddit

I've been in other—non British—people's homes in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Ireland, Romania, Italy, Poland, Serbia and Australia, and never not been offered a drink.

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Friendly-Handle-2073@reddit

Thanking the bus driver, and offering the last biscuit to a guest secretly hoping they say no, because you want it!

But the most obvious has to be commenting on the weather, not even because we care, but because it’s the safest way to start any human interaction. “Bit nippy today” is basically code for “I come in peace.”

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Randomfinn@reddit

That’s also very Canadian, all three.

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scarby2@reddit

I moved to California people still comment on the weather but only when something unusual happens i.e. how is it raining in August or if it's November/December and hasn't rained yet.

The difference I think is there's just so much less to comment on "the weather is exactly as we expect it to be" just isn't much of a conversation.

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CIDC@reddit

I moved to California about 3 years ago. My biggest struggle was trying to force myself to not take the sunny days as a pub garden day. I felt like I needed to be in a pub garden every day to make the most of the sun - until I realised that actually, most days are like this so I've got to be more restrained. Haha!

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gtr011191@reddit

Is anyone going to eat ? Yes I’ll have it. Fuck!

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LetterheadLopsided26@reddit

Perhaps if you are of a certain age, not letting a single scrap of your food or anyone else’s food go to waste, never mind you are stuffed to the gills. Also, that thing of suffering by the seaside, eating sandwiches in the drizzle.

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Visby@reddit

A Canadian friend remarked on how often we use "fair play" as an interjection and / or thought-terminating cliche, and now I am incredibly aware of it whenever I do, which is way more than I previously realised

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

HAHA! I always see fair play as "acknowledged, I'm out". I massively overuse "to be fair" though.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

I always knowingly a Brit commenting on the bigger threads when they say tbf

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Drummk@reddit

I don't think offering sustenance to a visitor is a uniquely British trait.

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Subsyxx@reddit

Yeah it's definitely not. In most of Asia that's the bare minimum.

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

Yeah I’m Asian. Doesn’t matter if you happen to stop by for 5 minutes. You’ll be met with a plethora of dishes to consume.

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Competitive-Fly6472@reddit

The phrase "popped round" feels incredibly British

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wildOldcheesecake@reddit

Or “see you later” when you’ll never see them again. I did my Erasmus year in Italy and this baffled a lot of people. The panic in their eyes. Lol, I didn’t think I was that bad!

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Mother_Ad7869@reddit

One would hope the guests messaged or rang before they "popped round". 😱😀😀

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

Although horrifically abused. Once I feel compelled to switch off rather than pause what I'm doing or watching, you're no longer popping, you're now just round.

What is the generally accepted time limit on popping round?

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Markies_Myth@reddit

I remember the Louise Woodward murder trial in the US in the 90s. I am similar age to her and from NW England so it stuck with me. There was this whole long winded analysis of the term "popped on the bed" as when she said in she placed a baby on the bed for a small amount of time. Legit the Yank lawyers were saying pop meant hit the child. Mad miscommunication.

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ihatethis2022@reddit

Makes no sense if you used the words meanings put together, and dont know it means something specific. Also makes no sense to foreigners and probably a lot of people here who simply haven't heard it, somewhat insular in result despite being mildly friendly in reality.

Yeh it does fit.

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Key_Milk_9222@reddit

That's not British, it's normal everywhere. Maybe not tea, but some type of beverage.

Some cultures go even further, when visiting the Irish side of my family I would always get asked if I'd eaten. They offered to cook me something, when I said no I've already eaten the response? So just a sandwich then.

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Delicious_Bet_6336@reddit

Fish and chips by the seaside. I mean cod hardly comes from the channel now does it

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doublemp@reddit

All those things you listed... You've just questioned them, therefore they can't be used as examples 😂

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Imajzineer@reddit

Using 'glass' as a verb - apparently it's a (all but, if not even actually) uniquely British thing.

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zarathekhan@reddit

It almost feeling illegal to make yourself a tea in a room of people without offering others…. Specifically tea though, any other beverages are fine

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InviteAromatic6124@reddit

Not in my old work office. I don't drink tea but drink hot chocolate on occasion and when I made a hot chocolate for myself I was expected to make hot drinks (usually tea) for everyone else.

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SeverusSnape__@reddit

I hate making hot drinks. I persevere for my own. The first office job i had, after a year or so, I started turning down tea whenever I was asked if i wanted one. Then, i could make my own, guilt-free, whenever I wanted one. If there was ever a time when I did say yes to someone making me a brew (say, I was feeling particularly tired or i was down or busy or something), i made sure I repaid with an offer in return the next time I made my own.

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

I always hated the tea/coffee dance. People would get into rounds like it was a bar. To me, getting tea or coffee is 50% needing the drink and 50% going for a wander.

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zarathekhan@reddit

Haha not even safe with a hot chocolate!! Tbf back in day if you asked my nan if she wanted tea, her response usually was “oh gosh no, red wines on the side I’ll have a big one” she was always deadly serious too

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Smart_Record_7989@reddit

Going through an infuriatingly insane social dance whenever it comes to paying for a bill in a cafe.

I used to work in a very swanky one as a kid in a posh tourist area (full of all sorts including millionaires) and all of them did the same maddening dance when one of them offered to pick up a £15 bill (I imagine similar levels of astonishment and gesturing if you offered your sons kidney)

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Riovem@reddit

Wait until you see how other cultures compete to pay for the meal

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shorterbusruss@reddit

My buddy who visited me in Germany got me good. We played the song and dance, did not come to a resolution on who was paying...Then he got up to "go to the bathroom", and paid the bill before I even got the chance.

To be fair, though.. He was a 100% remote programmer by profession, and his wife had gotten selected for Major in the Army, so theirs was easily a 200K+ USD household, while I was a single earner and have a wife with a gambling issue at times... So kinda low key glad he paid.

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Smart_Record_7989@reddit

Oh god are we all as flawed as us Brits in this situation! 😂

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GeggingIn@reddit

Punch up in a pub carpark.

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Esqulax@reddit

I think it's that in normal conversations, I don't use long em-dashes like in your post, which indicates it's likely to be AI generated. Also those quote marks at an angle seems AI-ish aswell. " " is how they come up on my keyboard (Although I am aware that keyboards from other countries display them differently)

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battyfitch@reddit

When someone compliments you on something (clothes, appearance, something you’ve made, etc.) we don’t just say thank you and move on, we have to convince them their compliment is wrong somehow. Like if someone says they like your coat, you don’t just say thank you. You have to tell them it’s old or cheap or bought on sale.

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No-Neighborhood2213@reddit

Talking about the weather - a LOT Always saying ‘sorry’ when someone else bumps into you Never making eye contact with any stranger on a train but chat happily to a total stranger on a bus or plane Queueing for everything Pies at half time (an Aussie thing too - I bet they got the idea from us lol!) Eating Chicken Tikka Masala Chips, not ‘fries’ Brown Sauce on a Full English

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crangert@reddit

Brown sauce is the only acceptable sauce on a full English

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Known_Lime_8095@reddit

The apologising when someone bumps into you is such a weird one, or the constant apologising in general when you’re slightly in the way etc. but I guess I wonder, how do these situations go elsewhere in the world? Just say nothing or make an aggressive remark?

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

I feel it is more a "sorry this has happened" than accepting blame as such. And designed so the other person doesn't feel bad too.

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AlephMartian@reddit

It's just being polite, the other person might have bumped into you because you were standing in the wrong place. Not particularly weird or British. What's weird and British is thinking that it's weird and British.

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Just offered a tradie a brew he said no thanks so i upped to a sandwich he said no, I said cake? He laughed and said all good but no thanks! I felt bad!

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Key_Illustrator_9077@reddit

I don't think offering tea is particularly British. If anything it's something we inherited from the east?

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NrthnLd75@reddit

Growing runner beans and not eating them.

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wildflower12345678@reddit

Offering refreshments to guest is the norm in any civilisation surely

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Centi9000@reddit

Never really stopped to wonder why I was pillaging India.

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Disastrous-Fee8374@reddit

That weird half smile when you make I contact with someone in the street

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

It's worse when you going on hikes. There seems to be a camraderie around "look at us all in the great outdoors". I'm not anti-social but I can be a bit awkward so every time I see someone approaching from the opposite direction I turn down my music while I figure out whether there's this is going to be a smile and nod, a "good morning" or a stop and analyse the weather situation. Much easier in local parks where no one wants to chat to acknowledge each other.

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wizaway@reddit

Good old British reserve, don't ask don't tell, refusing to acknowledge the elephant in the room because mind your fucking business

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DivineDecadence85@reddit

My favorite part about this tradition is that we won't acknowledge it in the room because "mind your business" but fuck me, will we exhaust every avenue to find out and anaylse each others business by the most indirect means possible.

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Relative-Tea3944@reddit

Answer AI posts by karma farmers, it seems.

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Jlaw118@reddit

It’s all Reddit appears to be these days tbh

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Used-Meaning-1468@reddit

"Do you want a bru?"

In a taxi "Been busy?"

"Put the big light on"

Chippy chips are "proper chips"

Full English breakfast is definitely a staple

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RonEnglandUK@reddit

We overtake on the right on roads, however we overtake on the left when we are on an escalator

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Subsyxx@reddit

Offering tea is not an English thing for sure. Have you ever been to Asia? South, or east?

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TomVonServo@reddit

Yeah…this is how basically every culture operates with food and drink for guests.

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Ancient_Bother_193@reddit

My wife is from abroad and has been living in the UK for the last year, now upon any up guests arriving she always asks if they’d like a cuppa. It’s become a running joke that shes quite the host

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PagodNaAkoooo@reddit

I think saying sorry when you literally did nothing, it’s like a reflex at this point.

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fussilyarrabbiata@reddit

The offering someone a cuppa thing is just good manners.

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volodymyroquai@reddit

Something that's never sat well with me is when people default to taking the advantaged position in some sort of game. Like serving first in Tennis, or starting as white in Chess. I will almost always offer to take the disadvantaged position -- which is often matched by the opponent -- and then we'd normally just settle with a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine the positions.

I've travelled a lot, and other nationalities seem to do the opposite. And it transcends sports and games, I'm talking about those that sprint to the front of boarding queues in airports; or those that start a Parkrun at the front when they're obviously a 25+ minute runner. When I see this behaviour in others, I automatically look down on them a little bit.

Beating something from a position of disadvantages is leagues more impressive than setting yourself up in as good a starting position as possible.

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