What’s something totally normal in the UK that foreigners always find strange? 🇬🇧🤔

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ShadowBannedSkyRu1e@reddit

As a foreigner, Pint of orange juice and lemonade

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Kaskills@reddit

As someone born in the UK... People drink that?

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Popular-Reply-3051@reddit

It even has a name around Cheltenham/Gloucester region - a Hugo! Only place I have ever heard that calls an orange juice and lemonade a Hugo.

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ShadowBannedSkyRu1e@reddit

Changes region to region, heard it called a Henry when I lived in the midlands and now in Surrey they say st clements

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sihasihasi@reddit

St Clements was always OJ & Bitter Lemon when I was younger.

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spoo4brains@reddit

Look up cocktails, that will really blow your mind.

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ShadowBannedSkyRu1e@reddit

Don’t get offended, it’s just a weird drink that most countries don’t drink

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sihasihasi@reddit

Curious - why? It's a non-alcoholic drink that's not coke. What is it specifically about this drink which is weird?

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ShadowBannedSkyRu1e@reddit

Because most countries don’t combine juice with soft drinks, as an Australian, its weird, not saying it’s bad but it’s weird

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oscarx-ray@reddit

*TWO* citrus-based beverages!? Slow down there, Rockerfeller! Next thing you'll be combining*lemon and lime*! ... What's "Sprite"?

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Most other countries aren't so attached to orange flavour as a drink option. Most other countries don't have orange squash (or any other concentrated 'squash' drinks for that matter. This is the uniquely British part. We drink a lot of orange flavoured drinks because we all grew up drinking orange squash. Most other nations just don't do that.

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surreyade@reddit

To me that's an elite soft drink and second only to a cold pint of cider or lager in the summer.

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ShadowBannedSkyRu1e@reddit

It might be, I don’t think it’s bad but as an Australian it’s weird, I’m work in pubs and an office group came in and a South African girl ordered a pint of orange juice and a pint of lemonade and one of the British girls with her stepped in and said “no it’s one drink” to which the SA girl went “what, that’s fucking weird”

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grepusman@reddit

Everything is obvious. People are apparently dishonest and/or unfair. I say this because almost everyone I come across says “obviously” often in a conversation, as well as “to be fair” or “to be honest”. Usually the things they say are not obvious to me.

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DTH2001@reddit

They’re known as filler words

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grepusman@reddit

Please explain the purpose of filler words. To me they add absolutely no purpose except they talk longer.

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DTH2001@reddit

They’re a natural part of speech. I found the below description about their use: >Filler words have meaningful purposes, such as making a statement sound less impolitely blunt or to give a listener time to digest the information we have provided to them. Taking a more psychological approach, a listener might unconsciously use filler words to stall for time while they think of something to say or their brain processes what they heard. I suspect that the first part is why we use the terms you mentioned so often.

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grepusman@reddit

It's still weird, ubiquitous and unique to British people - and gives an example as per what the OP was asking.

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DTH2001@reddit

I agree that those particular phrases are. I was just adding some context. However, you can also see filler words being used in other languages (and other dialects of English). The most common example is probably um/erm/ehm/øhm/öö/ъ/εμ/אֶם… though lots of languages have longer fillers.

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teki100184@reddit

Monarchy and Leasehold properties. Totally fucks with my mind!

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spoo4brains@reddit

Monarchys have been a thing for thousands of years all over the world.

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HesitantBrobecks@reddit

Yeah but we are one of only relatively very few left

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spoo4brains@reddit

Apparently there are 43 sovereign monarchies in the world.

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MercatorLondon@reddit

oh yeah, that 99 years lease thingy..

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cgknight1@reddit

The tea thing I am not convinced by - many nations do this and also drink more tea than us (e.g. Turkey).

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DTH2001@reddit

IIRC we’re in third place for per capita tea consumption, after Turkey and Ireland

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JoleOfAllTrades@reddit

Seems to me that you guys don’t eat much if at all in a post work pint, for an hour or two. To me a post work gathering has to be in a restaurant or I will die of starvation

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Own-Lecture251@reddit

At a previous job there was an "eating's cheating" rule in the pub after work on a Friday. Lots of people broke it, including me but a few people did stick to it. Daft if you ask me although I don't want to go to a restaurant after work. A pub with at least sandwiches is fine.

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ConstantPurpose2419@reddit

Bread sauce. In the words of my South African sister-in-law; “what is that beige goop on the table?” Followed by the utter incomprehension that anyone would choose to make sauce out of bread.

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sihasihasi@reddit

Fucking delicious, is what it is.

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MindComfortable6216@reddit

I grew up in South Africa and been in the UK for 10 years. Tbh never heard of bread sauce. What always puzzled me at first was people saying ‘see you later’ when I didn’t even know them or not going to see them later lol.

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APiousCultist@reddit

I'll be honest I'd join her. Bread sauce has not been a part of my life and I wouldn't have a clue about what was in it beyond bread.

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ConstantPurpose2419@reddit

It is the most glorious thing you will ever taste, if you can get past the porridgy, goopy, unappetising appearance.

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DTH2001@reddit

It’s not that far removed from pap

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thescx@reddit

Government U-Turns

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CrossCityLine@reddit

!pow 7 no politics

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Imaginary-Tear-4681@reddit

Weirdly I’ve been told on many occasions that it’s weird that we put milk in our tea? I genuinely couldn’t believe it when people pointed out that it was weird. Totally normal if you ask em

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APiousCultist@reddit

Milk teas and coffees are popular across the world. They trippin.

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Imaginary-Tear-4681@reddit

I know!!! That’s what I always think

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Why-R-Your-Eyes-Red@reddit

Highlight of the majority of my office convos.. Alright? Yeah you? Yeah alright Awkward smiles all round

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Own-Lecture251@reddit

Who do you think you are? Oscar Wilde?

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ToughImprovement276@reddit

Passive aggression as a standard method of communication.

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Ambitious_Zombie667@reddit

"see you later" not being literal

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Left_East7588@reddit

Americans find our greeting of 'Alright?' Very jarring.

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Confudled_Contractor@reddit

I find Americans lack of ability to read context very jarring.

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plantlady1-618@reddit

I remember my MIL taking offense to this as she thought I was inferring she looked unwell. Lol

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cgknight1@reddit

And it's first recorded appearance was in a Mark Twain story.

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tayviewrun@reddit

Once saw this one on Redit. Describing minor problems as a disaster. While describing serious problems as nothing major. The train was delayed: It was hell on earth, an absolute disgrace. Diagnosed with cancer: Not ideal

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Comedywriter1@reddit

Having to turn the electricity on by the outlet. Also displaying the date as day/month instead of month/day.

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Tumeni1959@reddit

In what sorting system is YY/DD/MM more sensible than YY/MM/DD?

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sharkkallis@reddit

Separate warm and cold taps.

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APiousCultist@reddit

The insistence on defaulting to it in places with a modern hot water system is irritating.

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cgknight1@reddit

Seen in [older] houses in Ireland and South Africa and a range of other places.

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olivetree13@reddit

Caterpillar cake. Once had a new international colleague who was distraught when they found out there was caterpillar cake in the kitchen if they wanted any. It wasn’t until they read the description that they realised it wasn’t a cake make of caterpillars.

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NaniFarRoad@reddit

Victim blaming when you get scammed, e.g. "I bought an item from store X and it turned out to be not fit for purpose", replies often start with "you're the fool for buying from X, they always do this". If you ask why they don't expect the police/authorities to do anything (despite living in a safe country with a strong rule of law), you just get tittered at. Getting patriotic when public services provide a minimum of what they're supposed to, e.g. "I called a GP and got an appointment - this country is the best!"

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MercatorLondon@reddit

the amount of red-tape for business

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Perihelion_Soul@reddit

Queuing

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Lickonmydick@reddit

The washing up bowl.

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strawbebbymilkshake@reddit

Washing machines in the kitchen

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Proper-Scientist-153@reddit

I'd say the number one thing that always seems to confuse foreigners, are our roundabouts! 😂 They just can't seem to get their head around the concept! Ha

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