British Culture to an outsider.
- gaymen2
- Sep 6
- 7 min read
I am British, and there’s lots I don't understand about British culture.
When someone drops a tray or a stack of plates in a pub, canteen or school dining hall, everyone cheers. Not in a restaurant though.
We form an orderly queue at any opportunity. Except the pub where everyone stands in a tight crowd but still knows their place in the queue. Why is that?
Never talk to anyone on the Tube. You can talk to them in the pub, but not on a train.
If you completely tear open a bag of crisps in the pub and lay it out, it means everyone at the table can help themselves. If you just open the top, as you would normally, it means you're not sharing.
Pubs with flat roofs are RAF (rough as fuck) don't go in them unless you are the local hard-man with an aggressive dog.
If you drink in a pub for long enough and regularly enough, they will put up a little memorial picture of you when you die.
If you sit on the stall at the end of the bar everyday, they will put up a sign saying this is ‘Johns's stall’, and you will get up and leave that stool if John turns up. What other country would do that for a customer?
And that's just pubs. You should see what people do outside! How about the tradition of running through the village of Ottery St Marys once a year with a burning barrel of tar on your back! And they don't even know why they do it, it’s ‘just tradition’.
Or chasing a wheel of cheese down a really steep hill? Broken bones every year…
Or Gurning, an annual competition to see who can pull the ugliest face while wearing a horse collar. It originated in 1297 (that’s not a typo) and is now considered an actual ‘sport’. Here's the winner meeting the Queen some years ago. It's that important. He met the Queen!
Or, if you want something more relaxing, why not dress up as a tree and walk with the parade in Hastings?
Barking mad country. And I love it.
Some of these things are as foreign to me as an Englishman as they would be to any foreigner. I have never carried a burning barrel or pulled an ugly face to win a prize and as for dressing as a tree trunk, hell - I see people dressed as tree trunks in Aldi and Lidl all the time.... and they are usually accompanied by their carers.
Take Morris dancing. It may very well be ancient British culture, but as I have only ever seen it maybe 3 times in 70 years - it is hardly our ulture any longer as it has - more or less - passed into history.
Americans are always amazed how many times we Brits say ' thankyou ' and we apologise a lot saying ' Oh so sorry' - for absolutely nothing at all. Maybe that's because we are polite and the average American - er - isn't. Just look at their table manner - APPALLING - leaving your knife and fork all skew wiff on the plate Where are their table manners ?
Americans do not drink tea like we do. They drink coffee. One reason is their power is 110v compared to our 240V and electric kettles do not exist as they simply take so much longer to boil - so - everyone has the old fashioned kettle with a whistle that screams when the water is boiling on the stove top, whereas in the UK we did away with those decades ago.
Many cannot fathom how such a small country can and has always appeared to be such a global power house. How come we took on India,Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand - and we ruled and governed tons of islands and smaller countries as well and - even I cannot figure out how we spread ourselves so thin but managed to pull it off.
You may not understand the UK and the Brits and even our posh way of talking compared to many English speaking countries, but we have been and still are a powerful country that just needs to get its act together.
Bangers and mash.
Fish and chips.
Shepherds Pie.
Faggots and peas.
Marmite.
Tea.
Saying Please and Thankyou.
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So, if you don’t abdicate, bend in obedience, if you argue or resist,
Trump describes you as “nasty” (or worst)
What a big baby, what a bully, what an insecure little man he is.
I bet he threw his toys out of the pram when he was a baby.
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Late Queen ‘could not stand’ John McCririck.
Story by Victoria Ward
Elizabeth II “could not stand” John McCririck, according to a new book. The late Queen, who was a horse racing fanatic, thought the eccentric racing pundit ruined Channel 4’s coverage of the sport, it is claimed.
JB: I completely agree with the late Queen. His whole manner was embarrasing and a disgrace to the elgance of racing, and the manner in which he treated women was also very outdated and disgraceful in the modern age.
I got into trouble in the States, because of this ignorance. Stopped at a bank to draw some cash. Teller said “I know where you’re from! You’re Canadian”. Said no I’m not, I’m English. She said “One moment”. 5 minutes later, officer, hand hovering over gun, asks why a “britisher” has a Canadian credit card. I said “First, there is no such thing as ‘Britisher’, thank you.”
Then I explained that Halifax was a fine city in the north of England. Been there for hundreds of years. Yes, longer than that new place in Nova Scotia. Yes, it was a Halifax card. I don’t think they believed me until a local guy stepped in, telling them that’s where his “folks” came from.
The absolute ignorance and stupidity of many in the USA who assume EVERYTHING is originally American and how the rest of the world bows down to the USA is comical if it was not so childishly ignorant. When an American cannot read the time on a roman numeral clock - it is really pathetic.
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11 Places That Have The Same Name in Britain and America
In reality, there are HUNDREDS of towns and cities in the USA named after European / English towns and cities and it is so naive to assume England named them after the USA as why else is NEW York - NEW England - called New - the reason is they are named after a much older cities. London - dates back around 1978 years ago, so almost 2000 years, when America was probably still a scrub land and still joined to Pangea and long before the white man slaughtered the indiginous people, grabbed their land, and created what could have become a utopia, but sadly because the people could never get along, has turned into a hell hole.
Mistakes Americans often make:
Most Americans assume America to be the oldest country on the planet.
All European cities are named after American cities huh ???
The one whose language everyone else speaks, even the people in Britain.
They get confused when abroad as culture, language, money and everything is not American, as they think it should be.
That American laws are applicable all over the world.
That America actually has what everyone else wants. Representing about 4.22% of the world's population. America ranks behind China and India, which are by far the most populous nations. By comparison, Europe's population is roughly double that of the U.S., at nearly 745 million people.
That America rules supreme.
Quite delusional really.
Scot here but I feel I can speak for England on this one as I expect when you say England you really mean the UK. England, like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all part of the UK and while Scotland, Wales and N Ireland all have devolved governments we all vote in the UK elections.
As to why the UK is not a democracy like America, well it’s because we actually value the electoral freedom our true democracy gives us. Everyone over 18 can vote in UK elections,, with the exception of Prisoners serving sentences, Peers of the Realm (ie Lords and Ladies who sit in the House of Lords - what’s called the Upper House of Parliament) and non UK citizens. In each constituency ( district) political parties put up candidates but independents can stand for election too.
After election day is over and the votes are independently counted and verified the candidate with the most votes is elected to the House of Commons, what’s called the Lower House in Parliament). The party with the most elected members of parliament (MPs) from the constituencies become the party of government and the other parties are in opposition. The leader of the party that has gained the most seats in the house becomes Prime Minister. They can stay in office for 5 years but can call an election at any time within that 5 years. No party in government can stay in office for more than 5 years without calling an election.
It's all very fair and just. Everyone accepts the result of the election even if they don’t like it because we know our electoral system is open and transparent. We could NEVER EVER imagine for example the leader of the Conservative Party who lost the 2024 election encouraging its members to storm Parliament, terrorising folk just because they didn’t like the way the election had gone. NEVER!
I’m assured by Quorians that Donald Trump did not get a majority of votes, yet he still became president. That would NEVER happen in a UK election (although our first past the post in constituencies is now under scrutiny as they may be an even better way, but that’s another story for another time).
And that’s why the UK does not have a democracy like America. Thank goodness.
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