What makes the British British ?

I’ve lived in London for 35 years and I’ve never, ever seen people queue at a bus stop. It’s a complete myth. We queue in lots of other places.

Even in the rain, lovebeigecardigans, and still enjoying it (stoically).

Cup of tea, fish and chips, queues at the seaside for an ice cream.

sassenach512 I agree! I went out for a meal the other day and the steak was less than tender. I spent a fair while moaning about it to my husband, yet when a member of staff popped over to ask if everything was ok, my reply was - "Oh everything is absolutely fine, thanks"! We do this all the time! Why don't we just be truthful and say its awful!

Any problems always helped with a lovely cup of tea.

I agree about the politeness but, I wish that Alexa's programmer had told her to expect that. If I say, "please" or "thank you" to her, she gets confused.

Yes, I think that Stiff Upper Lip could be an American saying but Stoicism originated with the Ancient Greeks.

It does seem to be more of a British trait than an American one - these days anyway mabon !!

A refusal to take anything completely seriously - not even football or death.
Gardening - the mere fact Americans call their garden the “yard” speaks for itself!

If we move abroad we are expats and not immigrants. Moaning about the weather wherever we are. Queuing, apologising for everything and pure sarcasm amuses us no end!

Stiff Upper Lip was originally an American saying.

Yes, yes, yes all the above.

Nice cup of tea to cure anything.
The weather
We are very much dog lovers
Restrained, yes that's us!
Love a nice queue
Hate the long windy ones as airports and will comment on it.

I love us all.........

All the above plus stoicism and being very very accomodating.

Enjoying a proper cuppa tea. Nobody else seems capable of making one.

All those mentioned adding obsession with owning property.

Not sure if my MIL was being British or just couldn't be bothered. - When my 10 year old son was left in her care for a week he fell over, knocked his head, broke off half of his front tooth and cut his lip open. He told her he didn't feel quite right and thought she should take him to A&E to be checked out. Her response was "oh there's no need for that - we'll have a nice cup of tea!"

Thanks for mentioning Henning Wehn, NanKate. I’ve just googled what he’s up to and ended up booking tickets for his current tour.

The German sense of humour is nothing like the British. Henning is funny because, having lived in both countries, he knows the differences and has built his act around them.

We are polite and quick to laugh at ourselves. We love dogs or cats and delight in a proper cup of tea. But our stiff upper lips may have been relaxed by Diana's death.

Sarcasm, I can't think of any other country that uses sarcasm as well as we do.

Your favourite sandwich being a cucumber sandwich!
Self deprecating humour.
Resiliance.

Not anymore though.

I can't remember the last time I saw a proper 'British queue' for a bus here in Northwest London. But when the bus arrives all the men and younger people hang back until the older and less able people get on. I should add that I am usually the only indigenous person in the queue so politeness is clearly international.

If the Chinese are to be believed, it is fish and chips. Chinese tourists are flocking to a fish and chip shop near York, so much so the owner has had the menu translated into Chinese and Japanese. He also has a Chinese website.

The French sense of humour is totally different from our British one Petra very often our jokes fall flat or pass by unnoticed.

NanKate
We mix with a lot of Germans in Spain. Generally speaking their humour reflects ours, the Dutch are the same.
The scandinavians don't 'get it'
And the French, well, they just don't mix with other nationalities, generally speaking
But we put this down to the language barrier.

Not everyone queues like we do. We were abroad on holiday, with quite a lot of people waiting at a coach station.
The coach arrived and there was an almighty scrum, with people pushing and shoving to get on first. We don't do that, thankfully. Not nice seeing elderly people being elbowed out of the way.

Yes, discussing the weather every day!