What makes the British British ?

Stiff Upper Lip was originally an American saying.

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!

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!

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 !!

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.

Any problems always helped with a lovely cup of tea.

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!

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

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

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.

We had a lovely German girl stay once to help with kids and she told me she’d been warned, “remember the English never say what they mean, in fact they more often say the complete opposite”
And it’s true.

If I compare the British with citizens of other European countries I have worked or lived in the British are still shy of displaying emotions in public. Parents tend not to hug or kiss their children in public, except babies.

Politics are a major topic of conversation to the British, whereas in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain you discuss politics with old friends or family, but not with more casual acquaintances or at a friend's for dinner. There you discuss books, films, the theatre or other cultural issues.

Scandinavians are always surprised by how little the British say thank you! Here we thank each other continually for meals, visits, outings, coffee, ice cream not only when food or drink is offered but before you part. Visitors are expected to say thank you for a lovely time, the next time they meet their hosts, even if the host is a sister or brother and not only on the way out of the door at the end of the evening.

You are also expected not only to wish the birthday boy or girl a happy birthday, but to congratulate the parents as well, or in the case of grown-ups the spouse. You are also expected to congratulate the parents as well as the child who has passed an exam.

None of this is considered necessary in Britain.

No Polish child or French either would dream of addressing an adult by their given name. A German child might just, but would not be surprised at being corrected for doing so and would still be expected to use the formal pronoun to an adult who is not a near relation.

So politeness as such is not a British trait, but the form it takes can well be.

Basically, the outside world equates London manners with Britain because they do not know that Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Northern English people do things differently.

Thank you, grandtante, that is very interesting. As others see us ! ?

I think our deadpan sense of humour and ironic remarks are characteristic and sometimes confuse visitots
We tend not to go over the top. Its hard to explain that Not bad means pretth good as in 'That meal wasn't bad'. We also tend to put ourselves down a lot. I agree about the overt display of affection. We don't do lot of kissing and hugging in public and hence are called reserved.

Actually there is no word for please in Danish. They do plenty of taks ( thanks) but when asking for something in a shop they just ask for it. None of the please may I have...

Maybe its just my family but there can never be enough "bye-bye's".

I drop my dad off at home...."bye then, I'm off" "bye see you soon" (gets to the end of the path) "bye", "bye" gets in the car "bye" reverses out (opens window) "bye" waves "bye"...... Its the same when anyone comes to mine....

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.

Sarah as you know, in London we have first-class public transport - my local bus stop serves seven routes so it's not practical to have seven separate queues; people just hover and move around as their bus approaches!

A nearby stop serves just one route and although passengers don't form an orderly queue (in a line) there is a sort of 'first come, first on, system'.

I think we're quite civilised in London, in the main! And we certainly have the best public transport system anywhere …. and it's all free for the over-60s, and mostly free for the under 18s

I agree,thank you,really made me smile.I always try to watch it.

Italians are just the same about saying Goodbye a hundred times before leaving. My British sense of humour either has them rolling about laughing or just looking at me oddly. (A sense of humour seems to be 70%/ yes 30% no here in Italy.
The ability to say something totally ridiculous with a straight face: I was involved in a car accident and being taken to the hospital in an ambulance to be looked
at. I was totally unaware that I had blood pouring down my face (I was in a bit of shock) until the ambulance man approached me with some wet paper towel and said solemnly "Excuse me Madam. Do you mind if I just wipe your face? - Those idiots at the hospital can't bear the sight of blood." He had me laughing all the way to A&E.

Politics are a major topic of conversation to the British
We walked into a café on the other side of the world and were asked by two Australians whom we'd never met before how we voted in the referendum!

No Polish child or French either would dream of addressing an adult by their given name.
That has changed since I was young (admittedly quite a while ago now). In those days children called everyone Mr/Mrs/Miss and their surname; friends' parents, their mothers acquaintances, neighbours etc. However, close friends of DM were called Aunty ***. I notice that the DGCs friends called me by my first name, although one or two call me 'Granny' or 'Nain' which is nice.

When it said add comment,I thought I was commenting on Sparklefizz post about Antique Road Show .

I've never clicked on that - it doesn't work then Teddy

PS: The American writer Bill Bryson describes us beautifully in his "Letters from a Small Island".

Nankate I agree with you on what makes us stand out..
Just how British one is comes down to in the majority of cases to how old that person is We are vastly becoming a race with different cultures, views ideas etc although looking back over the centuries we were a mixture of Romans, Vikings, Normans any one who landed on our shores.
I do feel, and sad at the thought, that we are quickly becoming as our cousins over the pond with its diverse population and will eventually lose our identity.

Anyone who worries about the Americans should read Bill Bryson and be reassured.