After 1 Year in Britain… These British Habits Still Confuse Me | American Reacts

Comments · 1.3K

• TH

  @TheTudorYank · 6 months ago · pinned

  After a year here… I still get caught out by this stuff.<br><br>Brits, what’s something you didn’t realise was “very British” until someone pointed it out?<br>And Americans, what confused you the most when you first arrived in the UK?<br><br>I’m reading every comment (and probably apologising while doing it)

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• SI

  @SirSidneySnotEsq-x3b · 5 months ago

  &quot;Wouldn&apos;t it be dreadful to live in a country where they didn&apos;t have tea?&quot; - Noel Coward

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• RO

  @roymarsh3114 · 2 months ago (edited)

  I walk. I have very briefly been in a, single, car, for 1 mile, in the last 2.5 years. Today, a lady, about my age, a stranger, was walking towards me, I didn&apos;t say &quot;hello&quot;, I said &quot;I saw you walking towards me, and I wondered what you were thinking about&quot;. That was it, although we&apos;ve never met before, we were suddenly talking about her family and the proposed changes to a cycle path nearby. Ok, I am in the north east of England, which is very different from the South, I have no problem talking about any subject to a complete stranger. This does NOT work between generations, at all, by the way. I don&apos;t expect to meet that lady ever again, but for a few minutes, we were best friends... it was lovely.

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• TE

  @terencecarroll1812 · 6 months ago

  Manners cost nothing and it&apos;s all about keeping things calm and polite

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• RU

  @russelltofts3673 · 6 months ago

  The best place to see the perfect queue system in action is at the barber&apos;s/hair-dresser&apos;s. There&apos;s no line, just people sitting randomly around the room, yet everyone knows when it&apos;s their turn by casting their eyes around as they enter and noting who is already present.

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• DA

  @davidjones332 · 6 months ago

  Whatever you do, don&apos;t forget to thank the bus driver when you get off!

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• TO

  @tonysutton6559 · 6 months ago

  One thing that I notice with queues is that if there are people with a trolley full of shopping and they see somebody with just a couple of items in their hand who is heading towards the back of the queue, they will tell them to jump in front of them and nobody minds.<br><br>What is really embarrassing is if you&apos;re the person who has been waved in, is if your card or phone payment doesn&apos;t work and you have to find another card or some cash from your wallet. It might only take 20 seconds but it feels like 10 minutes with people watching as you apologise profusely.

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• WI

  @willb4643 · 6 months ago

  UK apologies aren&apos;t an admission of guilt, they are a regret that something happened. &nbsp;When we apparently apologise to an inanimate object, we are really just expressing out loud that we regret bumping into it, not that we are actually remorseful about hurting its feelings.

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• RI

  @richardhindley4459 · 6 months ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmXEmGCPTcE&amp;t=116">1:56</a> Saying sorry when someone bumps into you isn&apos;t really an apology, just a way of de-escalating a potential flash point. Kind of shorthand for &quot;Don&apos;t worry about it&quot;. The fact that it&apos;s the same word the other person uses to apologize is probably just to confuse foreigners. 😂

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• AW

  @awilson5398 · 6 months ago

  Thats how nearly every single German spy was unmasked in Britain during WW2. No matter how good their accent was, they never knew all the unwritten norms of British society, that every Brit picks up once they go to school

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• IA

  @Ian-h6d2o · 6 months ago

  We don`t do it different we do it differently !

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• TE

  @terencecarroll1812 · 6 months ago

  We don&apos;t wait to be told, we act on instinct and politeness

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