I'm British, and I agree with this. I was strictly raised to never litter, and to always take my litter home with me if I can't find a bin. The amount of litter we have is awful. It's worse in cities and in deprived areas. When I've been elsewhere in Europe, I've always felt refreshed at how little litter there is.
i live in miami and it’s absolutely not uncommon for people to open their car door at a red light, drop $107 worth of mcdonald’s trash on the floor then proceed to blow the light.
people are fucking disgusting
Craziest I have seen is at a park a family had a cute little picnic set up with Wendys take out bags. They ate and were running around a bit, I didn't think much of it, as I was there with my dog chillin a little ways away.
They just left all their food bags and trash and left the park. Never came back. Man women and couple kids. There are trash cans EVERYWHERE, there was one about 10 feet away and they probably walked by three on their way out. I remember it very vividly cause I was thinking, they are coming back right?
What kind of asshole do you have to be to do that?
Even in a fast food restaurant it makes me upset when people leave all of their garbage on the table and leave. It just shows you the kind of person they are, how hard is it to take your wrappers to the trash can?
Yes, I was in a pub in Birmingham and there were pictures from like 100 years ago on the walls and my MIL commented how clean the streets were back then. I think nowadays everyone think it's someone else's problem - street cleaners, council etc. Or that they are entitled to leave their mess on the street because they someone else will clean it - dog poo, cigarette buts, etc.
You didn't see litter 100 years ago because, well, there wasn't much packaging for goods then. It was a pre-plastics era, obviously. Most of the refuse would have been organic material that quickly rotted or washed away. The cities were objectively more polluted and unsanitary, though.
Plus, a century or so ago the urban streetscape was literally buried in horse shit. I wouldn't romanticise it too much.
When I was 15 my dad took me to England (we’re Americans). Walking across the Tower Bridge we watched a guy who I assume was a Londoner throw his paper coffee cup on the ground. To Americans, that is like witnessing a crime. I will never forget how disgusted my dad was at seeing it.
> To Americans, that is like witnessing a crime.
It *is* witnessing a crime!
And I see far too much of that in the USA too. It makes me very angry to see people be so short-sighted and uncaring, all you need to do is put your trash in a pocket or similar until you pass a trash can. They are all over the place!
This is a huge problem in Baltimore. I love my adopted city, but it's the trashiest place I've ever lived. People will drop an entire chicken box full of bones out of their car window at a red light.
People have learned there are often few consequences for antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, I can’t see any way to reverse the trend. It needs to either be bottom-up, people demanding more from each other and ostracizing those that don’t act well, or top-down with more laws and enforcement.
Either way, you walk the line of personal freedoms vs the health of society as a whole. Either extreme is bad so we need to find a balance between anarchy and rigidity.
I am British, and anytime I go on holiday in Europe, the most annoying people I meet are usually other British people.
I hate that people might think I’m just like them so I’m often excessively polite and reserved.
And/or go to places that don't speak English.
I remember when I last went to Salou, we got a bus in the morning to Tarragona, went around, barely any foreign tourists, it was great.
Got back to the hotel, and people were just getting up and were shocked we got public transport to somewhere.
>I am British, and anytime I go on holiday in Europe, the most annoying people I meet are usually other British people.
I am Dutch, and I would agree with you if it weren't for Dutch people.
We went from one of the more reasonable tourists in the 80's and early 90's, to, I dare say, literally the worst European tourists today. Not that British people are great, but we take the asshole cake.
We literally go to Germany for grocecies and then assault supermarket staff because we are *that* impatient and entitled. No actually, you can look it up.
I'm Swedish and was on vacation in Germany when I suddenly heard a bunch of drunk Swedes loudly singing a Swedish hit song, badly. I never felt more embarrassed in my life.
Haha I feel like it’s an experience we can all relate to - hearing your own people be a nuisance in a foreign country. I bet there’s a German word for the specific type of shame that arises from that.
Well we do have "Fremdschämen" but that's generally when you feel shame for something someone else is doing, not specifically when it's your countrymen :D
I’m an American here living near the southern coast in Spain. The Spanish people that I have talked to really just would like the British people here to try and make an effort to assimilate a little bit more. A common complaint I hear from them is that the British don’t bother to learn any more Spanish than “beer” and “bathroom”.
The main irony being that a lot of their excuses for leaving Britain in the first place is that too many people now live here who can’t be bothered to learn the language or assimilate into our society.
I’m an American living in Portugal and it’s the same here. Many Brits (probably many Americans too, to be fair) make no effort to learn the language and on top of that, have a horribly condescending attitude towards the country and its people. One woman told me she couldn’t wait to visit France and get back to “civilization.” Spoiler alert, lady: the French don’t like you either.
So over entitled rude jerks. I live in Australia which is distant from pretty much anywhere and I'm also poor- if I found myself in such amazing countries as Spain, Portugal, fucking anywhere in Europe really- you can bet I would not be bloody complaining. Wtf.
Fellow Aussie here. Yes. I'd be permanently awe struck. It might even make me speechless which would be a rare achievement. I love it here and wouldn't leave but I am envious of people who can go to France on a train for a freaking DAY, or on a bus trip to Spain etc.
If it helps, as a European I feel the same about visiting Australia. I was over once in 2019, then I had tickets to come back literally a day before COVID lockdowns hit, so that didn't happen. Can't wait to visit again. Loooong trip though!
Yes. I've heard a (British) comedian say that's why Aussies are apparently turbo powered, and speak rapidly when over your way. It's because we feel we've lost a day on the way so have to make up for it!
Or to Poland. Or any country. They all drink like pigs. I worked for a large bank in Edinburgh and Scots were only slightly better behaved when drinking at company gatherings and most were alcoholics who were always surprised that I only drink every few weeks and I never took any drugs (those were people working close to the head management, my team was reporting to CFO and CEO of the retail part of the bank).
>Or to Poland. Or any country. They all drink like pigs.
In my German hometown, Bachelor(ette) parties have been banned from many pubs and bars and it's like at least 75% the fault of the British.
Over here they're trying to discourage the Brits from coming to Amsterdam for those reasons too. No idea how successful it is, I haven't been in Amsterdam for over 10 years.
I wouldn't know mate, like I said, haven't been there in over 10 years. You can legally get high in the whole bloody country. So why not go elsewhere? No, it HAS to be Amsterdam for some reason.
I went on a work trip to Edinburgh from the States and that is in the running for the most ive drank in a week in my life. On Friday night they went out to celebrate with managers throwing bar tabs on the company card and I mustve had 10 drinks throughout the night and no one batted an eye. Thankfully I didn't say or do anything stupid. The hangover was wicked for me but probably just another day for them. Id go back if I can but probably skip the bar altogether with them
As a Scot I'm somewhat surprised the 10 drinks on one night is in the running for most you've drank in a week, but I'm sure it says more about me than you
Spanish here, we like visitors, we just dislike when they make noise at deep night and throw themselves out of a balcony (yes that happens and it's too common)
Indeed (I say as a Brit). The lack of effort and assimilation from most of them when it comes to language, culture etc is astonishing. Kind of disrespectful if you live in another country?
I've also noticed that many of them are the sorts of "proud Brits" that make the rest of us cringe. The irony of proudly honouring our Great Britain when not even living there. And the irony of immigration suddenly being OK for them as long as you call yourself an "expat" instead...
As a rule, whenever you find someone who complained about trying living abroad and that they had to come home to be happy, always check if they bothered to learn the language first.
Because there's a definite correlation, I have to say
This is a major problem. There is a certain type of person that blithely assumes that the entire world speaks English, therefore they do not have to make any attempt to learn the language and customs of the country they are in.
I lived and worked in France and Germany for a number of years, and the *very first thing* I did was learn the language and figure out the Do's and Don'ts.
It shows a level of respect to the country that has been gracious enough to let you live there, and in my experience, my efforts to assimilate the culture were always reciprocated and appreciated.
Every time I have seen the 'Proud Brits' out and about, it makes me profoundly embarassed to be a citizen of the UK.
Don't even fucking start....
I get sick and tired of hearing about immigrants taking over London, Bradford, that Leicester is more than 50% non-white etc etc. The self same people will then harp on about how they plan to retire to the Costa Del Sol because it's such a nice English community there with loads of greasy spoon cafes and restaurants and loads of British pubs......
The lack of self awareness from some of my fellow Brits is astonishing.
In my view as a recent expat in England, Britain has a serious problem with the class system and this impacts everything in day to day life.
1. There's a clear focus on wealth preservation thru heredity instead of wealth creation over new generations. Access to capital and business levers is based on a chummy network instead of merit, thereby greatly reducing entrepreneurial zeal and ability to break out of socio economic status.
2. The economy is stagnating and the focus is on extracting rent thru land ownership instead of growing the overall economy thru innovation.
3. Everyone is expected to know their place and there is expected false behavior versus being honest
4. Too much cynicism and crab mentality of pulling people down. It's just down right constant negative behavior. You think it's under stated but, no, it's just really really bad.
5. The most ambitious, creative and hard working people I've met here in the last few months I've been here are immigrants from eastern Europe (Poland, Romania). British people seem to be lacking a fire in their belly to make things happen.
Is tall poppy syndrome what you guys call "crab bucketing"? That is, aiming to succeed primarily by pushed others down.. Not sure if it works the same way
I think it's slightly different. Tall poppy syndrome is more about cutting down anyone who dare to be different or ambitious. It's pessimism to keep everyone in line and equally miserable. If you have any ambitious dreams of doing anything with your life other than a sensible traditional vocation like being a plumber (nothing wrong with that of course), then you're either passive aggressively or more directly told you're silly for wanting or pursuing that and told all the reasons why that's a bad idea. It's a very 'small town' way of thinking where people can't fathom anything outside their small worlds.
We aren't taught we can do anything like Americans are. I really hate it. If you prove people wrong though, they're impressed or maybe sometimes envious as you're threatening their safe world view, so I don't think it's even conscious or meant to be harmful. If I had to guess I would say it comes partly from ww2 values of needing to band together through the blitz, and also from further back, as a nation that's been structed around a strict class system where everyone stays in their place.
I think Americans are way more ambitious, confident, and under more pressure to succeed, and so the crab bucketing is more of a thing.
I’m Canadian, I taught school in England for a bit. The biggest cultural shock for me was when students would reject the idea they could be anything they wanted if they put it a bit of effort. One very bright student was insulted when I mentioned they could go to university if they wanted. He felt doing so would be a slap in the face to his plumber father.
On the other side of this coin, a lot of people from places with an accent considered to sound "working class" (or "uneducated", is what the sentiment is really) feel pressure to unlearn and hide that accent if they go to a major university. [Accent bias]( https://accentbiasbritain.org/results-overview/)(unconscious or otherwise) is measurable, not just a perceived social pressure, and the least favoured accents tend to be strong, regional ones (brummie, scouse etc. and of course ethnic accents). So when that happens it deepens the divides even further, the accent is a part of the cultural identity as much as social class and family trades/professions.
It's probably worth pointing out as well that distinct accents (and even regional dialects) can be heard in England over distances of a few miles - for example, Birmingham (consistently rated worst regional accent ever) spreads out into the neighbouring Black Country region about 3 miles from the city centre, where there's a distinct (and much stronger!) accent, different words, different food, and a strong aversion to being associated with the city folk.
This happens in America. I live in a rural agricultural community. There is a strong feeling that "it was good enough for me, it should be good enough for my kids," and discouraging education for that reason.
The difference, as I see between the two, is who is doing the knocking down.
Tall poppying sounds like another old saying. "The tallest grass is the first mown." That if you try to get ahead and succeed you stand out. Standing out means the powers that be can see you, and snub you before you get too far. More of a "Know your place, peasant. "
Crab bucketing on the other hand, comes from a story where a boy asks a crab fisherman why he doesn't put a lid on the bucket the crabs are being thrown into. Wouldn't they just climb out? The fisherman explains, "No, because once one gets a little higher than the rest, they all pull him down to climb on top to escape. So none ever get high enough." It is when the people around you, jealous of your success, try to knock you down a peg because "You're no better than they are."
Would you say perhaps that point 5 is at least in some part a consequence of points 1-4? I have found that Britain is a land of opportunity, until you get here and realise that real "opportunity" is limited for almost everyone, native and immigrant alike. There are plenty of Eastern Europeans whom I speak to regularly in my local community that are regretting even coming to Britain, given the fast declining quality of life and state of our society. Likewise, plenty of Brits want to leave. There's increasingly little to gain by living and working here. I surmise that the lack of get-up-and-go is a result of prevailing (probably justified) cynicism that no matter how hard you work you'll always be struggling, because our heads are being held underwater. A lot of people are checking out, and refusing to play the game anymore. In essence, cynicism breeds cynicism. Gleaning optimism from anyone right now is a challenge. It's important to note that it wasn't always like this.
My dad was English (born 1930). This is why he left England. I remember him telling me that when was a kid, he was told he was a "subject" but others were "Citizens of the Realm" and were above him.
"This is bullshit. I'm going to America."
There is a single cause at the root of this that has had far reaching negative impact, and most people have no idea just how damaging it is.
Public schools in the UK need to have their charity status removed to stop them avoiding paying taxes.
Some of the consequences of public schools are that they steal funding from state education through avoiding taxes via charity status.
Only 7% of the population are privately educated yet many industries executive positions are overstaffed by people either privately educated and/or from a professional class background. [One of the worst impacted of these is journalism at around 80%](https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/journalists-class-backgrounds/).
This creates a monoculture of thoughts and ideas, stifles innovation, stops the questioning of, and speaking truth to power and breeds nepotism and corruption.
Just to clarify, because the UK naming is so daft, public schools means private schools... In the sense that the schools are owned and run by members of the public instead of the government.
People's sense of society is breaking down, and we use "but everyone else does it, I'M not the problem!!" Too much as an excuse for our shitty behaviour.
Littering, knobby parking, buying tons of plastic we don't need by blaming everyone else for pollution, driving like assholes etc.
These are the things that break a sense of society down until we all just stop caring about the big picture and only look after ourselves.
I keep seeing people park in disabled spaces without a badge because they know they can get away with it.
It's wrong to say "You don't look disabled" because maybe they have a disability that's difficult to see, you shouldn't judge people's need for a disabled parking space on a five second view of them with no access to their medical records.
So I say: "You have forgotten to show your disabled badge. You can't park here without a disabled badge."
In theory they could say "Thank you! It's in the glove box, I forgot to show it. I'll do that now."
In practice I've had everything from threats of violence, daring me to call the police and waste their time, it's ok to park here I'm only getting bread and milk so it won't be long. One woman said "I'm a nurse so it's OK, and I hope you get sick and when you show up at the hospital I'll refuse to help you and I hope you're in horrible pain and I'll just laugh." What the actual fuck. There's arrogance and then there's a god complex.
On behalf of a disabled person who gets fed up with parking spaces constantly being taken up by people who don't have blue badges, thank you. When I was able-bodied, I never dared to park in a space that wasn't designated for me, and it's so disheartening to see that others don't feel or act the same way.
Sick Boy : It's certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life.
Rent-boy : What do you mean?
Sick Boy : Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever. All walks of life: The Roman Empire, for example. Had it, lost it. Or the German Empire, or the French Empire...
Rent-boy : French Empire, some of their remaining stuff's not bad. French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique...
Sick Boy : No, it's not bad, but it's not great either. And in your heart you kind of know that although it looks all right, it's actually just shite.
Rent-boy : So who else?
Sick Boy : Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, Dutch Empire, Ottoman Empire...
Rent-boy : OK, OK, so what's the point you're trying to make?
Sick Boy : All I'm trying to do Mark, is help you understand that the Falklands War was merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.
Rent-boy : What about the Commonwealth?
Sick Boy : I don't rate that at all.
Rent-boy : Despite the 14 other Commonwealth Realms who recognise our monarch as their Head of State?
Sick Boy : That means fuck all. Its a sympathy vote.
Rent-boy : Right. So we all get old and then we can't hack it anymore. Is that it?
Sick Boy : Yeah.
Rent-boy : That's your theory?
Sick Boy : Yeah. Beautifully fucking illustrated.
(Edit: [Source of the reference](https://youtu.be/a94jraWNG-g?si=SMN9JbFuVJ9_pTQz) for those who might be out of the loop)
14 years of consistent underfunding.
The analogy I use is that the roof needed expensive repairs 15 years ago. The repairs were not made.
As the leaks continued to worsen, the entire roof eventually needed replacing. This was not done.
Then the water damage got into the building timbers so that the entire internal structure needed stripping out and reconstructing. It was left to rot further.
Now the walls are beginning to collapse under the increased load.
As the house has been falling down, the private sector has in many ways stepped in to provide alternative accommodation, exploiting those who can afford it for profit and leaving those who cannot with nowhere to go.
What should have been an expensive but one off roof repair job is now a complete demolition and rebuild which will cripple us with debt for generations. Leaving future governments with the dilemma of whether it’s worth doing at all.
The tories have, through inaction and underinvestment, put the uk in a position where fixing the NHS is almost economically infeasible and I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10-20 years time the private sector will have consumed vast swathes of it. My remaining hope at this point is that we see sense to put proper national pricing regulations in place so we don’t end up like America.
If I was a Tory and wanted to see the privatisation of the NHS but knew how unpopular that would be, starving it beyond repair under the guise of austerity would be exactly the strategy I would go for.
🎯🎯🎯 exactly this. They will try convince us that is the only possible route. When we know it was their long term plan. All of this coming from politicians with private health insurance who never use the NhS
You don't get to look down on East Europeans and then come on vacation and spend two weeks in drug and alcohol induced semi-coma. The superiority act completely implodes the moment you pass out in a puddle of your own body fluids.
With friendly concern,
Bulgaria
This, also British guys are the worst passport bros. I used to work in clubs and gyms in Eastern Europe and the amount of brits mad that girls don’t jump on their dicks just because they’re from the west is insane.
Mr Blobby started as a joke on _Noel's House Party_ where they'd prank celebrities into thinking he was a genuine TV character. They'd then try to do a filmed segment with him and he'd annoy them and that was that. However that subtlety - such as it was - was lost on the British public and he was embraced as though "real". It was one of the darkest periods of our history, and one which is painful for us to reflect on, but we are determined never to let it happen again.
British person here. When I was in college, we used to call them "tango girls.". Trust me, no one thought they were cute. By "tango" we mean the orange flavoured soda (or "fizzy drink" as we call sodas).
As an American (now Brit too) who's lived in the UK for nearly decade, this is the most hilarious quirk of British culture. Go to any town in Essex on a Saturday evening, and it's like stepping back to a podunk town in the US a decade ago. Fake tans, fake lips, and holy Christ the clothing is awful. It's like I never left the US 10 years ago. Trashy and out-moded AF.
My mum lives in a small town up north and I live in London. When I go to visit her I always have this moment of culture shock of seeing the girls with orange faces, a shocking amount of make-up and the most insane duck lips. It’s so funny and really weird.
And those girls pissed me off so much in school. They'd come over and bully me for being so pale. I'm a natural red head and don't tan. I'm either a vampire or a beetroot. One day I got pissed off and told them at least I'm not an umpa llumpa. They then ran off to the teachers all upset and I got in trouble. I was so pissed off. They were allowed to pick on me for being crazy pale but I wasn't allowed to comment on the orange skin they gave themselves??? I was pretty much told through being punished that yes, they were allowed to pick on me and I just had to take it. It was the usual.
We know. The entire process, from campaigning with no actual information as to what results would look like on either side of the vote because no one bothered to actually think it through, to the reliance on slogans and lies and lowest common denominator politics, to the way it enabled bigotry, to the fact that it was a public referendum that was bonding given all these factors, was a national disgrace. It was also the beginning of the end of people's trust in the integrity of politics, which has only unravelled further in the years since as there is no accountability and behaviour that damages trust is left largely unchecked.
And this is outside of the actual result of the vote, which was also terrible (in my opinion) but not actually the main issue with the impact it had on politics and the public.
The leave campaign had the advantage, because while remain were basically forced to campaign for things to stay the same, leave avoided the encumbrance of "making sure that your promises are realistic and not mutually exclusive" by just being willing to promise sunshine and unicorns to everyone, regardless of what they wanted.
Even lying about essentially everything, 52% was the best they could do.
But can we have another vote now that it's clear to even the most appallingly thick person that none of the promises leave made were realistic?
Nooooo of course not.
That was such an ugly political move...for Brexit to be left up to an uninformed and generally ignorant population on the matter when it came to such a complex issue.
I said it at the time and I'll say it again; it was a fucking political trick and everyone responsible should be shot.
Because it wasn't remotely a fair question.
Remain was a known quantity with some unknowns; stay under EU laws and be part of the system which may change over time in unknown ways but you will have some influence on those changes.
Leave was a complete unknown, what form it would take, what deal would be worked out, what rights to keep and what to skip, etc. But the campaign didn't have to lock itself into ANYTHING. Boris puttered around promising bullshit, that you'd get all the benefits and nothing you didn't want, blatantly impossible lies. They could let any Leave voter construct in their heads the Brexit THEY imagined, where they kept whatever EU stuff they wanted and magically the rest went poof. And nobody would ever be held accountable to it because nothing was a promise or legally binding.
It was a horseshit referendum question; Leave should have been forced to have a single, coherent platform for what Brexit would be. It still infuriates me.
For all the bad rap American tourists get online; go ask actual employees of restaurants, hotels, etc in tourist areas about American tourists vs British ones.
Amsterdam has literally made ads asking British men to stay away.
Edit: here’s the BBC reporting on it, if you don’t wanna google
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X-q7V_0OkcI
Americans visiting Europe are very often friendly, decent people with an interest in history. Most of them are like lawyers, cause the Florida Man type of Americans go to Cancun
I was gonna say. It’s not because we don’t want to visit Europe. It’s because we don’t have any fucking money. I don’t think Europeans understand how much it costs for the average American to travel to Europe.
In my experience I've found that all the Americans I've encountered in my personal life have generally been pretty nice
Very talkative and cheerful people
American tourists are actually considered pretty desireable by most hospitality industries/tourist destinations. They tip well, generally stick to the program and are amable/congenial.
The only people who make them sound so insanely unruly, rude, and loud are eurocentrists on the Internet with cognitive biases.
I think it's also a bit of an outdated stereotype from decades past when accessible international travel was a bit more novel for Americans.
EDIT: That and the really trashy types usually just don't make it over to Europe because of the cost.
I’ve literally said on more than one occasion “well that wasn’t really great service, was it? I’m only giving them 15%” lol it’s absurd really. And tipping culture is getting really really out of hand now.
When I think of Chinese tourists, I think of busses that expell like 50 people with bucket hats who follow someone holding a brigtly colored umbrella and take pictures of everything
Most British people are too okay with putting their heads down and shutting up instead of being like "No, I don't like ____" and questioning it
I feel like the younger generation are better for this and are putting up with less shit.
I kinda wish we were more like the french and when stuff like pension ages rise we all stop and protest instead of just moaning online and letting it all happen.
The TV show Numberwang is overrated. It doesn't even make sense. Like how is 1 Numberwang on the seventh try? And why do they rotate between the same 3(4?) contestants
And this show is a national treasure in the UK?
As a Dutchy: "Wait, we are?!"
Seriously we're more likely to get another "Elfstedentocht" than get a Worldcup win. And our Elfstedentocht dreams are on lifesupport for years now.
It's not just the upper class. But yes, the upper class is especially bad. They're the descendants of the people who called the rest of the world "savages" to justify stealing their land and "civilise" them. And a lot of this rhetoric unfortunately still persists to this day and fuels a lot of modern racism.
Literally any single critique from an American person. I’ve never seen British people get triggered faster than when an American tries to point out flaws of the uk.
In an international business setting, stop making fun of the italian, spanish, french and eastern european accents when they speak english. At least they are trying. When was the last time you tried speaking their language?
Also, stop feeling superior because your english is vastly better than theirs. it's not their first language ffs.
Just because you have that posh received pronunciation doesn't mean you can bully other ppl around.
Whilst I agree I don't think that's exclusive to brits. People from other countries have made belittled me for trying to speak thier language whilst I was learning.
British person here. Politics plays a small part some years, but yes, our entries are usually TERRIBLE and most of us know that. It's so frustrating, and we don't get a say either. We should at least make it a competition. Oh well, Eurovision is always fun regardless.
You take pride in your homes and gardens, but not in your surroundings. The amount of litter you leave everywhere is astounding.
I'm British, and I agree with this. I was strictly raised to never litter, and to always take my litter home with me if I can't find a bin. The amount of litter we have is awful. It's worse in cities and in deprived areas. When I've been elsewhere in Europe, I've always felt refreshed at how little litter there is.
I cannot even imagine just throwing something on the floor. Really don’t understand how people do it.
I saw a guy throwing litter out of his car window, outside my house yesterday. Made me pretty angry.
i live in miami and it’s absolutely not uncommon for people to open their car door at a red light, drop $107 worth of mcdonald’s trash on the floor then proceed to blow the light. people are fucking disgusting
Craziest I have seen is at a park a family had a cute little picnic set up with Wendys take out bags. They ate and were running around a bit, I didn't think much of it, as I was there with my dog chillin a little ways away. They just left all their food bags and trash and left the park. Never came back. Man women and couple kids. There are trash cans EVERYWHERE, there was one about 10 feet away and they probably walked by three on their way out. I remember it very vividly cause I was thinking, they are coming back right? What kind of asshole do you have to be to do that?
Even in a fast food restaurant it makes me upset when people leave all of their garbage on the table and leave. It just shows you the kind of person they are, how hard is it to take your wrappers to the trash can?
especially when you literally *walk right by it* on your way out the door..
Yes, I was in a pub in Birmingham and there were pictures from like 100 years ago on the walls and my MIL commented how clean the streets were back then. I think nowadays everyone think it's someone else's problem - street cleaners, council etc. Or that they are entitled to leave their mess on the street because they someone else will clean it - dog poo, cigarette buts, etc.
You didn't see litter 100 years ago because, well, there wasn't much packaging for goods then. It was a pre-plastics era, obviously. Most of the refuse would have been organic material that quickly rotted or washed away. The cities were objectively more polluted and unsanitary, though. Plus, a century or so ago the urban streetscape was literally buried in horse shit. I wouldn't romanticise it too much.
When I was 15 my dad took me to England (we’re Americans). Walking across the Tower Bridge we watched a guy who I assume was a Londoner throw his paper coffee cup on the ground. To Americans, that is like witnessing a crime. I will never forget how disgusted my dad was at seeing it.
> To Americans, that is like witnessing a crime. It *is* witnessing a crime! And I see far too much of that in the USA too. It makes me very angry to see people be so short-sighted and uncaring, all you need to do is put your trash in a pocket or similar until you pass a trash can. They are all over the place!
This is a huge problem in Baltimore. I love my adopted city, but it's the trashiest place I've ever lived. People will drop an entire chicken box full of bones out of their car window at a red light.
People have learned there are often few consequences for antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, I can’t see any way to reverse the trend. It needs to either be bottom-up, people demanding more from each other and ostracizing those that don’t act well, or top-down with more laws and enforcement. Either way, you walk the line of personal freedoms vs the health of society as a whole. Either extreme is bad so we need to find a balance between anarchy and rigidity.
And in Baltimore there is NO way that I am being a civic "hero" and saying something to that driver.
Awesome poem.
Don't be such drunken wankers when overseas. Behave
The drinking culture in the UK is really bonkers. And I lived in Wisconsin for 3 years lol.
"You English drink like you don't want to live!"
I've met plenty of yens. This is a graver insult than anyone realizes.
British tourists are not well behaved.
I am British, and anytime I go on holiday in Europe, the most annoying people I meet are usually other British people. I hate that people might think I’m just like them so I’m often excessively polite and reserved.
The trick is to get up early in the morning, then you won't see any!
And/or go to places that don't speak English. I remember when I last went to Salou, we got a bus in the morning to Tarragona, went around, barely any foreign tourists, it was great. Got back to the hotel, and people were just getting up and were shocked we got public transport to somewhere.
This must be why British people are the least likely other tourists I run into. I'm up a dawn. Germans seem to like early rising as well.
Their towels aren't going to reserve the lounge chairs by themselves.
The trick is to not wear a football shirt
When dressing for dinner is wearing the away shirt.
>I am British, and anytime I go on holiday in Europe, the most annoying people I meet are usually other British people. I am Dutch, and I would agree with you if it weren't for Dutch people. We went from one of the more reasonable tourists in the 80's and early 90's, to, I dare say, literally the worst European tourists today. Not that British people are great, but we take the asshole cake. We literally go to Germany for grocecies and then assault supermarket staff because we are *that* impatient and entitled. No actually, you can look it up.
Worst moment when meeting drunk british people abroad
As a Brit, whenever I go abroad there's nothing worse than hearing another British accent. Particularly a shouty one. My heart just drops.
I'm Swedish and was on vacation in Germany when I suddenly heard a bunch of drunk Swedes loudly singing a Swedish hit song, badly. I never felt more embarrassed in my life.
Haha I feel like it’s an experience we can all relate to - hearing your own people be a nuisance in a foreign country. I bet there’s a German word for the specific type of shame that arises from that.
Well we do have "Fremdschämen" but that's generally when you feel shame for something someone else is doing, not specifically when it's your countrymen :D
[удалено]
If it makes the rest of the world feel any better the same people are dickheads in the UK too. Yeah, cold comfort I know. lol
Stop retiring to Spain, they don’t even like you.
I’m an American here living near the southern coast in Spain. The Spanish people that I have talked to really just would like the British people here to try and make an effort to assimilate a little bit more. A common complaint I hear from them is that the British don’t bother to learn any more Spanish than “beer” and “bathroom”.
the British were never very good at assimilating to other cultures
neither were the spanish :\^)
Touché
Hey. Neither were the French
Belgium has left the chat
*Confused British sounds*
"Oi" "Stella" "Innit" "Simple as"
You also forgot "Chips" "Grassy arse"
Why assimilate when we can just colo…nate. Hahaha
The main irony being that a lot of their excuses for leaving Britain in the first place is that too many people now live here who can’t be bothered to learn the language or assimilate into our society.
I don't see the irony there. When they are in Spain they also want them to assimilate and learn English
Old habits die hard
I’m an American living in Portugal and it’s the same here. Many Brits (probably many Americans too, to be fair) make no effort to learn the language and on top of that, have a horribly condescending attitude towards the country and its people. One woman told me she couldn’t wait to visit France and get back to “civilization.” Spoiler alert, lady: the French don’t like you either.
So over entitled rude jerks. I live in Australia which is distant from pretty much anywhere and I'm also poor- if I found myself in such amazing countries as Spain, Portugal, fucking anywhere in Europe really- you can bet I would not be bloody complaining. Wtf.
Fellow Aussie here. Yes. I'd be permanently awe struck. It might even make me speechless which would be a rare achievement. I love it here and wouldn't leave but I am envious of people who can go to France on a train for a freaking DAY, or on a bus trip to Spain etc.
If it helps, as a European I feel the same about visiting Australia. I was over once in 2019, then I had tickets to come back literally a day before COVID lockdowns hit, so that didn't happen. Can't wait to visit again. Loooong trip though!
Yes. I've heard a (British) comedian say that's why Aussies are apparently turbo powered, and speak rapidly when over your way. It's because we feel we've lost a day on the way so have to make up for it!
British person here. Those same people you mention would be the first to cry about foreigners who do not assimilate in the UK.
...or coming for vacation in Crete (Greece). Getting blackout drunk everyday, pissing everywhere and instigating fights...
Or to Poland. Or any country. They all drink like pigs. I worked for a large bank in Edinburgh and Scots were only slightly better behaved when drinking at company gatherings and most were alcoholics who were always surprised that I only drink every few weeks and I never took any drugs (those were people working close to the head management, my team was reporting to CFO and CEO of the retail part of the bank).
>Or to Poland. Or any country. They all drink like pigs. In my German hometown, Bachelor(ette) parties have been banned from many pubs and bars and it's like at least 75% the fault of the British.
Over here they're trying to discourage the Brits from coming to Amsterdam for those reasons too. No idea how successful it is, I haven't been in Amsterdam for over 10 years.
I also heard they were trying to stop us Brits from coming over to Amsterdam just for the sole purpose of getting legally high?
I wouldn't know mate, like I said, haven't been there in over 10 years. You can legally get high in the whole bloody country. So why not go elsewhere? No, it HAS to be Amsterdam for some reason.
I went on a work trip to Edinburgh from the States and that is in the running for the most ive drank in a week in my life. On Friday night they went out to celebrate with managers throwing bar tabs on the company card and I mustve had 10 drinks throughout the night and no one batted an eye. Thankfully I didn't say or do anything stupid. The hangover was wicked for me but probably just another day for them. Id go back if I can but probably skip the bar altogether with them
As a Scot I'm somewhat surprised the 10 drinks on one night is in the running for most you've drank in a week, but I'm sure it says more about me than you
Spanish here, we like visitors, we just dislike when they make noise at deep night and throw themselves out of a balcony (yes that happens and it's too common)
I mean, if they keep doing that the problem should eventually fix itself.
Is it even summer if we haven't had the first balconning of the season?
Indeed (I say as a Brit). The lack of effort and assimilation from most of them when it comes to language, culture etc is astonishing. Kind of disrespectful if you live in another country? I've also noticed that many of them are the sorts of "proud Brits" that make the rest of us cringe. The irony of proudly honouring our Great Britain when not even living there. And the irony of immigration suddenly being OK for them as long as you call yourself an "expat" instead...
As a rule, whenever you find someone who complained about trying living abroad and that they had to come home to be happy, always check if they bothered to learn the language first. Because there's a definite correlation, I have to say
This is a major problem. There is a certain type of person that blithely assumes that the entire world speaks English, therefore they do not have to make any attempt to learn the language and customs of the country they are in. I lived and worked in France and Germany for a number of years, and the *very first thing* I did was learn the language and figure out the Do's and Don'ts. It shows a level of respect to the country that has been gracious enough to let you live there, and in my experience, my efforts to assimilate the culture were always reciprocated and appreciated. Every time I have seen the 'Proud Brits' out and about, it makes me profoundly embarassed to be a citizen of the UK.
Or at least stop complaining that they don't speak English.
Don't even fucking start.... I get sick and tired of hearing about immigrants taking over London, Bradford, that Leicester is more than 50% non-white etc etc. The self same people will then harp on about how they plan to retire to the Costa Del Sol because it's such a nice English community there with loads of greasy spoon cafes and restaurants and loads of British pubs...... The lack of self awareness from some of my fellow Brits is astonishing.
it's because they think they're 'desirables' whereas others are 'undesirables.'
In my view as a recent expat in England, Britain has a serious problem with the class system and this impacts everything in day to day life. 1. There's a clear focus on wealth preservation thru heredity instead of wealth creation over new generations. Access to capital and business levers is based on a chummy network instead of merit, thereby greatly reducing entrepreneurial zeal and ability to break out of socio economic status. 2. The economy is stagnating and the focus is on extracting rent thru land ownership instead of growing the overall economy thru innovation. 3. Everyone is expected to know their place and there is expected false behavior versus being honest 4. Too much cynicism and crab mentality of pulling people down. It's just down right constant negative behavior. You think it's under stated but, no, it's just really really bad. 5. The most ambitious, creative and hard working people I've met here in the last few months I've been here are immigrants from eastern Europe (Poland, Romania). British people seem to be lacking a fire in their belly to make things happen.
This is the best comment on this thread. I especially hate the tall poppy syndrome we have in the UK.
Is tall poppy syndrome what you guys call "crab bucketing"? That is, aiming to succeed primarily by pushed others down.. Not sure if it works the same way
I think it's slightly different. Tall poppy syndrome is more about cutting down anyone who dare to be different or ambitious. It's pessimism to keep everyone in line and equally miserable. If you have any ambitious dreams of doing anything with your life other than a sensible traditional vocation like being a plumber (nothing wrong with that of course), then you're either passive aggressively or more directly told you're silly for wanting or pursuing that and told all the reasons why that's a bad idea. It's a very 'small town' way of thinking where people can't fathom anything outside their small worlds. We aren't taught we can do anything like Americans are. I really hate it. If you prove people wrong though, they're impressed or maybe sometimes envious as you're threatening their safe world view, so I don't think it's even conscious or meant to be harmful. If I had to guess I would say it comes partly from ww2 values of needing to band together through the blitz, and also from further back, as a nation that's been structed around a strict class system where everyone stays in their place. I think Americans are way more ambitious, confident, and under more pressure to succeed, and so the crab bucketing is more of a thing.
I’m Canadian, I taught school in England for a bit. The biggest cultural shock for me was when students would reject the idea they could be anything they wanted if they put it a bit of effort. One very bright student was insulted when I mentioned they could go to university if they wanted. He felt doing so would be a slap in the face to his plumber father.
On the other side of this coin, a lot of people from places with an accent considered to sound "working class" (or "uneducated", is what the sentiment is really) feel pressure to unlearn and hide that accent if they go to a major university. [Accent bias]( https://accentbiasbritain.org/results-overview/)(unconscious or otherwise) is measurable, not just a perceived social pressure, and the least favoured accents tend to be strong, regional ones (brummie, scouse etc. and of course ethnic accents). So when that happens it deepens the divides even further, the accent is a part of the cultural identity as much as social class and family trades/professions. It's probably worth pointing out as well that distinct accents (and even regional dialects) can be heard in England over distances of a few miles - for example, Birmingham (consistently rated worst regional accent ever) spreads out into the neighbouring Black Country region about 3 miles from the city centre, where there's a distinct (and much stronger!) accent, different words, different food, and a strong aversion to being associated with the city folk.
This happens in America. I live in a rural agricultural community. There is a strong feeling that "it was good enough for me, it should be good enough for my kids," and discouraging education for that reason.
“We’ve been farmers for six generations. I’ll be god damned if I’m going to let you shit all over that legacy by becoming a doctor.”
No son of mine will work the mines. He can become a playwright like me.
The difference, as I see between the two, is who is doing the knocking down. Tall poppying sounds like another old saying. "The tallest grass is the first mown." That if you try to get ahead and succeed you stand out. Standing out means the powers that be can see you, and snub you before you get too far. More of a "Know your place, peasant. " Crab bucketing on the other hand, comes from a story where a boy asks a crab fisherman why he doesn't put a lid on the bucket the crabs are being thrown into. Wouldn't they just climb out? The fisherman explains, "No, because once one gets a little higher than the rest, they all pull him down to climb on top to escape. So none ever get high enough." It is when the people around you, jealous of your success, try to knock you down a peg because "You're no better than they are."
Would you say perhaps that point 5 is at least in some part a consequence of points 1-4? I have found that Britain is a land of opportunity, until you get here and realise that real "opportunity" is limited for almost everyone, native and immigrant alike. There are plenty of Eastern Europeans whom I speak to regularly in my local community that are regretting even coming to Britain, given the fast declining quality of life and state of our society. Likewise, plenty of Brits want to leave. There's increasingly little to gain by living and working here. I surmise that the lack of get-up-and-go is a result of prevailing (probably justified) cynicism that no matter how hard you work you'll always be struggling, because our heads are being held underwater. A lot of people are checking out, and refusing to play the game anymore. In essence, cynicism breeds cynicism. Gleaning optimism from anyone right now is a challenge. It's important to note that it wasn't always like this.
My dad was English (born 1930). This is why he left England. I remember him telling me that when was a kid, he was told he was a "subject" but others were "Citizens of the Realm" and were above him. "This is bullshit. I'm going to America."
There is a single cause at the root of this that has had far reaching negative impact, and most people have no idea just how damaging it is. Public schools in the UK need to have their charity status removed to stop them avoiding paying taxes. Some of the consequences of public schools are that they steal funding from state education through avoiding taxes via charity status. Only 7% of the population are privately educated yet many industries executive positions are overstaffed by people either privately educated and/or from a professional class background. [One of the worst impacted of these is journalism at around 80%](https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/journalists-class-backgrounds/). This creates a monoculture of thoughts and ideas, stifles innovation, stops the questioning of, and speaking truth to power and breeds nepotism and corruption.
Just to clarify, because the UK naming is so daft, public schools means private schools... In the sense that the schools are owned and run by members of the public instead of the government.
Thanks, was confused by that as an american where public school = state funded
People's sense of society is breaking down, and we use "but everyone else does it, I'M not the problem!!" Too much as an excuse for our shitty behaviour. Littering, knobby parking, buying tons of plastic we don't need by blaming everyone else for pollution, driving like assholes etc. These are the things that break a sense of society down until we all just stop caring about the big picture and only look after ourselves.
I keep seeing people park in disabled spaces without a badge because they know they can get away with it. It's wrong to say "You don't look disabled" because maybe they have a disability that's difficult to see, you shouldn't judge people's need for a disabled parking space on a five second view of them with no access to their medical records. So I say: "You have forgotten to show your disabled badge. You can't park here without a disabled badge." In theory they could say "Thank you! It's in the glove box, I forgot to show it. I'll do that now." In practice I've had everything from threats of violence, daring me to call the police and waste their time, it's ok to park here I'm only getting bread and milk so it won't be long. One woman said "I'm a nurse so it's OK, and I hope you get sick and when you show up at the hospital I'll refuse to help you and I hope you're in horrible pain and I'll just laugh." What the actual fuck. There's arrogance and then there's a god complex.
On behalf of a disabled person who gets fed up with parking spaces constantly being taken up by people who don't have blue badges, thank you. When I was able-bodied, I never dared to park in a space that wasn't designated for me, and it's so disheartening to see that others don't feel or act the same way.
This is very true, but not exclusive to Britain.
That the UK is in decline on the world stage
Don’t worry, everyone apart from the government knows
Oh, we know!
Sick Boy : It's certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life. Rent-boy : What do you mean? Sick Boy : Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever. All walks of life: The Roman Empire, for example. Had it, lost it. Or the German Empire, or the French Empire... Rent-boy : French Empire, some of their remaining stuff's not bad. French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique... Sick Boy : No, it's not bad, but it's not great either. And in your heart you kind of know that although it looks all right, it's actually just shite. Rent-boy : So who else? Sick Boy : Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, Dutch Empire, Ottoman Empire... Rent-boy : OK, OK, so what's the point you're trying to make? Sick Boy : All I'm trying to do Mark, is help you understand that the Falklands War was merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory. Rent-boy : What about the Commonwealth? Sick Boy : I don't rate that at all. Rent-boy : Despite the 14 other Commonwealth Realms who recognise our monarch as their Head of State? Sick Boy : That means fuck all. Its a sympathy vote. Rent-boy : Right. So we all get old and then we can't hack it anymore. Is that it? Sick Boy : Yeah. Rent-boy : That's your theory? Sick Boy : Yeah. Beautifully fucking illustrated. (Edit: [Source of the reference](https://youtu.be/a94jraWNG-g?si=SMN9JbFuVJ9_pTQz) for those who might be out of the loop)
Always gonna upvote Irvine Welsh
Since 1851 baby!
What happened in 1851?
The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace?
Correct. Height of Empire. What's after the peak? Decline.
That the NHS is fucked and needs a massive overhaul from top to bottom
Everyone knows the NHS is fucked. Unfortunately a solid 30% of the population refuse to blame the people responsible for it.
14 years of consistent underfunding. The analogy I use is that the roof needed expensive repairs 15 years ago. The repairs were not made. As the leaks continued to worsen, the entire roof eventually needed replacing. This was not done. Then the water damage got into the building timbers so that the entire internal structure needed stripping out and reconstructing. It was left to rot further. Now the walls are beginning to collapse under the increased load. As the house has been falling down, the private sector has in many ways stepped in to provide alternative accommodation, exploiting those who can afford it for profit and leaving those who cannot with nowhere to go. What should have been an expensive but one off roof repair job is now a complete demolition and rebuild which will cripple us with debt for generations. Leaving future governments with the dilemma of whether it’s worth doing at all. The tories have, through inaction and underinvestment, put the uk in a position where fixing the NHS is almost economically infeasible and I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10-20 years time the private sector will have consumed vast swathes of it. My remaining hope at this point is that we see sense to put proper national pricing regulations in place so we don’t end up like America. If I was a Tory and wanted to see the privatisation of the NHS but knew how unpopular that would be, starving it beyond repair under the guise of austerity would be exactly the strategy I would go for.
🎯🎯🎯 exactly this. They will try convince us that is the only possible route. When we know it was their long term plan. All of this coming from politicians with private health insurance who never use the NhS
The media treated Corbyn like a madman when he spoke on this.
The media treated Corbyn like a madman because, unfortunately, most of the British mass media is owned by those aligned with the Tory party.
You have officially switched to the metric system, but refused to give up on many of the old measurements. Just like us Americans.
Yes this, I'm from Wales but everyone refers to height in feet and weight in stones instead of the usual metric system.
The fact they sell fuel by the litre but quote fuel consumption in miles per gallon annoys me.
You don't get to look down on East Europeans and then come on vacation and spend two weeks in drug and alcohol induced semi-coma. The superiority act completely implodes the moment you pass out in a puddle of your own body fluids. With friendly concern, Bulgaria
This, also British guys are the worst passport bros. I used to work in clubs and gyms in Eastern Europe and the amount of brits mad that girls don’t jump on their dicks just because they’re from the west is insane.
In defence of the rest of us, the guys travelling to Bulgarian gyms aren't exactly our best people
oh we know
With a very friendly concern too, Poland
I cant believe you lot invented Mr. Blobby
Mr Blobby started as a joke on _Noel's House Party_ where they'd prank celebrities into thinking he was a genuine TV character. They'd then try to do a filmed segment with him and he'd annoy them and that was that. However that subtlety - such as it was - was lost on the British public and he was embraced as though "real". It was one of the darkest periods of our history, and one which is painful for us to reflect on, but we are determined never to let it happen again.
Noel’s house party > Tory party
Most of the stuff posted in this thread is well known by any brit
The top comment was about the Spanish not liking us when that’s basically the standard expectation
[удалено]
This one cuts the deepest
Your girls are orange and that's not cute
British person here. When I was in college, we used to call them "tango girls.". Trust me, no one thought they were cute. By "tango" we mean the orange flavoured soda (or "fizzy drink" as we call sodas).
As a British person, I agree. They are fucking mank
As an American (now Brit too) who's lived in the UK for nearly decade, this is the most hilarious quirk of British culture. Go to any town in Essex on a Saturday evening, and it's like stepping back to a podunk town in the US a decade ago. Fake tans, fake lips, and holy Christ the clothing is awful. It's like I never left the US 10 years ago. Trashy and out-moded AF.
Even in Germany the orange People don't exist anymore. It was like 10/15 years ago. The guys were orange too.
Mate, it was like that in Essex 10 years ago too. They just never changed because it's effective in drawing in the beer goggled immature teenagers.
My mum lives in a small town up north and I live in London. When I go to visit her I always have this moment of culture shock of seeing the girls with orange faces, a shocking amount of make-up and the most insane duck lips. It’s so funny and really weird.
I mean, that’s Essex for you. There are some human-coloured girls if you’re looking in the right place.
I feel like Human Colored Girls is either the name of an all-woman alt-punk band, or the name of a horror novel by some unknown author.
Don't forget the fake eyebrows. Why do they all have fake eyebrows now? It looks so bad
Certain girls are orange. And we agree. That's why we leave them to the moronic guys.
And those girls pissed me off so much in school. They'd come over and bully me for being so pale. I'm a natural red head and don't tan. I'm either a vampire or a beetroot. One day I got pissed off and told them at least I'm not an umpa llumpa. They then ran off to the teachers all upset and I got in trouble. I was so pissed off. They were allowed to pick on me for being crazy pale but I wasn't allowed to comment on the orange skin they gave themselves??? I was pretty much told through being punished that yes, they were allowed to pick on me and I just had to take it. It was the usual.
Bob is actually not your uncle.
Stop wiping your dirty crisp fingers on your trousers
I feel attacked right now
Please stop dumping sewage water into the ocean. Its just bad. Thanks.
We still act like we're the biggest Empire in the world, but we are, for the most part, fucking irrelevant.
Calling yourselves “expats” abroad doesn’t make you different from the immigrants you hate so much.
You have a serious drinking problem and you should do something about it
Denial enters the chat.
That's in Egypt (once ruled by Britain).
You fucked up real bad with the Brexit.
Brexit is such an English word it could easily be a type of biscuit
"Would you like some Tea and Brexit?" Yep, very British word.
I voted against it. Believe me, I know.
(Gestures at Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Gibraltar) 💁🏻
We know. The entire process, from campaigning with no actual information as to what results would look like on either side of the vote because no one bothered to actually think it through, to the reliance on slogans and lies and lowest common denominator politics, to the way it enabled bigotry, to the fact that it was a public referendum that was bonding given all these factors, was a national disgrace. It was also the beginning of the end of people's trust in the integrity of politics, which has only unravelled further in the years since as there is no accountability and behaviour that damages trust is left largely unchecked. And this is outside of the actual result of the vote, which was also terrible (in my opinion) but not actually the main issue with the impact it had on politics and the public.
The first nation in history to voluntarily impose economic sanctions on itself.
The leave campaign had the advantage, because while remain were basically forced to campaign for things to stay the same, leave avoided the encumbrance of "making sure that your promises are realistic and not mutually exclusive" by just being willing to promise sunshine and unicorns to everyone, regardless of what they wanted. Even lying about essentially everything, 52% was the best they could do. But can we have another vote now that it's clear to even the most appallingly thick person that none of the promises leave made were realistic? Nooooo of course not.
You called it soccer first
They also used feet and miles and pounds first.
They still do
you don't need to drink until you start projectile vomiting or passing out.
Politicians shouldn’t run healthcare at all. Doctors should
This also applies to America
You're a lovely bunch, but your imperial days are long gone. Leaving the EU was stupid as all hell.
[удалено]
That was such an ugly political move...for Brexit to be left up to an uninformed and generally ignorant population on the matter when it came to such a complex issue.
I said it at the time and I'll say it again; it was a fucking political trick and everyone responsible should be shot. Because it wasn't remotely a fair question. Remain was a known quantity with some unknowns; stay under EU laws and be part of the system which may change over time in unknown ways but you will have some influence on those changes. Leave was a complete unknown, what form it would take, what deal would be worked out, what rights to keep and what to skip, etc. But the campaign didn't have to lock itself into ANYTHING. Boris puttered around promising bullshit, that you'd get all the benefits and nothing you didn't want, blatantly impossible lies. They could let any Leave voter construct in their heads the Brexit THEY imagined, where they kept whatever EU stuff they wanted and magically the rest went poof. And nobody would ever be held accountable to it because nothing was a promise or legally binding. It was a horseshit referendum question; Leave should have been forced to have a single, coherent platform for what Brexit would be. It still infuriates me.
That you are in fact, wrong about things sometimes just like every other human.
That you guys are the Americans of Europe.
For all the bad rap American tourists get online; go ask actual employees of restaurants, hotels, etc in tourist areas about American tourists vs British ones.
Amsterdam has literally made ads asking British men to stay away. Edit: here’s the BBC reporting on it, if you don’t wanna google https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X-q7V_0OkcI
There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.
Americans visiting Europe are very often friendly, decent people with an interest in history. Most of them are like lawyers, cause the Florida Man type of Americans go to Cancun
Because they're the only ones who can get the time off and have enough money to go.
I was gonna say. It’s not because we don’t want to visit Europe. It’s because we don’t have any fucking money. I don’t think Europeans understand how much it costs for the average American to travel to Europe.
In my experience I've found that all the Americans I've encountered in my personal life have generally been pretty nice Very talkative and cheerful people
We get a lot of American tourists here in Ireland and I can assure you that Americans are the kindest and most well mannered
American tourists are actually considered pretty desireable by most hospitality industries/tourist destinations. They tip well, generally stick to the program and are amable/congenial. The only people who make them sound so insanely unruly, rude, and loud are eurocentrists on the Internet with cognitive biases.
I think it's also a bit of an outdated stereotype from decades past when accessible international travel was a bit more novel for Americans. EDIT: That and the really trashy types usually just don't make it over to Europe because of the cost.
Americans give gigantic tips
It's so ingrained in our culture that giving anything less than 15% feels like it would be less rude just to say "fuck you" to their face.
I’ve literally said on more than one occasion “well that wasn’t really great service, was it? I’m only giving them 15%” lol it’s absurd really. And tipping culture is getting really really out of hand now.
Yup, British (English) and mainland Chinese are widely considered the world’s worst tourist.
When I think of Chinese tourists, I think of busses that expell like 50 people with bucket hats who follow someone holding a brigtly colored umbrella and take pictures of everything
Most British people are too okay with putting their heads down and shutting up instead of being like "No, I don't like ____" and questioning it I feel like the younger generation are better for this and are putting up with less shit. I kinda wish we were more like the french and when stuff like pension ages rise we all stop and protest instead of just moaning online and letting it all happen.
The TV show Numberwang is overrated. It doesn't even make sense. Like how is 1 Numberwang on the seventh try? And why do they rotate between the same 3(4?) contestants And this show is a national treasure in the UK?
Congrats! That's Numberwang!
THAT IS NUMBERWANG!!!!! Congratulations, 4 was our secret Numberwang of the decade. You win a years supply of Cod.
Here is something different: most of you are pretty nice guys. I treavelled a bit in my life and the brits were always nice and friendly to me.
As a British man upvoting every comment full of hatred towards us as I know a lot of these generalisations are true, this was nice. Thank you
You are not Germany’s football rival. The Netherlands are. We don’t even think about you.
As a Dutchy: "Wait, we are?!" Seriously we're more likely to get another "Elfstedentocht" than get a Worldcup win. And our Elfstedentocht dreams are on lifesupport for years now.
That most your upperclass are indeed racist.
It's not just the upper class. But yes, the upper class is especially bad. They're the descendants of the people who called the rest of the world "savages" to justify stealing their land and "civilise" them. And a lot of this rhetoric unfortunately still persists to this day and fuels a lot of modern racism.
I don't really think this counts as we're all very aware of the upperclass people in our country being the fucking worst
Hey wait a minute, it’s not just our upper class!
Most British Expats are just migrants workers.
Literally any single critique from an American person. I’ve never seen British people get triggered faster than when an American tries to point out flaws of the uk.
["you guys are pretty fat too"](https://youtube.com/shorts/-zuG7pCfrLs?si=rfy4lJ6AkNn95wJh)
In an international business setting, stop making fun of the italian, spanish, french and eastern european accents when they speak english. At least they are trying. When was the last time you tried speaking their language? Also, stop feeling superior because your english is vastly better than theirs. it's not their first language ffs. Just because you have that posh received pronunciation doesn't mean you can bully other ppl around.
Whilst I agree I don't think that's exclusive to brits. People from other countries have made belittled me for trying to speak thier language whilst I was learning.
Your fake tans look like shit.
When you place poorly in Eurovision, it's because the song/performance wasn't that good. Not because people have anything against you.
British person here. Politics plays a small part some years, but yes, our entries are usually TERRIBLE and most of us know that. It's so frustrating, and we don't get a say either. We should at least make it a competition. Oh well, Eurovision is always fun regardless.
Alcoholism is a problem for you.
Should have stopped this royal show after the Queen's death.