Let’s face it – we Brits are a pretty odd lot. From our cheese-rolling antics to our national obsession with queuing, we love to indulge in our own slice of the ridiculous every now and again. Maybe it’s something to do with our overcast days, our long and complicated national heritage, or maybe it’s just in our genes.
Either way, we certainly have our…err, how to put it…idiosyncrasies?
When all is said and done, though, our quirks are what make Britain such a fun and interesting place to visit. This week, we sat down together in the office and listed all the things we think make us weird.
Here’s our official list of weird British customs:
- Apologising
- The May Pole
- Complaining
- Swimming in the cold
- Saying ‘Cheers’
- Queuing
Enjoy!
Apologising
I’m sorry, but this one isn’t going away anytime soon. Apologising is the default setting for the start of most interactions in the UK, from “I’m sorry, but is this Oxford Circus?” to “I’m sorry, I seem to have stepped on your sandwich”. Labelling these as an apology is actually a little misleading.
You see, ‘I’m sorry’ has a much broader usage for us Brits. It’s commonly used as a way to get the attention of someone else, just like ‘excuse me’, and is often used ironically to preface negative sentiments, such as “I’m sorry, but this is the worst tea I’ve ever been served. Where is the manager?”.
The May Pole
We Brits can understand the tradition of dancing around a pole with coloured ribbons to celebrate May Day or Pentecost. After all, they used to do some odd things for entertainment back in the day.
What we don’t understand is why people pursue this pastime with such fervour today. Maypole dancing is actually a lot harder than it looks and requires some serious choreography to get right.
Complaining
We love a good moan. It always seems to go particularly well with tea. Seriously, there’s nothing better than huddling around a teapot with a few friends and taking ten minutes out of your day to complain about…well, whatever happens to be on your mind. It’s a cathartic experience and helps to bond us together in dissatisfaction – the perfect antidote to a long, stressful day.
Swimming in the cold
It is summer. We will wear shorts. We will go swimming. This is the British mindset. It doesn’t matter if it’s minus five and tipping it down with rain. It’s just another reason to break out that stiff upper lip and take a nose dive into the unknown. After all, you never know if the water isn’t a little warmer than it looks. Hint: it’s not.
Saying ‘Cheers’
This may be one of the most valuable words in the English language. If you’ve never used it before, cheers means – actually, it means pretty much anything you want it to mean. From ‘hello’ to ‘goodbye’, to ‘thank you’ to no meaning at all, it’s a chameleon word that always fits in with the conversation. Use it liberally when you have nothing smart to say.
Queuing
Finally, we couldn’t leave out the one thing that brings British culture global renown. Seriously, though, we couldn’t really imagine a world without queueing. It would be a hellish place where people constantly bump into each other, forget to apologise, and then fail to have the decency to complain about it afterwards. Awful.
If all this sounds a little confusing, our tour guides here at Evan Evans are well-versed in British culture and can tell you everything you need to know. Spend some time getting to know them on one of our fantastic walking tours.
