British People Cringe When Other Countries Try To Copy These 15 Things From Their Culture
As you may be aware, British people tend to have...opinions.
Channel 4
A few months back, several Brits decided to voice those opinions in a thread posted on r/AskUK. User u/zazabizarre begged the question: What is a British thing that other nations try to emulate but always miss the mark on? Here are 15 things that grind their gears (and no, they did not tread lightly on us Americans):
1."Dry humour. Subtle sarcasm is naturally baked into our speech patterns, and when Americans try and do it, it just comes across as cringeworthy."
Channel 4
2."Our TV. American remakes are always shite. I'm looking at you Peep Show and The Inbetweeners."
3."I've not seen this mentioned, probably because we get a lot of flack for our 'cooking,' but I'd say that 99% of non-Brits and Irish that try to make our dishes get it wrong. For example — putting beef mince in Shepherd's pie, when this makes it a cottage pie."
4."BANTER. It doesn’t work in most other countries the way it does in the UK. Not to single-out Americans, but when most Americans try banter they just immediately go nuclear with the insults and have no awareness that banter involves so much more than mere sarcasm and venom. Proper banter also requires self-deprecation, understatement, and a flow that resembles improvisational theater in some ways."
5."Tea. Other countries have their own good versions (I'm thinking India, China, Turkey, Russia), but no country does British-style plain strong hot milky tea properly. Again, except for Ireland!"
Universal Pictures
6."Table service in pubs abroad absolutely does my head in. I just want to get up and fetch a pint when I fancy one, pay for it immediately, and bugger off when I want without waiting for a bill. That's the thing that separates British pubs from most other countries I've got pissed in."
7."Saying 'I couldn't care less.' It turns out people not from the UK say it like 'I could care less,' which is embarrassingly wrong."
8."As cliché as it sounds: fish and chips. You get places across the world offering what they call 'authentic' fish and chips and without exception they are horribly wrong. The often biggest mistakes are: wrong type of batter, wrong type or shape of fish, wrong sort of chips, etc."
9."I’ve found whenever a remake of a British comedy is made (particularly by the Americans) and they try to emulate our humour, it just doesn’t work."
NBC
10."Inefficiency. I know trains in the US are late, but people get annoyed and whiney. I've been on countless late trains in the UK, and the lack of emotion is impressive. It's as if getting fucked for so many years by public transport has rendered UK travelers numb to the whole experience."
11."Our accents. We can do American accents fine. I swear 40% of Hollywood consists of British actors putting on American accents — at least have the common courtesy to do the same for us."
12."Panel shows."
13."Pedestrian crossings. Fuck knows what’s going on in some countries. Cars can go when people can go."
@Novum_Visuals / Via novumvisuals.com
14."Swearing. We're the best at it."
15.And finally, "Implying that you think someone is an idiot, without saying or doing anything in particular."
Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
