A Conversation for Ask h2g2

What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 21

IctoanAWEWawi

Re: the weather trait. I think the thing I find odd about it is that many Brits seem to think it is exclusive to GB. Like everywhere else in the world just has standard seasons and predictable weather. One thing I have found out over the years is that Canadians are just the same about their weather and have many of the same sayings.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 22

Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like


Of course, undoubtedly or worst trait is the ability to gather together in numbers varying from 2 to 200 hundred and put ourselves down whilst totally ignoring what is actually good about ourselves.

smiley - shark


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 23

Hoovooloo

Adelaide/Della/Adele/Debbie/Annie wrote:

"I was just glad my father didn't live to see that, or there would have been a few Kiwis punched in return!"

Now it starts to become obvious where the tendency for violence which runs in your family comes from...

H.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 24

Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like


Of course, the inability to let anything rest is a pretty unattractive trait in some Brits... smiley - winkeye

smiley - shark


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 25

Jimbob - Got a Favourite Band? Tell Us All About It at A2464355



You wouldn't let it lie, would you? You wouldn't let it lie!


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 26

Still Incognitas, Still Chairthingy, Still lurking, Still invisible, unnoticeable, missable, unseen, just haunting h2g2

Too apologetic.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 27

Clive the flying ostrich: Amateur Polymath | Chief Heretic.

Sorry. smiley - sadface


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 28

Alfster

A predilection for making the obvious gag?


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 29

Ged42

And only in Britain will any minor weather anomally grind the country to a halt. Example, only one inch (2.5cm smiley - nahnah) of snow will shut down all transportation in under a few hours and Slightly more than the usual ammount of rain will cause major flooding.

Though i wonder whether our adherance to imperial measurments may more linked into our language. For example i normally measure things in metric, because it was how i was taught and i find it easier to work out. But when i'm saying things like "thats miles away" i use imperial, why this is i'm not sure. smiley - erm



Oh and one thing i hate about us Brits:
The Daily Mail - A national daily newspaper that mangages to contain everything thats bad in British society. smiley - steam


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 30

Teuchter

I think that one of the reasons we tend to talk about the weather is that it's a nice, neutral topic on which everyone feels they can venture an opinion.

Brits don't 'do' feelings or emotions very well.

Brits don't complain properly or effectively. They're far happier just to have a good whinge to the next person in the bus queue or their mates at work. This means that nothing ever gets done to rectify the cause of the complaint and we all get to keep having a whinge about it. Perhaps it should be classified as a new Olympic Sport - we'd be guaranteed medals there!

Brits don't look after their teeth.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 31

IctoanAWEWawi

"Brits don't look after their teeth."
Tell my bank balance that!


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 32

Clive the flying ostrich: Amateur Polymath | Chief Heretic.

Some jokes grow old gracefully.

Others are born that way.

smiley - tongueout


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 33

QueenBronners - Ferret Fanatic

eh?

smiley - love


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 34

pdante'

Hi Edward the Bonobo
i think you misunderstood me(and hey if you aint a pedant what are you doing here ?)& for the future ref; it's pdante' (with an emphasis on the smiley - ante'.
The following should be taken with a vey large pinch of saltsmiley - winkeyesmiley - biggrin
http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/anotherhat_song.html


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 35

Edward the Bonobo - Gone.

No offence intended! And - hey - if we were being serious we wouldn't be posting here. Sorry to get your name wrong. Just that I couldn't see it from where I was typing, so substituted an approximation.

Q. Who led the pedants' revolt?
A. Which Tyler.

Have you heard Stanley Clarke's version of Born in the USA? Strange but true!

A bad trait of the British:
Believing that we still own the English language.
My take on it is that others have paid good money to learn it from us, so now they've bought it, they are free to use it as they please.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 36

pdante'

smiley - laugh
Nope,never heard Stanley Clarke's version of Born in the USA(how is it good i should imagine?!).
Re;Believing that we still own the English language.( i try to remember where we got it all from in the first place).i never come to a conclusion,there are too many side doors and what ifs? ....smiley - biggrin


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 37

The Doc

"Worst Trait of the British"?

Our love of Fart jokes. The sound of such an emmision has grown men instantly in fits of giggles.

Hang on - thats one of our finer traits...........*Parp*


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 38

You can call me TC

Bill Bryson points out in "Notes from a Small Island" that the British laugh a lot. He says that strangers in a train compartment who start up a conversation will be laughing about something before the next stop.

He finds it endearing.

I find it embarrassing and often a hindrance to a decent conversation. These Brits are laughing usually out of embarrassment, very superficially, and possibly, to cover ignorance, or out of some ignorance.

(You know the situation - someone laughs about something maybe you have said from your field of work, which sounds odd to an outsider, but for you is a perfectly everyday thing, and you only mention it to explain what you're going to say next. The conversation takes another track with inane jokes, and you never get to make your point, which would have probably taught the others some new fact about a field they'd not considered before, while everyone tries to uptrump each other with silly puns, and you are left out of the conversation, not finding it funny. The conversation loses its point and its direction entirely and is reduced to inanity)

Having said that, humour is a great thing, and very important. The one thing that the rest of the world would agree on (well, pretty much) is that British humour is original, unusual and innovative - and very good. This really is a trait that the rest of the world admires in us. (Some may be talking Benny Hill, but that's beside the point)

But that kind of embarrassed giggle, or superficial chuckle, is not necessarily a good thing. However, if it brings strangers together, I will not try to prevent it.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 39

BouncyBitInTheMiddle

We have absolute faith that our sense of humour is the best in the world.

We drink really awful tea. I thought tea was a bloody 'orrible drink until I got to China.


What are the worst traits of the British?

Post 40

Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque

Adelaide
don't forget that the British tv you see is probably the better stuff
we make an incredible amount of soaps/reality tv shows etc too smiley - sadface


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