Brits have been sharing the little quirks of their country they’ll defend with their life – 17 beloved values
Despite all its flaws, Britain is a pretty great country. And while it may be uncharacteristic for British people to bang their own drum, Reddit user RegularRemarkable494 decided the time has come.
By asking members of r/AskUK what British values or quirks they’d defend with their life, they opened the floodgates for Brits to sing their country’s praises. And they even got the ball rolling with a suggestion of their own:
‘Mine is beans on toast. When I see people hate on the fact we have beans on toast, I have to always defend our nation for how amazing it really is haha.’
Here are the top replies that will make you proud of this soggy little island…
1.
‘British Plugs are the best in the world.’
-Consistent-Concern42
2.
‘Forming an orderly queue. You just can’t beat it’
-theroch_
3.
‘Being understated and pessimistic. I work with a lot of Americans and their jolly-gee-gosh enthusiasm about everything is by turns endearing and infuriating.’
-Relative-Thought-105
4.
‘Self depreciation. I love some of the football chants by supporters of crap teams.’
-Key-Interaction-6281
5.
‘I apologise that nobody else has said apologising.’
-chicken-farmer
6.
‘Our basic manners. “I’ll get a” or “I’ll take a” is almost exclusively always said by an American. It makes me die inside from second hand embarrassment each time I hear it. I’m from London and work in the City so I hear it a lot. No consideration given to even saying please.
‘Oh and our use of cutlery. Watching an American use their fork as a one stop shop and neglect their knife will give you a headache. They just stab at the food like an overgrown toddler, often eating one thing at a time. Whereas we combine little bits of this and that on the fork or cut things to size so that they fit sensibly into our mouths. Also explains why they can’t appreciate meals like the full English. Of course eating a forkful of beans isn’t going to be great, come on now.’
-wildOldcheesecake
7.
‘Making the mundane and “everyday” amusing in some way. ‘
-Ambitious_League4606
8.
‘Our love of the underdog. Who doesn’t love watching a Championship/League One making the semi finals of the FA/League Cup?’
-pajamakitten
9.
‘Subtle deadpan humour. It’s pretty much my whole sense of humour (well, actually, I guess puns and Dad jokes too)
We’re just the best at it.’
-gazchap
10.
‘I’m very defensive of our food in general. Whenever I see people posting about how shite British food is, it’s always some horrendous over boiled veg, or the worst chippy tea you’ve ever seen. Roast beef, haggis, black pudding, shepherd’s pie etc are all delicious when cooked well. We have some of the best cheese in the world.
I know the whole ‘Brits don’t understand flavour’ thing is a meme at this point, and I shouldn’t rise to it, but it still makes me salty.’
-Pornaltio
11.
‘A sense of fair play
‘For all the classism and stuff most people are decent.’
-Potassium_Doom
12.
‘You’ve done better with acceptance and inclusion than most places around the world. Regardless of the news headlines about immigration etc, the general population of Brits acceptance and representation of diversity is way better than most other countries.’
-Electrical-Skin-8006
13.
‘Talking about the weather. It’s a solid conversation starter, crossing pretty much all boundaries and cultures, and furthermore is a great launchpad into deeper discussions creating more meaningful connections within our society.
‘From commenting that it’s been lovely out, you can easily salaam into a diverse range of topics like getting the barbie out this weekend, how it was gorgeous weather for your Aunt Karen’s fourth wedding the other day, that fans are on offer down at Tescos, where to take the kids, how much you’re looking forward to some rain etc.
‘The opportunities are endless and I for one defend our right to use ‘Lovely day for it!’ as friendly chat with everyone from the neighbour’s cat to Old Charlie Boy himself.’
-Another_gryffindor
14.
‘Related to the obvious comments on our world leading electrical plugs is not having the washing machine in the bathroom. Why on earth would you put a high power electrical item in the room with all the water?!? Put it in the room with SOME water for god’s sake.’
-littleredracing
15.
‘Being more indirect.
‘People from other more direct countries act as though it’s completely irrational and impossible to know what we really mean, but if you’re from here you just know what people really mean and it isn’t confusing at all, it’s just being polite.’
-TheKnightsTippler
16.
‘Going ‘wheeeeeyyyyyyyyy’ when somebody drops a pint in a busy pub.’
-CthulhusEvilTwin
17.
‘Boaty McBoatface and other mass silliness’
-Instabanous
READ MORE
Source: Reddit, Image: screengrab