Somebody asked for examples of ‘proper British passive aggression’ and these 23 examples were as gloriously petulant as you’d expect

Are British people really more passive aggressive as those of nationalities? Or are we just more willing to own up to the ways in which we are unable to express our feelings in a clear and direct way?

Hard to say, and, anyway, it doesn’t look like we’ll be changing any time soon. Over on the CasualUK subreddit, they’ve been celebrating this quirk of our national character after user blackleydynamo posted this:

‘Proper British passive aggression. Let’s have your best examples!

‘Here’s my most recent one. Staying in a pub in the Highlands over the weekend, there’s a party of Aussies there. Walls were thin, and their lovely loud Sunday 6am Facetime with somebody back home was clearly audible in every neighbouring room.

‘Clearly I wasn’t going to knock on the door, because I’m British, so I chose the P-A route and went for the noisiest piss I’ve ever unleashed in my life. Straight into the middle of the water, with as much force as my aged bladder could muster. Sounded like someone filling a wishing well with a garden hose. As a bonus, I managed to rip out an earsplitting fart as well. That showed ’em.’

And plenty of people chipped in with illustrations of their own non-confrontational but deeply hostile behaviour.

1.

‘Our neighbour knocked down our wooden fence by ‘accident’ because they want a shared drive. The husband said ‘Well, you can put it back but i can’t guarantee we won’t hit it.’ Fair enough, old son, it went back up in concrete.’
–steepleton

2.

‘My grandad did something similar. His neighbour ‘accidentally’ knocked over his bird table a few times. He drilled out the middle of the wooden post, stuck a massive iron bar in the middle and concreted it into the ground.

‘Next time he went on holiday when he came back his bird house was still standing and his neighbours car had a huge fuck off dent in the front of it.’
–Geeky_Monkey

3.

‘I used to work in a community cafe, many aeons ago. Had a group come in, very demanding, very ‘snap fingers for attention’, even though it was counter service because it was more like a works canteen than a table-service cafe. One duly snapped their fingers, said ‘this samosa isn’t hot enough’, and the snap broke something in me.

‘I smiled, took the samosa plate into the kitchen, whacked it into the microwave, and nuked it to hell. I had not removed the small side salad that was with the samosa, which came out of the microwave basically laminated to the plate. I put it in front of her, as cheerfully as I could manage, and she didn’t say a word. Miraculously, I did not get fired. Still warms my heart when I remember it.’
–abitofasitdown

4.

”I don’t care what everyone else says, I think you’re alright’. Brutal.’
–Longjumping_Newt_526

5.

‘To indicate my feelings of hatred to a colleague I replied to their email politely, but removed the work ‘kind’ from my usual ‘kind regards’ signature. That’ll show ’em I muttered to myself, whilst alone, behind a closed door, four buildings away from them.’
–SteveGoral

6.

‘To the guy who tried to get in the packed tube by throwing himself in, I saw you jumping and braced. Not my fault you practically bounced out.’
–Informal_Speech_4452

7.

‘I write usa in small letters now. When they smarten up they can have the capitals back.’
–ReadBikeYodelRepeat

8.

‘Giving another driver an extra-vigorous ‘You’re welcome’ wave when they haven’t waved thank you.’
–ColumnK

9.

‘I’ve stopped someone in the car park to tell them their indicators didn’t work. When they tried them they said ‘They do’, so I told him to fucking use them then! Cue his Pikachu face!’
–Icklebunnykins

10.

‘If someone does something stupid or illegal while driving I always make direct eye contact and hit ‘em with a thumbs down. They might be expecting a middle finger from anger, I find a thumbs down from disappointment is a lot more effective.’
–GeorgiePorgiePuddin

11.

‘I love it in the supermarket when the person in front doesn’t put a divider down on the belt so the next person bangs it down.’
–AlertMacaroon8493