British characteristics

[CameronW]

Yes

I'm laughing thinking of John Rambo, John McClane, "Miami Vice," "The Sopranos," all Clint Eastwood movies, and all Chuck Norris movies on the one side, and the many BBC shows that my mother loves on the other side. That'd be shows like "Are You Being Served?" and "Waiting for God" and "Keeping Up Appearances" and "Fawlty Towers." Come on, that's a very funny contrast!

 

[mommieof3]

I take it you and your mother haven't seen The Sweeney, Scum, Made in Britain, Snatch/Lock Stock..., Naked, League of Gentlemen or Peep Show.

It's funny how people in the US always use the worst TV (Fawlty Towers is the exception) and films, usually rather old stuff too, to find examples of British culture.

British humour = Monty Python....Give me a break!!!!

 

[qqqa]

While obviously local character colours everything there is still something like the concept of "freedom" that (as far as I can see) is held by many people.
From a west coast surf dude, to a southern redneck type, to a street savvy New Yoiker, to a midwest honest farmboy, to a preppy Harvard graduate.
They will manifest being "American" in vastly differing ways and have very different politics but "freedom" will still (generally) be a precious cornerstone of that identity.

But it's tricky finding similar for Britain.
I think that certain traits were common in the past.
Politeness, decorum, supression of emotion (stuff upper lip), a sense of decency (often hiding a hypocritical disregard for that decency in reality) and doing "what's right".
But that kind of stuff has been so eroded recently (with the boozy lads culture and a pursuit of hedonism) that they are no longer represented in enough British people to really count.
I know "I" hold politeness and decorum and a sense of decency in high regard but I often feel like an island in a sea of idiots that don't.

 

[MrTickle]

Why do you consider those uniquely British traits? I think that those could be found in many cultures around the world.

 

[KaylaH]

dble post

 

[brickityhusseinbrack]

National Pride here - lots of people are vocal in their love of America. You get that in Blighty with the Coronation and whatnot but its more day to day here.

National Pride is positive for the most part. For me, when I think of National Pride in the UK I think more of the BNP, more so amongst the 40 and under crowd.

The word Pride made me think of Gay Pride - I see a lot more of that being OK in New York (hand holding, PSA like kissing etc in the big city, men talking about having emotions..) I think that is connected to the Freedom concept.

The flip of this Matthew Shepard (Just watched the Laramie Project) and Hate here, is a very powerful movement, such as that Baptist Church in FL.

It seems that the constitution being more recent as a foundation of rights in the US is a place that people from more extremes fight from (or perhaps just abuse) in order to support their way of life.

I really think the core of it is youth of country, and that there is less of a history of class structure, that one is encouraged to live the american dream and find success.

 

[MarthaL]

I recommend, 'Watching the English' by Kate Fox: Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour: Amazon.co.uk: Kate Fox: Books

It's so spot on as to be funny. I recommend it to every ex-pat I meet. I used to test it by asking my British colleague next to me at the office questions, I had conversations like this a lot:

'You know that picture you have of you and the Clintons, is it in your downstairs loo?'
'Yeah, how'd you know? Why?'
'I read this chapter that said that Brits would put something like that there because they knew everyone would see it, but it would look like a joke because it was in the loo.'
'Uhhh...Actually that sounds about right....'

It's actually really helped me understand my current home. Of particular interest to any youngish ex-pat is the, also accurate, chapter on dating. It can either help you avoid a bit of trouble and misunderstanding or help you take advantage of the system, depending on which way you'd like to play it (so to speak).

I find, in general, the culture shock in England to be worse than in Japan. Sure, I'm only in Japan for small stretches, and never really 'living' there, but you expect it to be very different. I think many people don't expect the culture of a people who look roughly the same and speak roughly the same to be all that different, so when the misunderstandings do pop up it's like stubbing your toe in the middle of the night. Had you been expecting it, it wouldn't hurt at all - but you weren't expecting it so you're hopping around grabbing your toe yelling expletives.

I also think this is pretty accurate: Stephen Fry on American vs British Comedy - YouTube

 

[SavannaX]

Yeah, from the outside looking in I just don't see it. The only difference I noticed when I was there is that Americans are not so nice once you get off the well beaten tourist trail.

The BBC is monolithic. It has been criticised as such for not getting to grips with devolution. It persistently presents local London news as national news. For example as tragic as it may be that someone got stabbed in London. I don't need to know about that in Glasgow. In fact the BBC used to make all it's news readers and presenters speak in the same sanitised accent.

 

[bumblebeeetunae]

No that's the image that was sold and used to built an empire. The idea that the British were more refined, sophisticated and advanced in every conceivable way was one of the essential foundation stones of the British Empire.

 

[Broadwaychick]

The trouble is that sort of culture was literally suffocating our society and it still is. We call it "political correctness" today. There are entire departments in business and government where people excel at talking in gibberish, ironically in an effort to sound more intelligent and sophisticated. They achieve nothing and waste everybody's time with endless procrastination, ambiguous language and "rules" that can mean anything you want them to mean.

It's possibly our most dangerous export to the world.

 

[miket]

A lot depends where you go and how you act.


That's my point exactly - the most commonly available media (like BBC for us and CNN or whatever for you) doesn't really give an adequate exposure to the local flavors of our countries.