Ten Things Brits Do Better Than Americans
What do you get when you have American optimism and a British sense of humor? You get Valerie’s unique (and often hilarious) take on life as an expat in the UK. Welcome Valerie!
You think you know what’ll be on this list, don’t you? “Tea!” you exclaim, “and bad teeth!” “Awkward English but totally adorable gentlemen who goes to four weddings and at least one funeral!” you insist. While all obvious choices, none made the list. Here are ten other things the British do better than Americans:
1. What’s in a name? – British pubs and their names never cease to crack me up. Sometimes they’re kind of absurd: The Ferret and Trouserleg, The Drunken Clam or The Pig-in-Whistle (they like to have whistles in the pub names here)! Some are snicker worthy and yes, my favorite kind of name. As far as I’m concerned, giggling is good! These would include: Spread Eagle, Dirty Dicks or The Cock and Mouth, interesting how roosters are so popular. For the record, I am giggling as I type this.
2. Driving Miss Daisy – I have no road accident statistics to back up this claim , but trust me when I tell you the standards of getting a license here are infinitely higher than in America. Having recently run the gauntlet myself, I am a much better driver as a result. On top of that, they have these odd things called “roundabouts” which combined with teeny-tiny lanes and complex road systems means I have a lot of respect for British driving! Mind you, the Brits probably do “road-rage” better than Americans too. They are indeed an angry bunch behind the wheel of a car.
3. Iron side – Since tumble dryers are not commonplace, the average Brit faces otherwise crinkly clothes and thus needs to iron…a lot! And not just special clothes for special occasions. They iron their jeans! And since practice makes perfect, I’m quite confident in saying the Brits do this much better than Americans.
4. Election - blink and you might miss it! The campaign elections here last all of weeks. One minute there’s one party in power, the next a general election is called (yes, you can “call” one, it’s not done in set intervals), and within a few short weeks, the election is here, votes are cast and the new government is in power. They just get it done. Wham, Bam, thank you, your Majesty!
5. Not National Lampoon’s Vacation – The ever-so-civilized British system allows for at least 4 weeks’ vacation a year plus 7 bank holidays. And they have so many countries on their doorstep to visit; they clearly outshine Americans when it comes to vacations!
6. I’m sorry for living – the British could run a master class in apologizing. No one does it like them. Let’s say someone bumps into you at the grocery store. You, grumpy and cross at the injury, turn and say, “Oh, so sorry!” Yes that’s right my dear, sweet, unknowing American friends. You apologize…even when it’s not your fault. That’s how it works here. It’s a weird type of diffuser of angst or aggression. Most likely the person who ran into you with their shopping trolley will apologize in response (which we can all agree is appropriate) but then the two of you will do an awkward but essential social dance as you each apologize more and more profusely to the other. Then you go your separate, peaceful ways.
7. Money management – Try getting paid monthly; one monthly sum and having to manage the entire following month before the next pay day. For most professionals in Britain, you only get 12 paydays a year, that requires some good budgetary management skills if you ask me!
8. Doctor, Doctor! – Oh how I love and appreciate the National Health Service. No worries about health insurance or co-pays with a flat rate for prescriptions (about $11 per prescription), unless you’re unemployed in which case they’re free. Say what you want, I think socialized medicine is amazing (and for the record Glenn Beck, I’ve never had to talk to a bureaucrat or anyone other than my doctor about anything to do with my health!)
(My doctor’s office. I guess the line of bureaucrats and patients waiting to die on the socialized medical system is round back.)
9. Pour me a pint – take your pick at any local pub: lager, ale, stout, shandy, bitter, cider, Guinness (which is apparently a good source of iron by the way) …they have endless varieties of what Americans would generally (and erroneously) label as “beer”. Even the little town of Ringwood where I live has a brewery. The Brits are pretty good drinkers and they sure have a variety!
10. Taking the Mickey – Is there any culture that laughs at themselves better than the Brits? It’s one of my absolute favorite traits of the British. It is so freeing! Laughing at others is also a strength, but it’s the ability to also acknowledge one’s own idiosyncrasies and see the humor, well that’s brilliant. Let’s face it; we Americans can take ourselves a wee bit too seriously. And if you are American and have taken umbrage at this, you have just proved my point, so thank you!
Valerie
You can read Valerie’s musings at: www.valerietanswell.com and follow her on twitter: @whatvalthinks. Oh and she also loves movies and TV and feels the need to write about those too: www.whatvaleriethinks.com
Very entertaining indeed! Thank you.
Dean.
Comment by Dean Measor — July 5, 2010 @ 2:44 am
Fantastic list — couldn’t agree more with you on every point! Also, nice to see the non-stereotypical things acknowledged. Makes me a tad homesick (which might be wrong on July 4th?!).
Comment by Limey — July 5, 2010 @ 3:01 am
Agreed!
Comment by Miss Marla — July 5, 2010 @ 3:30 am
I loved your post !! So true !! We Canadians have adopted a fair bit from our Brit ancestors. We do apologise a LOT, and we have pubs with wacky names and we have a national health service. We even have the odd round-about. But we could do with a better sense of humour and some much needed better music !!!
Comment by Hanna — July 5, 2010 @ 3:49 am
Great list!
I didn’t know Brits get their salary only every other month – that means they need good skills not to spend all their money right away…
We have similar health care system in Finland (I’m a Finnish expat living in Morocco) – I have only good experience of that!
Thanks for sharing,
have a great week ahead!
Comment by BLOGitse — July 5, 2010 @ 9:03 am
Feeling extremely proud to be British right now. Have also realised that I have been taking pub names for granted. Must go out now and have a good giggle.
Comment by MuddynoSugar — July 5, 2010 @ 12:56 pm
Ahh I love it!
Agree with all these things.
And I have been to the Ferret and Trouser Leg! That is still my favoUrite pub name, ever
Comment by mary — July 5, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Oh, I couldn’t agree more with number 6 and 8 especially. Another great interview here. I wonder is Valerie celebrated the 4th? Mmm…prolly not I suspect. hope yours was good anyway.
Comment by Mmm... — July 5, 2010 @ 4:21 pm
1. What’s in a name? –
Don’t forget village names. Pratts Bottom, Upper Piddle, Lower Piddle etc…
2. Driving Miss Daisy –
Yep. We have a two-part driving test, a practical and a theory. You need to pass the theory before they let you take the practical. AND they are looking to make it harder by splitting the practical into two, much longer, parts. AND a driver is only on probation once they pass – if they have a prang in the first year of being a qualified driver they can have it revoked and have to take the test again.
3. Iron side –
I send my work shirts and trousers to the laundry and don’t bother to iron anything else. My mum used iron underpants and handkerchiefs…
4. Election –
You’re right – but we still have the pre election electioneering to gripe about. Nowhere near as bad as the American system but still annoying.
5. Not National Lampoon’s Vacation –
Ahh yes. Lovely. Mind you, my brother in law (a Brit) lives in France and once he adds in all his days off he gets about 8 weeks a year!
6. I’m sorry for living – sorry?
7. Money management –
It’s also the reason we have lots of people with individual debt problems. They confuse affordability of a product with affordability of the repayment.
8. Doctor, Doctor! –
Having experienced the NHS in a serious way last year I will never never NEVER hear a bad word spoken about it. Except they are crap at getting information back to you on stuff. Emergency care is AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.
9. Pour me a pint –
Two points here:
a. There are less calories in a pint of Guinness than in a pint of milk.
b. The Ringwood brewery is a place of pilgrimage. Ringwood’s Old Thumper is an epic brew.
10. Taking the Mickey –
Americans don’t get sarcasm either.
Comment by Parkylondon — July 5, 2010 @ 6:53 pm
Hanna, thanks for the compliments! I often think of the Canadians (technically I am one of those as well, as I was born there) as the perfect balance of British and American sensibilities: Canadians are warm and helpful like Americans but laid back and able to laugh at things like the British!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 6, 2010 @ 9:23 pm
Wow, what a thorough response. Cracks me up you know about the Ringwood Brewery. I’ve never been myself!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 6, 2010 @ 9:23 pm
I’d add duvets!
Seriously, getting a good duvet in the US is impossible.
Comment by awindram — July 7, 2010 @ 6:44 pm
Oh I love this list although I read Election as erection…..probably all the talk of Fighting Cock in point number 1!!! Sorry….damn British sense of humour
Comment by Emma — July 7, 2010 @ 9:10 pm
I am positive I left a comment yesterday, but maybe the ketlag is doing me head in.
Anyway, great post. It has inspired my own little copycat post at the moment too.
Comment by Expat Mum — July 7, 2010 @ 11:12 pm
Jetlag (with a “J”) obviously still in full control.
Comment by Expat Mum — July 7, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
Great list! Thanks for sharing!
Comment by If I Could Escape — July 8, 2010 @ 1:36 pm
Very good list. Since living in USA I certainly do miss the free healthcare and varieties of ale to be drunk in a wonderful shady pub garden
Comment by EmmaK — July 10, 2010 @ 1:05 am
Emma, well since I said “blink and you might miss it”, the idea that it actually reads “erection” is hilarious!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:19 am
Thanks Dean! Are you American? British? Any more you’d add?
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:20 am
Homesickness is totally natural! I had about the worse customer service experience here yesterday, so remember that when you start missing the UK too much!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:21 am
Blogitse – it makes the first month financially brutal because you have to wait a full month to get your first paycheck! Another thing that’s interesting is notice period here. You usually give 1-3 months notice if you want to quit/leave a job! Yes, it’s true! Minimum is one month but depends on the contract if it goes longer. Is it that way in Finland?
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:23 am
I’m so pleased you liked it and it made you feel good. Be sure to tweet the next great pub name!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:24 am
It’s so whacky, I love it!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:25 am
MMM – I celebrated it by watching Independence Day of course!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:26 am
Awindram – Interesting point but I might have to disagree with you on this one. Why? Because with duvets come…duvet covers! Those things are maddening! I need to attend a masterclass on how to change them!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:28 am
I always appreciate your comments, Expat Mum. Do tweet me the link when you’ve done your list!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 10, 2010 @ 7:29 am
Duvets? Easy! Just turn the cover inside out, reach inside and grab the two furthest corners. Now take the two corresponding corners of the duvet (it depends on where the slit is) and pull the duvet through the cover. Shake it out and you’re done.
Comment by parkylondon — July 10, 2010 @ 6:51 pm
You lost me at “cover inside out”.
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 11, 2010 @ 7:42 am
Who do you know who irons their jeans!?! Even my Dad, who is a stickler for things being done correctly wouldn’t consider Ironing jeans. Most people of my generation (I’m mid 30′s) only iron our work shirts. Anything else is left to the tumble dryer to sort out.
Comment by Simon — July 12, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
I loved this article! As a Brit living in Britain with relatives all across the world (especially US & Canada), it’s brilliant to get this view of us. Love the pub names – I live not far from The Nobody Inn (haven’t been in yet as no one answers the door!). And agree about the road rage – but at least we do it politely with at least one ‘please’ in between the swear words!!
Comment by DangerousMkting — July 12, 2010 @ 1:49 pm
Ha, I iron my jeans because I’m lazy about laundry and everything gets wrinkled in the dryer when I forget to take them out. In fact, I iron what I wear each day, except underwear.
Comment by smittenbybritain — July 12, 2010 @ 1:53 pm
I do love a nice duvet and the idea of being able to change the look when you buy a new cover. At least that’s the way it used to be.
Comment by smittenbybritain — July 12, 2010 @ 1:54 pm
Great article!!!
Comment by MissusBlack — July 12, 2010 @ 2:48 pm
Loved #8!!! It boggles the mind that this is such a four-letter word to so many Americans!
Comment by MARCELLE — July 12, 2010 @ 10:37 pm
Great post! Very entertaining and informative, too. Geez, makes me want to get over to England so much faster!
Comment by Lis — July 13, 2010 @ 12:47 am
Wow, your friends must be more civilized than mine. Because behind the wheel of the car, mine are positively aggressive! So much it even makes me wince! But if they happen to even tap my leg accidentally during the verbal barrage at the other drive, they do turn to me and apologize for living. I love the Brits.
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 15, 2010 @ 3:15 pm
Marcelle, I know! Amazing how much emotion gets stirred up in America over that. Glad I’m not living in the US right now, not sure I could stay calm among all the high emotions for/against a new health system.
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 15, 2010 @ 3:17 pm
Cricket Val, you haven’t mentioned cricket, that wonderfully idiosyncratic game invented by the English which you Americans will never understand never mind play.
By way of explanation try the following taken from a tea towel design often found in an English kitchen. (Do you do tea towels or is further explanation required?)
‘Cricket, As Explained To A Foreign Visitor’
You have two sides out in the field and one in.
Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
When they are all out the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When both sides have been in and out including the not outs.
That’s the end of the game.
Howzat!
I will be testing you later so make sure you understand this fully!
Great post Val and even as an Englishman I have to agree with most of your observations.
Cheers
Tony
Comment by Tony Hastings — July 15, 2010 @ 8:08 pm
Cheers for the comments Tony, and yes the Brits do cricket better than Americans but frankly who cares? We’re talking about cricket after all.
Still, thanks for the explanation. Maybe if I actually could absorb the rules, I wouldn’t dismiss it so out of hand. Or maybe I would.
Tea towels, I guess I don’t really see the point. I’m a fan of good quality paper towels myself. I buy them by the carloads and use them constantly (so much for reducing my carbon footprint)!
Thanks for the comments and support, I sure appreciate it!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — July 15, 2010 @ 10:00 pm
I enjoyed reading this. I am sat here with a grin and yes, I am giggling to myself because Valerie has so summed up the British.
The saying sorry for everything all but kills me. I was saying to a friend of mine just the other week about how the British would actually say sorry for finding a piece of glass in their salad rather than beat the waiter across the head. I have been working on this for ages now, to try and stop myself from saying sorry when it clearly is not my fault – I am getting there,
.
Road rage – oh my lordy be, yes indeedy. All y’all should see my mother behind the wheel. There just is not enough space on the roads for her and everybody else but she is a great driver and has never had an accident, so she proves the British can drive real well.
Pubs and pints I do not get because I hate both. That is not something I would praise the British for.
The NHS, definitely cannot fault that – okay, I can but then that is just bad staff and not the service. I would hate to ever utter the words, ‘doctor, switch off the machine because the money just ran out’.
Making fun was one I had not considered but then I guess to me it is so normal because I have grown up in that culture that I just never realised they do not do that else where. I guess we do laugh at ourselves quite a lot – well, I know I do, but I cannot help myself because there is so much to laugh at
.
Although, there are plenty of Britons that do take themselves very seriously and are rather stiff about things. You know the type – they have a stick implanted in a rather interesting location that if you added a brush to the end they would be able to mop the floor as they walked. They really get on my nerves. Are the Americans like that? I find that hard to believe because they always look such fun.
I am with the Americans when it comes to cricket. I do not understand the game and I find it so boring. When I was at school I drove my teacher crazy because I refused to play the game. He was a good sport because he pointed out that the fact I am not English meant I would be no good anyways and so he let me go do something else. He was right, I stank at it
.
Oh, and there be nothing wrong with a couple of cocks fighting on a Saturday night – I’m sorry, I could not help myself…hell, I just did it and wrote sorry. Well, I guess I have a bit more work to do on that
.
Great article Valerie!
Hx
Comment by Hadyn Thomas — July 20, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Great article! I agree with you on every point, which never happens. lol
I’m an American who’s lived in England for 5 years.
I have indeed ironed my jeans a few times. hahaha.
Comment by Marge — July 24, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
I recall once being on a boat trip at sunset off of Florida’s east coast, where one American man described to me the time when he was in England when he came to “an odd circle in the middle of the road”, a roundabout, in other words.
It was at this point I realised that roundabouts were not common in America, something I had never realised before.
However, after driving through the area in which Tiger Woods lives, there was, to my suprise, a roundabout!
Comment by Joe — July 28, 2010 @ 6:14 pm
We do have them they are just quite rare. Saying that there are two within 3 miles of my home. Also one or two in the town where I work. There is now a movement under way in one or two states to start building more roundabouts as an effort to “green” our roadways. By the way, we call them “traffic circles.” Caption Obvious strikes again!
Comment by smittenbybritain — July 28, 2010 @ 6:17 pm
Hadyn,
Thanks for the thorough response! You sound to have quite a mixed cultural background like me which makes everything more noticeable, don’t you think? I have American expectations and optimism but the British embarrassment and need to downplay things. So that makes me one twisted sister!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — August 3, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
Marge,
I’m honored (or “honoured”) to have managed something that never happens!
Cheers!
Comment by @whatvalthinks — August 3, 2010 @ 3:13 pm
Roundabouts make eating frozen yogurt while driving much harder. Just sayin’.
Comment by @whatvalthinks — August 3, 2010 @ 3:13 pm
Thanx….glad you appreciate us…but perhaps you are not so keen on our weather???!!!
Comment by Jane Susanna ENNIS — August 10, 2010 @ 8:53 am
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Pingback by The Bereans - Page 22 - Christian Forums — September 7, 2010 @ 9:44 pm
I went to England last November around Thanksgiving. Rented a car. Drove it for 2 hrs looking for Crawley from Gatwick. Parked it in the hotel parking lot and never drove it again.
Comment by JOANNE OWENS — September 16, 2010 @ 11:58 pm
Great list, I do miss a good English pub, we have an Irish bar which fills the gap, would love me a shandy right about now.
Comment by Mik — September 30, 2010 @ 6:51 am
[...] 1. Top Ten Things Brits Do Better than Americans [...]
Pingback by The Best of 2010 | Smitten by Britain — December 27, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
Welcome to quirky UK Valerie.
Here is a few more silly words for you.
An annoying idiot is called a knob-jockey.
A Soldier is a Pongo.
Australian and New Zealanders are sheep shaggers.
Very cold weather is said to be Knobbling. As in “Its absolutely Knobbling outside”.
Very hot weather is Basting.
Attractive girls are fit or filth..Both mean the same !!!
Clothes that you generally hang around the house in all day long
are known as sloppies. ( I love my sloppies).
Mens underpants are known as Durps, Skiddies, or cacks.
But the best thing about being British has to be our insane sense of humour. What other country can say that when two good friends meet for the first time in a long time they greet each other by saying something like. “Tommo, how are you? Long time no see you fat bastard”. “Oh bit of this and a bit of that you curly haired twat”.
Sorry for the naughty words by the way.
You should write a book. It would be a best seller im sure.
Comment by Andrew — January 3, 2011 @ 7:41 pm
I’m a little confused why you think tumble dryers aren’t common place here… they really are!
Comment by TR — January 27, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
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