Seeing as the Jubilympics has got us all feeling slightly less depressed than normal about our national identity, and 'catastrophisation' hasn't been needed just yet. Whats the most British thing [b]EVER![/b]
Speaking loudly and slowly to foreigners perhaps?
I've just sat in a steady grey, northern drizzle eating fish and chips. How British is that?!! 😀 Thoroughly enjoyable it was too
Your nominations please.......
Monarchy and associated pageantry - kettle on!
Radio 4
Muffin tops.
bbq in the rain.
Curry
Subjugating other countries and expropriating all their natural resources?
Fish 'n' chips, sat in a seafront shelter out of the rain, looking out to sea.
Drinking in a Beer garden while it's raining and sheltering under a parasol.
Kebab.
I was going to say curry.
CountZero - I was actually sat by a pond on a picnic bench. Close! 😀
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er.. Britain
Queuing.
Or waiting for a bus and then seeing three come along at once.
If the fish and chips was washed down with a mug of tea, I think you've just won your own thread.
A love of jingoism
Drinking in a Beer garden while [b]it's raining[/b] and sheltering under a [b]parasol[/b].
Misplaced optimism. 😀
well the top google result for "as British as" is actually fish & chips.
I'd have to agree but for the fact that I can't get a decent fish and chips round here for love nor money.
so I'm going to say cuppa tea and a bacon sandwich.
Queuing.
Nah, the Canadians are pretty awesome at that too.
Nothing better than getting to a ski lift in BC and not having rude frenchies scraping all over your snowboard/skis trying to barge ahead.
They form an efficient system of occasionally allowing people in front without even thinking, it's awesome 🙂
The only truly British thing in the entire world is Britain. The island itself.
Colonialism
Sorry to mention it but I think you`ll find it's - Apologising.
Pearly Kings
Probably a guardsman in full kit or Tower bridge
The Class System
David Attenborough
Sand flavoured ice cream on a windy beach in a cheap cagoule.
Humour that makes you wonder if you should be laughing or phoning the police to report an offence.
A fight outside a chip shop....
A kind of weary resignation, with endless cups of tea as a coping mechanism.
ton thats a German!
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Stiff upper lips
And marmite.... BEURKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
I once won a monthly photo comp and had to choose the theme for the next month. I chose 'Britishness' and then this was my entry:
[url= http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1025/639049712_b47e2518a6_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/tryingtimes/639049712/ ]It was lovely an hour ago[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/tryingtimes/ ]tryingtimes[/url], on Flickr
I knew I should have built a sandcastle and stuck a flag in it, but it was pissing down!
CountZero - I was actually sat by a pond on a picnic bench. Close!
But no banana 😆
Were you having to fight off marauding feathered rats trying to steal your chips, tho'?
Sadly, bitterness and grudge-bearing.
slainte ❓ rob
That's a cracking shot Alex! Proper 'speaks a thousand words' stuff!
Punk.
Both rubbish and very good at the same time.
Moaning about the rain/lack of rain, that it's hot/cold, binge drinking, fighting, moaning/not moaning at the same time.
All of the above done in a polite way with a simmering undercurrent of aggression 😆
Saying sorry for things beyond our control (i.e. sorry about the weather) and we used to have the best self deprecating humour in the world.
CountZero. No flying rats but I was being eyed up supiciously by a bloody big Heron stood 6' away from me. And there's the ever-present danger of the Canada Geese mugging you 😉
Cheers Binners!
Some fish and chips on a union jack plate with a union jack flag stuck in them, being carried by Bradley Wiggins in his Team GB cycling top (and bowler hat) with a copy of The Times under his arm, on an open-top London bus going past Big Ben, with Land of Hope and Glory playing very loudly, being cheered by pearly kings and queens who are drinking pint mugs of tea and eating chicken tikka masala. Whilst being rained on.
British to the extreeem.
in a couple of weeks time, I (a Scot) will be piloting a narrow boat across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct (in wales) en route to a pub in Shropshire (England) named after [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mytton ]this guy[/url]
Take your pick of Britishness - awesome engineering, pubs, celebrating mentalness
A monocled bulldog wearing a bowler hat, eating fish and chips in a red telephone box on a overcast day.
You forgot "wearing a Union Flag waistcoat"
Another vote for our humor, its sometimes lost on folk from other countries, but we Brits seem to understand it most of the time 😉
Basking in long-past glories.
Closely followed by being bitter that we inevitably can't match such glories any more.
A monocled bulldog wearing in a bowler hat, eating fish and chips in a red telephone box on a overcast day.
Back when I was a student, I think I pulled her once as well.
Sarcasm
Another vote for our humor, its sometimes lost on folk from other countries, but we Brits seem to understand it most of the time
We even understand the American version of it as well.
/irony
Discussing the weather . .
chasing cheese down a steep hill . . .
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Sarcasm
Yeah, right. Sure it is.
Quite like the fish and chips reference but as has probably been said above, that semblance of purism comes from Hungarian Jews. Curry it is then, if only for the overt multicultural pointer. Either way, I think I'm hungry!
Are there Chav's in other countries?
Are there Chav's in other countries?
Chav's what?
Gin & Tonic!
For me, it's simply the place itself. Britain is the most beautiful place in the world. We haven't got big, or high or wide or massive, but we do small, pretty and quaint and better then anyone 🙂
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[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6052/5902581602_3506c55d50.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/5902581602/ ]IMG_1433[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6010/5902434111_9f9c9e1ddb.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/5902434111/ ]IMG_1658[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6060/5902052193_d964db9421.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/5902052193/ ]IMG_1450[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[img][url= http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4139/4821352503_3b63c3724c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4821352503/ ]IMG_6281[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr[/img]
[url= http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4150/4830809387_c70cb9a4b4.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4830809387/ ]2002_0816_125948AA[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5112/5902923610_09f6bb1939.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/5902923610/ ]IMG_1611[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2324/2488581377_35d5abfd08.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/2488581377/ ]I see signs[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2113/2488576321_abc2c0cbd8.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/2488576321/ ]Yellow peril[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4065/4437342834_b8900bd48c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/4437342834/ ]IMG_5617[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
I could carry on for quite a while in this vein! 🙂
The 'get your tits out for the lads' song.
A big daft Geordie crying like a girl?
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PeterP, nice photos. Trying to locate 1450. Are you above Staveley somewhere?
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sorry, ton, but that is definately a german thing.
what about
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or
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or
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Banging in about 1966, and how every time there's a major Wendyball tournament on saying how it's "your year" to win it... 😕
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Giving way to other cars. A Spanish friend couldn't believe it when I let a car through and the other guy waved.
She said you English are the friendliest people in the world. Also if its not your turn at the bar,pointing to the person who is.
Johnny foreigner doesn't do that,especially fritz.
Teetosugars - MemberBanging in about 1966
Yes, very [i]british.[/i]
Militant ignorance
Being from the US and thinking back to when I worked in the UK so long ago and a couple of visits since, I would have to say fish & chips---haven't had them anywhere else in the world that even comes close--the ones I have tried here in the US are generally terrible.
Agree with the British sense of humor as well--having lived there for 6 months made me both understand it and appreciate it more.
Cricket.
Wimbledon.
Wierding out british tennis players so they get so far and then unexpectedly lose at Wimbledon.
Sandwich pickle.
Audax
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Wiggo?
Self-depreciation.
Pedantry.
Not making a fuss.
Chip butties. Never mind 'fish and chips,' does anywhere else in the world make chip butties?
Curry.
Weather that really just isn't trying hard enough.
An obsession with that.
Ale.
Subtle humour.
Surreal humour.
Sarcasm.
Red pillarboxes & phoneboxes, black taxi cabs.
Using abuse as a term of endearment.
Being able to pinpoint where someone's from to about 20 miles just from their accent.
The best cyclists in the world (-:
Blind optimism when thinking that our ( insert sport here ) team are the best in the world and have a devine right to win the next world tournament .
Excellent list, Cougar.
Using abuse as a term of endearment.
This is particularly true, numbnuts. 😉
‘Hello, how are you?’
‘Oh, mustn't grumble’ 😀
I laughed TooTall. 😆
Mind you, I sometimes just laugh anyway. 😐
I find we are generally known abroad for being fair, lazy, and forever discussing the weather.
But for me, being British is all those quaint things, ploughmans lunch and a warm ale, G&T before dinner, cricket on the village green, the sports car, amateur motorsports...
Edit PS: montylikesbeer my mum knitted me some clangers I loved them so much as a kid!