Why are the British so polite

People overseas say "The British are so polite". We all say our please and thank you's and we all greet each other with a warm smile and a simple hello or alright. But why are the British so polite and are people in different countries rude to one another?

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culture bruv

Its in our makeup, the way we are brought up and in our DNA.

Reply 3

Gundabad(good)

Original post by Beanbag2

Only some British are polite. The rest are aggressive scallays.

Reply 4

Nobody7

loooool this is wrong

Reply 5

username2825764

historically we were polite. however, these days there are LOTS of aggressive and rude yobs

Reply 6

JYNINJA12

non-ccoour ?whats that supposed to mean

Reply 7

Beanbag2

Original post by JYNINJA12

non-ccoour ?whats that supposed to mean

People of non-colour.

Reply 8

username2825764

Original post by Beanbag2

People of non-colour.

we are all coloured though lmfao

Reply 9

Gundabad(good)

Original post by JYNINJA12

non-ccoour ?whats that supposed to mean

White people I guess.

Original post by Beanbag2

People of non-colour.

White people?

Reply 10

Beanbag2

Original post by MalcolmX

we are all coloured though lmfao

White isn't a colour, it's a visible light specific wavelength.

Reply 11

Beanbag2

Original post by Gundabad(good)

White people I guess.

White people?

Yes, white people. I am not trying to offend anyone, but this isn't racist.

Reply 12

Gundabad(good)

Original post by Beanbag2

Yes, white people. I am not trying to offend anyone, but this isn't racist.

Are you white?

Reply 13

Beanbag2

Original post by Gundabad(good)

Are you white?

Fortunately no, I'm black.

Reply 14

Justvisited

Original post by Beanbag2

A good and interesting question. Will come to this in a moment, after brief comments below...

Original post by Gundabad(good)

Only some British are polite. The rest are aggressive scallays.

Original post by Beanbag2

Only the non-colour people are aggressive, everyone else is polite and courteous.

Original post by MalcolmX

historically we were polite. however, these days there are LOTS of aggressive and rude yobs

Unfortunately yes, the whole stiff upper lip and waiting patiently in queues thing is an impression by foreigners that is a relic of a more disciplined time in our history. These days there are plenty of chavs and the like, and yes, plenty of whites among them.

Now to the Q: my judgment is that this remark on us is given mainly by Americans, and possibly by some Europeans.

Re. the Americans, I have a simple broad historical explanations. The Anglo core of the US population are "children of rebellious stock" re. 1776 and all that, and going further back, of the Puritans i.e. religious nonconformists whom James VI/I threatened to "harry [them] out of the land or else do worse". Ergo, the ones that stayed in England were the more lumpen docile submissive types, and if there's any genetic component to personality (which I think there is, strongly) this explains the phenomenon's persistence down the subsequent centuries.

Re. continental Europeans, again I think one can make a distinction. Looking first at those on "our side of the continent" with whom we've had most to do over the centuries, they've had their own internecine conflicts between and among themselves, from which partly our island status has served to shield us. Hence their politics has tended to run to extremes where ours hasn't. This too feeds into the cultural differences. Taking France in particular, we never had their revolution and their subsequent strong tendency to massive strikes, demos etc. As a recent example, while everyone knows about the gilets jaunes, how many in the UK even know about the big protests in France when Hollande threatened to throw "filiation" under a bus? Nothing like that happened here when the Cleggeron conspired to do the same thing at the same time....

And on the further side of the continent, the southern/eastern flanks, we have the whole Ottoman factor and the fabled "Balkanisation" effect constantly pitting neighbouring nations against each other - but I think others will know more about this one.

Reply 15

JYNINJA12

Original post by Beanbag2

People of non-colour.

so ur saying all the white people in england are rude while people of colour living ther=e are polite?
makes no sense the poeple of color only make up 12.9% of the population

Reply 16

Beanbag2

Original post by JYNINJA12

so ur saying all the white people in england are rude while people of colour living ther=e are polite?
makes no sense the poeple of color only make up 12.9% of the population

Well only a few members of the population are polite then. I've nothing against white people, it's just the ones I've met and seen on TV are really rude.

Reply 17

parmezanne

Volunteer Team

Original post by Beanbag2

Fortunately no, I'm black.

being white isn't inherently evil like some kind of disease - we can't help being born white any more than you can't help being born black. don't be so disgusted :frown: