Very British Problems

[mjmooney]

(Mods please merge if we already have a thread for this; I couldn't find one). 

If you're out walking in the countryside (which Mrs M and I do on a regular basis), and a stranger passes you coming the other way (KW), you obviously have to acknowledge them. But how? A simple nod and smile? A "Hi, lovely day, isn't it?" And who goes first? If they are staring ahead and not making eye contact, do you pointedly speak, thus forcing them to respond? Or do you match them by looking away (which will inevitably result in them catching you out with a "Hi" at the last second, making you the rude one). 

Simple enough out in the country. On a city street, the rules are reversed - even if there are no crowds around, greeting a total stranger would be a total no-no. At best they would think you know them, and they've failed to recognise you - thus causing embarrassing awkwardness. At worst, they think you're a dangerous psycho. 

But what about all the in-between scenarios? The quiet suburb or village? The canal towpath? And if you pass a group of people, do you have to at least nod to every one of them? 

Then there are generational variances. In my experience, us old codgers are far more likely to do this amongst ourselves. The teens and twenties, very rarely. The middle-aged, probably 50/50. And some people, seeing you approaching, will suddenly feel the urge to consult their phones, in an obvious ploy to sidestep the problem. 

Is this just a British thing, or is it universal? 

Edited December 9, 2023 by mjmooney

[tonyh29]

For me it depends on the walk

hiking up Ben Nevis then you’ll  get a nod or a hello , sometimes even a chat and words of encouragement. Something like  one of the North downs walks that we do around Guildford way comes with acknowledgment … but Virginia water lake , it’s a decent enough walk but it’s flat and also over crowded and if you said hello to everyone you met you’d lose your voice , so there I just kinda blank people just like you would on the underground in London .

abroad hiking etc is kinda different , people tend to know you are a tourist and will say hello , welcome , where you from etc ..

I walked the Great Wall of China the other year with my son and we had to sorta chat and have our photos taken with just about everyone Chinese person we met , there must be hundreds of Chinese families that have a picture of the two of us on their mantle piece

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by tonyh29

[mjmooney]

1 minute ago, tonyh29 said:

it’s flat and also over crowded and if you said hello to everyone you met you’d lose your voice , so there I just kinda blank people just like you would on the underground in London .

Yep. There's a critical mass, beyond which the 'city rules' apply. One encounter per hour, you SHOULD speak. One encounter per ten seconds, you should NOT. 

It's the grey areas inbetween where it gets problematic. 

[Genie]

I walk my dog each evening and I feel obliged to nod / smile to the other dog walkers I was walking the other way.

[limpid]

1 minute ago, Genie said:

I walk my dog each evening and I feel obliged to nod / smile to the other dog walkers I was walking the other way.

Your dog has trained you well.

[Xela]

I say "Hello" to everyone, just a little bit too loudly. It puts enough doubt in their mind that I might be a lunatic, and i'm not to be messed with. 

[Anthony]

1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

For me it depends on the walkhiking up Ben Nevis

You lost me at this point. 

[mjmooney]

23 minutes ago, Anthony said:

You lost me at this point. 

Don't panic. Stay where you are and we'll notify the mountain rescue teams. 

[AVFC_Hitz]

I was literally just thinking about this. Every Sunday me and my dad used to walk from Selly Park and up to the Brittanica cricket pitch (near the Scientology bollox) and down back to the cricket ground and up the Pershore road. No one said hello.

Yet, do the walk on Christmas day and everyone turns into Graham Norton on Friday night.

I guess us Brits are a bunch of introverted sods until a few Bailey's.

[Rodders]

It's funny, most of the time I am happy to avoid all forms of social awkward situations but going for walks is one area I'd appreciate and enjoy coming across gregarious folk. But it might just be preferring that to the next uphill clamber. But I think that is falling into the its OK to chat territory already delineated above. 

There's a passive aggressive part of me that just wants to stand directly in the path of feckers who are obstinately refusing to look up from their phones. Why should I always have to move because you're a smartphone addict arsehole?

[Mandy Lifeboats]

"Get orf muy laaaaaand"

[Danwichmann]

15 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

 

I walked the Great Wall of China the other year with my son and we had to sorta chat and have our photos taken with just about everyone Chinese person we met , there must be hundreds of Chinese families that have a picture of the two of us on their mantle piece

 

I did a cycle event in south China earlier this year with a South African friend. Every aid station we stopped at we had to take photos with every single volunteer and local who happened to be around, plus local media interviews, advertising all the sponsers products, it was endless. I guess I was photographed at least 1000 times that day. 

Since then, we have often talked about putting on an exhibition of foreigners. Pay 10 yuan to come see the foreigners in various foreign clothes and take photos. It'd make a fortune away from the big cities 

[MNVillan]

Brown sauce is a huge British problem

[bickster]

1 hour ago, MNVillan said:

Brown sauce is a huge British problem

It’s a Dutch problem

[il_serpente]

19 hours ago, mjmooney said:

(Mods please merge if we already have a thread for this; I couldn't find one). 

If you're out walking in the countryside (which Mrs M and I do on a regular basis), and a stranger passes you coming the other way (KW), you obviously have to acknowledge them. But how? A simple nod and smile? A "Hi, lovely day, isn't it?" And who goes first? If they are staring ahead and not making eye contact, do you pointedly speak, thus forcing them to respond? Or do you match them by looking away (which will inevitably result in them catching you out with a "Hi" at the last second, making you the rude one). 

Simple enough out in the country. On a city street, the rules are reversed - even if there are no crowds around, greeting a total stranger would be a total no-no. At best they would think you know them, and they've failed to recognise you - thus causing embarrassing awkwardness. At worst, they think you're a dangerous psycho. 

But what about all the in-between scenarios? The quiet suburb or village? The canal towpath? And if you pass a group of people, do you have to at least nod to every one of them? 

Then there are generational variances. In my experience, us old codgers are far more likely to do this amongst ourselves. The teens and twenties, very rarely. The middle-aged, probably 50/50. And some people, seeing you approaching, will suddenly feel the urge to consult their phones, in an obvious ploy to sidestep the problem. 

Is this just a British thing, or is it universal? 

Over here we just assume everyone is a dangerous psycho and we shoot them.

[ferguson1]

Queuing. Probably nothing more British than this but the fairest and politest thing to do in my opinion. There is just something very annoying when you witness a queue jumper.

[Rugeley Villa]

I usually fist bump strangers of all ages 

[Mic09]

Putting the dividers between shopping in shops.

You unpack your shopping, no one else is around, and a lady comes to put down her yoghurt at the very end of the conveyer belt. 

There is a good 15 inches between your shopping and the lady's yoghurt, and any human being with an IQ above 45 knows where one lot ends and another starts,  however unless she grabs that little plastic divider she will likely explode. She will stretch all the way above your shopping, just to get the little plastic thing. 

In the above described circumstances, I refuse to pass one over. 

Sure, they are useful when it's packed. But 90% of the time they are not, yet a British person who doesn't put a clear dividing line between two shops will likely go into some sort of a panic attack. 

[villaajax]

1 hour ago, Rugeley Villa said:

I usually fist bump strangers of all ages 

You're not meant to do it in the face though

[Mozzavfc]

2 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

I usually fist strangers of all ages 

Fixed that for you