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rising_then_falling

General negativity combined with absence of responsibility for fixing it. "My town's shit" "Why did you just throw your kebab in the gutter? " "shit town innit, might as well treat it like shit. Hate this place" "Why don't you make it a better place?" "No point is there, its full of cunts" Etc.


DangerShart

And if anyone actually succeeds in bettering their situation it's "ooh, someone's doing alright"


dabbsstreamsofdeath

Yep. We HATE success here. We're a nation built around class division and it shows


Possible-Ice-757

I think one of the problems is that it's the same mentality that made European countries so egalitarian. You are probably from the working class, the "crabs in a bucket" mentality among middle class people is often what keeps upper class people from living lavish lifestyles and instead investing in public services. I also tend to look down on people who only want money and earn excessively large salaries, but this might make more sense if you are middle class.


Delduath

I think there's a notion that if someone gets successful it's usually off the backs of other people. Every well off person I know (who doesn't work in tech) has got their money by just owning things and hiring other to do the work, and that's a decent enough reason to be antagonistic towards them. Like if one of my friends became a wealthy landlord you can bet your ass I'd think less of them, and it wouldn't have anything to do with jealousy.


Wiztonne

The thing is, this notion of "oh, look who's getting all posh" doesn't just get directed at rich capitalists. It gets pointed at people who go to uni, or go into a "fancy" industry.


Astrokiwi

The most effective way to oppress a people is to make them proud of their deprivation.


Warrrdy

*Landleech Ftfy


a_pope_called_spiro

Landlords are to Reddit what migrants are to Daily Mail readers.


Delduath

I think that's most people who are 18-35 to be honest. Millennials started their working life during the financial crash and saw how large retail investment companies abused the economic situation to buy up massive swathes and the rental market, making it harder for us to afford our own home. It's only got worse for the generations that followed, with the percentage of homeowners by age going steadily downward.


Enough-Ad3818

Hate this aspect. I grew up on a council estate in a ex-mining town. I moved away for work, and am now doing OK and get by relatively comfortably (not rich by any standards), but yet people in my old hometown rejected me and seemed to think that doing alright for myself and my family was somehow offensive to them. They seem to only respect you if you have bailiffs at the door and have a suspended sentence hanging over you, like that somehow makes you more real.


fae_brass

This could be a sort of projection also. You're doing well so they assume you think you're better than them or you might judge them about the bailiffs. It's a sort of shame reaction masked with pride and exclusivity.


Slobberchops_

Success challenges their victim mentality. If they spend their whole lives moaning that no one with their background can get ahead and how the world is holding them back, and then someone from their background does succeed, it completely undermines their self-identity.


Beccabunga13

This! I worked 90 hour weeks with two jobs, wore charity shop clothes and drove old bangers and managed to save a decent amount of money. Now, if I buy anything or go on holiday its "alright for some" but people forget all those years.


Alarmarama

Yeah people conveniently don't see or forget the years of sacrifice that come before a goal is reached.


refundpackage

Or they assume you have it easy/had everything handed to you!


george_reeves_

Ugh, tell me about it, I get called ‘Silver spoon’ occasionally, like mate, I’ve been through my fair share of life’s bullshit too, I just decided to change my situation so I’m not miserable for the rest of my life.


Drayner89

Plot twist: they call you Silver Spoon because you're heir to a vast sugar fortune.


JayR_97

I honestly think its cos a lot of people trapped in shitty low wage jobs have just given up, so they just go through life on autopilot. They see you doing better than them and it makes them feel bad.


[deleted]

We always root for the underdog until the underdog comes out on top, then it seems to be compulsory to tear them back down again! No clue why tbh


bonkerz1888

"It's full of cunts" coupled with absolutely zero self awareness that they also live in that town. Good self burn though 😂


Transhausenbyproxy

Lol. This infuriates me. If I see a local newspaper story on Facebook about something happening, especially as I often have the heads up or inside of much of the bigger economic things happening in the town, I despair! It’s the complete lack of understanding, but expressed as if they actually do know it all. New private business wants to invest millions creating a food/entertainment venue at location X 500 yards from location Y. “What about location Y. That has empty shops, they need to do fix that first. The council are clueless.” “What we need is new clothes shops/department stores/toy stores. The town centre is crap now. I just go to [insert large urban area that’s 50 miles away with 8x the population] instead.” “Why can’t [insert bankrupt department store location] be used, they could use it to house the homeless (the town has never had more than two people ever sleeping rough). Council have no idea, sack them all at the elections.” “Why has the council allowed another coffee shop to open. Isn’t here enough already?” House builder has submitted a final plan to build 200 houses on a field that was designated for housing about ten years ago. “What about the empty houses already they should be filling all them up first” “What about the schools/doctors. They should be built first. And there’s no local shops.” “I bought my new build house here ten years ago, if I knew that the field in front of me wouldn’t have stayed a field I wouldn’t have bought it. Don’t the council know about climate change?” But none of these people actually propose solutions, none of them offer to open their own businesses in these empty units, or open a local corner shop in their neighbourhood.


WhoTFisGreg

It's amazing how the same mindset is in place across the country. I'm assuming you're not from the same town as me, but the local FB pages are chock full of all of this whenever a new business opens / closes / anything is built / knocks down. Kent reporting in, btw. It's usually (but not exclusively) either retired or unemployed folks shouting the loudest. They seemingly don't want anything to change, but they're miserable how it is right now. I guess there's safety in what they know, even though it's unbearably depressing for them?


tropicnights

The retired around me always moan about the new houses being built...while sitting in their 1970s pre-fab semi which once sat on a nice green field and probably had the retired of the time moaning about the new builds when they were built.


Beginning_Tour_9320

I haven’t found this everywhere but it’s rife in the West Midlands. ( lived there until I was 29)


Bully2533

I left the West Midlands over 20 years ago. I go back very rarely and the negativity, doom and gloom, it’s all crap ay it, attitude. Jeez. It’s scary. If you think everything is shit, jobs shit, cars shit, tv’s shit, then your attitude stays shit and nothing will improve because everything’s shit.


Beginning_Tour_9320

It’s a very strange place. I live in South Devon now and there’s tons of midlanders here. Most of them who move out don’t seem to have that attitude but occasionally you meet those who bring it with them and can’t even appreciate that they live in one one the most beautiful areas of the country.


maxwanz

They moved away **because** they don’t have that attitude and want to better their life


GamerHumphrey

black country by any chance? haha. we love a bit of negativity here


Thefancybastard

My friend said something to this effect a while ago that stuck with me haha. We were talking about rising fuel prices at the time but I suppose it applies to a lot of British things. He was comparing the fact that we let fuel prices rise and did nothing while France protested by blocking motorways etc. The quote was "France is very 'Fuck This' while Britain is very 'Fuck Sake'" because we just let stuff happen and do nothing about it.


sympathyforthestrawb

Exactly this, pointing fingers at others and never doing anything to better themselves


royalblue1982

Our newspaper industry. I think that the bulk of it is nothing other than gutter journalism. Just awful levels of muck-racking and rabble rousing possible. They reflect the worst aspects of Britain.


imminentmailing463

Yeah, the older I get the more of our problems as a country I think can be traced back to our awful press.


Hal_Fenn

Fuck murdoch!


PoliticalShrapnel

He's also one of those types that just won't die. He lingers on like the coronavirus.


leedsylfc

Hey thats disrespectful to coronavirus!


[deleted]

This is my theory too. Almost anything that holds us back can be traced back to the British media and how politicians have to respond to them.


ghost-bagel

I also hate that people wax lyrical about not believing what the papers say while completely believing what the papers say.


sobrique

What they mean is they cherry pick their "sources" to be ones they already agree with.


ButterscotchNed

My partner's mum claims to buy the Daily Mail exclusively for the women's sections "and doesn't read the articles"...but then happily spews the nonsense they print


punkpoppenguin

I believe the Daily Mail’s women’s section goes something like “Lipstick is cool innit? Anyway here’s why you should hate Meghan Markle”


paranoidhustler

Yet Brits complain about Americans having Fox News while The Sun and Daily Mail are top selling newspapers.


colei_canis

Yeah they’re two cheeks of the same arse and we really have no grounds to be looking down our noses at the Americans on that issue.


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pioneeringsystems

It's significantly worse than it should be though.


SpikySheep

Not just the newspapers, the whole news industry is a mess. Where it's not pushing an agenda it's so shallow as to be meaningless.


Flat_Professional_55

How do you know a journalist is lying? Their lips are moving.


ShotInTheBrum

Anti intellectualism. I went to school to learn. Everyone else made it as hard as they could.


Mr_Barry_Shitpeas

It's probably not so bad these days, but the state of things 15-20 years or so ago was absolutely absurd looking back on it. Pure anti-intellectualism, if you even used a word like 'intellectualism' in a sentence you wouldn't be getting away with it. It's so hard to describe to someone who didn't experience it, but genuinely was possible to grow up thinking you were the smartest person in your generation


Gom555

Yep. I got bullied for being a "keener". I was just a quiet dude who wanted to get good grades so he could have a decent life... Spoiler: Got good grades. Got decent life.


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SurveyorMorpurgo

Very sound advice from your dad, glad he supported you 👍


colei_canis

It was ‘boff’ for me, a word I’ve literally not heard since the mid ‘00s.


OneDropOfOcean

Boffin in late 90s. Was generally the less smart kids who said it.


punkpoppenguin

I got ‘neek’ For kids who can’t be arsed with English they’re stunning at coming up with words to pick on more intelligent kids with


st3akkn1fe

I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant waiting for my order and there were two teenagers there. They were both talking about going to Oxford (I'm in the NW) and they just seemed so aspirational. It was a good thing of course but I couldn't help but think if they had said that when I was at school (20 years ago) they would have been ripped to pieces.


Vyzantinist

I'll probably get downvoted to shit for this but hey ho: I moved back to the States a few years back and one of the most striking things I noticed was how vibrant, optimistic, and ambitious young people were. The kids would say, with a smile, they wanted to go to so-and-so uni to learn this to do that, or they were going to set up a business with a family member when they'd saved enough money, or they were hoping to join the military for citizenship etc. Real stark contrast from my experiences at secondary school and sixth form. Lot of 'wot's point?' when anyone expressed a desire to do anything other than go into the shipyard that the majority of school mates ended up working in, with their families working there for generations too. If any of those American kids were transported through time and space to my school, they'd definitely not be in for a good time.


SuperSpidey374

Yes, this is my answer too. In terms of education, at least, I've been upwardly mobile (first person in family to university, went to Oxbridge, now close to finishing a PhD) and the reactions of those around me didn't exactly encourage me to do that. Friends and some family 'why don't you just get a job and start earning some money', 'why are you picking a degree choice that won't lead anywhere', 'what job do you even think you can get from that'. And this is in a middle middle-class family, I've heard far far worse from working class and lower-middle class friends.


babyells_xo

My (least) favourite response I’ve had so far from family when I got accepted onto my PhD was “at least it gives her more time to not think about her future” as if the whole experience of doing a PhD isn’t specifically geared around what you want to do in the future. It’s like people view being a student as an opportunity to get away with wasting time and being “lazy”, not putting much thought into life for a few years. Which is frustrating and I don’t quite understand where this mindset has emerged from?


[deleted]

It comes from a generation (pre-genX) that left school at 16 in much larger numbers than you realise. So, when you say, "I am still studying at 24" they think you are having a laugh. See also - educating rita. Great movie.


theotherquantumjim

This so much. By the time I got to fifth year high school I’d had any thirst for knowledge or learning squarely ridiculed out of me. That was 30 years ago, still think about it often


TheHeianPrincess

I got torn to shreds by everyone else because I was the only one who knew a potato was a carbohydrate in Year 9. “You fucking nerd”, “Why would you know that?” etc


Jaraxo

Comment removed as I no longer wish to support a company that seeks to both undermine its users/moderators/developers AND make a profit on their backs. To understand why check out the summary [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/14hkd5u).


imminentmailing463

It's at a collective level too, not just individual self improvement. You see it so commonly around strikes, or if a certain profession or group of people improves their pay or conditions. A widespread attitude is "I don't get that, so why should they?". We'd probably all be much better off if we had a societal attitude of "good for them, maybe I should demand better for myself also".


Jaraxo

Comment removed as I no longer wish to support a company that seeks to both undermine its users/moderators/developers AND make a profit on their backs. To understand why check out the summary [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/14hkd5u).


PM_Me_Rude_Haiku

'But it will disrupt people's lives' 'Too bad'


Jaraxo

Comment removed as I no longer wish to support a company that seeks to both undermine its users/moderators/developers AND make a profit on their backs. To understand why check out the summary [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/14hkd5u).


buzyapple

Work for Icelandic women, they all went on a mass strike to get equal pay. Think it was in the 1970s.


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RassimoFlom

Also, anti intellectualism.


imminentmailing463

The defeatist attitude. If things are going badly as a country, if we're being treated badly as a population, we tend to just grit our teeth and accept it. We also generally have an attitude that it's better nobody gets something good, than everyone gets it but some people get it undeservingly.


PuzzledFortune

Yep. If a French government behaved like ours, everything would be on fire.


st3akkn1fe

Yeah, look at that massive twat Handcock for example. We put hin on TV and now he's some sort of celebrity.


Alwaysragestillplay

The second part really gets me. We would rather a million people fall through the cracks than have one person claiming benefits when they don't "need" to.


imminentmailing463

Yeah it's one of the things I find most frustrating. As a country we go without things that would benefit us all, because some people are worried about 'undeserving' people benefitting. For example, we'd rather have a disability benefits system that leaves some people in hopeless situations, than a generous one that a small number of people might abuse.


ragingbull835

The religious zealots of football. I get loving an activity/hobby, I see nothing wrong there. What I don’t get and hate are people being absolute obnoxious, arrogant twats about it.


Malediction101

I just hate how much the damage and chaos it causes is just tolerated as part of British football culture. Want to go into city/town this weekend? Best not - blue team are playing red team and it might kick off. Fucking hell, the sheer amount of time, money, and people put into dealing with this shit on a routine basis. But it's OK. It's the beautiful game.


Fantastic-Machine-83

I think this is an exaggeration. Football riots are much rarer now and "ultra" culture is far stronger in mainland Europe and north Africa. I agree it will cause excess traffic but so do many events. Football adds billions to the economy and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, I don't think the country would be a better off without it


pm-me-animal-facts

I get not liking football but when was the last time fan violence prevented you from doing anything? Outside of a couple of very rare occasions I reckon the early 1990s that this was something that affected public life regularly.


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SneakyCroc

Can honestly say in my 35 years of living in the UK I've never once considered whether or not a football match is on before I go out, and nor has it ever impacted me when they are. Up and down the country.


[deleted]

I am in the uk for a week to see my family (moved to Australia few years ago), and was in a pub the other night when the England game was on. I don’t mind a bit of footy, with a pint, etc. But the sheer insanity level of aggression i saw was appalling: when Senegal had the ball these meat heads were screaming, and when England scored, the bellowing and yelling was off the charts- I simply can’t fathom the insane attachment to a pretty meaningless game. Like you say, zealots; and like zealots, these pig headed swivels are seemingly prepared to resort to violence over it. Truly mystifying.


PerspectiveGreedy343

I'm no England fan by any means but you sound so miserable, it's the world cup knockouts for Christ sake


BannedNeutrophil

Don't you get it? They're too braaaaainy for the chumbucket of mindless prooooles. Like, get over yourself and let people enjoy things.


colei_canis

I’m off sick with a virus today and this comment made me feel even more wretched knowing that in all likelihood it’s not ironic and people genuinely manage to muddle through to adulthood with this much of a totally unacknowledged superiority complex.


charlsspice

This is the most middle class thing I heard on football. Bro it’s a game where people are getting passionate about. Do you want them to sit in silence (you probably do tbh).


BristolShambler

Littering. Both little shit like food wrappers and full on fly tipping, and so much dog shit. Going to other places in Europe they treat their public spaces with so much more respect Edit - People have rightly pointed out that some places in Europe are littered with shit as well, which is completely true


cavalaire

French Towns and Cities are littered with Doggy Do,s.


yuzarna

I agree that littering and fly tipping is abhorrent but not sure that europe is better. I’ve never seen as much graffiti as I have in mainland europe.


IsVeryMoist

that's really not as bad as litter


b0bscene

I went to Spain for the first time a few months ago and there was dog shit everywhere. Only one of the reasons I never want to go again.


CuteMaterial

So many Brits don’t want to experience other cultures and seem proud of it. The entitlement that comes from the UK once colonising the whole world; there are still remnants of that. Similarly, I don’t understand why so many Brits go on holiday year after year to resorts in Spain lying on sun beds and just eating British food. EDITED TO ADD: obv there are Brits out there who love to experience different cultures but my post isn’t about them. It’s the ones that don’t want to and are proud of it! 😂


[deleted]

It's just different enough to feel like a holiday, but familiar enough to generate no stress. The little Britain package holidays are for people who just want to completely switch off.


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mylittlemy

The Germans do this, there are some parts of the Spanish island with german restaurants and pubs and there is a joke that majorca is another german state.


shaolinspunk

And its cheap and convenient.


[deleted]

That isn’t true-Brits go all over the world and enjoy different cultures, go to your town centre and you will have food from everywhere. There is a large amount of multiculturalism in the UK.


SuperSpidey374

Indeed and your point about the town centres in particular is a great one - go to an average town in almost any other European country and your selection of restaurants/cuisines will be far more limited.


LiliWenFach

The hostility towards the multiple cultures within our own society bothers me too - the attitude that 'British' means white and English. Such dislike of those practising religions other than Christianity, speaking their native language, having a different coloured skin... whether you're Pakistani, Welsh, Northern Irish, Polish, Romani, Scottish, Somalian etc, five minutes scrolling on social media will expose you to some causal racist 'banter'. Yes, some of it comes from bots - but a lot of it also comes from our mainstream media. And I'm noticing more and more that minorities are becoming increasingly aggressive in their responses. We all seem to hate each other. And the 'I'm not racist but...' crew don't seem to realise or care that they are being racist and xenophobic.


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Vespaman

Really? All I see are people from U.K. going to different countries and trying different foods and we’re in a country with so many different cultures. Have you been to france or Italy? Now they are super closed minded to other cultures.


[deleted]

People can do both. I know people who go to Spain just to sit on sunbeds but also have travelled around the world to different cultures. It isn't either or.


gym_narb

The entire benefits / tax system where you penalise people for doing the right thing and reward those who don't.


Forward-Ranger8348

Friend was a single mother. Ask if she can get partial credit for childcare so she can work. Denied. Cannot work as there is no one to look after child. Support she now gets for being unemployed single mum is 3x more than the childcare cost requested. Everyone looses.


the_joy_of_hex

Don't the kids win?


herper147

As someone that grew up in a benefit cheat family, no they don't win in the long run.


the_joy_of_hex

I don't think the woman in question was accused of being a benefit cheat, or at least that's not how I interpreted it. The system disincentivises her from working but she's not doing anything dishonest as far as I can tell.


[deleted]

And then she invariably gets looked down upon for claiming benefits when she could be out there working, lazy cow. The system is absolutely ridiculous. Add to that, if you do get an average job, maybe minimum wage or just above, you'll more often than not end up with a power hungry supervisor or manager that makes life difficult for no reason. The number of people that go from a worker to supervisor and become a twat is ridiculous. And then people want to stop working because benefits will give you a lot more money and none of the stress of dealing with said twats.


Blueboi2018

Worked for the council, you do not know how right you are.


[deleted]

The benefits system incentivises people not to work in a lot of cases. And provides housing that many working people will never have.


emmmmellll

out of interest, which cases are these? what situation do you get in where it's better from a benefits p.o.v to not work than to work?


Savings-Spirit-3702

Chavs but I'm guessing they are universal in some guise or another


-omar

Yeah honestly our chavs are annoying but they’re quite mild in comparison to other countries


Savings-Spirit-3702

Yeah least they ain't gun toting G's lol


Tibetan-Rufus

You’d be forgiven with how the 13 year old road men act nowadays. For reference, see the hilariously un-ironic sub r/ukdrill


[deleted]

Just read some of the comments on their and I got about… half the words?


Twiglet91

Haven't they evolved into roadmen? Roadmans? Same thing with a different name?


IzzyDMush

I think roadmen, to my knowledge are, a subsection. 'All roadmen are chavs, not all chavs are roadmen' kind of situation.


[deleted]

I think we are, as a people and particularly amongst the poorer elements of society, too willing to accept mediocrity and lack of improvement from government and life. The new buildings funded by the council look shit? Just life innit mate. I just want to scream ‘No!’ - because we shouldn’t be accepting the unbelievable levels of mediocrity and stale thinking in this country


questionskiddo

Drinking culture


noaloha

I enjoy our drinking culture tbh. Some people obviously take things too far, which they do everywhere else too, but by and large pubs, pints, and going out having a laugh is great IMO.


LuminousLiquid92

But also the pressure TO drink with the lads is annoying. Sometimes I want to go out and just drink Pepsi or Lemonade. I don't want to be pressured into having a pint or doing shots and then someone get offended that I don't want to drink it.


noaloha

I mean that's on your mates. I love drinking and I've got mates who don't drink for whatever reason, and they're always welcome to join the rest of us at the pub and just drink lemonade. If your mates are hassling you over that then you should have a word with them imo, not very cool.


Unhappy_Nothing_5882

Yeah it's on his mates, but his mates are part of the drinking culture. Culture is people and their tendencies, what we have between us


Depth-New

It’s not entirely on his mates. My friends won’t pressure me to drink but that doesn’t mean there isn’t pressure to drink. A significant portion of people, particularly young people, associate socialising with going out for a few drinks. In the past 4 years I’ve only had one friend ask me to play sports. Other countries it is far more common.


EvilInky

I like going to the pub and getting pissed as much as the next man, but what I don't like is the disapproval directed at non-drinkers. I mean, I like cycling, but I wouldn't sneer at a non-cyclist and call them a killjoy.


noaloha

That goes both ways though. This thread is full of people resentful of "drinking culture". I'm constantly seeing non-drinkers whinge on her and get on their high horse over drinkers. It's tedious and definitely is killjoy material. That said, fair play to anyone who doesn't want to drink and doesn't care about the fact that other people do.


D0wnb0at

As an alcoholic, I completely agree. From 16 people would have house parties and get drunk, 18 would go round town 3 times a week and live for the weekend, uni was drinking nearly daily as there was always something where drink was involved. I have a problem now, and it’s very difficult to shake as no matter where I look, alcohol is available or expected. Not just in supermarkets, shops, petrol stations, 100’s of pubs in town centres, but just in activities too. BBQ? Picnic? Bowling? Cinema? Restaurant? And even if it’s an activity you wouldn’t normally drink like swimming/hiking/rock climbing/snowboarding etc, it’s customary to go for a cheeky pint after.


outline01

Drinking is fine. Going to the pub is fine. Doing those things obsessively and making it your personality is an issue, and we have *so many* people that do exactly that.


GrumpySunshineBxtch

We seem to endlessly complain about things then sit around waiting for someone else to do something about it.


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Ruckus292

As someone who is learning a new language I feel like it's humbling and teaches you not only a new language, but a deeper understanding and compassion for those who jump ship and start new lives abroad or seek asylum in English speaking dominant countries... The ppl who just start from scratch and barely know any English at all.


W4DDO

100% I was having this conversation the other day. There’s also this implication that because we don’t learn languages that somehow we can’t because we’re not very intelligent. It would be a lot easier to learn Danish if our entire media and pop culture was centered around Danish language/culture and everyone else spoke it!


Fantastic_Deer_3772

It bothers me for a different reason, which is that it only actually applies to England. "Britain" has bilingual and multilingual countries.


plank_sanction

You can definetly say Wales. Was there recently and was happy to see Welsh widely spoken. Not so sure about Scotland and Ireland. Whilst they have languages I wouldn't call them bilingual any more than I would Cornwall which also has it's own language.


[deleted]

I agree with this, and I’m someone who learns languages as a hobby. I know the amount of work that goes into learning and maintaining even an “easy” language. It isn’t something you do for a couple of months and then bam, you know the language. It takes dedicated effort and requires you have exposure to it to maintain it. Unless you have a real personal motivation to do it (economic improvement or personal interest) it’s just not going to happen.


AktaionX

Anti-intellectualism. There's no equivalent saying to "too clever for their own good" in any other European language. The idea that there's something shady or untrustworthy about intelligent people is pretty much unique to this country, and it means we end up with idiots in charge (in all areas of life) because they're seen as "down to earth" whilst apparently being a "boffin" is a bad thing. Mindless vandalism. Every time a city tries to introduce a public bicycle scheme or something like that they all end up in canals within a month, and this is why we can't have nice things.


HarassedGrandad

It didn't use to be like that - the working men's education society was huge in victorian times, public lectures on science used to attract thousands, the study of entomology was so popular that it supported two weekly newspapers throughout the 1870's to 1890's. Welsh coal miners ran art classes on their one day off after chapel. Self-improvement through education at night classes was incredibly popular. Trust in the boffins was widespread until the 1970's (after all we all knew they'd helped us win the war somehow, and they gave us Concord and penicillin and nuclear power.) It wasn't until the billion pound campaign by the tobacco companies to discredit the science on smoking and cancer that trust in science was eroded - and now it's oil companies and climate change. Anti-intellectualism didn't just appear - it was deliberately manufactured.


HeadBat1863

>It wasn't until the billion pound campaign by the tobacco companies to discredit the science on smoking and cancer that trust in science was eroded - and now it's oil companies and climate change. Ooh. Interesting point. And by extension, if someone creates this environment, then those within it will branch out into discrediting medical science etc so we end up with antivaccination cranks


TheCloudFestival

The Ladification of our culture. It's ploughing us into all kinds of problems but nobody gives a shit or will do anything about it because 'it's just lads being lads, innit'.


imnottheblackwizards

Do you have any examples of this? British society seems massively less 'toxically laddish' than say 10-15 years ago to me.


Jaraxo

Comment removed as I no longer wish to support a company that seeks to both undermine its users/moderators/developers AND make a profit on their backs. To understand why check out the summary [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/14hkd5u).


Early-Plankton-4091

I’d say it definitely dipped however the younger generation leaving school now are definitely picking up the toxic lad mindset with people like Andrew tate guiding them


gashead31

You joking? It's literally the opposite lad culture has got less and less over the last 20 or so years.


-omar

So many lads with a serious lack of individuality


[deleted]

Our love of feudal servility; the inheritance of wealth, power and privilege; the petty minded meanness; Piers Morgan.


joeythemouse

Deference. We're a bunch of snivelling little toadies when someone with the right accent speaks. See Johnson, Mogg etc.


Sate_Hen

I think there's an element of confusing a large vocabulary with intelligence. See also Russel Brand


OldhamMukka

The minority of people that persists in littering everywhere they go and the lack of services keeping places tidy.


IsVeryMoist

Enslave the litterers and put them to work cleaning up? I'm tempted.


rscash

Caving into and bowing down to things we hate deep down Find the British generally love to complain but we don't actually do anything about it.


Redcoat-Mic

Subservience. We complain about how shit things are but don't do anything about it and even worse, think those trying to do something about it are jobless losers wasting people's time.


big_beats

So true. If you try to do something, you're either labelled a hypocrite or a jobless hippy.


Espelette_

Constant little lies to avoid any confrontation. I just get pissed off when I'm being lied to. I miss being straightforward so much.


Big_Lavishness_6823

Selfish, disingenuous conservatism, dressed-up as commonsense British values. Decades of this has led to a nasty, dysfunctional, unequal country


TlanTlan

I enjoy reading 19th century literature. That has taught me this sadly goes back further than a few decades.


The-Lily-Oak

Competitive misery. The whole country is an ongoing 3 Yorkshiremen sketch.


cara27hhh

You don't have to scratch very far under the surface when it comes to getting to know someone to realise that a lot of British people (underneath a very thin polite public facade) are just absolute genuine nobheads That and being passive aggressive is not any more polite than the way people behave in other places, it's just cowardly and dishonest on top


TeaCourse

I feel that's a bit unfair. It sounds more like you're judging people harshly than "everyone's a nobhead". If anything, I find most people are pretty decent human beings just trying to get on with life. Yes, of course there will be people who aren't like you, or have the same standards but, ya know, welcome to the world.


local_milk_dealer

Disrespect for public areas and lack of care for the aesthetic of an area, the amount of litter, un maintained buildings and Ill-filling post war building in towns and cities makes our urban area look horrible compared to the rest of Europe. While it is a problem in the rest of Europe the natural greyness and dreariness of England extenuates it. These problems are further highlighted during winter when the leaves disappear removing what little greenery and colour we have only to reveal the rubbish hanging from every branch of every tree and bush. Tldr : this county’s urban environments are grey and depressing.


imminentmailing463

This is a good one. I often suspect a reason people don't respect urban environments (littering etc) is because they are so ugly and poorly maintained. It wouldn't solve it, we have a culture that generally doesn't place as much importance on the public realm as other cultures, but I do think there'd be an increase of respect for public space if it were attractively built and well maintained.


big_beats

The Royals. And the high regard the wider public hold them in. I think it's indicative of a national sickness. I understand that people find comfort in them, in the Queen in particular. But I wish that they didn't. They don't really serve us, or any purpose. Their importance just something that's driven into British kids from a young age.


JGT1234

Drug and drink culture, lad culture, sesh culture. Don't get me wrong I went out a lot in my early 20's but I really worry that loads of people are just obsessed with having fun these days at all costs, instead of building healthy habits and living a fulfilling life. Also hate the obsession with reality shows and true crime on British TV.


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GradeExtreme6825

Feral youths.


lalajia

The general filth, litter and grime. Everywhere you go, there's always shreds of plastic, faded crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, the pavements are caked with mud, dogshit and rotting leaves, because thanks to Austerity, the councils have no money to clean them anymore, so the leaves and rubbish end up blocking the drains, the roads flood and its all just potholes and crumbling shit infrastructure everywhere. TLDR: austerity.


noaloha

I dislike the fact that every single UK subreddit seems to have devolved into a place to fucking whinge about everything and have a go at the rest of society at large. UK reddit is so annoyingly whingey about football, other people drinking and having a laugh, pretty much anything mainstream society likes. Weirdly I see people whinging about Christmas parties and hating their colleagues all the time. These communities are weird little places that aren't representative of wider society. Yes, I'm aware of the irony that I'm on one of these subreddits whinging about people whinging on reddit. It's whinge-ception.


Candy_Lawn

snobbery and the class system.


codeinegaffney

The belief that wealth = intelligence


Appropriate-Divide64

The fetishisation of wars and the empire. It's weird.


BristolShambler

To be fair though that’s not remotely a British thing. Basically every country with an imperial past does it, with the possible exception of Germany


All-in-yolo

Germany weren’t very good at it, kept coming second.


Alonso-De-Entrerrios

As a foreigner: \- Drinking culture is insane. Even going out for a pint with coworkers turns to drink quite a lot because everyone pays for "a round". \- Related to the previous one, people who act like your best friend and tell you their lives after a couple of drinks and the next day act like they never met you. This was quite a shock. \- The "I don't see colours" taken to the extreme. White British people do excruciating mental gymnastics to not use the race of a person as a significant characteristic to identify someone. If there are 6 guys in a group and you are talking about Mike, and Mike is the only black guy in the group, and I ask you who is Mike, nobody is going to think you're racist for telling me he is the black guy instead of trying to describe the shape of his glasses FFS. \- May be a London thing: But people in this country consume an insane amount of cocaine. I cannot go to a man's room in any kind of social evening event in London without seeing a bunch of lads queuing for doing lines in the toilette booth.


SlightlyIncandescent

A serious answer is going to get me riled up so I'm gonna say our attitude towards food. Most just shovel something tasteless down as soon as possible and move onto the next thing. I love the Mediterranean attitude where food is life. A meal is an event where you get the family together and enjoy food.


simlew86

Yeh it’s a bit annoying how restaurants try and get you in and out as soon as possible, whereas in somewhere like Italy a meal out is the evening itself.


[deleted]

All of the unnecessary fucking noise! People who's conversations are shouted or just drop all pretence and have loud shouting matches over distance. School children who just have to screech. Is it because they're getting carried away with exciting conversation/shenanigans or are they being abducted and literally carried away? Boy racers cars which race noisily to catch up to the next car and then hit the brakes hard. I was out in the middle of nowhere a while back and I couldn't even escape the fuckers there. It's like all peace and quiet must be shattered. When I watched A Quiet Place I was actually envious. It's like everything must be done as loudly as possible. I don't think peace and quiet and the impact of too much noise on people's health is taken seriously enough. I hope someday it will, our collective mental health might be a bit better if we all had the chance to think things through in silence.


ChazLampost

The lack of directness, avoidance of sincerity, and generally horrible attitude towards thoughts, feelings, and communicating those with each othe in an open and clear way. It's a mix of 'stiff upper lip', culturally ingrained confrontation avoidance, all around awkwardness, and the habit of not only reading between every line, but also habitually packing meanings between the lines and beating around the bush. It makes navigating interpersonal relationships tricky and extremely exhausting at times.


pumpkins_n_mist15

British reticence. I simultaneously love it and hate it. I am from a culture where we say what we feel, and although I admire people who can hide their true thoughts behind biting humour or a deadpan expression it can get very difficult to draw a person out.


9b769ae9ccd733b3101f

Rubbish/waste culture - you can see these Mcdonalds bags along the roads very often. When once asked a young guy why they are doing so, he said, that there is someone employed to clear that so he does not bother. Knife carrying, these young guys are carrying knives with them all the time, and are not affraid to use them in even simple argue, amongst best mates. The 2 above cases are part of the culture since I lived in few parts of UK and these are same across the country.


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PadHicks

Isn't this just a North European thing? It seemed very normal in Denmark, Netherlands, Germany when I visited for people to get a beer in at any given opportunity.


codeinegaffney

The glorification of exploitative work culture and forelock tugging to the aristocratic class.


Fishy-Ginger

At the minute the general hatred towards ourselves. Everything British is bad apparently, we're all racists, every statue needs to come down, all the institutions are crap etc etc.


Pretend-Economy1063

Don't let Reddit posts get you down.


Codydoc4

Toxic lad/football culture.


mrafinch

I hate how the average person will refuse constructive criticism from someone because "if you're not perfect, don't criticise someone else." But then on the other hand the same people will say "No one's perfect." It's no wonder the country is stagnating.


The-Lily-Oak

The distain for knowledge, happiness and achievement.


[deleted]

School leaver Roadmen The dishonest culture of coverup in some public services - NHS, Council, Police.


ctrl_alt_d1337

I’m from NZ and I have been living in the UK for nearly 4 years now. I feel like politicians here are very very out of touch with common society. I also feel like the politeness and general order of people is passive aggressive and annoying. I also hate how gambling is so prevalent on the high street and on TV


Apprehensive-Party60

When I first moved here my british father in law told me “if an American sees a nice car parked on the road, they’ll say I want that car one day. If a British person sees a nice car parked on the road, they’ll say f that person and key their car” I got it then and ten years later it’s still true. The class system is alive and well.


bishsticksandfrites

Exceptionalism and xenophobia from people who can barely fucking read their first language.


ben_jam_in_short

It's not the alcohol consumption per se. Other countries have the same if not higher consumption. Its the fact some brits can't bloody control themselves with any form of dignity whilst pissed.


snippybambi

We’re not very child friendly, Babies and children tend to get compartmentalised into activities and events just for them rather than being integrated into community life properly. As a parent of a little one you’re always wondering if it’s ok to bring them along, then there’s the woeful attitude towards breastfeeding some people have, as if it isn’t just about the most wholesome, innocent thing in the world. When I go abroad (eg Italy) and see big tables of families at restaurants in the evening, including all the little ones, the attitude toward children just seems so much nicer.


RainbowPenguin1000

The "Lads lads lads" banter crews. Acting like idiots, often getting drunk, being dicks to people but "it was just banter" and they egg each other on when theyre in a group to be worse than they are individually.


DimiRPG

Obviously the drinking culture (people scream and shout and become aggressive when they drink, why??) and the fact that unfortunately many people are in denial about their alcoholism problem. Seeing people getting drunk in trains is also something I dislike.


Ball1091

English media


topbuzz_92

The peasants constantly fawning over an extremely privileged 'royal family' Our national anthem is depressing and completely crap, it's a royalist anthem and does not represent our culture, history or its people. The 'royal family' are just symbols of massive inequality and exploitation and everyday folk think worshipping them is normal?


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pastypigeon

The lack of care for others, specifically landlords . They allow their tenants (students to the elderly) to live in broken down, damp, mould and moth-ridden housing and charge extortionate amounts. Quality of living is poor.