British Culture Questions?

H

Harvard Bound

New member
I am an American student stying in Oxford for a year abroad, and I need some insight from BRITISH people on what their culutre is like. If you are BRITISH please list some things that I must know about Britain that are commonly known slang terms, events, etc.

Thanks in advance!
 
They have a different sense of humor

don't mind nudity

are more into politics and worldy issues than Americans

and my professor says they sit around drinking tea and discussing the philosophy of things and the world around them
 
Well, I'm at Oxford University, so I can tell you that Oxford's not really like the rest of the UK in many ways! Too many clever people around. ;-)
We (UK and Oxford!) DO drink quite a lot of tea, lots of booze (especially when a student), and we're much more sarcastic than Americans - so if someone says something mean, chances are they are being sarcastic, because British people tend to be very polite as a rule.
We're not as openly enthusiastic as Americans (that's one thing I love about America!) but on the other hand we are better at putting up with stuff and not complaining.
We eat with a knife in the right hand and fork in the left hand and use BOTH to eat with at the same time - if you do the American thing of cutting up your food and then just using the fork to eat, it will make you stick out a mile!!
Adult British people don't usually drink milk!
We walk around a LOT, and everywhere is made for walking.
The streets and houses are generally much smaller than in the US.
You usually can't get coffee/food 24 hours here - or anything else, except maybe a supermarket if you're very lucky.
Going down the pub seems to be our major hobby ...
Slang - hmm - chavs are like your trailor trash tho slightly different.
I'd suggest watching 'Little Britain' - the UK one not the American version - and 'The Office', again the UK one not the American one. They should give you quite good insights!
 
We're pretty much just a mini USA atm. But one that hates to be reminded of such a thing, and thus there tends to be a lot of animosity towards Americans, but also French people to so if playas start hatin' pass the buck to the French.
Other than that be bitter, sarcastic and hate pretty much everything and react cruelly towards what people say. People are idiots, there ideas are always stupid and no one has a thing to say these days.
People say this is Britain, but this more closely resembles hell.
Oh and we drink A LOT.
I wonder if its all related...

EDIT; be wary of chav's and we don't drink as much tea as everyone says we do! coffee ftw!
 
Just ignore the first answer because i am English and i have been to America and the culture between the two countries are TOTALLY different. Language is probably the only thing we have in common.

As is proven by the answer above, English people as a whole are VERY angry with the government right now so don't be surprised if you get into some political discussions lol.

As far as slang goes, dialect changes drastically from area to area, and as Oxford is likely to attract people from all over the country there aren't really any commonly known slang words which would apply to the whole country.
 
Just ignore the first answer because i am English and i have been to America and the culture between the two countries are TOTALLY different. Language is probably the only thing we have in common.

As is proven by the answer above, English people as a whole are VERY angry with the government right now so don't be surprised if you get into some political discussions lol.

As far as slang goes, dialect changes drastically from area to area, and as Oxford is likely to attract people from all over the country there aren't really any commonly known slang words which would apply to the whole country.
 
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