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Hi everyone, I'm Susie.
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Today I’m going to share with you
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some unusual attitudes that British people have.
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I’ve talked to some of my friends and family,
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and we agree that these are beliefs and attitudes
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that are typically held by many British people.
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Okay, so the reason I wanted to make this video is that
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I think it’s interesting
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how certain groups and cultures of people
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tend to have beliefs or ways of thinking
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that are unseen and unspoken of
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and this might be difficult to sense or understand
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if you are someone from a different group
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or from a different culture.
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So the first one that I've written is that
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we really hate boasting
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and I think that's definitely a big part of British culture.
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Really just don't boast.
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Don't big yourself up in any way.
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People really are sensitive to it and don't like it.
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It’s seen as a very negative trait.
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I have had many conversations with people from China
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who might come to me and say,
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Hi, I'm so and so.
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I've been doing this for a while
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and I'm high up in this company,
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and tell me in quite a lot of detail
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about what they're doing for work
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and maybe how successful they are.
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And to me, I often feel like I've just met you
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and you're telling me this kind of information
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and so I'm not quite sure what to do with the information.
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I just... you know, nod and smile like,
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okay that's great.
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Usually, in conversation with a British person,
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those details about your career
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wouldn't really come to light at all if ever to be honest.
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Like if you are successful,
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you would just never mention it.
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It wouldn't need to be something that would be said.
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And the act of not mentioning it
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would be very admirable.
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Next, I've written that
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we don't want to appear weak
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in terms of accepting help, admitting we're sick,
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not working or having a nap.
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Okay, so there's definitely this culture of
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we need to push through.
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We need to be seen to be busy and to be trying hard
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and almost to be suffering in a way.
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And this probably comes from
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around the Industrial Revolution or the war,
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it comes from those kinds of periods.
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Our grandparents’ generation was definitely very hard working.
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This stiff upper lip, keep going,
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keep calm and carry on type attitude.
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And especially taking sick days off work is relatively, I think...
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it's an unspoken rule that
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that is not a great thing to do on a consistent basis.
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There'll be a kind of a judgment that's passed around the office.
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You know, where’s so-and-so?
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Oh they're sick again.
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Okay hmm, interesting.
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And so people might not always be as sympathetic
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as perhaps they should be.
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Again, this is definitely a stereotype.
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Of course, there are many people
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who are very kind and sympathetic.
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Perhaps in comparison to other cultures,
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you might find that there's more of a looking down on
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being ill and being weak like this.
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Another example is taking a nap.
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You could quite possibly be seen as lazy
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if you take a nap at work.
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Number three, we don't like talking about class
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even though we know it exists.
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Okay, so this is kind of a tricky subject.
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I think the class system in the UK has been
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relatively famous around the world.
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You know, we can watch period dramas
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and get a pretty clear understanding that
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there was the upper class and the lower class.
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These days it's much more complicated than that
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and less clear, less obvious.
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It's difficult to tell what class or background
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someone has come from.
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As technology has meant that
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what we perceive to be good jobs is shifting and changing,
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people are coming into a lot of money in different ways
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and it's easier to become a multi-millionaire
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or something through entrepreneurship
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than let's say, owning land.
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But having said that,
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that the class system is shifting and changing rapidly,
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there is a distinction between
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just being rich and being of higher class.
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Yeah, it's to do with subtle things like the way you speak,
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the way you dress, your interests, your hobbies.
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But the reason I've written it down is because
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it is never ever talked about.
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Because it's seen as an unpleasant subject to talk about.
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And I definitely don't want to be one to push the idea of
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this class system still being alive and well,
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or to give you the false impression that,
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oh yeah, England is like very clear,
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like upper class, middle class, lower class.
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No, it's not like that at all.
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It's a lot more complicated
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and blurred boundaries, blurred lines there.
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So even though the class system isn't as strong as it once was,
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there's still a sense of it existing.
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Let's say that two people from very different class backgrounds
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come into conversation with each other.
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They're going to feel a bit don't quite get each other.
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The language is a bit different.
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The way we talk and our mannerisms are different.
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And so that makes people feel like they're
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almost from a different world.
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Even if you've grown up in the same town or neighborhood,
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you can feel like there's a bit of a jarring sense
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that we're not quite of the same group.
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So whatever that is,
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I think many British people
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have had this experience in their lives
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but they will never talk about it.
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It's not something that's mentioned.
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It's a kind of a subconscious recognition of
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there are differences between groups in some way.
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Now number four, I've had mixed reviews about this one
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but I think in general,
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British people tend to use social media less
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and they use their phones maybe less.
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I have little bits and pieces of evidence
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that tell me this might be the case,
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particularly like Asian friends saying,
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oh they've come to the UK
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and their friends text them back within five or six hours
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or even the next day or two days or a week later
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and it's still considered a normal communication and friendship.
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So yeah, I think people are just
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not texting their friends all the time
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and means of communication tends to be
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people prefer to meet in real life
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than to be constantly texting back and forth.
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I’d like to put this out to you.
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What do you think if you've lived in the UK,
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have you experienced this?
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That people are using their phones and technology a bit less?
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It also might go for things like Instagram stories.
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Maybe you have British friends
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that tend to share a bit less on their Instagram Story.
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I think most people would agree with me that
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using your phone in a social situation
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when you're supposed to be socialising
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is one of the rudest things you can do.
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Unless you're just quickly checking Google Maps
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or you quickly need to make a phone call,
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then you shouldn't be scrolling through things,
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checking social media, looking at your phone.
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People look down on that a lot.
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And the last thing is to do with money.
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As a general rule,
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people don't like to talk about money in this country.
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So definitely don't ask anyone what their salary is
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or how much their house is worth.
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You'll be likely to be badly perceived
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if you ask that kind of question.
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You might come across a friend
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who's quite open and happy to talk about their salary.
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So if they give you that information then that's fine.
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You can carry on talking about it.
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And people prefer to keep things kind of equal
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in terms of paying for each other's drinks and dinners
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and just try to keep a bit of back and forth.
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But you don't need to talk about the specifics of
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like you owe me 2 pounds or whatever.
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Okay, so those are my 5 surprising British attitudes for today.
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Why are you surprised?
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Let me know.
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If you like this video, give it a literal thumbs up
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and then I’ll know to make Part 2 of this series.
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Thanks for watching. I'm Susie
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and I'll see you next time!