Today I’m going to share with you

some unusual attitudes that British people have.

I’ve talked to some of my friends and family,

and we agree that these are beliefs and attitudes

that are typically held by many British people.

Okay, so the reason I wanted to make this video is that

I think it’s interesting

how certain groups and cultures of people

tend to have beliefs or ways of thinking

that are unseen and unspoken of

and this might be difficult to sense or understand

if you are someone from a different group

or from a different culture.

So the first one that I've written is that

we really hate boasting

and I think that's definitely a big part of British culture.

Really just don't boast.

Don't big yourself up in any way.

People really are sensitive to it and don't like it.

It’s seen as a very negative trait.

I have had many conversations with people from China

who might come to me and say,

Hi, I'm so and so.

I've been doing this for a while

and I'm high up in this company,

and tell me in quite a lot of detail

about what they're doing for work

and maybe how successful they are.

And to me, I often feel like I've just met you

and you're telling me this kind of information

and so I'm not quite sure what to do with the information.

I just... you know, nod and smile like,

okay that's great.

Usually, in conversation with a British person,

those details about your career

wouldn't really come to light at all if ever to be honest.

Like if you are successful,

you would just never mention it.

It wouldn't need to be something that would be said.

And the act of not mentioning it

would be very admirable.

Next, I've written that

we don't want to appear weak

in terms of accepting help, admitting we're sick,

not working or having a nap.

Okay, so there's definitely this culture of

we need to push through.

We need to be seen to be busy and to be trying hard

and almost to be suffering in a way.

And this probably comes from

around the Industrial Revolution or the war,

it comes from those kinds of periods.

Our grandparents’ generation was definitely very hard working.

This stiff upper lip, keep going,

keep calm and carry on type attitude.

And especially taking sick days off work is relatively, I think...

it's an unspoken rule that

that is not a great thing to do on a consistent basis.

There'll be a kind of a judgment that's passed around the office.

You know, where’s so-and-so?

Oh they're sick again.

Okay hmm, interesting.

And so people might not always be as sympathetic

as perhaps they should be.

Again, this is definitely a stereotype.

Of course, there are many people

who are very kind and sympathetic.

Perhaps in comparison to other cultures,

you might find that there's more of a looking down on

being ill and being weak like this.

Another example is taking a nap.

You could quite possibly be seen as lazy

if you take a nap at work.

Number three, we don't like talking about class

even though we know it exists.

Okay, so this is kind of a tricky subject.

I think the class system in the UK has been

relatively famous around the world.

You know, we can watch period dramas

and get a pretty clear understanding that

there was the upper class and the lower class.

These days it's much more complicated than that

and less clear, less obvious.

It's difficult to tell what class or background

someone has come from.

As technology has meant that

what we perceive to be good jobs is shifting and changing,

people are coming into a lot of money in different ways

and it's easier to become a multi-millionaire

or something through entrepreneurship

than let's say, owning land.

But having said that,

that the class system is shifting and changing rapidly,

there is a distinction between

just being rich and being of higher class.

Yeah, it's to do with subtle things like the way you speak,

the way you dress, your interests, your hobbies.

But the reason I've written it down is because

it is never ever talked about.

Because it's seen as an unpleasant subject to talk about.

And I definitely don't want to be one to push the idea of

this class system still being alive and well,

or to give you the false impression that,

oh yeah, England is like very clear,

like upper class, middle class, lower class.

No, it's not like that at all.

It's a lot more complicated

and blurred boundaries, blurred lines there.

So even though the class system isn't as strong as it once was,

there's still a sense of it existing.

Let's say that two people from very different class backgrounds

come into conversation with each other.

They're going to feel a bit don't quite get each other.

The language is a bit different.

The way we talk and our mannerisms are different.

And so that makes people feel like they're

almost from a different world.

Even if you've grown up in the same town or neighborhood,

you can feel like there's a bit of a jarring sense

that we're not quite of the same group.

So whatever that is,

I think many British people

have had this experience in their lives

but they will never talk about it.

It's not something that's mentioned.

It's a kind of a subconscious recognition of

there are differences between groups in some way.

Now number four, I've had mixed reviews about this one

but I think in general,

British people tend to use social media less

and they use their phones maybe less.

I have little bits and pieces of evidence

that tell me this might be the case,

particularly like Asian friends saying,

oh they've come to the UK

and their friends text them back within five or six hours

or even the next day or two days or a week later

and it's still considered a normal communication and friendship.

So yeah, I think people are just

not texting their friends all the time

and means of communication tends to be

people prefer to meet in real life

than to be constantly texting back and forth.

I’d like to put this out to you.

What do you think if you've lived in the UK,

have you experienced this?

That people are using their phones and technology a bit less?

It also might go for things like Instagram stories.

Maybe you have British friends

that tend to share a bit less on their Instagram Story.

I think most people would agree with me that

using your phone in a social situation

when you're supposed to be socialising

is one of the rudest things you can do.

Unless you're just quickly checking Google Maps

or you quickly need to make a phone call,

then you shouldn't be scrolling through things,

checking social media, looking at your phone.

People look down on that a lot.

And the last thing is to do with money.

As a general rule,

people don't like to talk about money in this country.

So definitely don't ask anyone what their salary is

or how much their house is worth.

You'll be likely to be badly perceived

if you ask that kind of question.

You might come across a friend

who's quite open and happy to talk about their salary.

So if they give you that information then that's fine.

You can carry on talking about it.

And people prefer to keep things kind of equal

in terms of paying for each other's drinks and dinners

and just try to keep a bit of back and forth.

But you don't need to talk about the specifics of

like you owe me 2 pounds or whatever.

Okay, so those are my 5 surprising British attitudes for today.

Why are you surprised?

Let me know.

If you like this video, give it a literal thumbs up

and then I’ll know to make Part 2 of this series.

Thanks for watching. I'm Susie

and I'll see you next time!