50 Weird Confusing Facts About British Life Culture
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hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy today I am very hot
and it’s only 19 degrees we’re gonna
talk about that later today I’m going to
talk to you about 50 weird and random
facts about British culture
now this lessons more of a fun one it’s
going to be great for your listening
practice and if you want to improve your
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English right let’s get started with the
video fact number one T is by far the
most popular drink drunk by Brits maybe
you knew this but apparently we drink
165 million cups of tea every single day
bananas I’ve drunk no tea today it’s not
my favorite I don’t hate it
I’ll have it if I’m offered yeah number
two on our main TV channels that’s
channel one and two and quite a few
others they’re run by the BBC and we
don’t have any adverts this is because
we pay a license fee and I think it’s
over 100 pounds a year but basically we
have to pay if we have a TV we have to
pay it even if we don’t want to watch
the BBC now I kind of like it because I
like ad-free TV but I also don’t want
the BBC to tell me whether I can have a
TV or not
number three queues are incredibly
important to us
if you push into a queue if you queue
jump you will be universally hated in
Britain doesn’t make that comment below
if queues are important in your country
because I went to Spain and I lived
there for a while and people did not
expect cues when I lived in Spain I
remember being in a bank and some lady
thought that her problem was more
important than my problem and she just
pushed in and was like sorry this is an
emergency I was like in Britain I would
never happen number four please
sorry and thank you basically dominate
all of our social interactions it’s so
engrained into our brains that we often
bump into things and then apologize to
the inanimate object like I have whacked
my shoulder on a door and said oh sorry
and then felt really stupid and British
at the same time but yeah just a simple
task like passing the salt at a dinner
table sorry please could you pass the
salt
thank you sorry sorry excuse me please
honestly we say about eight times number
five when you greet a friend in the UK
you don’t normally shake their hand you
don’t normally shake their hand normally
you give them one kiss on the cheek if
you’ve recently been in the rest of
Europe then you might give two kisses by
mistake and say oh sorry
I just got back from France and if
you’re feeling very masculine and you
are with another very masculine person
then even though you know them very well
you might still shake their hand but
that’s only a feel very very masculine
number six when the Sun comes out
because it doesn’t come out so often we
make the most of it in 15 degree heat we
will wear sandals miniskirts strappy
tops bikinis and we will get very very
sunburned as well the day after a sunny
day everyone is red it’s terrible also
our houses are not designed to cope with
the heat as I’m experiencing right now
it’s 19 degrees outside and I am
absolutely dying number seven British
cuisine well our most known dish is
probably the Sunday roast or beef and
Yorkshire puddings
however we actually voted for our
national dish and we voted for a chicken
tikka masala which is an Indian dish
number eight if you are on public
transport
it is highly expected that you give up
your seat for an elderly person or a
disabled person and if you don’t do it
people were taught at you this is a very
British thing
we’ll just go but we don’t like to be
too direct
sometimes we muster up enough courage to
say excuse me that person needs that
seat but we’re not going to be too
confrontational about it and if we are
ever confrontational with someone on
public transport we spend the next week
coming down from the adrenaline and
replaying the situation in our head
telling our mates about it it’s a big
deal number nine our humor can be quite
difficult to understand
we love sarcasm we have quite dark sense
of humor we can be quite dry so we can
say things about smiling
I love the British sense of humor but it
can offend people sometimes to be them
number 10 the majority of museums in
London are free and we do actually use
them quite a lot there has been a big
increase in Brits trying to do cultural
things which i think is great hasn’t
quite reached me yet but I did go to the
museum in my village last year so that
was great number 11 if you are invited
to the home of a British person if they
are providing a meal or a party for you
then you are sort of expected to bring
some sort of gift normally a bottle of
wine some flowers or chocolates if you
don’t bring a gift we wouldn’t say
anything about it but we would silently
judge you number 12
we are absolutely obsessed with our
animals here but animals I mean pets we
put our pets before our own children
sometimes we are dog and cat crazy
number 13 as soon as the Sun comes out
we leave work when it’s a good time to
leave work normally five o’clock and we
go straight to a pub garden we don’t go
inside the pub we go straight to the pub
garden or if there’s no direct route to
the garden and then we will march
through the pub directly to the garden
we love a pub garden in fact when I
finish this video I’m going straight
there with my neighbor 14 that brings me
on to our drinking culture it’s quite
bad but it’s getting better it’s very
normal to see some very very drunk
people on Friday and Saturday nights and
Sunday nights if it’s a bank holiday
which means we have the Monday off work
but Millennials are younger Jenner
our drinking less which is a very good
thing and binge drinking cases are going
down number 15 if we hold open a door
for you which we probably will we expect
to thank you however if somebody holds a
door open for us and it’s actually a
really awkward distance so we have to
kind of walk faster and they have to
wait for ages holding the door both
parties hate this situation but we still
say thank you and we still do it because
I don’t know why it’s polite number 16
we are this is divided some of us are
very polite drivers and some of us are
very rude the polite drivers will
probably let you through but they will
expect to thank you we live for that
thank you wave sometimes people just
lift a finger and that’s enough I just
like the acknowledgement I’m a polite
driver polite drivers also love to tut
and shake their head at impolite drivers
who have not thanked you for letting
them pass number 17 in many cultures
around the globe women want to have
lighter skin but in the UK we want to
have darker skin well not all of us but
a lot of us like to use fake tanning
products to make our skin darker I must
admit I’ve got someone today I’m a very
light shade of orange on my knees
particularly and yeah we don’t have much
Sun we don’t get much chance to tan and
having a tanned complexion I think is
always a sign of wealth like you’ve been
on holiday recently I just think I look
healthier with a bit of a tan but you
might not agree number 18 we are very
divided over the royal family some
people think it brings in loads of
tourism and money some people think that
they spend way too much money and
there’s never really been a study to
show whether they bring a profit or loss
to the country so it’s a funny one we
just don’t know number 19
the weather in summer can never be
guaranteed so we don’t actually go on
holiday in our own
that much we do but we can’t guarantee
it’s going to be a sunny beach holiday a
couple of years ago my family and I went
away to Cornwall to a beach resort and
there was not a single day of sunshine
it poured it down the entire time and we
just said never again we will always go
abroad now number 21
we like to thank the bus driver when we
get off the bus in London on the school
bus anywhere it’s pretty normal to say
thank you as we get off my school bus
driver was absolutely amazing he
actually used to buy us all Easter eggs
a whole school bus of children he was
lovely his name was Roger I hope I get
to see him again number 22
dinner is often our biggest meal of the
day I’m talking about evening dinner we
have a fairly heavy breakfast a light
lunch and then a heavy dinner and we
normally have breakfast between 7:00 and
8:00 lunch between 12:00 and 1:00 and
dinner between 6:00 and 7:00 normally
number 23 how are you and your right are
not genuine questions if we say hi
you’re right I don’t actually expect you
to answer saying well actually no I’m
not my goldfish died I just expect you
to say yeah yeah you’re right and that’s
it top quality interaction number 24 our
population is incredibly diverse in
London for example in 2011 when they did
the census that they do every ten years
forty four point nine percent of the
population were white British that means
London as a city is so diverse and it’s
something that a lot of us are really
proud of however if you got to the
northeast ninety three point six percent
of the population were white British so
it’s not evenly distributed number
twenty-five we care a lot about where
you stand on an escalator and we will
touch and shake our heads if you stand
in the wrong place and I always see
tourists do this you have to stand on
the right and you have to leave enough
room for busy rushy people to overtake
you otherwise they won’t say anything
but they’ll stand there and Tut and
maybe even say excuse me excuse me
be just be prepared 26 we drink beer and
cider in pipes sometimes we drink a half
pint and our beer is sometimes served
warm not lagers but our British Isles we
serve them at room temperature and that
can be shocking for some people 27 we
are terrified of wasps the most serious
straight-laced person is likely to cause
a massive flap ago if a wasp comes I was
in a church watching a wedding ceremony
the other day and a wasp came and it was
absolute carnage and of course all the
women had flower decorations in their
hair which just made it all the more
hilarious I just observed and thought
I’m gonna purpose in a video number 28
our winters are really dark in the peak
of winter the Sun doesn’t come up till
past 9:00 and it goes and it goes down
just after 3:00 it means that you can go
into the office and leave the office
without seeing sunlight it is really
quite intense 29 carpets are a key
feature in our houses and I’m not sure
how I feel about this carpets in a
bedroom okay but in a lot of
old-fashioned houses we have carpets in
the bathroom which I don’t think is
hygienic and it shocks quite a lot of
people when they come over here we also
have carpets on the stairs which are
really really hard to clean I know that
when I design my own house I won’t be
having so much carpet in it number 30
our plugs are different we have a
three-pronged plug which is different to
the European plugs so make sure you
bring an adaptor with you let me see if
I have a plug
what I’m saying oh yeah this is our plug
it’s a three-pronged plug and this is an
earth prong Tom Scott has got a really
good video on this this is going to be
this one of two times that I recommend
his videos in this video I think he’s
got a video explaining that and it’s a
really good one so I’ll link it down
below I am gonna mention another of his
videos later on thirty-one our society
really doesn’t prioritize religion
church attendance and membership numbers
have been falling drastically in the
1930s church membership was at 30% and
now it is at 10% or lower a lot of
people just go to church on really
important events like weddings Christmas
and maybe Easter number 32 we often have
separate taps or faucets as you might
call them for hot and cold water
especially in old-fashioned houses this
is where I talked about Scott Scott this
is where I talked about Tom Scott’s
video he’s got a really really good
video explaining why this is because
I’ve always wondered because I’ve always
grown up with having to choose between
boiling hot water on my face
or freezing cold water on my face and
just thinking why part we just mix them
we do have mixer taps now but it was
something to do with the tanks that
stored hot water
they couldn’t legally be mixed with
drinking water hence why hot in one cold
drinking water in another again it’s
something I have in my house right now
but when I move into my own house I will
be making sure that all taps are mixed
taps number 33 we drive on the left but
we walk on the right so you must drive
on the left-hand side of the road
but you must got the escalator on the
right number 34 when something is in
fashion all women end up wearing the
same thing even if it doesn’t suit them
I’ve had so many friends come over from
abroad and say oh my god everyone is
wearing the same thing and I hadn’t
noticed it before but it is true I
remember there was a fashion of like
quite see-through black leggings and
they just they didn’t look good on
anyone but everyone seemed to wear them
with the wrong colour and underwear
underneath number 35 when we’re 18 we
all sort of expect
by our parents to move out and start our
lives in a lot of countries people will
stay with their parents till they’re
well in their 30s here we just want to
get out as soon as possible and our
parents want us out as soon as possible
if we go to university we go at 18 and
we normally go to a university that’s
quite far from our own home however if
we’re going to start a job straight away
then yes we might stay with our parents
a bit longer it is becoming more common
to move back in with your parents
after you finish University that is
something that I did for six ish months
when I was starting my business after
graduating number 36 our university fees
are high very very high for UK residents
nine grand a year grandis pounds
thousand pounds nine thousand pounds a
year and for international students it
can be much much higher number 37 we
have ice cream trucks that drive around
our villages playing a tune like a
little dingy belching and it’s the most
exciting sound as a child I never had X
I lived in a rural village but when I
went to the park or to see friends I
remember hearing this noise comparing
like oh the ice-cream man I think my
friends mum told her that the ice-cream
man only played this tune when he’d run
out of ice-cream which i think is the
meanest thing ever
number 38 we don’t use our car horns
that often they are for angry
emergencies or just emergencies not
necessarily angry ones I went to Bali
last year or the year before and they
just use them all the time to say hello
and nudge people no over here
car horns are quite a big deal and if
someone beats their horn at you you
spend the rest of the car too and you’re
getting hope I’ve had one car horn ruin
my entire day 39 car drivers hate
cyclists and cyclists hate car drivers
it’s a war on the road at the moment
cycling has increased massively in
popularity and car drivers are not happy
about it 40 our supermarkets are very
big and they have a huge range of
pre-prepared food so ready meals to cook
in the microwave I’ve been to lots of
other
trees and I’ve never seen the range that
we have apart from perhaps in America
41 if we live in a city we tend to
totally mind our own business we don’t
talk to our neighbors we may be
stretched to a Hello sometimes and you
really don’t get to know people outside
of your own friend group and you know
your social activities and work in a
village however it’s completely
different and you have quite a hard time
protecting your business if you tell a
secret to someone the whole village will
know I kind of like it though
number 42 we find it incredibly rude if
somebody talks on their phone loudly on
public transport and the best example of
this is the train going to and from
Luton Airport and Gatwick Airport you
can see before it arrives to Gatwick
everyone’s just sitting in silence and
then as soon as you come past it it’s
just filled with tourists that don’t
know you know our society rules just
talking really really loudly to their
mum say that they’ve arrived safely and
all of the British people looking like
talking loudly on public transport what
do we do
forty-three our tabloid gossip
newspapers are disgusting they are
terrible they lie so much but we all
secretly read them I can’t say all of us
but many of us will secretly read the
Daily Mail 44 in the countryside
especially we have milk delivered to our
doorstep in bottles and it’s something
that I’m very passionate about I’m
really passionate about supporting our
local milkman and supporting our local
dairy farmers I get my milk delivered on
Monday and Thursday and I love it it’s
amazing we always have fresh milk at the
door 45 we generally tip 10% in
restaurants and we prefer to tip it in
cash because then we know it goes
directly to the waiter or waitress
however some restaurants especially
London restaurants or chain restaurants
will already add a service charge to
your bill which is normally a 12.5
percent and some of us will get very
angry about this and we’ll ask for that
to be taken off and will instead give
cash directly to the waiter or waitress
because we know that they are not on the
best wages and those tips form a big
part of what they earn and yes yes I do
that 46
we’re very indirect instead of saying I
don’t like it we would say well I don’t
hate it or it’s not my cup of tea
yeah we just hate being straight to the
point we don’t like funding people but
it can be very very confusing for people
who aren’t from here 47 most Sundays we
have a meal called a Sunday roast we
normally have it in a pub or our mum
will cook it for us and ah it’s the best
meal in the world and everyone’s
favourite Sunday roast is their mum
Sunday roast and that mum Sunday roast
is supposedly better than any other
Sunday roast everyone says that but my
mum’s genuinely is the best 48
although fish and chips are really
famous here I would say that chart going
out for Chinese and going out for a
curry are way more popular we do that
way more often fish and chips I probably
have it once every two years
fish and chip shops have declined in
quality number 49 we will do literally
everything in our power to avoid the
most minor awkward situation I was
walking with my friend the other day she
is quite awkward and she had a plastic
bag full of shopping she saw someone she
knew the bag broke and emptied out but
instead of stopping to pick it up which
would mean she would have to talk to
this person she just carried on walking
with an empty and I just thought that is
peak British there number 50 women
seriously under dress for the weather or
nights out or New Year’s Eve you will
see women in like bikini tops and tiny
dresses bare legs strappy heels but they
don’t necessarily get cold and this is a
phenomenon we like to call the beer
blanket once you have enough beer in you
you can’t feel the cold right
those are my 50 random weird and just a
bit quirky facts about British culture
and British life I hope you enjoyed them
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for another lesson
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