The friendlyness of the English in London?

Question

I recently just returned to Los Angeles from London, England where I found English people to be very un-friendly and at some times just straight out rude. Walking with pride and an attitude of superiority over others specially tourists. I know that big cities around the world have that unfriendlyness character however London shot out loud and it changed my perception of not just Londoners but perhaps all of England. Even in the city of Bath some 100 miles away... did I encounter shoddy attitudes towards visitors? Yes. I felt like I didnt belong there and I was made known by their look towards us "tourists". I watched their shows on BBC 1, 2, 3, ect... and it seems that English people like to Bash on Americans a lot. They think we are ignorant, stupid and lazy. This, ladies and gentlemen is what they think of us. My question is... are all English people snobby and rude?

Answer 1

I don't agree with you totally.

I was in the UK for over a year and all I can say is they may not be very effusive and gushing like Americans are, but they are friendly and polite. It is the typical Brit culture - they don't gush over you and open up and tell you their entire life history in the first meeting, but if you ever get to know them them are very helpful and friendly. That is the 'stiff upper lip' of the Brits and can be mistaken for snobbery.

I did find the average Brit more intelligent than the average American (this I will attribute to everything that is dumbed down here in US - right from opening a jar of sauce to operating a washing machine - and gives you no scope to think and logically arrive at a conclusion). While a typical Brit knows a lot about other cultures/ countries, for an average American the world starts in California and ends in New York.

Answer 2

Not ALL of course.

You have to pay attention to where you are (shopping mall, pubs, tube etc) and what time it is as that could play a big part in how stressed the people are.

Also it could be the way you are interacting with them. You might be going in with your pre concieved ideas and so noticing only the bad. How friendly are people in your hometown? Not that many people are friendly these days full stop.

I also don't understand how someone can look like they're "walking with pride and a superiority over other people, especially tourists" . ... How can you tell that they're thinking that by the way they walk and look at people?
I think you seem to have a chip on your shoulder, a lot of Americans do, and that's not an insult, there is a lot of America bashing but not everyone bashes them. In fact I hardly ever hear people making fun of America in real life it's usually idiots on the internet or people who think they are into "politics"

Maybe the word you're looking for is that they're just pretentious.?
I agree though, that they are not really very friendly. Especially compared to the other countries in UK.

Answer 3

I AM FROM ENGLAND AND LIVE AND WORK IN LONDON:

What you say is true but only because you are American. I would say that it is our reserved nature that makes you think we are rude. If you ask someone in London how to get somewhere they will tell you - but they will only tell you what yuo asked. They will not strike up a conversation and try to be your friend, what is the point, they will never see you again. The English do actually find it strange when a total stranger starts asking them things as if they know them. Its just the way of the English. I can see how as a very friendly American you are put off by this. When I visited America myself I did find people far too friendly, over the top to the point of being patronising. You walk into a shop in the UK to go shopping, it seems in America you go shopping to talk to the shop assistant about your life and aspirations, I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all but it is just not English.

It is ashame that you got the impression that us English think you are all lazy etc. This is not the case, its just a generalisation used in pure comedy form (again that national difference comes into play e.g. our very strange sense of humour). We do not get angry with the Americans like we get angry with the Muslims and other ethnic groups. Realistically we are on your side and I think we should stick together. The main reason I think we have a bad impression of Americans is because of your very very strange President who mixes up his words so much and really does seem pure thick and also the fact that everyone in the USA seems to be over weight, and being fat usually constitutes to being lazy and celebrities like the very intelligent Paris Hilton really anger people in the UK because of their shallowness. We do not tolerate shallow people. So Geroge Bush, Paris Hilton and fat people is what we see of America.

I TOTALLY understand the way that you felt non-important as a tourist. Its not the whole tourist thing, its more to do with the fact you were forigen. The UK, especially London, has a huge immigration problem and because of all the terrorist activity the typical Londoner is just fed up with anyone who is not from London. Not great I know but its just Londerners getting fed up with paying taxes for anyone but themselves. I hope I haven't come across as snobby or rude, its shallow to make generalisations and as I mentioned earlier - the English do not have time for shallowness.

Answer 4

If you went round with a chip on your shoulder like that, then yes, people probably were unfriendly towards you. You probably got treated badly by a few people and then decided we are all bad and went round being rude to everyone yourself, so that's why people were rude to you.

The reason you were made to feel like a tourist might have something to do with the fact you were a tourist. As for being made to feel like you didn't belong, I think that's just your perception. If people weren't hugging and shaking hands and being really open with you all the time, it wasn't because they were being rude - it's because in Britian we are very reserved, we keep ourselves to ourselves until we have known people for a long time.

You probably also did the typical tourist trick of not accepting that some things here are different to in the US. You probably felt agrieved that our beer was too warm for your liking, you probably felt insulted that you weren't offered free refills and that our meal portions were too small. All of these things are things you should have just accepted, because every country is different. But instead what you did was you took it all personally, then you ended up with this idea that everyone in England is rude.

As for what you saw on TV - yes we do 'bash on' Americans a lot. In the same way you bash on Canadians and Mexicans a lot on American TV.

Answer 5

I am Latin, I was in England recently, and I almost cried when I experienced how sweet, heart touching, this English are.
They are educated, think a lot about environment, human rights, they are absolutely not racist, they contemplate nature, they take all the time to understand things, they show you in a map your country, they ask about it, and sometimes they know better than you, Io was so amazed of how sweet they were.
Incredibly honest, good working, amazingly funny and respectful.
And the guys, when an English man is sexy, it is the sexiest man in earth.Always ready for the adventure in distant countries, not cheating, really pleasing the woman,
I really fall in love with this people.
Men are gentlemen and women are so centered and working, independent, fantastic.

Answer 6

As an Englishman and a Londoner - your right! We perceive most (not all) Americans as ignorant and stupid. Plus we have our own lives to live. Now, when you stop us in the street and ask for real sensible advice then we are happy to take the time to give it, but if you will waste peoples time with stupid questions - well we have better things to do.
Let me give you a real situation that happened to me. I was in Kensington High Street when I was asked for the correct bus for Oxford - I took the American tourists to the bus stop for Oxford (they go about every ten minutes) and saw them off. It only occurred to me after wards that these American tourists really wanted Oxford STREET but were too damn stupid to say so. Another occasion, that was published in the London Evening Standard was a group of American tourists standing at a tour bus stop - one of them, looking at the flags painted on the side of the bus to represent the languages of the commentary given said that he would n't get on as he would not understand the commentary, despite the fact that one on the flags was a British Union Flag! a true story! - get the message?

Answer 7

I went to England about 10 years ago and I found the English VERY nice. They would stop on the corner and give directions. They were just very polite everywhere I went. I went to London and Bath. I like the English. I found them friendly.

Answer 8

I am leaving for London in 2 weeks for the first time. London citizens that are rude and snobby have a big suprise in store when this rude, snobby American comes to town.

Answer 9

Some people from London are rude but on the north side of England are so nice I love them and the view.

Answer 10

generally speaking the english are friendly but unfortunately like a lot of places now ,especially london,you wont see may brits because the influx of immigrants and foriegn students taking a year out especially aussies ,new zealanders and south africans