Why do the rest of the U.K hate the english so much?

Question

I have travelled a lot and everywere i have travelled i have noticed how much the irish,scotish and welsh hate the english and it's not just a dislike they really hate the english with a passion! surley this can't be because of conficts that happened centurys agos?

Answer 1

It's because their little brains can't handle the pure greatness. It's like when a pretty girl gets picked on in school....jealousy!

Answer 2

They believe the English invaded and conquered their countries. However, there are several points they fail to realize -

"England" and "Wales" have always had close relationships. When the first "English" (the Angles) invaded Britain, their culture rapidly spread across England - however, Wales retained strong Romano-Celtic traditions, being protected by its mountains. But, over the years, there has been so much marriage and movement of peoples between England and Wales, the Welsh and English are ancestorally the same people.

Scotland took a while longer to be intergrated into what is now the UK. There are few to no original Scots left, however. Most of Scotland (if not all) have English ancestory. The Scots blame the English for the breaking up of their traditional clan lifestyles - however, it was wealthy Scottish landowners who broke this up - people as Scottish as any Scot these days.

Ireland is a different story. Until recently, the British policy on Ireland was awful. What a lot of people fail to realise is that nowadays, a lot of English have some Irish ancestory - quite often at Grandparent level (making a lot of English people about a quarter Irish).

Also, these people fail to differentiate between a nation as a whole, and those who rule. The English ruling elite have been guilty, in the past, of abysmal treatment of the Welsh, Scottish and Irish. However, these rulers treated their own subjects (the English) just as badly. I live in Lancashire, and the stories of the suffering the working masses have been through up here rival that of any of the other nations (with perhaps the exception of the Irish potato famine). These other nations should not forget that the English themselves have often struggled to throw off the shackles of the overlords - Watt Tylers peasents revolt and the Cromwelian Republic are but 2 examples.

So come on, the rest of the UK. Don't blame the English as a nation - blame those who were in charge, stamping all the little people, be they English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh.

Answer 3

Generalising is a dangerous past time. To say 'the rest of the UK hate the English' is generalising. There are some people in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Eire who hate the English, just like there are some in England who hate all the others. For those of us who are not pure bred Welsh, English, Scottish or Irish the idea is futile as we do not have the distinction or privilege of being 'pure bred' and are therefore more able [hopefully] to hold a more balanced view in the 21st century.

Answer 4

the english became if anything "great" (har har!) because of lying, cheating and stealing, it doesnt take scots, welsh nor irish to tell you this, anyone around the globe can tell you this, and we do.
As a foreign professional i find it preposterous! that it is suggested that jealousy and envy makes people hate british! i dont know which claim is more ridiculous, the "greatness" theory or the jealousy one, i think i should pose a question on that alone.
You need only to look around you if the decaying stench hasnt pervaded your nostrils as yet, to see that the english is so dysfunctional on a professional scale that foreigners dominate the scene. Why? Cause half the British population can't even spell the ONE language they can manage to string together,never mind an education. They have to rely on these foreigners, underpay them and overtax them and then furthermore abuse them by making them feel "inferior" as compared to that of "British STandards" (WHATEVER that is supposed to mean, shame, maybe their special needs department has SOME medical term for this??).
i never disliked the British before i moved to england when you had an education crisis back in 2001, but now i absolutely LOVE TO HATE U.

Answer 5

I think that if I lived in Scotland or Wales I would probably hate England too. However when the shoe is on the other foot I can honestly say I dont hate Scotch or Welsh people. Imagine living in your own country and having all the rules that affect your everyday life dictated to you by someone living in another country. How can parliament make decisions for the good of those countries when they usually have no clue as to what life is like there. They havent had to live it. That goes for the north/south divide too. Devolution should be taken further with only UK-wide decisions being left to Downing Street

Answer 6

Because they are the descendants of the conquerors who took over centuries ago and regarded the original inhabitants of the British Isles with undisguised contempt. In the case of the Welsh, they even bestowed upon them a name meaning "foreigner" (the meaning of "Welsh in Anglo-Saxon), and that in their own country! The English ruled as overlords and the Celtic peoples remained peasants, living in poverty, for many centuries. There is still a certain perceived condescension and arrogance on the part of many of the English, although it has little real basis nowadays, especially as so many Celts have taken over the running of the country. Old memories die hard and the Irish, in particular, have bitter memories which they are unable to eradicate.

Answer 7

I think that's a bit of a generalisation you're making there!!! I personally do not hate the English, I just dislike some of the treatment by them. For example being embarrassed in shops by assistants who won't accept Scottish money when we accept English! It's not exactly thrilling to have them shouting across a busy shop in London to their colleague about it!! And why is it so hard for them to know some general geography north of the border. I have no particular interest in Enlgish geography either but do try to understand whereabouts in England people are from when they tell me a place. However, the majority of English are ignorant to anywhere in Scotland that isn't Edinburgh or Glasgow. Just isn't right. Ok, lecture over!!

Answer 8

This isn't true. The Scots certainly DON'T hate the English, in fact we have much in common with Geordies, Yorkshiremen, etc.

What they do hate, is a sort of stereotypical idea of "londoners" or "Essex types" but that's about it. It's the loudness they don't like, the "mouthy southy" thing.


As for the Irish hating the English, now that's a different story?

Answer 9

its age old but most of it modernly stems to the football/ rugby etc... each country has there own team and they support that team
also the English are very good at stealing Scottish resources eg water,electricity and because of this they wont give us our Independence that was wrongly taken by the English monarchy century's ago so yes it still has something to do with the past!!

the government overlooks Scotland for English policy's ( anyone english says devolution or you have your own parliment it doesnt count still run overall by the english parliment just made them look good for 2 seconds!!)

i wouldnt say we all hate the english anyway im scottish and my uncle married an english woman and now my cousins are english ( poor buggers) but although i would never class myself as british i am scottish

there will aways be a rivalry keeps things intrestin :D

Answer 10

What a question!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being Irish I do not and will never class myself as being ENGLISH.
Not only was I born in Belfast but I have lived there all my life and have seen what the English have done to my country.
We have nothing to thank you for or be jealous of.
Alot of people hate the English so maybe you should look around and ask yourself why so many people have the same point of view!
Strange how the English don't see their faults but so many other nationalities do!!!!!!

Answer 11

Everyone hates the English, the English hate the English. (yep, I am English) I have had many conversations with other English people and we hate ourselves. I think it's the government, they make us hate living here because of the taxes and the fact that we don't stand up for ourselves, and that they don't seem to listen to us at all. And yet our laws extend to Scotland and Wales and some of Ireland, so they have nothing to do with us yet they are fighting in that silly little Iraq war and they are putting up with the inheritance taxes and the death taxes and all that. Geez I don't blame them!
However, in America, the kids learn songs about America and they have flags and they learn about their heros', we do nothing like that here, I don't even know our national anthem. We learnt American history, about the wars, about Germany and Russia, it's only primary schools that learn about English history.