Modern etiquette: Best of Britain for Olympic visitors

By Jo Bryant

Lifestyle Jul. 21, 2012 - 07:25AM JST ( 11 )

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11 Comments

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Tomasz StasinskiJul. 21, 2012 - 05:04PM JST

12. Class

Do remember that the British are a class-divided society, where different classes use a different language and, often, vary in customs. Make sure you know who you're talking to. To avoid a faux pas direct approach is usually the best.
1

Thunderbird2Jul. 21, 2012 - 07:19PM JST

Bollocks! I love how non-Britons always harp on about class division. EVERY society has a class divide. Open your eyes and look around you.
0

Tomasz StasinskiJul. 21, 2012 - 07:56PM JST

@Thunderbird2 Sir, it breaks my heart to have to explain it to you but I wasn't being serious. Had you read closer surely you'd have noticed. Cheerio.
1

Ranger_Miffy2Jul. 21, 2012 - 08:33PM JST

Really useful article! I will send it to my Japanese friends in London.
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Thunderbird2Jul. 21, 2012 - 09:28PM JST

Tomasz Stasinski... sorry, just getting fed up with the UK being treated like some weird, violent, class-ridden, poverty-stricken Empire-on-its-knees by, I have to say, mostly American posters on here.
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lucabrasiJul. 21, 2012 - 09:45PM JST

just getting fed up with the UK being treated like some weird, violent, class-ridden, poverty-stricken Empire-on-its-knees

As an average Englishman, I'd have to say that's a pretty fair description. But you missed out the crap weather.
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SushiSake3Jul. 21, 2012 - 09:54PM JST

This is actually one of the more informative articles on JT at the moment.

Pretty interesting stuff, wot!
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JimizoJul. 22, 2012 - 09:52AM JST

Some of it is true - you only have to look at Cameron, Osbourne and Clegg to see how class privilege is alive and well in the UK. Then again, Bush, Hatoyama.....
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JimizoJul. 22, 2012 - 11:28AM JST

@shiofuki The author may have seen the riots of last year and may have also seen the riots of 30 years ago in Brixton and Toxteth - hardly new and hardly symptomatic of the UK getting more violent by the year. It's no coincidence that the riots mentioned took place in the early years of Tory governments ( Thatcher's and Cameron's ) which implemented swingeing cuts - again hardly a sign of a progressive spiral into violence. As for Chav culture, Chav is just the new name for townie, scally ( lots of regional variations ) and so there is nothing new there either. The UK, like all countries, has its problems but I can't see the awful vision of 'today's Britain' you paint. Just a point on tipping. I was a bartender and was often tipped by customers - 'keep the change' and 'and your own' are common pub expressions.
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LostinNagoyaJul. 26, 2012 - 10:03AM JST

Gee! After reading this article I have cancelled my trip to UK. And it lacks a basic "knowledge" every tourist must know when in somebody else's land: what to do when arrested?