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.
Thunderbird2 at Jul. 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.
Tomasz Stasinski at Jul. 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.
Ranger_Miffy2 at Jul. 21, 2012 - 08:33PM JST
Really useful article! I will send it to my Japanese friends in London.
Thunderbird2 at Jul. 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.
lucabrasi at Jul. 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.
SushiSake3 at Jul. 21, 2012 - 09:54PM JST
This is actually one of the more informative articles on JT at the moment.
Pretty interesting stuff, wot!
Jimizo at Jul. 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.....
Jimizo at Jul. 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.
LostinNagoya at Jul. 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?
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Tomasz Stasinski at Jul. 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.
Thunderbird2 at Jul. 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.
Tomasz Stasinski at Jul. 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.
Ranger_Miffy2 at Jul. 21, 2012 - 08:33PM JST
Really useful article! I will send it to my Japanese friends in London.
Thunderbird2 at Jul. 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.
lucabrasi at Jul. 21, 2012 - 09:45PM JST
As an average Englishman, I'd have to say that's a pretty fair description. But you missed out the crap weather.
SushiSake3 at Jul. 21, 2012 - 09:54PM JST
This is actually one of the more informative articles on JT at the moment.
Pretty interesting stuff, wot!
Jimizo at Jul. 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.....
Jimizo at Jul. 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.
LostinNagoya at Jul. 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?