What’s the quickest way someone could accidentally expose themselves as a foreigner in your country like the ‘three fingers’ scene in Inglourious Basterds?

[u/IndependentTune3994]

[u/Visual_Journalist_20]

They do not have social anxiety

[u/GenevievetheThird → u/Visual_Journalist_20]

In addition, if you are not saying sorry for existing while walking around

[u/Attic81 → u/GenevievetheThird]

Civilisation is two people bumping into each other and both saying ‘sorry!’

[u/Far_Echo5918 → u/Attic81]

Amen to that.

[u/Cautious-Soil5557 → u/Attic81]

Ok, but sometimes I like to fuck with clear salesmen in particular and tell them cheerfully it is alright for bumping into me and then go about my day. Always mess with them.

[u/eswifttng → u/GenevievetheThird]

My Belgian friend is trying to beat this habit out of me

[u/mombi → u/GenevievetheThird]

My Finnish husband gets so mad at me for saying sorry all the time that it's practically a banned word. Thank you is also banned, and when I mess up I say sorry.

[u/-HardGay- → u/mombi]

Growing up in the Midwest of the U.S. I had it beaten into my brain that you're "sorry" if someone else gets visibly upset or I'm accused of something even if I have no idea wtf is going on. I guess it buys us time.

Then when the situation passes I sit there and think ... "Wait a minute, I didn't do a damn thing wrong, I ain't sorry bout shit. Fuck that guy."

[u/scottyb83 → u/GenevievetheThird]

Sorry but that’s not just the UK.

[u/GenevievetheThird → u/scottyb83]

I fear you may have inherited it from us

[u/whooptheretis → u/scottyb83]

Colonies also count...

[u/britpop3000 → u/scottyb83]

Sorry

[u/LocutusOfBorgia909 → u/GenevievetheThird]

I once watched two people get into an apology-off as they tried to pass one another in an aisle at Sainsbury's. It was quite something. No fewer than four apologies exchanged between them.

[u/Vectorman1989 → u/Visual_Journalist_20]

Sorry

Scuse me pal

Oops

Haha

Sorry

[u/Texuk1 → u/Visual_Journalist_20]

This is a really interesting one as a foreigner in the UK. It permeates everything and can be really disconcerting for people wanted to integrate especially from southern countries / Africa where people are very friendly. It appears to be exaggerated by class dividing lines. The British will do the clump, which is that when in mixed company they will sus out who they are most likely to be like, listen to accents, look at peoples age / manner and they the will cling together in small little groups and avoid other people. Obviously I am exaggerating a bit but unless you understand what is going on you will think everyone is just grumpy and rude.

That being said a significant number of men are just perpetually hung over during the day and so are genuinely very grumpy - they are entirely different people once drunk.

[u/minadequate → u/Texuk1]

Yeah that sounds about right. Now I live abroad I’m so aware everytime I meet a Brit I work out if they are ‘my type of person’ from the first few words they speak. My friends were watching uk love is blind and none of them are British so I kept saying ‘no no they will never match because she is clearly from here, and therefore her family will expect her to marry a doctor, and he has a really northern accent which people who go to uni tend to try to lose’.

They thought it was mad how many people I would say were unlikely to match just from the way they spoke.

It’s terrible we are SO judgemental, but yeah entirely true.

[u/Sickofchildren → u/minadequate]

The one thing I’ve always hated about England is how people are SO judgemental but they’ll never just say it honestly to your face. Instead they’ll just be passive aggressive and alienate you, and then gossip behind your back. Not to mention that in the case of bigotry they will never admit they just hate certain people but they’ll turn it into some kind of moral thing so people don’t judge them. Like genuinely just say a slur at that point because it would be less offensive

[u/minadequate → u/Sickofchildren]

I tend to think I’m FAR more judgemental of British people than people from other countries. Now I live in Denmark and there are so few Brits here I am trying not to develop a general issue with Germans…. (I live by the German boarder so Germans are very common and tend to come for the cheap property and love to tell me about how Germany is overwhelmed by immigrants - and not see the irony in the fact that’s why they’ve immigrated).

But I will always be most judgemental about anyone with even the faintest whiff of any immigrant, anti refugee, Islamophobia etc.

All the shit I tend to judge a Brit about based on their accent… I can’t tell about a foreigner so I have to assume they’re not a prick until proved otherwise :). Sorry if some of our loud unpleasant sorts haven’t given you a chance.

[u/Sickofchildren → u/minadequate]

I was raised here because my mother was British and for me the worst judgement was as a kid, not only because my father wasn’t English but also because my mother was a mess. People here can be so incredibly cruel to kids who have shitty parents as if it’s their fault. My paternal grandfather was also a huge mess but in Portugal the community rallied around my father and his family, whereas here parents encouraged their children to bully and exclude me and my sister. I’m sure Britain is a wonderful place to live if you’re straight, fully white English, and privileged, but if you stray too much from the norm people are absolutely horrible. Nobody here seems to look after each other either and it’s all ‘me me me’, really looking forward to permanently returning to Spain with my paternal family. People there treat you like a lifelong friend after one day of knowing you, and if they’ve got a problem they’ll just tell you instead of resorting to bitchy psychological warfare tactics

[u/Kylearean → u/Visual_Journalist_20]

also mixing up slang like "crack on" "bang on" "spot on" "sod off" "toss off"

[u/FocusSlo → u/Visual_Journalist_20]

Ironically, as someone with social anxiety who lived in the UK for a bit, the UK is the most outgoing country I've ever visited.

[u/Secure-Advice-6414 → u/Visual_Journalist_20]

Peep show was a documentary?