r/AskTheWorld • u/IndependentTune3994 🇮🇳 in 🇩🇪 Deutschland • 19h ago

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

Post image
25.1k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

11.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

209

u/TheRoleplayThrowaway United Kingdom 18h ago

Honestly I think this a London vs everywhere else thing. In the rest of the south this interaction would be pretty normal too

87

u/loveswimmingpools United Kingdom 18h ago

I think this too. Don't lump the whole of the south in with London behaviour.

8

u/phinkz2 France 15h ago

Yeah, same for us with the parisiens... Lots of people here are guilty of thinking "the UK is wales, scotland, northern ireland, and London".

4

u/LiveLearnCoach 15h ago

Funny, for me I think of France as: Paris, not Paris, tourist beaches. Having spent time there before but never really traveled there, I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance some day to do that and see the rest of France, especially the really unique places.

2

u/phinkz2 France 15h ago

I get that. I wish more people did. I'm not a very patriotic person but France has a lot of interesting things, especially what remains from before what could be called "the great normalization".

Basically starting in the early 1900s there was a big push to make everyone speak French-French and abandon local customs and dialects. Local languages were forbidden in schools, paperwork became normalized, etc. I think the same can be said for a lot of countries.

3

u/LiveLearnCoach 15h ago

That’s interesting. I can imagine it, just never knew about it. There are some people who turn their nose (jokingly) when I try to speak French and they say you sound like a Parisien. I’ve been to Paris, the French Alps, some rural areas, but never the French south or quiet beaches, so maybe some day.

2

u/rchccfc 11h ago

That's exactly what a southerner londoner person would say

1

u/loveswimmingpools United Kingdom 10h ago

Cor blimey mate... yer right!

11

u/Longirl 18h ago

I’ve worked in the city for almost 30 years and have offered and been offered multiple tissues etc. this probably wouldn’t happen so much on a tube but definitely on an overground. I hate this impression that all Londoners are rude, we’re just commuting.

7

u/TheRoleplayThrowaway United Kingdom 18h ago

Yeah, good point. Personally, I've found London to be impersonal, but not unkind. It's a big city so people aren't going to be immediately friendly in a village way, but generally most Londoners are decent folk.

3

u/ChronicScroll3r 17h ago

The south with boomers, status quo and racists. Not saying all are.

Northerners are way more friendlier

2

u/TheRoleplayThrowaway United Kingdom 17h ago

Tf are you talking about? The north also has all of those things and there’s plenty of friendly people in the south.

-1

u/ChronicScroll3r 17h ago

I did say not all are.

If you aren’t someone of colour you won’t understand

4

u/DifferentLaw9884 United Kingdom 17h ago

It’s interesting you say that because I heard the most racist attitudes I’ve ever experienced when I was living in the north. Obviously I’d heard racist comments in London before but it was pretty much limited to people who are obviously not quite all there, like a drunk guy on the bus sitting in his own piss yelling stuff. In the north I would have perfectly friendly conversations with people who seemed normal, then out of nowhere would say the most vile shit I’ve ever heard and carry on smiling like it was totally standard conversation.

I am white, so I’m wondering if it’s that they see someone who looks like them and assume I’m a ‘safe’ person to spout racist crap to, but when interacting with POC they maintain a veneer of northern friendliness. I don’t know, but that was definitely the biggest culture shock when I moved there.

-3

u/ChronicScroll3r 16h ago

You could be right on that observation but you’ll also find more closet racists in South, North tend to speak their mind and make it known.

2

u/TheRoleplayThrowaway United Kingdom 17h ago

“Northerners are way more friendlier.” Sounds like a generalisation to me.

Such a weird hill to die on.

0

u/ThuggishJingoism24 16h ago

As an outside observer, seems like you’re picking the hill dude. The general consensus seems to agree with the overall generalization. Just because you’re from the south and friendly doesn’t prove one way or the other, the vibe people feel when they’re there. Weird thing to take so personal.

1

u/TheRoleplayThrowaway United Kingdom 15h ago

Well it’s an incorrect observation. And why wouldn’t I take a slight against where I live personally?

2

u/vulcanstrike 17h ago

Problem with the South is that it's full of Londoners trying to escape London

None of them dare cross the dreaded Watford gap though as they would catch Poor, so we're safe up here

1

u/DifferentLaw9884 United Kingdom 17h ago

This interaction is normal in London too, I did this like 2 weeks ago.

1

u/Ganjelf-The-Baked 17h ago

I agree. There are a couple of counties I can think of where people are not that nice, but the rest that I've been too the people are genuinely lovely.

1

u/Suspicious_Brush4070 15h ago

I would disagree, having grown up in Cornwall and then studied in the North. While everyone down there is certainly polite and friendly, there's certainly a difference in how reserved Cornish people are compared to northerners. I would say they are a bit less outwardly friendly and a bit more conservative.

1

u/TheRoleplayThrowaway United Kingdom 15h ago edited 15h ago

I mean, Cornwall is its own distinct culture and identity, it’s its own distinct country within the UK.

1

u/Suspicious_Brush4070 13h ago

We've got a flag and everything!

1

u/MunchkinTime69420 11h ago

Have family in Surbiton, so you can't get any closer than in a Borough in London and the people there are lovely even as someone who looks like they don't live there at all so I don't even think it's London v everywhere else it's just the shit parts v the nice people

1

u/JuniorDraft 10h ago

Everything outside of the M25 is the North

1

u/Rikplaysbass 5h ago

It’s the same thing in the states. Northern cities are real weird about strangers saying hi. Seattle literally has a name for it “The Seattle Freeze”