22 Things British People Love

My name’s Teacher Tom and this  is 22 things that Brits love.

Meal Deals

British food isn’t one of the world’s  great cuisines - fair enough I get that  

AND all our best food is beige - crisps,  sandwiches, sausage rolls BUT one thing  

we love is a lunch time meal deal. Beige food  at a cheap price! Come on! That’s the British  

dream! Go to any supermarket and you can  get a main, snack and drink for under a  

fiver. Most office workers in the UK are  fuelled by a sandwich, packet of crisps  

and a fizzy drink. This isn’t gourmet stuff BUT  we love it and you might learn to love it too.

By the way, if you are new here I’m Teacher Tom  and I teach fresh modern British English and  

culture to people around the world interested in  this crazy little island nation of ours. I’ve got  

a whole bunch of free resources you might like -  there’s a free pronunciation masterclass video,  

a digital book all about British slang  and one about business English as well  

plus I have a free weekly newsletter keeping you  up-to-date with all the latest news and trends  

happening in the UK that week. All the links  that you need are in the description below.

Queuing Queuing is a national sport over here.  

If it was an Olympic event we’d win gold, silver  and bronze. Sometimes we don’t even know what we  

are queuing for. It’s bonkers! Occasionally I  like to just join a queue to see where it goes.  

I think it speaks to the British love of order and  fairness and there is nothing that angers a Brit  

more than a queue jumper!!! Ufff queue jumpers  are the worst! We even have invisible queues!  

What? How does that work? I’ll tell you more  about it when we discuss Brits’ love of a pub.

Number three Sir David Attenborough

He is a national treasure. He’s the  nation’s grandfather having been the  

voice and the face of the BBC’s natural  history programming for 50 years or more.  

Generations of Brits have learned about the  natural world through his shows like Planet  

Earth and Blue Planet and so many others  and he continues to raise awareness about  

climate and environmental issues even  in his late 90s. At least once a week,  

I make sure I express a little gratitude to the  universe that we still have him in our lives.

4) Talking About The Weather

You knew this one already, didn’t you? Now  I know lots of cultures do but for us there  

are two main reasons: Firstly, we use it as a  conversational crutch to lean on when chatting  

to people we know or to strangers. It’s the  easy way to make conversation with someone. You  

make an observation about the weather and you’ve  avoided that awkward silence that nobody wants,  

right? Secondly, the weather in the UK  is a madness! Honetly, it's madness. It’s  

constantly changing and keeping you on your  toes. One minute it’s raining cats and dogs,  

the next it’s sunshine and rainbows.  So it’s a constant source of surprise  

and interest for us. One thing it isn’t, is  predictable and that keeps us entertained.

5) Odd flavoured crisps

Crisps are very dear to my heart. I bloody love  them. I could (and probably should) have a whole  

YouTube channel dedicated to discussing crisps  so I feel well positioned to admit that YES we  

Brits do love some ridiculous flavours. Take  prawn cocktail, a popular seafood starter from  

the 1970s. It’s one of our favourite flavours. It  comes in a pink bag, it tastes delicious. You've  

gotta try it. Salt and vinegar is an absolute  classic as is cheese and onion. How are these  

sounding to you? Weird huh? What about crispy  bacon, pickled onion or haggis and cracked black  

pepper? That one's just in Scotland. Yeah, and  that’s not including all the Xmas specials like  

pigs in blankets, turkey and stuffing I could go  on. We like them weird and wonderful. I’d like  

to give a special shout out to barbecue  beef hula hoops, a true British classic.

6) Sporting Rivalries

The UK is a sports crazy nation. Football  is top dog BUT we also love rugby, cricket,  

tennis, darts, boxing…I could go on. And I  think the thing that draws people to sport  

is the rivalries that have developed over  time. We love a good sporting narrative  

like the underdog vs the established star  or the redemption of a fallen hero. Now  

what are the biggest sporting rivalries in  the UK…well…in football there is no bigger  

derby than the Old Firm derby between Celtic  and Rangers the two huge Glasgow football  

teams. In England there are lots of derbies  but I would say the biggest one is probably  

Liverpool vs Manchester United but every city  or region has its own version like Newcastle  

vs Sunderland or Cardiff vs Swansea. In terms of  international games when Scotland and England play  

it's always a bit spicy and for England games  against Germany have a little added meaning.

In rugby, we have the six nations  tournament in which England, Scotland,  

Wales, Ireland, France and Italy  all play each other. Each game has  

a special status but again I think that  England vs Scotland match is a big one.

In Cricketing terms there is no  bigger game for the England team  

than playing Australia in the Ashes. And  invariably Australia always seem to win.

7) Pubs

In many societies people socialise around food.  In the UK, we do it around alcohol and it usually  

takes place in a pub. They are where Brits meet  after work, for dates, for someone’s birthday,  

to celebrate or commiserate or simply to get away  from the cold weather for an hour or two. Now if  

you come to the UK you've got to visit  them but there are a few rules to need  

to follow for example the invisible queue  that I mentioned earlier. They serve drinks  

at the bar but there’s no formal line, you  simply have to stand there and have a look,  

check to see who's in front of you and then  wait your turn. And remember there's nothing  

worse than a queue jumper. There are lots of  other bits of pub etiquette you should know  

that I’ve shared in my book ‘A Really  British Guide to English’ along with  

hundreds of other cultural tips. If you’d like  a copy the link is in the description below.

Now whilst we are on pubs, let's do number nine:  Pub Quizzes. Brits love a pub quiz night. They  

are evenings where a pub will organise a formal  quiz (usually general knowledge ) for customers  

and offer prizes and it's a lot of fun. They  can be informal affairs or they can be taken  

very seriously, depends on the pub. People gather  in teams, choose ‘witty’ team names like ‘I am  

Smarticus’ or ‘Agatha Quiztie’ and compete for the  glory. So if you are in the UK for a while ask the  

owners of your local pub if they run a weekly quiz  and get a little team together and have some fun.

10) Saying ‘sorry’ ALL THE TIME

Yeah, this is a thing! Brits love to  say ‘sorry’ at every possible occasion  

they can….especially if there is no reason to  apologise. So let's say someone bumps into you,  

you say ‘sorry’. If someone stands on on the  wrong side of an escalator you say ‘sorry’.  

If someone is coming in the door and you  are trying to exit, you say ‘sorry’. Now  

I don't know why I think we are genetically  designed to apologise at least 5 times a day.

11) I love this one. Cheering when  someone smashes a glass in the pub

Honestly, there are few sounds more British  than the celebratory ‘waheeey’ just after  

someone has dropped a glass in a pub or  bar. There’s this childlike glee in the  

idiocy or clumsiness of someone else that brings  Brits so much joy. It’s not meant to be mean,  

just a moment of comedy we can  all share together. So the next  

time you are in a pub and someone  smashes a glass give a 'waheeey'

12) BBC

When it comes to the big British institutions  like the Monarchy or the BBC, opinions are often  

divided here. However, I’d say generally speaking  Brits still have a lot of warmth and affection  

for the BBC. For so many of us, it’s been the  source of our news and entertainment since we  

were children and it’s always been synonymous  with quality and impartiality. Now I know,  

you could debate that and the BBC has its flaws  like any institution but it still has a place in  

the hearts of many Brits. Top shows like Match  of the Day, EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing  

still get millions of viewers and I personally  can’t imagine a Britain without the BBC.

13) A cup of tea

We bloody love tea! And there is a belief that  it can solve everything! There’s a never a  

time when you shouldn’t have a cup of tea.  Get a promotion - have a cup of tea. Get  

fired - have a cup of tea. Your football team  loses in the last minute - have a cup of tea.  

In the south of England we say ‘a cuppa’  in the north it’s ‘a brew’. You add milk,  

sugar (if you want it) and maybe a cheeky  biscuit to dunk into your drink = perfection.

14) banter

What is banter? Well, it’s playful humorous  conversation between people. It can often  

be teasing or joking but it shouldn’t be  mean or malicious. Brits live for banter,  

it’s a very bonding thing.  We banter about football,  

bad clothes, silly haircuts, someone’s bad  taste in music…anything and everything.

15) saying ‘alright’ and not wanting a response

Spend a few days in the UK and you’ll pick up on  this immediately. Brits love using ‘alright’ as  

a greeting BUT they aren’t looking for  an actual answer. So don’t reply ‘Yes  

I’m fine thank you and you?’…We don't want  that. All you have to do is deliver a very  

casual ‘alright’ or a 'hi' if you really want.  That’s it..the perfect British conversation.

16) Fish and Chips (or any Friday night takeaway)

All the rumours are true! We do love fish  and chips. I know more beige food. But it  

tastes particularly good by the seaside, on  a cold rainy day! For many British families  

a trip to the ‘chippy’ on a Friday night  is a weekly pilgrimage. There are regional  

variations about what to have with our fish  and chips. In the north they like mushy peas,  

gravy and curry sauce and in the  south it’s more like salt, vinegar,  

maybe some ketchup mayonnaise that kind of  thing and in Scotland they love to throw a  

bit of haggis or a mars bar into the deep fat  fryer…just for lols just fry anything yeah?

Now if you aren’t into fish and chips,  that’s alright because Brits have this  

tradition of a Friday night take away.  The big popular ones are Chinese and  

Indian and if you go to any town or  village frankly you can get both.

17) saying ‘it’s coming home’  before every football tournament

Ok this one hurts a little bit because this  is another football related point that only  

really pertains to England but every time there  is a major international football tournament  

EVERYONE starts saying ‘it’s coming  home’. This is a reference to a song  

lyric from the 1996 anthem ‘Three Lions’ in  which the singers claim ‘football is coming  

home’. And we have this sort of optimism and  belief that each year, each tournament it is  

coming home. We've been singing this for 20  years, 30 years and we are still waiting!

18) Discussing the route to/from somewhere

To be honest this is probably an older man  kinda thing but my goodness do Brits love  

discussing how they are going to get somewhere  or if they are at a function of some kind, how  

they got there. Which route did you take?  The M1 or the M6? Which junction did you  

get off at? Did you avoid the congestion  charge? How was the ring road this time  

of the day? There’s a diversion for all  south bound traffic…oh god! Why! Why! It  

seems to bring Brits endless joy and I  can’t fathom it. I don't understand it.  

Maybe because I haven't got a car. But yeah we  love talking about traffic and routes. Madness!

19) neo-colonial taking over  places in far away places

In these post colonial times I’ve noticed that  certain groups of Brits still seem obsessed with  

‘claiming’ territory abroad. There are two  great examples of this. One is the football  

fans who travel to European cities with their  team and set up camp in the town centre, in  

the square and they'll put up their flags/banners  and they'll sort of take over the bars and cafes  

essentially annexing the square as if it's their  territory for the day. The second example is on  

holiday. Take previously sleepy and unsuspecting  Spanish or Greek seaside towns. And then Brits go  

there like I mean I'm talking about places like  the Costa del sol, Agia Napa Kavos Now Brits  

go there and completely overrun the place. All  the cafes serve British food, all the bars have  

British TV shows and the whole town feels like  Croydon on the Med. Personally I’m not a fan.

20) Your mum’s Sunday Roast

As we’ve discussed, we’re not a nation of  gourmets BUT we do love a good Sunday roast  

and in particular our mum’s, or dad’s  or gran’s your family's Sunday roast.  

Because it's the one that you are used to.  Now a home cooked roast just hits different  

to a pub version. It’s the one you’ve  grown up with so it’s always going to  

be the best. Sunday roasts consist of a roast  meat (chicken, beef, lamb or veggie options),  

roast potatoes and veg along with gravy  and various condiments. Personally I love a  

Yorkshire pudding. They are pretty good I've got  to say guys. So when you come to the UK, trying  

a Sunday roast is a must and if you can get an  invite to have it at someone’s home even better.

21) not making a fuss/being a bother

This is one area of life in which Americans and  Brits really differ. An American will tell you if  

they aren’t happy with something whereas us Brits  tend to keep quiet and suffer in silence. Don’t  

get me wrong, I think the American approach makes  way more sense but it’s just not in our nature  

to make along and dance about something. For  example, if someone is sitting in their allotted  

seat on the train, a lot of Brits will just shrug  their shoulders and find another seat rathe than  

confront the person. That’s not a rule, but I’ve  seen it and done myself. I guess we are terrified  

of making a fuss - of being seen as the person  who caused trouble or inconvenience for others.

22) An underdog

Let’s finish with one last observation. Brits  love an underdog story. Maybe it’s because we  

are a small nation so we feel some kind of  kinship but it’s definitely something deep  

in our psyche. One of the great British  underdog stories was Eddie the Eagle. Now  

he was an absolutely hopeless ski jumper in the  1988 winter olympics. He came last. The guy was  

rubbish but the country became obsessed with  him.They even made a film about the geezer.

Guys can you add any more to the  list? Have I forgotten any?Share  

your ideas in the comments below and don’t forget to get hold of a copy of  

my book ‘A Really British Guide to  English’ and of course all the free  

resources to help you learn English.  This is Teacher Tom, saying goodbye.