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The British have a sublime sense of humour which is often not understood by foreign people - who often don't get the joke nor understand when we're joking. An American writer once wrote that he found it difficult to realise and distinguish between when British people are being serious and when we're being humorous. He said it annoyed and frustrated him at times that people were often joking and pulling his leg during the middle of business meetings, whilst at the same time looking dead serious.
The British sense of humour is always close to hand in any situation... even during funerals when someone can suddenly come out with a funny line when people least expect it. It's something which helps to lift and lighten peoples moods during times of severe stress. British celebrities have said they thing they miss the most when they travel to other nations is the British sense of humour. They said there's nothing quite like the British sense of humour anywhere else in the world. Other people usually just don't get when we're joking. I love the Aussie GSOH too.
We tend to be introverted and like our own space and tend to keep to ourselves (especially in the south of England,) and can be a bit distrusting of strangers.... especially when people here are sober. I've read reports in the past that British people stated they felt the need to drink in order to feel relaxed and less socially awkward before socialising with people.... but they can go wild on the false sense of 'freedom' whilst drunk.
We tend to make small talk about the weather a lot when talking with strangers. We're ok when we get to know people properly, but the English (especially southern English and the middle classes) are often reserved and tend to keep a British 'stiff upper lip'. The Northern English tend to be more bubbly and less reserved. Our smiles are often pretentious... we smile to be polite, but it's not a genuine smile. We like making light-hearted fun of ourselves sometimes too and we can laugh at ourselves and our peculiar cultural ways in both comedy and in life.
There's an unwritten rule of etiquette on the London Underground to avoid eye contact with people. If strangers stare or make eye contact with people on public transport here, they're regarded as a weirdo.
My mother and sister (from the south-west coast of England where people are more friendly than in the large city of London,) both said they couldn't stop quietly giggling once on the London tube when they came to visit me. They said they were giggling because everyone looked so stern and serious on the tube. A friendly late close friend of mine from Manchester used to remark when he was alive whilst we were using the tube, 'Southerners aren't very friendly.' Londoners don't represent the entire south of England though. I think anywhere outside of this big city is friendlier in comparison.
This is a hilarious mockery of the way Londoners behave and look serious on the tube with their large newspapers... and the way passengers frequently run to squeeze onto the trains on the London Underground...
'Why does nobody talk on the London Tube?' 'Because we're a bunch of miserable bastards.'
On a serious note, the reality is there's millions and millions of people in a big city like London, so people don't know each other well here like local people do in a small and friendly rural countryside village. There's also loads of travellers, immigrants, commuters, tourists, and strangers who are just passing through London each day too.
There's a sense of distrust if a stranger suddenly stops or approaches you... you don't know if they're going to mug you. And people are often preoccupied in their own thoughts and like their personal space on the crowded tube, or are often in a hurry, etc.
My grandmother told me when she was alive that she thought that London is 'a very lonely place.'
I've often reflected on that and have come to realise that people can feel more lonely and alone in London (despite all the millions of people who live here,) than if they live a small and friendly community within a countryside village.
2:25 = British humour at its finest... it's so hilarious!
Jack Dee plays a whinging character who mutters his private thoughts of contempt underneath his breath... and he's one of the UK's most popular comedians.
He sarcastically mocks British patriotism towards the British Empire in this clip.
'You don't show foreign officials your British passport when you travel abroad;- you slap them aside with it!'
'Reason for visiting?'
'Imperialism, ok.'
Al Murray is so funny. He has a southern English accent, but he's of Scottish and Austrian aristocratic heritage, and he has a university degree in history. He's also made educational video documentaries about the interesting people and culture of Germany. He's very clued-up on world history and other cultures, but on-stage he impersonates a funny and ignorant character.
He impersonates a fictional character on-stage of an overly patriotic English pub landlord who is xenophobic of foreigners. When British people are laughing at him when he comes on stage and acts all superior to other cultures of people, we're actually laughing at the attitude of some people who have excessive British patriotism.
Both me and my Northern English boyfriend and also my Irish friend have had tears and nearly died from laughing when watching this hilarious video clip below.
Incase foreign people (whose first language isn't English) don't understand what he's saying...
'What's your name?'
'Neil... I'm from America'.
'Welcome Neil.'
'Neil, if you had to sum-up Great Britain in just one word, what would it be mate?' (Patriotic smile.)
The American guy is silent... as if he's struggling to find anything good about the UK. (He's probably thinking 'nothing'.)
'Football'.
'You what?! Football? Nah.... the word you're looking for mate is great, innit?! It goes in the name for fuck sake, dozy yank...'
'You're an American dreaming the American dream. We don't have a dream in Great Britain;- there is no British dream. The reason why we don't have a dream in this country Neil... is because we're awake!'
'You Americans keep banging on about how you got to the moon first ... but no-one else was really trying to go there, were they mate?! Don't care... it doesn't really matter when you're on your own!
'America's a big, vast, and unwieldy country, whereas Britain's compact. We don't have many mountains here - but we learned how to climb them so that we could practice how to conquer other people.'
'We don't have earthquakes in this country... nah, because we don't deserve them.
Some Americans took this video personally, even though Al Murray was just being humorous and gently teasing Americans. He kept pointing out in the video that he loves Americans. Al Murray constantly mocks British culture too.... and a lot of British people find him hilarious, because we're able to laugh at ourselves.
Rowan Atkinson playing a stereotypical serious, snooty, and authorative secondary school teacher calling out the names of students on the school attendance registrar.... and the names of his pupils that he calls out have very funny first name and surname combinations.
Rowan was an extremely talented actor and a silent comedian too (like Charlie Chaplin) with a very expressive face. His facial expressions and his body language could make people of any language laugh. R.I.P.
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