Britishness

This morning I was queuing for the ATM, behind a man in uniform that kept wandering around. Eventually he was standing just behind my right shoulder, looking the other way, when one of the machines became free. I turned around, tapped him on the shoulder, gesticulated to the ATM, and said (in Hebrew), 'You were here before me'. He gave me this look of pure astonishment, that I hadn't simply jumped in front of him, muttered a hesitant 'thanks...', and then gingerly took his money out - all the while giving me funny looks, as if I was up to something.

Someone asked me recently what it means to be British, and at the time I admit I was slightly taken aback, but upon further thought other than the obvious 'being from Britain' answer, there are so many things that define the average Brit, and I think this is one of them. I know it's become passé to say so, but we are a polite people, and we really are very good at queuing.

What other values are quintissentially British? Allow to take a stab at this question, emphasising that I am aware that this is a massive generalisation.

I feel the importance of tea is often overlooked by people. Yes, I know, can you say 'stereotype'? But really, what is the most common phrase you will hear coming out of a British person's mouth during a lull in the conversation? It won't be 'so... how much do you pay in rent?' (as in Israel), but rather 'so... shall I put the kettle on?'. It is one of the few unifying factors in British society - everyone drinks tea; from the labourers working on your extension to the Queen to the chavs hanging about on that bad estate down the road.

What else? Well, obviously we're obsessed with mentioning the weather (although I feel this is connected with the sheer idiosyncracy of British weather). I speak with my family once a week on the phone, and at least 15 minutes of that will be a description of the weather, followed by a brief 'how's the weather there? still sunny? thought so'. This is obviously not uniquely British, but along with the Japanese we are perhaps the only people for whom 'cold today, isn't it?' is an acceptable greeting.

We've mentioned politeness and queuing, but so far haven't brought up that old chestnut: 'fair play'. I wish we still believed in this, but our electoral system clearly shows how much we've let that one fall by the wayside... Fine, so some people still play by the rules, but the majority of people have been taken over by that horrible continental habit of trying to take advantage of everyone else. *le sigh*

Anyway, what do you think is British?