OP: Americans are very polite. Other people are mostly not as polite as Americans. Don’t expect to find other people as polite, because many of them are not.
In the UK, politeness is a kind of rudeness you use to hurt people you’re too chicken to hit. Perhaps this is why the French are so rude back to the British.
On the other hand, America is not a country that is noted for being nice to children or old people. Not the worst perhaps, but far far from the best. Traveling with small children, Americans are often impressed by how much care and effort furrinerrs will expend.
Brixton and Peckham, yes. Barking, no. Very much no. Hipsters still avoid that hole.
But actually I don’t think going into a crappy pub there would be dangers for a visiting US tourist (tip for finding a dodgy pub: any pub with “Railway” in the name or any pub advertising a tribute band). It could even be quite friendly especially if you go all-American and tip the bar staff extravagantly. And it will be instantly recognisable that you are not welcome if you are, in fact, not welcome.
More likely they thought you’d get a bus because the walk from Southwark to the Tower can be quite long and boring unless you start out on the South Bank and just walk across the bridge. Heavy road traffic slows down foot traffic, too, but buses are often quicker than both.
Driving in London is HELL. For anyone. OK, we (Londoners) know the rules and the environment (and roundabouts aren’t much of an issue in central London) but half the other drivers don’t and almost all the pedestrians in Central London seem to have a deathwish (get further out and it’s less of a problem).
If you bump into members of the 'Loony Left ’ over here, then yes they’ll mouth off because you’re American .But to be fair they’ll mouth off about ‘evil’ Britain as well .
They’re usually phonies who think that wearing combat jackets and going to demos in lieu of a social life makes them cool and edgy .
They usually are pretty uninformed about the subjects that they are against and though noisy out of all proportion to their numbers nationally, do not represent the views of the average Brit .
But as posted above your friends friends could well be just taking the piss .
I’ve never been to the UK, though I was stationed at Woomera, South Australia, in the mid 80s (I know, I know—a long time ago).
I never had any problems, except a few times, but most of them seemed to like Americans. And there was the friendly banter. Except for one guy who lived in a town nearby, but always came to Woomera to get drunk. He hated Americans, and eventually we sat down together and he told me why (over beers).
It seems that he was in ‘Nam, and over a dozen GIs died saving his life (I guess he was shot up pretty bad and in bad shape). He hated the U.S. because so many men died saving him. I guess it was a guilt thing (him surviving and them not). We actually became sort-of friends after that. I guess he needed to share his feelings or something.
And the Aussies could always tell who was an American before one even opened their mouth. One huge hint was that American men tucked in their shirts (guilty as charged).
I went to New Zealand when I was in Australia, and that was quite the experience. Americans were not liked, so I cut my leave/vacation there pretty short, and just stayed the day and flew back. This was back when the ANZUS thing was going on and nuclear-powered navy vessels being denied entry. Lots of bad feelings I guess.
There was some sort of strike on, so no tube and I’m not sure about buses. I’m pretty sure that if we didn’t walk, we wouldn’t get anywhere that day. Banker Guy was obviously walking to work himself. In the end we walked for miles–the Tower, up St. Paul’s, over to Westminster and then back to Southwark. It was great–everyplace was practically empty because of the strike, and we didn’t even have to stand in line, not even for the crown jewels. We did the moving walkway thingy twice, once on each side.
I don’t think there’s any need to throw in politics here. You can find rude people on either side of the political spectrum.
I don’t see any reason why the loony-left would be more rude than the far right, or more rude than people in general even.
And I’m saying that as someone who lived in the UK for 33 years and has right-wing political leanings.
By coincidence, at the date of writing “The Register” is running an interview with a Brit working in Texas, who includes comments on being a Brit in the UK. Take a look around half way down the page: [A Brit in California moves to the Lone Star State](A Brit in California moves to the Lone Star State – just swerve the TexMex grub) to wit: " I do know I find it grating to put up with the lack of common civility in the UK when I visit."
One of my British coworkers has a different sense of humour than everybody else in the team; now, that happens sometimes, but this particular guy combines it with the inability to understand that no, other people do not find his jokes funny and in fact find them offensive. I’ve discovered that a way to unruffle the Swedes when they’re mad enough to look mad (which takes a lot, with Swedes) is to point out that the Brits find his notions of a “joke” maddening too. Maybe drewtwo99’s friends include my coworker or his relatives; apparently his wife does find his jokes funny.
You know NYC is in the US, right? They make rudeness a point of pride.
I am an American who had an almost identical experience to the OP. I went to London in 2007. In a pub (ahead of a concert at the O2), I said, “Hello” to a person at my table. He looked at me and said, “Oh, I see, an American.” and … then he proceeded to tear into me about my government. I wondered whether to try to explain that I didn’t vote for W or whether I should just go for the “No, Canadian” lie. Ultimately, I thought that lying would end the conversation more quickly, so that’s the route I chose.
Still no idea how he’d guessed correctly after just one word. I was deeply impressed.
Ditto, except I moved here permanently about three years ago. I get stuff from British (male) colleagues all the time. I have to admire the one who has actually done a bit of research into what might yank my chain the most (he’s our American history specialist). None of it is mean-spirited, and at least in my colleagues’ case, reposte is expected, the ruder and more obscure the better. It helps that we’re all historians, I think. Such a deep well to dip into.
They all want to come along when I get citizenship (with luck this autumn).
It’s ok though as I have a French colleague, and we’ve allied over the common enemy.
Because, (see previous comments), the natives lack civility, and use politeness as a weapon.
So, you were German or Dutch, maybe? Except you weren’t wearing an orange top, leather sandals, and carrying an expensive camera. Wouldn’t have been French – would have known better. Not Eastern European – their second language was Russian, and in English they still have an accent. Besides (see above) you’re overweight and have your shirt tucked in.
It’s not always possible to tell the difference between people from different countries, but it’s not that the English are good at it: rather, Americans are notoriously hopeless at it.
Whenever I’m asked where I’m from while traveling, I’ve always given my hometown, Cleveland (OH). The responses have ranged from sympathy to outright admiration
“Whenever you hear a European bring up John Wayne in conversation, be aware that you are about to get a faceful.”
-------------------------------------------P.J. O’Rourke
No, you use it on people too far beneath you to hit (one must have ones standards), and is especially fun when both parties consider themselves the socially superior. Grew up in Virginia and can speak that language, too. You can have a brutal, cutting argument that Northerners think is a perfectly polite, even pleasant, conversation.
Hah. Or the left-hand lane that suddenly becomes left turn only, when you need to go straight, dumping you into a sort of thirteenth circle of one-way vortex hell. I swear, I once drove three times around Victoria station trying to find the one road that would lead me across the river, because my satnav kept insisting I should go straight, when I actually should have been turning right.
Yes we do! We absolutely do. Please tell!
Ye gods. I did something similar in my pre-satnav days as well - trying to find my way from Mile End onto the M4 with only my girlfriend and an A-Z as navigation guides. That was a rather fraught journey, because we kept getting diverted out of our way by roadworks, and it took about three times as long as we had anticipated. Not a good start to a holiday.
The only embarrassing question I was asked on a visit to the UK (this was pre-9/11 but the U.S. was still Evil) was by a Scottish girl who wanted to know what Ohio’s chief exports were.* I was stumped for an answer (grain? doo-dads? corrupt politicians?).
