# The British and queuing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140 "2011-10-19T13:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![studmuffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@studmuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/studmuffin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/41 "2011-10-19T18:38:04Z")
Anytime I’ve visited the US the queuing protocol is akin to Brit standards, in Walmart the people are patient and courteous, even the badly dressed ones \* In Fast Food outlets however, anarchy is present, with queue jumping an unfortunate symptom of the need to eat vast amounts of stodgy deep fried chicken. - [shorts, flip flops and polo shirts, this horrid ensemble is de riguer for 90% of yankee doodles] ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/42 "2011-10-19T18:42:53Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > ETA: The longest consonant string I can think of in a one-syllable word is “angsts”. Can anyone beat five? Strengths ties it, plus has three consonants before the vowel, for an 8-1 ratio of vowels to consonants. Eighths also ties it with five. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/43 "2011-10-19T18:44:23Z")
The reason they enjoyed waiting in lines in Soviet Russia is because the queues waited on THEM! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/44 "2011-10-19T18:47:52Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > It wasn’t many years ago that the law that stated that you must wait in an ordered queue at bus stops was abolished. > [@gazpacho](#): > > This was a law? I recall reading about it in the news when the law was abolished. They interviewed a lot of people in the street for their opinion on it, and not a single one had been aware it was a law in the first place. Really. They were all surprised to discover it. Queuing up was just what was done. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/45 "2011-10-19T18:59:43Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > **Mangetout** mentions rationing during and after WWII; rationing of food even after the war (when supplies lines could open again) was kept going [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom) because farming in Europe had been bombed out and austerity kicked in hard - this could be a reason for the bad food stereotype. I’ve read essays by H.L. Mencken in the Twenties where he talked about the awfulness of English food. He said the only good thing was mutton, which he attributed to English grass. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/46 "2011-10-19T19:15:15Z")
It is possible that the politeness is an obsolete stereotype also. The actor John Cleese talks about the rise of a ‘yob culture’. > [@](#): > > Cleese also spoke about the shift in British attitudes away from a “middle-class culture” and the emergence of a “yob culture”. > He said: “There were disadvantages to the old culture, it was a bit stuffy and it was more sexist and more racist. But it was an educated and middle-class culture. Now it’s a yob culture. The values are so strange.” > He added that he preferred living in Bath to London because the capital no longer felt “English”. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8455538/Lord-Cleese-of-Fawlty-Towers-Why-John-Cleese-declined-a-peerage.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8455538/Lord-Cleese-of-Fawlty-Towers-Why-John-Cleese-declined-a-peerage.html) I’m not precisely sure what he means by yobs, but it doesn’t sound like a compliment, but it isn’t clear if he is talking about England in general or just London. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/47 "2011-10-19T19:19:10Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > I thought (German, contintental here) that the stereotype is that - as part of the larger stereotype about how all Brits/ English are Gentleman, well-behaved to the extreme and with stiff upper lip - that the Brits will queue by > > forming an \*\* orderly\*\* line, not a wild mob > > waiting **peacefully** until their turn comes, not pushing, shoving, line-jumping. > > It’s usually brought up to contrast the (considered shameful) behaviour of other (contintental?) countries where people shove and form ragged lines. I’m British and this is how I understand the stereotype. It’s often mentioned in the context of lift queues at ski resorts in the Alps - the gist being that British skiers need to leave their polite queuing technique at home and sharpen their elbows, or they’ll get shoved to the back of the line. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/48 "2011-10-19T19:23:01Z")
[Yob](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yobbo) is a term coined by a prominent satirist who, when writing about soccer hooligans, said that these shouldn’t be called boys, but yobs (boys backwards). So yes, it’s derogatory for louts or uncultured, childish people with no manners. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/49 "2011-10-19T19:26:35Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > We’ve had this before and cracked has an article about it. The real reason is that Americans have a very different standard of beauty for teeth compared to the Brits: the Brits like teeth that look natural, which is off-white (cream) and uneven (in length, not crooked! Brits do have braces); Americans like teeth that have been whitened and evened to a line (although that is majorly bad for tooth health!) to look like a Hollywood star. > This kind of smile that flashes like 500 Watt lamp and looks like a piece of plastic was put over the teeth **looks rather frighteningly artificial** to Brits and also to Europeans - uncanny valley stuff. [my embolden] Moreover slightly comical and cartoon-like, and as you say very artificial. I’d be surprised if most Americans favor that look; it seems as though it’s fashionable amongst those who go crazy with plastic surgery too, but not your average guy in the street. > [@constanze](#): > > The bad food stereotype goes way back beyond WWII. The stereotype is not so much that the food is bad, but bland. Think of the stereotype grounded in reality of how American cooking was like in the 50s: bland, veggies cooked to mush, no spices, no herbs, no experiments, just meat, potatoes and veggies without taste to fill the belly. > > I don’t know how much that is historical enmity with the French and therefore doing it differently from their “fancy stuff” or general xenophobic reactions to anything foreign, or whether there are other reasons. The use of herbs and spices was to overcome the taste of rotten meats, and so because the UK generally doesn’t have much of a problem with keeping meat cold - for 9 months of the year anyway - this could be the reason for the ‘blandness’ of the food before spices made their way over, and then there was always the limitations of cost preventing most people from using them on a regular basis. > [@constanze](#): > > Huh? What links did Britain have with communism? Dude, lay off whatever you’re smoking. Just because Brits (like many other Europeans) have social parties or parties with “socalist” in the name, or because a few intellectuals praised communism when it was an idea has nothing to do with ties to the Soviet communism. > > And the stereotype of Brits queuing orderly because they are well-behaved and polite comes from a different reason than people in Soviet Russia or Eastern bloc countries queuing for everything because supplies were limited. If you delve into spying before and during the Cold War, [for example The Cambridge Spies](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/cambridge_spies_01.shtml) and [in MI6](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837376,00.html) you’ll find lots of links between the UK and Soviet governments. The [Labour Party](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3468476/Labour-Party-activist-was-Cold-War-spy.html) was especially infiltrated with those who had links to Soviet Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/50 "2011-10-19T19:29:50Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I’m British and this is how I understand the stereotype. It’s often mentioned in the context of lift queues at ski resorts in the Alps - the gist being that British skiers need to leave their polite queuing technique at home and sharpen their elbows, or they’ll get shoved to the back of the line. Which is interesting because line jumping is practically a federal offense in the US. Ski lifts usually have at least one attendant monitoring the lift line for line-skip hooliganism. I really don’t think the UKians are exceptionally different from USians in the matter of queuing, or, if you will, standing in line. I see people in orderly lines waiting for the bus all the time in NYC. However I will say that one wouldn’t stand in line if there were 3 or fewer people and if you aren’t sure if someone is on a line you just ask – maybe this is where we depart from our Limey friends in the matter of line-standing. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/51 "2011-10-19T20:04:42Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I’m British and this is how I understand the stereotype. It’s often mentioned in the context of lift queues at ski resorts in the Alps - the gist being that British skiers need to leave their polite queuing technique at home and sharpen their elbows, or they’ll get shoved to the back of the line. This is a very strange application of the “don’t be too polite in foreign places” advice: in ski lifts in German, Austrian and Italian Alps I have never seen shoving because it would quickly develop into a case of dominoes, esp. in the beginners skilifts. I have noticed an increase in seat lifts and decrease of the T-pulls, apparently because too many beginners fall out of them (the latter, not the former). ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/52 "2011-10-19T21:25:24Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I’ve read essays by H.L. Mencken in the Twenties where he talked about the awfulness of English food. He said the only good thing was mutton, which he attributed to English grass. I found the passage I recalled. He wrote it in 1930. It starts like this. > [@](#): > > The badness of English cooking proverbial all over the world, but no one seems to have investigated its causes. I suggest that it may be due, in part, to two things, the first thing that the English have a Puritan distrust whatever is bodily pleasant, and the second that it is practically impossible to grow good food in their country. ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/53 "2011-10-19T22:41:32Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Which is interesting because line jumping is practically a federal offense in the US. Ski lifts usually have at least one attendant monitoring the lift line for line-skip hooliganism. I really don’t think the UKians are exceptionally different from USians in the matter of queuing, or, if you will, standing in line. I see people in orderly lines waiting for the bus all the time in NYC. However I will say that one wouldn’t stand in line if there were 3 or fewer people and if you aren’t sure if someone is on a line you just ask – maybe this is where we depart from our Limey friends in the matter of line-standing. I think that’s right. The difference with the stereotype is that Americans will tend to be much more interactive when forming a line - they’ll ask if it really is a line, what it’s for, etc. The stereotype of British culture is that it’s so overly polite and deferring that people will see a potential queue and just quietly join it. Hence the jokes about queues forming for no reason, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/54 "2011-10-19T23:55:15Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I’m not precisely sure what he means by yobs, Think under-30 male trailer trash or redneck. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/55 "2011-10-20T00:44:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There’s also a bit in _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ where they have to wait in a queue to deal with some Vogon paperwork, and Arthur eagerly contributes his talents: “I’m British, I can deal with this”. > [@constanze](#): > > Wasn’t it “I’m British, I know how to do this” ? His exact words were “OK. Leave this to me. I’m British. I know how to queue”, with the appropriately authoritative tone. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/56 "2011-10-20T11:47:15Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > [Yob](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yobbo) is a term coined by a prominent satirist who, when writing about soccer hooligans, said that these shouldn’t be called boys, but yobs (boys backwards). So yes, it’s derogatory for louts or uncultured, childish people with no manners. Yob is much, much older than this. A quick check on line suggests it was coined in the mid-nineteenth century as Cockney “backslang”. The definition’s right though: youthful, ignorant, loutish - normally male. Not sure if my interpretation would be standard but I do not associate it particularly with class - you can have an upper class yob as easily as a working class yob. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/57 "2011-10-20T12:20:42Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > This is a very strange application of the “don’t be too polite in foreign places” advice: in ski lifts in\*\* German, Austrian and Italian\*\* Alps I have never seen shoving because it would quickly develop into a case of dominoes, esp. in the beginners skilifts. Absence of the word “French” duly noted. 😛 (They’re the main culprits, in my experience…) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/58 "2011-10-20T12:56:02Z")
A friend of mine used to repeat over and over how much better passengers in the London underground were at letting people get off the trains before they barged in themselves as compared to Stockholm (I hadn’t bothered to notice whatever differences there were in behaviour between the two cities), so eventually I began to study people. My conclusion was that the Londoners were very ill behaved compared to Stockholmers. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/59 "2011-10-20T13:06:45Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Londoners were very ill behaved compared to Stockholmers. Yes, the much described Stockholm Syndrome.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walther\_Ego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Walther\_Ego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walther_Ego)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140/60 "2011-10-20T13:08:35Z")
I used to think people in Paris metro rush inside before letting others out before going to Rome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-british-and-queuing/600140.md?page=4)