[Closed] What is British culture?

A kind of stout miserablism.

Let's start on something easier,

1)what is 'British'
2)what is culture?

Beer and football.

I don't think there is a singularly identifiable British culture in itself as Britain includes diverse cultures from Wales, Scotland and England.

Bitter and Rugby

I think that technically it is an oxymoron.

Let's start on something easier

Culture is something you grow in petri dishes.

The British are the result of leaving a petri dish out in the endless, [i]endless[/i] rain.

LOL @ Noteeth! 😆

definitely moaning about stuff

british culture is dead.

it was replaced by chav thug materialistic greed selfish culture in the early 80's when thatcher was in power.

It's rather like the life of sheep.

You're brought up by your mother, or the mother of another lamb until you're old effort to feed yourself.

You live with the belief you have freedom, yet follow everyone else through the fields, usually along the same old paths as you and others have ever done.

Occasionally you'll be taken to one side and there you have hope for a less sheep like existence, however you find yourselves shoved into a Dip or VAT and have everything you been saving taken from you. and shoved back into a live of grazing and following the other sheep.

At time you be pushed into a room, were one by one you're pulled to one side, tossed on your back and properly fleeced of everything, then you'll be chucked out in the cold, nekid and in tatters.

You will either live you life like this and get to breed or end up making those in control of you lives fatter.

super answer no teeth 😛

Bureaucracy. The computer says noooo.

the perpetual rivalry of the prim toffs versus the gruff peasants amid the confused and pompous bleating of the middle class sheep in between..

A little bit of this
http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/toys/dailymail/

A combination of the responses from SbZ and yunki.

There is no'British' culture

It's not a monoculture (thankfully).

It's Cultimultural.

the perpetual rivalry of the prim toffs versus the gruff peasants amid the confused and pompous bleating of the middle class sheep in between..

Beer and football.

Aren't those just englandshire and not Britainland?

As Wales doesn't really have toffs, we're all gruff peasants who prefer rugby to football and drink bitter. 😉

Xenophobia, ignorance and fear of anything difference characterises a lot of the populace - together with intolerance and the desire to destroy anything foreign. Oh, and a love of German pseudo executive cars.

whatever it is.....you miss it a little when you move away....living in Aus for past 6 years and there are many things that are missed from the UK culture: footy, humour, music, quality tv, ......i'm sure these all contribute towards 'UK culture'.

Moaning, beer, fry ups, page 3, fox hunting, public school, council estate, binge drinking, tea drinking, football hooligan, country gents, Chubby Brown, Stephen Fry, MCC, working mens clubs, Carry on films, Brideshead revisited.......

I'd say we're a bit confused really. But our superiority complex means we are still better than everyone else!

I`m rather saddened by many of the answers above, personally I dont think the majority of us are a bunch of chavy, moaning xenephobes. The vast majority of British people I know are open-minded, warm, friendly, funny and tolerent, this includes youths.

Culture for me is the framework which everything hangs off and I think Britain`s is extremely rich and diverse.

British culture is Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Cornish and Breton culture. English culture is German. 😉

british culture is dead.

it was replaced by chav thug materialistic greed selfish culture in the early 80's when thatcher was in power.

So, what was it before that, then?

No doubt going on strike because the canteen had run out of teabags was a part of it...

British culture is a mixture of proud traditions.

One such tradition is being proudly upheld here by fine British patriots......

[img] [/img]

.....it travels well btw

i think you british people fail to understand what the british culture is.
It's something I can't name or describe in a few words, but it is something that I would recognise in a heartbeat.
Something that brings a smile to my face as soon as I touch down at the airport and that make me think I am back here as soon as go through the doors of the terminal building.
Something you can't touch, something you cant smell but something you know is here, unmistakable and yet undefinable...
HTH

HTH

Well if I'm honest, no, not really.

As beautifully demonstrated here, British culture is steeped in cynicism.

Sure, we have a percentage of idiots, but I don't think that differentiates us from a lot of other countries. It does sadden me that our cultural ambassadors these days seem to be the "Brits on the lash" stag party / football fan brigade.

juan - Member
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Something you can't touch, something you cant smell...

You can usually smell it.

Sure, we have a percentage of idiots

Cooee! (Waves) 😀

You could read Jeremy Paxman's 'The English' although I can't recall anything profound from it.

Hmmm, I am amazed at some of the answers, what happened to being proud of being British? I know I am. Are most of you ashamed to be British? If so why?

British culture is the meek, Nimby-ish middle ground between the prolelitarian, binge drinking soap opera loving mouth breathers and the hyper elitist workshy toffs in their ivory towers.

"If you want to imagine the future of British culture, imagine a Hyundai Getz, driving slowly to the garden centre, forever"

Brainflex when I was in the forces I was proud of being British but it was slowly eroded the more and more British I saw overseas and it was well killed off upon my return to uk 12 years later after seeing the state of the place and a lot of the people

There isn't much of a 'British' culutre on account of Britain being a political convenience rather than a clearly defined homogenous whole.
Lots of evidence of English culture, Scots culture, Welsh culture, Irish culture but I'm not convinced of how much of it interrelates to become British. In fact I'd say English culture is more influenced by culture from the Commonwealth than it is by Burns or the eisteddfod.

I'm certainly having no truck with any of that awful diddly diddly music either.

Ok, trailmonkey talks about english culture, can anyone sum that up for me? I would say that is harder to define than british culture, We dont have national costume, an english anthem or english beliefs or do we?

what are you talking about ? are you really saying that you can't think of anything that is 'english' or defines englishness just because we don't have an anthem or national costume ?

i think you're trying just a little too hard to be in denial.

Fair play.
Superiority complex.
Imperial hangover/decline.
Pubs.
Reserve.
Refusal to take oneself too seriously and derision of those that do.
Pride in home.

......and the world renowned British class system.

English culture lost a legend today.

John Barry RIP.

airtragic - nice

and I would love to agree and can up to a point.. things are changing fast though.. and I fear that within a couple more generations your memory will be lost.. and British culture will simply be no more than the flatteringly childish imitation of whatever the US culture was 8 months previously..

this is of course the worst case scenario... I'm sure that Britains great schools and universities will keep this trend in check..

And celebrates a birthday, [url= http://www.johnlydon.com/jlhome.html ]Happy Birthday John.[/url]

Surely a significant part of English culure is the freedom, the freedom to choose whether something is English or British depending on how positively or negatively it affects the Great English nation. See above.

English national costume - Morris Dancers? Beefeaters?
English national anthem - Always thought it should be "Jerusalem".

There is a lot of cynicism and self deprecation from the English, the Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Celtic (and I fully appreciate we're mixing lots of cultures here) all seem to have a lot of pride. Indeed even many local English folk have pride in their hometowns/villages/locales, just look at Yorkshiremen, Geordies, Scousers, Brummies even the Cockneys have pride in their origins. The English as a whole though seem to be lacking in national pride though, maybe it's because England is just too big?

English national costume - Morris Dancers? Beefeaters?

Or punk rockers, Mary Quant/ swinging London, bowler hat and umbrella....................

AS Britain is a political construct and encompasses many different cultural strands then its really hard to define "British Culture" I think what airtragic lists is more about British attitudes or attribute

From Mary Quant and the Punks to the Scottish football fans,
From the male voice choir of Wales to differing folk music of the regions
The maritime tradition and the mountain climbers
The cultural melting pot of the big cities toe the Lake district hill farms

The immigrants over hundreds of years who have brought a bit of their culture with them. Where would we be without curry? Italian ice cream?

I do not believe there is one british culture - there are many interwoven strands

I thought Land of Hope and Glory was the English anthem

ernie_lynch - Member

HTH

Well if I'm honest, no, not really.

I think he means it has a certain je ne sais quoi.

Now that I have recovered from the "come up against Maori culture" opener, which I am going to assume is just badly worded....

Interesting question.

Using a working definition of "the behaviours and beliefs associated with a particular group" then there are lots of qualities that can be defined as British.

Justice and fair play
Liberalism
Stiff upper lip
Having milky tea in the afternoon
Cricket
Free press
Shakespeare
Moaning about the weather
Enjoying moaning about the weather
Quiet unspoken patriotism
Acceptance of other cultures

I am sure one could fine examples counter to all of these, this is more about impressions I think, culture is hard to define as it shifts.

hels, you forgot the houses made of small red bricks, the double decker buses, the weather 😉 and most of all (IMHO) this attitude you have to just accept things and not revolt/fight/protest.

I mentioned the weather twice juan !! What I forgot was the stoic enjoyment of queueing, except in the one place where it would be helpful, in the pub.

Can we do France now ??

Fraternite, Egalite, Liberte, Garlic.

this attitude you have to just accept things and not revolt/fight/protest.

It's called lying back and thinking of good ol'Blighty**..........you wouldn't understand.

** whilst you're getting shafted.

most of all (IMHO) this attitude you have to just accept things and not revolt/fight/protest.

What ? Like the miners strike or the Poll tax riots or the '81 riots or the recent student demonstrations ?

Like the miners strike or the Poll tax riots or the '81 riots

Which was [i][b]most[/b][/i] unBritish 😐

The "enemy within", as Maggie called them.

Which was most unBritish

Well as most of the actors were undoubtedly British, I guess the perception and the reality are slightly at odds, no ?

I [s]think[/s]hope we may see more unBritishness over the next four years.

cuppa tea , mary poppins , fish n chips, cricket, winstone churchill

Well as most of the actors were undoubtedly British

Not being funny, and I'm not a racist, but...... them miners never really looked very British to me

[img] [/img]

.... not even when they posed for photos with British babies.

And the same goes for the poll tax protesters too

[img] [/img]

I have no idea why they blamed the Americans for the poll tax btw.

Scraprider -whisky ceilidhs jackie bird fish and chips fitba distrust of churchill

Thanks to the folk that answered the questions. I am honestly curious as to what people think on this, especially any non british as it is usaully easier looking in from the outside.

happy to help, but despite what they all say I really do believe britain/england is something very different from the rest of europe. I can't really put my hand on it (even after reading the 101 british facts) but there is something.
Well I am too young for stuff that happened in 81 or before. And don't get me started about student protest, that is no protest, it's merely demonstrating 😉

juan "I really do believe britain/england is something very different " Britain is not the same as England. One thing I do like about England ,Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales is that their people(s) are in my opinion generally tolerant and diverse which adds to the quality of life

At the risk of being obvious and laughed at raucously: Morris dancing is maybe antiquated or possibly invented 20 years ago, but I spent a very happy Boxing Day first watching a bunch of fully grown, slightly pissed men, making fools of themselves and having a fine time doing it, and then drinking in the pub with them, singing along with a huge range of music from folk to political satire via rock'n'roll and spirituals.

Bunch of strangers enjoying themselves together in a pub. Felt like the best of culture to me, no idea how to label it though.

Bunch of strangers enjoying themselves together in a pub. Felt like the best of culture to me

Are most of you ashamed to be British? If so why?

you know you have that union jack on your flag....

british culture is a melting pot with both homegrown, imported and adapted culture, as has been alluded to here; fish and chips (polish import) curry, our self deprecation, bowler hats, BL cars. the north- south divide. socialising in pubs - outside family groups (this is very apparently different to some of out neighbours)

also british culture includes welsh scottish irish cultures but the are distinct from british culture which leaves english culture although that is closely linked to british culture. so you can see there is some confusion.

oh and rubbish coffee.