The truth behind British politeness

Very interesting -- and I mean it in a very non-British way.

I would argue though that as a foreigner who has come to live in the US, Americans have their own unique ... phrase turns? One nearest and dearest to me is when someone says "That's a very good/interesting question", which means "WTF, I'm f*'d, I am not prepared for that question".

I'm sure every culture has their own, and you have to agree --- or at least almost agree. :)
 
We have a few of those here in the US midwest:

"Well isn't that interesting?" - that's insane.

"Could be worse" - doing pretty well.

"You might want to think about that a bit" - how on earth could you possibly be thinking that?
 
LOL. A former English colleague once said that Dutch is not a language but a throat disease. ;-) He is right. It is basically a waste of time to learn the language.
Let me know whenever you're in the area again!

Peter, I worked in Amsterdam and Rotterdam for a year, and after that spent seven years working for an Anglo-Dutch company (CMG); I am as a result more blunt than many of my compatriots :D

As an aside, I was very drunk in a bar once in Amsterdam with one of my customers. He decided to "have a go", taking me to task for the English inability to learn foreign languages (my Dutch is basic to this day - I understand more than I can speak). In my defence I pointed out that the BBC had been founded with a secret charter - to build radio transmitters along the East and South coasts of England to beam English radio programmes out into mainland Europe. Likewise, the same approach was taken with TV. The result - decades later, linguistically-challenged blokes like me could transact business in Amsterdam without having to learn tha language. Drunk as he was, he pondered this revelation for some time before declaring in a loud voice "Of course! I see it all now!! It must be true!!".

That was 15 years ago... I picture him to this day, sitting in brown bars, telling anyone that will listen of the vile English plot and the true purpose of the BBC... :)
 
While living in London during the early '70s, I learned that when someone bumped into me on the street and said"sorry!" they really meant "get the h*ll out of my way." :D

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My favorite Sourthernism is "Bless his/her heart". If you say that, God will forgive you for anything else you say.

Example: "She's dumb as a box of hammers, bless her heart".
 
I cannot begin to tell you the horror with which this idea fills me ...

I remember my father-in-law making a similar comment about knowing Americans based on watching the Simpsons.....that said, love Top Gear (yes, the original British version, not the scary History Channel one).
 
A Silver September reject that might fit this thread.

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Barrie
 
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