logo
'I'm American but I live in UK - British people aren't polite'

'I'm American but I live in UK - British people aren't polite'

Daily Mirror22-07-2025
An American woman living in the UK has left people in stitches after explaining why she believes "British people aren't polite." It's not that she thinks British people are rude. However, she believes Brits are "taught to mask their rage", which could explain the stereotype about British politeness.
The observation was made by a blogger named Molly, who posts on social media as @strangecapers. She moved from Texas to Birmingham with her family, and she regularly posts TikTok videos explaining why she loves her new home.
Despite enjoying her time in the UK, Molly has had a lot to learn. In a recent video, she explained "three cultural lessons" she's encountered. Molly said: "Here's three things that've taken me a full two years to learn living in the UK.
"One is that, and this might be controversial, British people aren't polite. They are taught to heavily mask their rage. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I really think everyone wants to tell you to get f****d, but they're just so not allowed to, and so they're really polite to you, but I feel like you can see it behind the eyes, you know, like, they got a lot of rage. Not everyone."
Despite this, Molly thinks Brits value their neighbours and go out of their way to help them. "Okay, two is, I feel like I have finally really learned, like, to my core, that neighbourliness is valued here.
"People will take your packages. People got eyes on the street, especially if you live in, like, any kind of population density," she explained.
"Like, people are watching out the window, for better, for worse. Like it. I like it. I feel cosy knowing that, like, if something happened to my wheelie bin or something, my neighbour would be like, I saw what happened, and come tell me, you know? Or take my package. Like, it's nice. It's lovely."
Concluding her video, Molly admitted she's still learning about the British class system. "Lastly, and I haven't fully wrapped my mind around this, I'm still trying to really learn all the ins and outs of this, but the class system here is so calcified," she shared.
"Of course, we have class in America, but oh, my God, the layers are so deep. It's like a Pandora's box. I feel like the more I learn, the less I know." Molly's video received more than 117,000 views and lots of comments from viewers who agreed with her points.
Someone joked: "British Malicious Compliance is an art form." Another viewer shared: "As a Canadian living in the UK, people being polite but not really is something I found quite unsettling at first.
"I describe it as 'polite but not kind' haha." Another commenter said: "The first one is so accurate, I've never understood the concept that Brits are super polite."
Meanwhile, someone else wrote: "The politer UK people get, the more angry we are." Another social media user suggested: "I think that's why we all get road rage! We don't have to mask it in the car."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Hiroshima's fading legacy: the race to secure survivors' memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship
Hiroshima's fading legacy: the race to secure survivors' memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship

The Guardian

time8 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Hiroshima's fading legacy: the race to secure survivors' memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship

The fires were still burning, and the dead lay where they had fallen, when a 10-year-old Yoshiko Niiyama entered Hiroshima, two days after it was destroyed by an American atomic bomb. 'I remember that the air was filled with smoke and there were bodies everywhere … and it was so hot,' Niiyama says in an interview at her home in the Hiroshima suburbs. 'The faces of the survivors were so badly disfigured that I didn't want to look at them. But I had to.' Niiyama and her eldest sister had rushed to the city to search for their father, Mitsugi, who worked in a bank located just 1km from the hypocentre. They had been evacuated to a neighbourhood just outside the city, but knew something dreadful had happened in Hiroshima when they saw trucks passing their temporary home carrying badly burned victims. As Hiroshima prepares to mark 80 years since the city was destroyed in the world's first nuclear attack, the 90-year-old is one of a small number of hibakusha – survivors of the atomic bombings – still able to recall the horrors they witnessed after their home was reduced to rubble in an instant. At 8:15am on 6 August, the Enola Gay, a US B-29 bomber, dropped a nuclear bomb on the city. 'Little Boy' detonated about 600 metres from the ground, with a force equivalent to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people were killed instantly, with the death toll rising to 140,000 by the end of the year as victims succumbed to burns and illnesses caused by acute exposure to radiation. Three days later, the Americans dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, killing 74,000. And on 15 August, a demoralised Japan surrendered, bringing an end to the second world war. Niiyama, one of four sisters, never found her father or his remains, which were likely incinerated along with those of his colleagues. 'My father was tall, so for a long time whenever I saw a tall man from behind, I would run up to him thinking it might be him,' she says. 'But it never was.' With the number of people who survived the bombing and witnessed its immediate aftermath dwindling by the year, it is being left to younger people to continue to communicate the horrors inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For decades Niiyama, who is a registered hibakusha, said nothing of the trauma she had suffered as a schoolgirl, not even to members of her own family. 'I didn't want to remember what had happened,' she says. 'And many hibakusha stayed quiet as they knew they might face discrimination, like not being able to marry or find a job. There were rumours that children born to hibakusha would be deformed.' It was only when her granddaughter, Kyoko Niiyama, then a high school student, asked her about her wartime experiences that Niiyama broke her silence. 'When my children are older, they'll naturally ask about what happened to their grandmother,' says the younger Niiyama, 35, a reporter for a local newspaper and the mother of two young children. 'It would be such a shame if I wasn't able to tell them … that's why I decided to ask my grandmother about the bomb.' She is one of a growing number of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki studying to become 'family successors' – a local government initiative that certifies the descendants of first-generation hibakusha to record and pass on the experiences of the only people on earth to have lived through nuclear warfare. 'Now that the anniversary is approaching, I can talk to her again,' Kyoko says. 'This is a really precious time for our family.' Last year, survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks won recognition for their campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons when Nihon Hidankyo – a nationwide network of hibakusha – was awarded the Nobel peace prize. But survivors face a race against time to ensure that their message lives on in a world that is edging closer to a new age of nuclear brinkmanship. The world's nine nuclear states are spending billions of dollars on modernising, and in some cases expanding, their arsenals. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has refused to rule out the use of tactical nuclear weapons in his war against Ukraine, and last week a veiled nuclear threat by the country's former leader, Dmitry Medvedev, prompted Donald Trump – who had earlier compared US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks – to claim that he had moved two nuclear submarines closer to the region. North Korea's development of nuclear weapons continues unchecked. 'The hibakusha have spent their lifetimes courageously telling their stories again and again, essentially reliving their childhood traumas – to make sure the world learns the reality of what nuclear weapons actually do to people and why they must be abolished, so that no one else goes through what they have suffered,' says Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. 'These brave hibakusha deserve to have their decades of campaigning vindicated and to witness the elimination of nuclear weapons in their lifetimes. This would provide some nuclear justice.' The number of registered survivors of both attacks fell to just below 100,000 this year, according to the health ministry, compared with more than 372,000 in 1981. Their average age is 86. Just one of the 78 people confirmed to have been within 500 metres of the hypocentre of the blast in Hiroshima is still alive – an 89-year-old man. On the eve of the anniversary, the ministry said it would no longer conduct a survey every 10 years to assess the living conditions and health of hibakusha, saying it wanted to 'lessen the burden' on ageing survivors. Niiyama, who struggles to walk, will watch Wednesday's ceremony at home and pause to remember her father, whose memory is represented by a teacup he used that was retrieved from the devastation. 'I don't like the month of August,' she says. 'I have nightmares around the anniversary. I don't want to think about that day, but I can't forget it. But I'm glad I still remember that I'm a hibakusha.'

Brits warned over summer holiday bin mistake that 'burglars love' to see
Brits warned over summer holiday bin mistake that 'burglars love' to see

Daily Mirror

time4 hours ago

  • Daily Mirror

Brits warned over summer holiday bin mistake that 'burglars love' to see

Heading off on holiday? Don't let your wheelie bin tell the street you're away by leaving it out for days or parked under a window - it can help burglars. Here's how to stop it by giving the game away. We all do it - the pre- holiday rush where you're setting light timers, locking windows and making sure no parcels are left at the door. ‌ But according to experts, there's one giveaway that's often ignored - your wheelie bin. If you leave it out for days while you're away, it can be a dead giveaway to burglars that no one's home. ‌ 'While people often leave lights on timers, avoid deliveries, and shut blinds, they don't give their bins too much thought when heading away on holiday,' says Mark Hall, waste collection expert at It comes after Brits are told to never put one banned item in garden bins as you could face punishment. ‌ 'Happily putting them out early for the next collection and allowing them to be left for multiple days afterwards. However, this is a huge tell for burglars that you're not at home." ‌ It might seem harmless, but an untouched bin can signal you're away and burglars are sharper than you think when it comes to spotting patterns. Instead, ask a neighbour, If you don't have a neighbour available, consider asking friends or family if you're really concerned about missing a collection. If you don't have anyone to ask, it's better to miss a collection than to risk bringing attention to your vacant home. Consider reducing your waste in the run-up to your holiday and making use of recycling streams to reduce your need for bin space. And it's not just collection day you need to think about – where you store your bin matters too. Keep them away from windows or walls so they can't be used as a ladder. If you can, store them in a shed or position them under CCTV or motion-sensor lights. 'Moving bins away from your home and avoiding leaving them out when you're away is such a simple action, but it really can make all the difference,' adds Mark. 'Ensure you add it to your pre-holiday to-do list.'

Claim your free VE Day silver coin from the London Mint Office
Claim your free VE Day silver coin from the London Mint Office

Scotsman

time17 hours ago

  • Scotsman

Claim your free VE Day silver coin from the London Mint Office

You can only order one per household, because of the current demand | London Mint Office This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. The London Mint Office is giving away silver VE Day coins to mark 80 years since victory – and they're completely free. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Commemorative coins that depict pivotal moments in the nation's history can be incredibly expensive. Rarities snapped up by collectors can make shrewd investments, and increase steadily in value over the years. But you don't need to spend hundreds of pounds to be in with a chance of owning a piece of history forged from silver, and featuring a design that pays homage to a landmark moment. In fact, you don't need to spend any money at all, because this special VE Day commemorative coin is free. OK, so you've got to cover the cost of postage, but it's only £2.50. Otherwise, this is a genuine "gift to the nation". The coin is also available in gold, but you'll need to pay £29.99 | London Mint Office Tucked away on the London Mint Office website, this special half crown marks the moment, on May 8 1945, the nation celebrated as Victory in Europe was declared, bringing an end to six long years of war. Streets were filled with singing, dancing, and emotional reunions - but for many, it was also a day of reflection and remembrance for lives lost. Now, 80 years later, you can honour the courage and sacrifice of those who fought on the frontlines and supported the war effort at home with this commemorative coin. Because of the high demand, they are restricted to just one of each per household. To apply to order one, you need to visit the London Mint Office website and fill in a small online form. You can opt in or out of receiving future correspondence from the London Mint Office, and the coin will be on its way to you. Click here to find out more. Canva Is your surname a clue to Viking ancestry? Start tracing your Norse roots now £ 29.00 Buy now Buy now Think you're purely British? You might be surprised. Many people across the UK – especially in northern England, Scotland and coastal areas – still carry surnames with strong Viking origins, passed down from Norse settlers who didn't just raid, they stayed. Names like Gunn, Thoresen, Croft and Skene hint at a warrior past and a shared history stretching back over 1,000 years. We've listed 30 surnames with deep Viking links – check the full list in the article here. Want to take things further? MyHeritage DNA makes it easy to build your family tree and explore your ancestry. For just £33, you can uncover your genetic links to Scandinavia and the Viking age. Your surname might be just the beginning! Raylo Business Why UK businesses are ditching tech ownership – and saving thousands (aff) £ 2.49 Wowcher Buy now Buy now Top-of-the-range laptops, tablets and smartphones can quickly rack up costs – but smart businesses are skipping the big upfront payments and switching to flexible leasing instead. Raylo Business makes it easy for SMEs to stay up to date with the latest tech, from iPhones to MacBooks, with fixed low monthly payments and no hefty outlay. Lease terms start from just 12 months and include upgrade options at the end, or the freedom to return the device. With smartphones from £2.49/month and iPads from just £7.49/month, it's a simple way to keep your team equipped without breaking the bank. Explore all the latest Apple and Samsung options, plus full pricing and terms, over on the Raylo Business site.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store