jackytoo

[QUOTE=dios41;9159187]I have heard of CHT's, but what's a Sink estate?[/QUOTE

A council estate in a rough area. What is a CHT?

dios41

I am a retired commercial pilot and clearly remember flying with some very smelly British people over the years. I am of course talking about body odor, just to set the picture straight.

dios41

[QUOTE=jackytoo;9159198] Quite simply 'Council house tenant' although this is pretty unfair to tar all CHT's with the same brush, but unfortunately we all know that this is exactly what happens.

jackytoo

Perhaps Rugbymatt meant the spanish smell nice of jasmin ot something!

Here's another thread going down the same way. I am going to start a website....letsslagoffthebrits.com bet I would earn a fortune

dios41

I should get on and do it!

steviedeluxe

Well, could be an interesting thread?

Anyway the first points raised :-

1) The Spanish in general love noise. We Brits don't.
-- I think you only need to go down a town centre on a weekend night, or go to a football match, or go on an 18-30 holiday to realise the Brits can compete on the noise front, perhaps out in front. I think it's true that Spanish generally speak louder, but not all of them

2) The Spanish in general don't mind copious amounts of dog mess fouling the pavements. We Brits do
-- I think it depends where you are and what the local laws are. I thought Madrid dog-owners generally were careful with the dog muck

3) The Spanish in general do not mind rubbish tipped all over the place. We Brits do.
-- Again depends on location - Asturias is a very clean place. Certain parts of inner-city England are full of litter and fly-tipping is not unknown all over the place. Worse place I've seen is Oxford, although it has improved over the last couple of years. Spain is I think, worse for fly-tipping, but it depends where you are. I know some people think Spanish bars are dirty. Generally I find (in most places anyway) the bars are constantly cleaned down, which is good as tapas are regularly placed on the bar top. English bar tops generally are left to get filthy, but may be it doesn't matter if food isn't being served there. Spanish floors are fuller of rubbish (although they are swept several times a day) but that doesn't bother the Spanish (or me) as we don't eat off the floor. It's actually more unhygienic for a customer to fiddle with a bin top when they want to get rid of an olive stone or a fish bone, instead of just chucking it on the floor

Here's one I think is a big difference - the Brits (like Americans) are very sensitive to personal space, and don't like to talk close up to each other. It doesn't phase the Spanish, and they can be unaware they're making a Brit uncomfortable when they speak close up.

cricketman

Yep agree, another one I noticed is if you smile at a Spanish baby then the mother smiles and looks proud. If you smile at a British baby, the mother scouls and looks scared.

Sad but true

agoreira

The famous seseo. Like you, I was always under the impression it was purely an Andalucian thing, I´ve certainly not heard it used elswhere in Spain. Unless they are charnegos!

agoreira

dios41

[QUOTE=jackytoo;9159217]Perhaps Rugbymatt meant the spanish smell nice of jasmin ot something!

This thread was started purely because I wanted to gather together peoples ideas about exactly what differences there are between British and Spanish people.This could be anything from the way we dress, to the cars we drive, it can be absolutely anything you feel is different. We don't need to slag anyone off, just put forward your own opinion. They may be good things, they may be bad things, it doesn't really matter does it? The point is

We could do exactly the same thing anywhere else in the world where British people are living. I live in Spain and would like to get some more differences coming in.
It is not intended to offend anyone. We all have different opinions whoever we are, and where ever we may be.

bil

[QUOTE=dios41;9159312] Well, I remember dogshit all over our village when I lived there, tho it did improve a bit 15 years ago when they started putting up signs warning of sensational fines. Up to that point it was possible to walk the half mile to the post office stepping on dogshit at every step, and then returning, doing the same but without ever stepping on the same turd a second time.

There's also a lot of litter thrown out of cars in the UK too.

Rosemary

OMG I now have an identity crisis because I do not fit in with this description at all and I thought that I was a Brit.

Rosemary

Rosemary

One thing that I still can never get over is that if there are three or four Spanish people standing chatting they all talk at once so to my way of thinking no-one is actually listening.

Rosemary

dios41

Yes it's quite funny. It also happens in bars where quite often it gets so loud that I can't hear anything apart from a ringing in my ears!

jdr

lol, the only thing they listen to is the times on the doctors appointments in the waiting room queue.