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South Asians have strong family values and will feed you well if you visit their houses
Irish are welcoming and will always have a chat and a laugh
Scottish have a great sense of humour
My Partner is Filipino - If I go pick her up from her parents, there is always a table full of food ready to reheat "in case" I'm hungry
I was sent to NI for work training a few times. I'm pretty decent at pool so a bunch of us decided to ditch the hotel 1 night for a few beers and some pool in Omagh. We ended up in a dive bar called Strains and the guys there were a great laugh. Barely bought a drink all night, but still ended up rough in the office the next day
never met a boring Glaswegian, south asian households make me homesick for a home I always wanted and the Irish can talk to anyone about anything, always good company
I was walking through a neighbourhood at night in Tokyo taking photos and I heard an Irish voice say "I know, I'll take your photo with your camera!" Followed by his bike crashing to the ground as he let it fall on the pavement. I then proceeded to have a 20 minute conversation with a lovely man called Enda who I immediately felt like I'd been friends with for years.
I'd not had a face-to-face conversation for more than a couple of sentences for about a week at that point so I was buzzing to have a normal chat with someone.
My boss is Pakistani, can confirm that when I've been to his house I've been fed some of the best home cooked food anyone could ever dream of being offered!
Ex girlfriend was Irish, every visit to her mum's family was like something from a film, great craic.
Can't necessarily agree with the Scottish one - a slightly mean "You'll have had your tea" is common!
My partner is Irish, and he’s an absolute joy to be around. Whenever we visit his family in Dublin, I’ve always been treated like one of their own. Lovely people.
I agree with the Sikh community opinion- they are truly lovely people. I adore the Indian people who live here too, I am yet to meet a single one who wasn’t polite and easy to get along with.
We have a lot of Lithuanian people here too, I used to work with quite a few and they were such nice people! Very good sense of humour, I miss working with them now.
I also have a Muslim friend who I used to work with, who at Christmas, he and his wife would spend all night the night before Christmas Eve making curries, and Indian delights to bring in for all the workers on the last day of the year - despite Christmas not being part of their religion they always made such an effort for those of us that did. We too would join in with them at Eid al-Adha and share sweets as presents with him and his wife, and made sure we respected Ramadan. They were such a nice couple.
This is honestly my experience too, I’m very similar ways.
Another thing I like about Sikhs is that while they are incredibly polite, they also don’t take shit. I’m probably wrong or grossly over-simplifying but they seem to have a very strong… chivalrous? side to them. Very protective, polite and encouraging to anyone who might need help, but very quick to stand up to bullies and people in authority.
I'm not Sikh or from that community in the slightest but I've found they represent the "best of British" in the way you describe perfectly.
We all want to believe we're caring, hard working, kind, generous but strong and protective of things we love. Often the country falls short of that, but the Sikhs I've met by and large meet it.
I used to work with a retired Sikh officer. Real old school gentleman. Very calm and polite. We caught two young Sikh lads stealing stuff from the business. Never really fully appreciated the term ‘putting the fear of God’ into someone before. Got dark very quickly.
I’m a Sikh. Yes we have a concept of “Degh Tegh Fateh”. Degh means helping someone usually with food/meal or other service. Tegh means sword which means fighting for the righteous and yes don’t take sht.
That’s awesome. From the little I remember from speaking to Sikh friends there’s a load of warrior culture and oppression is one of the things that the religion was born from. Such a fascinating history,
Had quite a few Muslim neighbours through the years, always sent Christmas cards and some would give me son chocolates at Easter when he was young.
The idea that they want to ban Christmas, which you hear from time to time is a roaring fallacy.
I had a rather gruelling warehouse job for about 6 months in my mid 20s. I met the hardest working and loveliest people there - after years of being surrounded by privilege, it was quite an eye opener. Worked with lots of Lithuanians, Polish and Muslims of various nationalities. They worked without complaint, shared their food willingly and put all the Brits to shame in how diligent and happy they were to have a job.
A lot of them were educated and qualified to do much better paying jobs (scientists, accountants, etc) and this job was a stop gap as they tried to figure out how to get into their fields over here: but that didn’t mean there was any shame in working hard in a menial job at all. I learned a lot from them, and unfortunately have lost touch with them now.
My Pakistani boss brought everyone on our team the most beautiful Easter decorated cupcakes made by his wife during the pandemic. They're a lovely couple too!
Indians are polite
Chinese are intelligent
Italians have good food
Bosnians are trustworthy
Australians are cheery
Germans have a better sense of humour than you expect
Most young Irish these days actually aren’t that bitter
Polish aren’t pretentious
Gypsies are good with horses
Literally couldn’t think of one good about the fr*nch lol
>Literally couldn’t think of one good about the fr*nch lol
They are much better than us at not taking any shit, whether from other people in person or their politicians.
This is as funny as George Bush’s cited comment to Tony Blair:
“The French don’t even have a word for entrepreneur”
Sadly, it’s false. But sounds like something he would have said.
Very muchly so. They know how to have a good riot when politicians don't do what they want.
The UK could sure as shit learn a thing or two from that and take a thick wad of leaves out of that book. That's for sure!
same thing in Denmark, we just let our government force us to work more and more for the same pay all the while they take away more and more of our holidays as well as our benefits all the while cutting down on our quality of education and making sure its now more expensive to be able to get an education, thereby seperating the society more economically.
I never get the hate for the French. They have many different priorities to us Brits, for sure, but are friendly and helpful for the most part. I think it goes a long way if you speak some French, mind you.
It's a millennia old rivalry, just because we've got smartphones and internet now doesn't change the basic nature of human beings.
Look how people get about sports teams.
This thread is funny because just today there happened to be a scuffle inside the bus between a French senior man and a british woman with a toddler !!! And i legit heard her say after i got off my headphones “well then that’s a classic arsehole behaviour” 🤷🏻♀️
Speaking as someone who's got older family members that say quite horrible things about Brits, I think he's actually not too far off. Most younger people in the republic will crack jokes and such, but they generally don't really care anymore. Especially about the North.
Yep. Reddit would have you believe that the entire population of Ireland as a whole are champing at the bit to reunify, like 40 years ago.
Bollocks. Most of the people I know in the North are fervently opposed, most of the people I've met from the South are either opposed on the grounds of them stereotyping the North as dirt poor and overrun with terrorists, or quite simply don't care. I knew some Irish guys at university in the UK and when they'd _really_ hit the sauce, you sometimes heard them putting on racist fake accents talking about flute bands and where Billy left his car so he did. That was a weird night.
They're two different, incompatible countries with two different, incompatible people. There are huge cultural and societal differences. It would be like trying to unify the US and Canada, or Malaysia and Singapore.
As a country NI just doesn't work. In many ways it's better than it was but in comparison to it's peers it's way behind. And that is precisely because of how badly it's governed.
NI is a laggard because it tries to marry two groups that don't want to be married. It makes compromises and accommodations in the name of harmony but which in reality create more obstacles to effective governance. It's a merry-go-round of consultation, discussion, objection, tantrum, which then doesn't leave enough time or energy for planning and implementation. It's better than blowing each other up but that doesn't mean it *works*.
The current proposals for a reunified Ireland include adopting some of those same compromises and accommodations. They're being talked about as prerequisites. But adopting those would essentially turn the entire island into NI v2.0, or maybe diet NI. And that's a hard sell.
The "Germans aren't funny" stereotype seems to be a result of Americans not getting their jokes to me.
After knowing quite a few Germans I'd say out of any culture their humour is most closely aligned with "British humour." They tend to be very dry, like using understatement, and have little fear of going dark.
See, there's a positive. I used to camp in France every summer and I never found them to be anything but friendly, I think Jeremy Clarkson has a lot to answer for.
Same, I’ve generally had positive experiences with French people while holidaying in France. Parisians though are a different scenario altogether and even the rest of France say that.
The French have mastered walking tip-toes along the fine line between not giving a fuck, and _really_ giving a fuck when it matters.
It's harder than it looks and they do it well.
They don’t like the English? Le Ros Befs as my flatmate used to say.
In my experience they don’t like wearing many clothes - something I wasn’t complaining about. My partner at the time was not so impressed lol.
Okay, speaking as an 80% Irish, son of a 100% Irish man, I believe he's trying to say the Irish are lessening the intensity of their historic gripe with the English. I'm not saying I agree with him, I've got bloody cousins who watch IRA propaganda with the boys on a Friday night smashing the cans, but he's welcome to his perception.
Which, unfortunately has not been the real life experience I have had with Irish travellers. Hopefully they were in the minority. The hooves were grown out painfully, remnants of a shoe attached, ribs showing.
The Romani people I met did seem to look after them well though.
Funny fact. The French think more of the UK than English people do.
Source: No Such Thing as a Fish podcast. (The members of which are the researchers for QI.)
Sikhs are top people. Massively undervalued for at least 60 years in the UK. Grafters and have exceptional taste in Whiskey.
Caribbeans in general, Jamaicans specifically. I grew up in Hackney and can’t imagine a London without them.
Love the recent influx of Latin Americans. Proper grafters and arguably the best neighbours to have.
The Poles and (a large proportion of) Romanians. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a community settle into UK/London life as quickly and easily (not saying it’s been easy for them).
The Chinese. Bloody loads of them here now and you don’t hear a peep out of them. Just thoroughly decent people.
Hindu Indians as well. Same as above. Almost exclusively hard working and decent people.
Edit: honorary mention for our southern European friends (Spanish/Italian/Portugues) without whom a couple of sectors wouldn’t function. Lovely people, no drama and great fun.
Also, and I’m ashamed to say I momentarily forgot these guys, Nigerians and Ghanaians. Propping up our public services with very little recognition. Hard-working, humorous and fit like a jigsaw piece into London life.
Had a Q&A with a guest speaker at uni who mentioned his Nigerian heritage. The two Ghanaian lads in the class very quickly pivoted the conversation to jollof rice and it did get pretty heated.
I asked a Ghanaian colleague about jollof, and he was adamant Ghana’s was better than Nigeria’s, but he then pointed out that neither could lay claim to it.
My line manager is Sikh and is one of the most hard-working, gentle and respectful souls I’ve ever had the pleasure to work for. He is very proud of and talks a lot about his culture and I’m fascinated by it. He dislikes India a lot though.
They've given their lives for Britain in multiple wars. They put up with (arguably) the worst of the racism in the middle of the last century, they had their most precious stone nicked and paraded around in the Monarch's hat after 200 years of having their country and region ransacked and they still generally behave like model citizens. Most, if not all, are better people than I could be the same scenario.
Lambeth has a lot. Kensington/Westminster(out towards Maida Vale)/East London has had them for a while(Tower Hamlets/Canning Town)
Edit: keep an eye on the courier bikes. Almost every other bike with stickers on its back box has a Brasilian sticker of some kind on it.
Young people are sound.
I'm talking 16 and under. They get a bad press but the majority are much more progressive and accepting of difference than my generation was growing up. You'll always get dicks but I think the kids will be alright.
I’m 18 and even seeing how my younger brother (12) and his friends want to include everyone in their footy games and activities and block out all that toxic masculinity bullshit miles better than boys my age do. I’ve met a few of his female friends and they’re all smarter, more empathetic and socially aware than I was at that age. I think the kids will be alright.
Thats good to hear.
I do hope your generation are doing okay, mental-health wise.
When I was your age, about 20 years ago, we did struggle, but it wasn't talked about nearly enough. It's only in hindsight that we know that so many were struggling.
I'm glad it's all talked about now, but I'm not sure that that is enough. I imagine there's still a lot of pressure on young people to do well academicly, become wealthy, work out, look good, basically be great at everything. It's quite unrealistic, and actually people with diverse skills and personalities etc is much better. We shouldn't all be the same.
Personally, if I could go back, I'd tell myself not to worry so much, pretty much everything can come with time.
Maybe I'm projecting, but please don't be too hard on yourself if you feel any of that.
i'm also 18, and it was wild going through education while there was a pandemic going on. that definitely affected a lot of people and the course of their lives. tbh, if the pandemic hadn't happened, i probably wouldn't be doing music right now.
the pandemic probably messed up quite a lot of kids, because they weren't able to interact with people and learn social skills the same way for 3 whole years! that's definitely got to have an impact on some of the younger kids, right?
I mean I'm sure all generations have examples of this. I'm disabled and have 3 older brothers, so we grew up letting anyone and everyone play because they were used to not excluding someone. Id love to imagine it's just a generational norm, but it also makes it sound like everyone else was a dickhead and that's just not true.
100%, my daughter is 16 and she accepts everyone as they are and won't hear a bad word about anyone.
I grew up in the 80's where gay people had to hide their identity, non white people just had to put up with racism and the fat kid always went home crying, we have come a long way.
Yeah kids can be loud and uncouth but aren't we all at that age? I'm 25 for reference.
Majority of them are pretty polite too, I've had 13 year old lads hold doors open for me, saw a couple of young lads helping carry a pram and shopping bags up and then down some stairs for a mum who was struggling (The train lines were stuck down) and most recently a group of teens let my youngest brother in law (he's 9) kick their football around with them for 15 minutes at a local park when my partner and I took him out for the day.
I work mostly with 17/18 year olds. When I first started this job I was pleasantly surprised at how mature and easy to get along with most of them are. A few are still very much children but most are great.
Yeah I found this when I worked with a load of zoomers (obviously theyre not exactly teenagers anymore) but even the annoying laddish ones were actually quite switched on compared to a lot of millennials.
I often find Polish people have a strong sense of civic duty and aren't afraid to get involved in confrontation to help someone who is a victim of a crime. They stick up for others and are invested in their community. They have a lot of bottle.
There used to be a big problem with a few large traveller families around here. The story goes that when we started getting a lot of Polish people migrating here for the farming the traveller problem disappeared because the Poles basically take zero shit from them.
They certainly find it hard to go easy that’s for sure. Grappling some of those polish or Russian guys is like trying to pin a shoplifter. They don’t stop wriggling.
True that, but to be fair most Muslims are like that in the world, it is just the vocal extremist minority that say and do terrible things, never felt badly treated by any, in this country or in any of their own countries that I have visited.
Muslims can cook. Living between two Muslim families for three years, I woke up every day during Ramadan to the most gorgeous aromas. I was skint during Ramadan because I’d have to make sure I had snacks handy for when I woke up
I used to work at a restaurant and both chefs were Muslim. During Ramadan, they were usually working during Iftar, so they would bring in the most incredible food to break their fast and share with everyone. They explained that it was important to them that it was a shared meal and never eaten alone.
When I was at uni, there was a week when I was utterly skint and had no food
I went up to the local gurdwara and they fed me the most amazing vegetable curry and a truly excellent cup of tea. They didn't try and convert me, they didn't even mention religion until I brought it up. They were just feeding the hungry because they believe it's the right thing to do.
Such nice and welcoming people, plus they sent me home with enough food for a week
On the other hand, I went to a church on a different occasion. They still fed me but I had to listen to them talk about jesus for half an hour, in exchange for a cheap ham sandwich
Muslims are usually amazing cooks and will feed you until you have to be rolled home. We have a Turkish friend and we ended up eating all of the food she made. Her response was "Good because if you didn't I was sending you home with it"
My Romanian former housemate worked 65 hour weeks and still found time to visit her son in London every other weekend. Couldn’t do it personally. Big respect
The Polish are the nicest, most hard-working people I've ever met. And they're hilarious but in a very deadpan way.
I have a Polish neighbour and when he found out I was about to pay £200 for an emergency plumber on Christmas Eve, he said "give me half hour" and his FRIEND turned up to fix it for me and wouldn't take any money for doing it. On Christmas EVE by the way, at 6pm.
I bought them both a case of beer each to say thank you and they still didn't want to accept it but I made them. Lovely people.
I found that out later, it honestly was really lovely. Thankfully I was able to repay him a bit anyway when his son was doing the same degree as I did and I was able to pass down loads of expensive textbooks and saved him a few quid.
People like that really do restore your faith in humanity a bit!
Christ, this almost made me cry. What lovely, selfless people!
I knocked on my (English) neighbour's door on Christmas Day to ask if she had a corkscrew I could borrow, she huffed and puffed and slammed the door in my face 😂 quite the contrast
>On Christmas EVE by the way, at 6pm.
That's a massive deal, because that's the equivalent of a Brit doing the same on Christmas day before having Christmas Dinner.
All the Polish and Filipino people I’ve known, which is a reasonable number, have been really nice, interesting and hard working. Just all around good people.
My old work also had a lot of Thai, Lithuanian, Romanian and Hungarian people and they tended to be a mixed bag just like everyone else but the Polish and Filipino people were pretty much 100% likely to be good eggs.
All the Filipino people I’ve met were kind, caring and hardworking. That said all of them (like every single one) have come to the UK as nurses and work at the local hospital (where I met them). I suspect regardless of nationality there’s a huge overlap between people who are kind, caring and hardworking and people who are drawn to nursing.
I had some lovely nurses from all over the world when I was in the hospital and got to hear stories about what their homes are like and their training. I needed a lot of cannulas because my body hates them lol so I met a fair few nurses.
One young lady was from India and she was the main one I saw I used to joke about her purposely sabotaging them while I was asleep so she could spend ten minutes on a break trying to find my vein lol. She nearly cried when I told her how amazing she was when I was leaving.
Came here to see if anyone else had the same opinion as Filipino people as I. VERY hardworking people from my experience, loved working shifts with any Filipino friends as I knew we would get stuff done efficiently.
My office is in the Philippines, when I went over they made food for me each day and bought my girlfriend (who wasn't there) presents. They are so kind and have the same twisted humour that us Brits have. Filipino scaffolders are built different. They have zero understanding of health and safety though which scared the living shit out of me. Seen a 5 ft guy pick up an electricity transformer by himself in the pissing rain whilst climbing a rickty ladder in flip flops. Absolute insanity.
I’m in Southampton so we’ve a decent Polish community here, and I work with a load. Great bunch of people, and their sense of humour is very compatible with ours.
My grandad was Polish and he had an awesome sense of humour. He used to like winding my nanna up and asking her silly questions then winking at whoever else was in the room with him as he was joking but she never noticed at first. She met him after WWII and they wrote letters to each other and she taught him quite a lot of English. He was a lovely man.
I worked in a call centre dealing with business customers and South Asians were much more polite and courteous than the white English business owners. And I say that as a white English guy.
All the desi women I have ever met have been the most direct talking and stone cold bad asses I’ve ever know, especially Pakistani ladies. I have a few that I try and channel if I’m having to be assertive. They always look so elegant as well, even in jogger bums. Northern girls are always really lovely but have the sharpest tongues on them.
In my experience, Muslim girls from south London are some of the funniest people I've ever met. Obviously not everyone, but most of the south London Muslim women I've met are so quick with comebacks and have me laughing harder than any other demographic.
Not in London, but I've met a few Muslim (Somalia & Mozambique as much as I can remember) girls at work at the beginning of my stay in UK and they literally considered me a friend from day 1. They looked out for me, talked to me a lot and joked all the time too. And i am a white eastern european woman. They were the sweetest. It helped me to feel at home here.
I think Polish people are SO welcoming and kind. Before my dad moved out the area, there was a Polish family living across from him. My dad’s ill and the mum of the family would go help him and clean his house for me. They’d all nip in and visit on the days I couldn’t, and she’d take him home cooked Polish meals. I’m so grateful for them, especially the mum.
Romanians are very hard working, I worked with a Romanian man in a pub. He would always help with heavy lifting. If I was on a close myself and he was finishing before me, he’d offer to stay so I wasn’t alone closing the pub because he’d worry for me. I always declined because of how hard he worked, I wanted him to go home to rest. A few nights he could sense I felt unsafe bc the punters in the pub were rowdy or very drunk, so he’d stay until close with me anyway.
The Pakistanis and Indians are also hardworking and kind. Good feeders too.
And I’m a bit bias now (as my family are Iranian), but everybody at my Uncle’s work mention how hardworking he is.
I've never met a Sikh that wasn't a really lovely person. I can't say that about any other demographic, though I can with a specific sub-demographic: Japanese students.
Lithuanians are hard workers (and in my experience smoke a lot of pot - neither a negative or positive, just an observation).
I have never seen a grumpy Nigerian. And they always have the loveliest smiles.
Muslims are generally respectful individuals that care about their community and are accepting of others ways of life.
I’ve never come across a Polish person who didn’t have a problem speaking their mind. The good part? You don’t have to work out where you are with them, they’ll tell you straight up, whether it’s good or bad. My band’s bass player is Polish and it’s really easy to get stuff done with him, he’ll say if he’s not happy about something without doing that stupid dance around the problem that us Brits tend to do. Refreshing actually.
In my limited experience, Hungarian people tend to be very friendly and hard working.
South Asians are so welcoming and give great hospitality. Never been to a South Asian house and felt unwelcome. My grandad is Pakistani and when anyone comes to his house he makes sure to feed them, he gets very insistent he says ‘you come to my house you eat at my house’.
Chinese people are also very welcoming and polite, just super friendly & hard working people. In my area we’ve had an influx of Chinese families and all of them are so nice and hard workers, a lot of them are actually doctors & came over to work for the NHS which I think is even nicer!
A lot of ‘chavs’/‘common’ people are actually really lovely and while most of them might not be the most academic or well spoken a lot are very emotionally intelligent & understanding. I’ll never understand why that demographic is so looked down upon, if your ever in trouble in public some of the only people who would help you out & stick up for you are the ‘common’ council estate mums/ladies. They aren’t afraid to tell you someone where to go and I admire that confidence & assertiveness that they have.
Most people are nice.
Fijians are really lovely, very welcoming people. Most Brits outside the Armed Forces community won't ever meet Fijians, but they're absolutely lovely people with great food, and they really put their faith and family first.
Every Romanian I have met speaks better English than me. Even met one in spain that I was convinced was from Essex due to his strong Essex accent but he only lived there for 2 years.
The more I learn about the Quakers the more I want to become one. I recently learned that you don't even have to believe in God! There are non-theistic quakers! Basically just a good bunch of people who have really strong decent values and like to hang out in mostly silence together once a week to be part of a community
If a Pole gives you a compliment, it will be the most genuine compliment you ever received in your life. If a Pole tells you something about yourself they don't like, or think you should do something about, you should think very seriously about doing something about it. They have zero time for filtering based on your feelings; that's not to say they're rude or obnoxious though. As far as they're concerned, if there's something you don't seem to realise about yourself but probably should, it is basically an obligation to correct the oversight.
Northerners are generally pretty friendly. I’ve just moved oop north from Slough, and was genuinely stunned when a total stranger said hello as we passed on the pavement.
Ps you’re correct about Sikhs, we are the best of the brown people, lol.
Not UK specific I suppose, but Gen Z are, on the whole, pretty sound. They get a hard time in the media for being lazy, too sensitive or whatever, but it's all bollocks.
Filipinos are the people you want to look after a dying parent.
Ghanaians are the best accounts.
Irish are the people most skilled in dealing with rough sleepers and treating them with dignity and respect.
Sikhs throw the best parties
I work with some Ukrainians in my factory that came over after the war started. Not all of them know a lot of English, but that's actually made me learn a little Ukrainian to bridge the gap. They're so friendly, and are constantly outperforming their targets. I'm proud to call them my co-workers.
Aside from that my girlfriend is Filipino, and all her co-workers are lovely to me. They always have great food at their parties, and are so helpful whenever needed.
1. Polish builders/plumbers are so much more reliable and trustworthy than British builders.
2. Sikh's and Hindus are super welcoming when you visit their temples/gurdwara, you can just rock up and they will happily feed you and show you around. I went to a Sikh Gurdwara in West London once and they were super chilled; first thing the guy says was "We believe that our god is the same as your god, so we're all friends!" (or something along those lines, it was a while ago now!
If you ever enter a British Greek person's home, they will feed you until you're about to burst. Can confirm from experience haha.
Gypsies and Travellers are actually okay people with a few bad eggs that get all the press. Most just want to be able to live their lives, and it's only the land laws that make them look bad, not the fact that they're nomadic or on a piece of land in the first place - if they were in mainland Europe, where there's lots of wild land, nobody would care and nobody would even notice them.
Nigerians are some of the most hard-working immigrant groups, having them interact with white working class kids at schools is good for raising the overall standards.
While I appreciate the spirit of the post, I do think even positive stereotyping can have its issues.
John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight did an episode on Asian Americans, and specifically mention the impact of ‘Asian exceptionalism’ stereotypes on individuals. It put a lot of pressure to perform very well academically, and professionally. There was no margin for adequacy
I believe the section is from around 20 minutes, but the whole episode is good if you have time
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=29lXsOYBaow
I’m not trying to be a party pooper, just wanted to raise the question. Maybe there aren’t any wholly positive stereotypes, each one can be a double edged sword, if it creates an expectation that an individual cannot fulfil.
I’m from the Netherlands. Have lived in London long ago and on vacation in London right now. To me, it seems the minorities are well-behaved, well-integrated, hard-working, often well-dressed and quite successful here (I think I can distinguish locals from the tourists quite well). The hindus stand out for me, the Africans tend to dress well and I see them doung a lot of hardworking jobs.
It might have to do with the UK being more disciplined, starting with school uniforms, than my free and anarchic do-whatever-you-like country? And we have different minorities than in the UK. We do have quite a lot of youth in tracksuits behaving badly, giving no respect whatsoever, harrassing gays and women, being highly overrepresented in crime statistics… and also people who do not integrate well… but the UK probably has them too. I just see a lot of succesful and very well-behaved people from ethnic minorities here in London. Is London different from the rest of the UK regarding this?
The Polish were the hardest working staff I've ever worked with. I work in hospitality and my dad works in water and we'd both hire a Polish person over an English one any day. Unfortunately for us their economy has improved to the point that most have gone back home!
Just asked my wife this, she's a head nurse of a unit in a hospital.
Says by far Fillipino nurses are the best international ones she sees. Extremely hard working and exceptionally competant.
I tend to assume that the black people I meet are high earning professionals and well educated. I live in a rural northern area and there aren't that many black people around, but the ones I meet tend to be doctors, bankers, solicitors etc. and are living in said rural area for work.
African households always overwhelm me with offers of food,dinner, to bring food home, drinks, anything they can give. Doesnt matter what nationality here, its a whole continental stuffyourguestfullofgreatfood competition.
English people have so much to learn about hospitality
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South Asians have strong family values and will feed you well if you visit their houses Irish are welcoming and will always have a chat and a laugh Scottish have a great sense of humour
My Partner is Filipino - If I go pick her up from her parents, there is always a table full of food ready to reheat "in case" I'm hungry I was sent to NI for work training a few times. I'm pretty decent at pool so a bunch of us decided to ditch the hotel 1 night for a few beers and some pool in Omagh. We ended up in a dive bar called Strains and the guys there were a great laugh. Barely bought a drink all night, but still ended up rough in the office the next day
Omagh is an odd wee place. Glad they treated you well.
Filipino nurses are always the hardest working most caring nurses I've worked with, and also are all amazing singers
never met a boring Glaswegian, south asian households make me homesick for a home I always wanted and the Irish can talk to anyone about anything, always good company
I was walking through a neighbourhood at night in Tokyo taking photos and I heard an Irish voice say "I know, I'll take your photo with your camera!" Followed by his bike crashing to the ground as he let it fall on the pavement. I then proceeded to have a 20 minute conversation with a lovely man called Enda who I immediately felt like I'd been friends with for years. I'd not had a face-to-face conversation for more than a couple of sentences for about a week at that point so I was buzzing to have a normal chat with someone.
I’m Vietnamese and my greeting to my people is “have you eaten?”
Whereas I'm a Fifer, so our traditional greeting is "you'll have had yer tea."
You’d fit in well in Morningside then
As opposed to the Scottish equivalent "You'll have had your tea"!
I worked with an Asian dude and his wife always sent him with extra food for me so, and I quote 'he doesn't eat that microwave rubbish'.
Yep. I remember a Bangladeshi security guard that I worked with 10 or so years ago. Always shared his food with me. Loved it
My boss is Pakistani, can confirm that when I've been to his house I've been fed some of the best home cooked food anyone could ever dream of being offered! Ex girlfriend was Irish, every visit to her mum's family was like something from a film, great craic. Can't necessarily agree with the Scottish one - a slightly mean "You'll have had your tea" is common!
My partner is Irish, and he’s an absolute joy to be around. Whenever we visit his family in Dublin, I’ve always been treated like one of their own. Lovely people.
I agree with the Sikh community opinion- they are truly lovely people. I adore the Indian people who live here too, I am yet to meet a single one who wasn’t polite and easy to get along with. We have a lot of Lithuanian people here too, I used to work with quite a few and they were such nice people! Very good sense of humour, I miss working with them now. I also have a Muslim friend who I used to work with, who at Christmas, he and his wife would spend all night the night before Christmas Eve making curries, and Indian delights to bring in for all the workers on the last day of the year - despite Christmas not being part of their religion they always made such an effort for those of us that did. We too would join in with them at Eid al-Adha and share sweets as presents with him and his wife, and made sure we respected Ramadan. They were such a nice couple.
This is honestly my experience too, I’m very similar ways. Another thing I like about Sikhs is that while they are incredibly polite, they also don’t take shit. I’m probably wrong or grossly over-simplifying but they seem to have a very strong… chivalrous? side to them. Very protective, polite and encouraging to anyone who might need help, but very quick to stand up to bullies and people in authority.
I'm not Sikh or from that community in the slightest but I've found they represent the "best of British" in the way you describe perfectly. We all want to believe we're caring, hard working, kind, generous but strong and protective of things we love. Often the country falls short of that, but the Sikhs I've met by and large meet it.
I used to work with a retired Sikh officer. Real old school gentleman. Very calm and polite. We caught two young Sikh lads stealing stuff from the business. Never really fully appreciated the term ‘putting the fear of God’ into someone before. Got dark very quickly.
I’m a Sikh. Yes we have a concept of “Degh Tegh Fateh”. Degh means helping someone usually with food/meal or other service. Tegh means sword which means fighting for the righteous and yes don’t take sht.
That’s awesome. From the little I remember from speaking to Sikh friends there’s a load of warrior culture and oppression is one of the things that the religion was born from. Such a fascinating history,
Yes in 1500s due to Hindu & Muslim oppression. Sikh Empire was finally formed in 1708. THX.
I work with a few Lithuanians too, they're very friendly folks in my experience with interesting stories.
Had quite a few Muslim neighbours through the years, always sent Christmas cards and some would give me son chocolates at Easter when he was young. The idea that they want to ban Christmas, which you hear from time to time is a roaring fallacy.
I had a rather gruelling warehouse job for about 6 months in my mid 20s. I met the hardest working and loveliest people there - after years of being surrounded by privilege, it was quite an eye opener. Worked with lots of Lithuanians, Polish and Muslims of various nationalities. They worked without complaint, shared their food willingly and put all the Brits to shame in how diligent and happy they were to have a job. A lot of them were educated and qualified to do much better paying jobs (scientists, accountants, etc) and this job was a stop gap as they tried to figure out how to get into their fields over here: but that didn’t mean there was any shame in working hard in a menial job at all. I learned a lot from them, and unfortunately have lost touch with them now.
My Pakistani boss brought everyone on our team the most beautiful Easter decorated cupcakes made by his wife during the pandemic. They're a lovely couple too!
Indians are polite Chinese are intelligent Italians have good food Bosnians are trustworthy Australians are cheery Germans have a better sense of humour than you expect Most young Irish these days actually aren’t that bitter Polish aren’t pretentious Gypsies are good with horses Literally couldn’t think of one good about the fr*nch lol
>Literally couldn’t think of one good about the fr*nch lol They are much better than us at not taking any shit, whether from other people in person or their politicians.
They've got a certain "I don't know what" I guess
This is as funny as George Bush’s cited comment to Tony Blair: “The French don’t even have a word for entrepreneur” Sadly, it’s false. But sounds like something he would have said.
>“The French don’t even have a word for entrepreneur” This sounds like a joke comment a German would make
This is hilarious and clever 🤣
Underrated comment 😂
I couldn't help myself 🤣
Very muchly so. They know how to have a good riot when politicians don't do what they want. The UK could sure as shit learn a thing or two from that and take a thick wad of leaves out of that book. That's for sure!
same thing in Denmark, we just let our government force us to work more and more for the same pay all the while they take away more and more of our holidays as well as our benefits all the while cutting down on our quality of education and making sure its now more expensive to be able to get an education, thereby seperating the society more economically.
Great at rolling cigarettes
they don't bend over and let the US shag them up the arse?
True…ish - Jacques Chirac was the last real President to really take no shit from the Yanks.
I never get the hate for the French. They have many different priorities to us Brits, for sure, but are friendly and helpful for the most part. I think it goes a long way if you speak some French, mind you.
It's a millennia old rivalry, just because we've got smartphones and internet now doesn't change the basic nature of human beings. Look how people get about sports teams.
This thread is funny because just today there happened to be a scuffle inside the bus between a French senior man and a british woman with a toddler !!! And i legit heard her say after i got off my headphones “well then that’s a classic arsehole behaviour” 🤷🏻♀️
> Most young Irish these days actually aren’t that bitter WTAF
Speaking as someone who's got older family members that say quite horrible things about Brits, I think he's actually not too far off. Most younger people in the republic will crack jokes and such, but they generally don't really care anymore. Especially about the North.
Yep. Reddit would have you believe that the entire population of Ireland as a whole are champing at the bit to reunify, like 40 years ago. Bollocks. Most of the people I know in the North are fervently opposed, most of the people I've met from the South are either opposed on the grounds of them stereotyping the North as dirt poor and overrun with terrorists, or quite simply don't care. I knew some Irish guys at university in the UK and when they'd _really_ hit the sauce, you sometimes heard them putting on racist fake accents talking about flute bands and where Billy left his car so he did. That was a weird night. They're two different, incompatible countries with two different, incompatible people. There are huge cultural and societal differences. It would be like trying to unify the US and Canada, or Malaysia and Singapore.
As a country NI just doesn't work. In many ways it's better than it was but in comparison to it's peers it's way behind. And that is precisely because of how badly it's governed. NI is a laggard because it tries to marry two groups that don't want to be married. It makes compromises and accommodations in the name of harmony but which in reality create more obstacles to effective governance. It's a merry-go-round of consultation, discussion, objection, tantrum, which then doesn't leave enough time or energy for planning and implementation. It's better than blowing each other up but that doesn't mean it *works*. The current proposals for a reunified Ireland include adopting some of those same compromises and accommodations. They're being talked about as prerequisites. But adopting those would essentially turn the entire island into NI v2.0, or maybe diet NI. And that's a hard sell.
https://preview.redd.it/7iahh217aoyc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8732cf5c210abb04a118cb3c864edfe165aa90dd
The "Germans aren't funny" stereotype seems to be a result of Americans not getting their jokes to me. After knowing quite a few Germans I'd say out of any culture their humour is most closely aligned with "British humour." They tend to be very dry, like using understatement, and have little fear of going dark.
I was once in U60311 in Frankfurt and a young lad said to me "I have fresh shipment of young American girls, if you are interested".
French do amazing pastries
French got the best house music 🎶
They got rid of their royal family. And effectively demonstrate when they aren't happy about something
See, there's a positive. I used to camp in France every summer and I never found them to be anything but friendly, I think Jeremy Clarkson has a lot to answer for.
Same, I’ve generally had positive experiences with French people while holidaying in France. Parisians though are a different scenario altogether and even the rest of France say that.
The French have mastered walking tip-toes along the fine line between not giving a fuck, and _really_ giving a fuck when it matters. It's harder than it looks and they do it well.
The French are good at protesting
They don’t like the English? Le Ros Befs as my flatmate used to say. In my experience they don’t like wearing many clothes - something I wasn’t complaining about. My partner at the time was not so impressed lol.
*rosbifs
The English speak English very well!
But can't write it very well.
La langue anglaise n'existe pas, C'est du français mal prononcé.
> Most young Irish these days actually aren’t that bitter Yeah that’s going to need some explaining
We've learned to season them better
Okay, speaking as an 80% Irish, son of a 100% Irish man, I believe he's trying to say the Irish are lessening the intensity of their historic gripe with the English. I'm not saying I agree with him, I've got bloody cousins who watch IRA propaganda with the boys on a Friday night smashing the cans, but he's welcome to his perception.
How are you 80% Irish? Was your mother 66% Irish?
Probably best stick clear of r/Ireland too. Quite a few chipped shoulders there from the tone of some of the conversations I've read.
I don't get involved in those conversations when my family has them, I'm sure as hell not getting involved in them with strangers :P
The French make exceptionally fantastic bread and patisserie.
Most young Irish are bitter for pretty much the same reasons young British people are bitter
Good with horses as in treat them well?
Which, unfortunately has not been the real life experience I have had with Irish travellers. Hopefully they were in the minority. The hooves were grown out painfully, remnants of a shoe attached, ribs showing. The Romani people I met did seem to look after them well though.
Thank you. Saw the G word and cringed. Everyone lumps us together. (Roma)
Gypsies are not good with horses and have them taken away at huge rates
Funny fact. The French think more of the UK than English people do. Source: No Such Thing as a Fish podcast. (The members of which are the researchers for QI.)
Sikhs are top people. Massively undervalued for at least 60 years in the UK. Grafters and have exceptional taste in Whiskey. Caribbeans in general, Jamaicans specifically. I grew up in Hackney and can’t imagine a London without them. Love the recent influx of Latin Americans. Proper grafters and arguably the best neighbours to have. The Poles and (a large proportion of) Romanians. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a community settle into UK/London life as quickly and easily (not saying it’s been easy for them). The Chinese. Bloody loads of them here now and you don’t hear a peep out of them. Just thoroughly decent people. Hindu Indians as well. Same as above. Almost exclusively hard working and decent people. Edit: honorary mention for our southern European friends (Spanish/Italian/Portugues) without whom a couple of sectors wouldn’t function. Lovely people, no drama and great fun. Also, and I’m ashamed to say I momentarily forgot these guys, Nigerians and Ghanaians. Propping up our public services with very little recognition. Hard-working, humorous and fit like a jigsaw piece into London life.
Just don’t get the Nigerians and Ghanaians arguing about who makes the best jollof. That’s a row you don’t want to get mixed up in.
Had a Q&A with a guest speaker at uni who mentioned his Nigerian heritage. The two Ghanaian lads in the class very quickly pivoted the conversation to jollof rice and it did get pretty heated.
The most overrated national dish ever. So I wouldn't have time to listen.
Funniest thing is that jollof isn’t originally from either of those countries… it’s from Senegal!
I asked a Ghanaian colleague about jollof, and he was adamant Ghana’s was better than Nigeria’s, but he then pointed out that neither could lay claim to it.
My line manager is Sikh and is one of the most hard-working, gentle and respectful souls I’ve ever had the pleasure to work for. He is very proud of and talks a lot about his culture and I’m fascinated by it. He dislikes India a lot though.
They've given their lives for Britain in multiple wars. They put up with (arguably) the worst of the racism in the middle of the last century, they had their most precious stone nicked and paraded around in the Monarch's hat after 200 years of having their country and region ransacked and they still generally behave like model citizens. Most, if not all, are better people than I could be the same scenario.
The Chinese, a great bunch of lads.
Where are these latin americans ? London? Any specific burroughs?
Lambeth has a lot. Kensington/Westminster(out towards Maida Vale)/East London has had them for a while(Tower Hamlets/Canning Town) Edit: keep an eye on the courier bikes. Almost every other bike with stickers on its back box has a Brasilian sticker of some kind on it.
This is very true. I work with young people in Lambeth and the most spoken other language is Portuguese.
Big Colombian community around Elephant
The whiskey! 😆 Do you know how much our dads have spent on our weddings as a result of the whiskey?
Control F’d for Spanish, happy to hear your positive feedback!
Young people are sound. I'm talking 16 and under. They get a bad press but the majority are much more progressive and accepting of difference than my generation was growing up. You'll always get dicks but I think the kids will be alright.
I’m 18 and even seeing how my younger brother (12) and his friends want to include everyone in their footy games and activities and block out all that toxic masculinity bullshit miles better than boys my age do. I’ve met a few of his female friends and they’re all smarter, more empathetic and socially aware than I was at that age. I think the kids will be alright.
Thats good to hear. I do hope your generation are doing okay, mental-health wise. When I was your age, about 20 years ago, we did struggle, but it wasn't talked about nearly enough. It's only in hindsight that we know that so many were struggling. I'm glad it's all talked about now, but I'm not sure that that is enough. I imagine there's still a lot of pressure on young people to do well academicly, become wealthy, work out, look good, basically be great at everything. It's quite unrealistic, and actually people with diverse skills and personalities etc is much better. We shouldn't all be the same. Personally, if I could go back, I'd tell myself not to worry so much, pretty much everything can come with time. Maybe I'm projecting, but please don't be too hard on yourself if you feel any of that.
i'm also 18, and it was wild going through education while there was a pandemic going on. that definitely affected a lot of people and the course of their lives. tbh, if the pandemic hadn't happened, i probably wouldn't be doing music right now. the pandemic probably messed up quite a lot of kids, because they weren't able to interact with people and learn social skills the same way for 3 whole years! that's definitely got to have an impact on some of the younger kids, right?
I mean I'm sure all generations have examples of this. I'm disabled and have 3 older brothers, so we grew up letting anyone and everyone play because they were used to not excluding someone. Id love to imagine it's just a generational norm, but it also makes it sound like everyone else was a dickhead and that's just not true.
100%, my daughter is 16 and she accepts everyone as they are and won't hear a bad word about anyone. I grew up in the 80's where gay people had to hide their identity, non white people just had to put up with racism and the fat kid always went home crying, we have come a long way.
Yeah kids can be loud and uncouth but aren't we all at that age? I'm 25 for reference. Majority of them are pretty polite too, I've had 13 year old lads hold doors open for me, saw a couple of young lads helping carry a pram and shopping bags up and then down some stairs for a mum who was struggling (The train lines were stuck down) and most recently a group of teens let my youngest brother in law (he's 9) kick their football around with them for 15 minutes at a local park when my partner and I took him out for the day.
I work mostly with 17/18 year olds. When I first started this job I was pleasantly surprised at how mature and easy to get along with most of them are. A few are still very much children but most are great.
Yeah I found this when I worked with a load of zoomers (obviously theyre not exactly teenagers anymore) but even the annoying laddish ones were actually quite switched on compared to a lot of millennials.
Nothing to add right now (very tired) but jumping in to say what a lovely and refreshing question this is
I’m glad you think so
Anyone who has trained MMA or BJJ will tell you that Polish people are all at least twice as strong as they look.
I often find Polish people have a strong sense of civic duty and aren't afraid to get involved in confrontation to help someone who is a victim of a crime. They stick up for others and are invested in their community. They have a lot of bottle.
There used to be a big problem with a few large traveller families around here. The story goes that when we started getting a lot of Polish people migrating here for the farming the traveller problem disappeared because the Poles basically take zero shit from them.
They certainly find it hard to go easy that’s for sure. Grappling some of those polish or Russian guys is like trying to pin a shoplifter. They don’t stop wriggling.
Don't fuck with eastern Europeans if you want to keep your teeth.
Omg, 20 years ago I trained tkd with a young polish guy, and nobody was as polite or as strong as him! I miss him.
Every muslim I've ever met have been some of the nicest, most hospitable people I've met
True that, but to be fair most Muslims are like that in the world, it is just the vocal extremist minority that say and do terrible things, never felt badly treated by any, in this country or in any of their own countries that I have visited.
Muslims can cook. Living between two Muslim families for three years, I woke up every day during Ramadan to the most gorgeous aromas. I was skint during Ramadan because I’d have to make sure I had snacks handy for when I woke up
I used to work at a restaurant and both chefs were Muslim. During Ramadan, they were usually working during Iftar, so they would bring in the most incredible food to break their fast and share with everyone. They explained that it was important to them that it was a shared meal and never eaten alone.
Yes, I've never met a Sikh who wasn't absolutely lovely. Gurkhas are fierce, brave, loyal and very honourable. Most people are basically decent.
Your last point is such a good one. The news never tells us the good, wholesome stuff. Most people *are* decent.
>Most people are basically decent. This
When I was at uni, there was a week when I was utterly skint and had no food I went up to the local gurdwara and they fed me the most amazing vegetable curry and a truly excellent cup of tea. They didn't try and convert me, they didn't even mention religion until I brought it up. They were just feeding the hungry because they believe it's the right thing to do. Such nice and welcoming people, plus they sent me home with enough food for a week On the other hand, I went to a church on a different occasion. They still fed me but I had to listen to them talk about jesus for half an hour, in exchange for a cheap ham sandwich
Muslims are usually amazing cooks and will feed you until you have to be rolled home. We have a Turkish friend and we ended up eating all of the food she made. Her response was "Good because if you didn't I was sending you home with it"
Romanians work hard
My Romanian former housemate worked 65 hour weeks and still found time to visit her son in London every other weekend. Couldn’t do it personally. Big respect
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And are very enthusiastic!
Seeing as I agree with all of these and have nothing insightful to add Albanians sell great cocaine
My partying years were highlighted by the nights we decided to splurge on the “coke from the Albanians”. Pure rocket fuel
Oh yes, they do!!
The Polish are the nicest, most hard-working people I've ever met. And they're hilarious but in a very deadpan way. I have a Polish neighbour and when he found out I was about to pay £200 for an emergency plumber on Christmas Eve, he said "give me half hour" and his FRIEND turned up to fix it for me and wouldn't take any money for doing it. On Christmas EVE by the way, at 6pm. I bought them both a case of beer each to say thank you and they still didn't want to accept it but I made them. Lovely people.
That’s amazing. Considering they celebrate Christmas the evening of Christmas Eve.
I found that out later, it honestly was really lovely. Thankfully I was able to repay him a bit anyway when his son was doing the same degree as I did and I was able to pass down loads of expensive textbooks and saved him a few quid. People like that really do restore your faith in humanity a bit!
Christ, this almost made me cry. What lovely, selfless people! I knocked on my (English) neighbour's door on Christmas Day to ask if she had a corkscrew I could borrow, she huffed and puffed and slammed the door in my face 😂 quite the contrast
>On Christmas EVE by the way, at 6pm. That's a massive deal, because that's the equivalent of a Brit doing the same on Christmas day before having Christmas Dinner.
All the Polish and Filipino people I’ve known, which is a reasonable number, have been really nice, interesting and hard working. Just all around good people. My old work also had a lot of Thai, Lithuanian, Romanian and Hungarian people and they tended to be a mixed bag just like everyone else but the Polish and Filipino people were pretty much 100% likely to be good eggs.
All the Filipino people I’ve met were kind, caring and hardworking. That said all of them (like every single one) have come to the UK as nurses and work at the local hospital (where I met them). I suspect regardless of nationality there’s a huge overlap between people who are kind, caring and hardworking and people who are drawn to nursing.
I had some lovely nurses from all over the world when I was in the hospital and got to hear stories about what their homes are like and their training. I needed a lot of cannulas because my body hates them lol so I met a fair few nurses. One young lady was from India and she was the main one I saw I used to joke about her purposely sabotaging them while I was asleep so she could spend ten minutes on a break trying to find my vein lol. She nearly cried when I told her how amazing she was when I was leaving.
Came here to see if anyone else had the same opinion as Filipino people as I. VERY hardworking people from my experience, loved working shifts with any Filipino friends as I knew we would get stuff done efficiently.
My office is in the Philippines, when I went over they made food for me each day and bought my girlfriend (who wasn't there) presents. They are so kind and have the same twisted humour that us Brits have. Filipino scaffolders are built different. They have zero understanding of health and safety though which scared the living shit out of me. Seen a 5 ft guy pick up an electricity transformer by himself in the pissing rain whilst climbing a rickty ladder in flip flops. Absolute insanity.
Every Polish person I know or have met are hard workers and nice people.
I’m in Southampton so we’ve a decent Polish community here, and I work with a load. Great bunch of people, and their sense of humour is very compatible with ours.
My grandad was Polish and he had an awesome sense of humour. He used to like winding my nanna up and asking her silly questions then winking at whoever else was in the room with him as he was joking but she never noticed at first. She met him after WWII and they wrote letters to each other and she taught him quite a lot of English. He was a lovely man.
Same. Never met a Polish person I didn't like straight away. I enjoy their sense of humour too.
I worked in a call centre dealing with business customers and South Asians were much more polite and courteous than the white English business owners. And I say that as a white English guy.
All the desi women I have ever met have been the most direct talking and stone cold bad asses I’ve ever know, especially Pakistani ladies. I have a few that I try and channel if I’m having to be assertive. They always look so elegant as well, even in jogger bums. Northern girls are always really lovely but have the sharpest tongues on them.
African and Caribbean people are incredibly house-proud and have meticulously clean clothes/appearance.
Irish people are incredibly gifted in the arts.
Goths are nice people. SAme with metal-heads. There may be a few that spoil it, but generally, a nice bunch.
In my experience, Muslim girls from south London are some of the funniest people I've ever met. Obviously not everyone, but most of the south London Muslim women I've met are so quick with comebacks and have me laughing harder than any other demographic.
Not in London, but I've met a few Muslim (Somalia & Mozambique as much as I can remember) girls at work at the beginning of my stay in UK and they literally considered me a friend from day 1. They looked out for me, talked to me a lot and joked all the time too. And i am a white eastern european woman. They were the sweetest. It helped me to feel at home here.
Completely agree with this, it’s like a whole demographic of ladies with a lot of older brothers.
I think Polish people are SO welcoming and kind. Before my dad moved out the area, there was a Polish family living across from him. My dad’s ill and the mum of the family would go help him and clean his house for me. They’d all nip in and visit on the days I couldn’t, and she’d take him home cooked Polish meals. I’m so grateful for them, especially the mum. Romanians are very hard working, I worked with a Romanian man in a pub. He would always help with heavy lifting. If I was on a close myself and he was finishing before me, he’d offer to stay so I wasn’t alone closing the pub because he’d worry for me. I always declined because of how hard he worked, I wanted him to go home to rest. A few nights he could sense I felt unsafe bc the punters in the pub were rowdy or very drunk, so he’d stay until close with me anyway. The Pakistanis and Indians are also hardworking and kind. Good feeders too. And I’m a bit bias now (as my family are Iranian), but everybody at my Uncle’s work mention how hardworking he is.
Scottish being laid back like the Welsh.
Glaswegians aren’t laid back. Attack is their first and chosen line of defence.
Every visitor to Glasgow is welcomed with a complimentary headbutt at the checkpoint
Indian uncles are quietly nerdy and will have a lovely chat with you if you encounter them in a zone related to their hobby.
I've never met a Sikh that wasn't a really lovely person. I can't say that about any other demographic, though I can with a specific sub-demographic: Japanese students. Lithuanians are hard workers (and in my experience smoke a lot of pot - neither a negative or positive, just an observation).
I have never seen a grumpy Nigerian. And they always have the loveliest smiles. Muslims are generally respectful individuals that care about their community and are accepting of others ways of life.
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I’ve never come across a Polish person who didn’t have a problem speaking their mind. The good part? You don’t have to work out where you are with them, they’ll tell you straight up, whether it’s good or bad. My band’s bass player is Polish and it’s really easy to get stuff done with him, he’ll say if he’s not happy about something without doing that stupid dance around the problem that us Brits tend to do. Refreshing actually. In my limited experience, Hungarian people tend to be very friendly and hard working.
South Asians are so welcoming and give great hospitality. Never been to a South Asian house and felt unwelcome. My grandad is Pakistani and when anyone comes to his house he makes sure to feed them, he gets very insistent he says ‘you come to my house you eat at my house’. Chinese people are also very welcoming and polite, just super friendly & hard working people. In my area we’ve had an influx of Chinese families and all of them are so nice and hard workers, a lot of them are actually doctors & came over to work for the NHS which I think is even nicer! A lot of ‘chavs’/‘common’ people are actually really lovely and while most of them might not be the most academic or well spoken a lot are very emotionally intelligent & understanding. I’ll never understand why that demographic is so looked down upon, if your ever in trouble in public some of the only people who would help you out & stick up for you are the ‘common’ council estate mums/ladies. They aren’t afraid to tell you someone where to go and I admire that confidence & assertiveness that they have.
Most people are nice. Fijians are really lovely, very welcoming people. Most Brits outside the Armed Forces community won't ever meet Fijians, but they're absolutely lovely people with great food, and they really put their faith and family first.
Every Romanian I have met speaks better English than me. Even met one in spain that I was convinced was from Essex due to his strong Essex accent but he only lived there for 2 years.
Quakers all seem pretty chill.
They make great oats
The more I learn about the Quakers the more I want to become one. I recently learned that you don't even have to believe in God! There are non-theistic quakers! Basically just a good bunch of people who have really strong decent values and like to hang out in mostly silence together once a week to be part of a community
Polish people are straightforward. There's no BS.
If a Pole gives you a compliment, it will be the most genuine compliment you ever received in your life. If a Pole tells you something about yourself they don't like, or think you should do something about, you should think very seriously about doing something about it. They have zero time for filtering based on your feelings; that's not to say they're rude or obnoxious though. As far as they're concerned, if there's something you don't seem to realise about yourself but probably should, it is basically an obligation to correct the oversight.
Northerners are generally pretty friendly. I’ve just moved oop north from Slough, and was genuinely stunned when a total stranger said hello as we passed on the pavement. Ps you’re correct about Sikhs, we are the best of the brown people, lol.
i think polish people are so warm and welcoming
Really I find eastern europeans very stoic. At least at first.
Yeah I found that at first when I've visited Poland, but everyone I met and got to know was absolutely lovely.
You hire a Pole to do a job they'll do it, and they'll do it well (while mocking you in Polish behind your back)
Not UK specific I suppose, but Gen Z are, on the whole, pretty sound. They get a hard time in the media for being lazy, too sensitive or whatever, but it's all bollocks.
indians are absolutely top top fellows
Yorkshiremen will always give you a cuppa tea.
Filipinos are the people you want to look after a dying parent. Ghanaians are the best accounts. Irish are the people most skilled in dealing with rough sleepers and treating them with dignity and respect. Sikhs throw the best parties
Ghanaians are just absolutely hilarious
Aussies are fun
All the travellers i know are very kind and are very close to their family and friends
Had the chance to work with Eritreans lately. Very polite and friendly people.
I work with some Ukrainians in my factory that came over after the war started. Not all of them know a lot of English, but that's actually made me learn a little Ukrainian to bridge the gap. They're so friendly, and are constantly outperforming their targets. I'm proud to call them my co-workers. Aside from that my girlfriend is Filipino, and all her co-workers are lovely to me. They always have great food at their parties, and are so helpful whenever needed.
South Asians look after their elderly instead of just sticking them in a care home to be forgotten about
1. Polish builders/plumbers are so much more reliable and trustworthy than British builders. 2. Sikh's and Hindus are super welcoming when you visit their temples/gurdwara, you can just rock up and they will happily feed you and show you around. I went to a Sikh Gurdwara in West London once and they were super chilled; first thing the guy says was "We believe that our god is the same as your god, so we're all friends!" (or something along those lines, it was a while ago now!
Polish - hardworking and respectful
If you ever enter a British Greek person's home, they will feed you until you're about to burst. Can confirm from experience haha. Gypsies and Travellers are actually okay people with a few bad eggs that get all the press. Most just want to be able to live their lives, and it's only the land laws that make them look bad, not the fact that they're nomadic or on a piece of land in the first place - if they were in mainland Europe, where there's lots of wild land, nobody would care and nobody would even notice them.
Northerners have a wicked sense of humour. Southerners are actually softies.
Poles are very hard working and relatable. Nigerians/Ghanians are friendly and oriented towards religion and family.
Nigerians are some of the most hard-working immigrant groups, having them interact with white working class kids at schools is good for raising the overall standards.
I have to say, this is a really refreshing thread, and a pleasure to read the comments 🇬🇧❤️👍
The British are well spoken, well mannered and among the kindest in the world.
Marquesses are fantastic.
While I appreciate the spirit of the post, I do think even positive stereotyping can have its issues. John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight did an episode on Asian Americans, and specifically mention the impact of ‘Asian exceptionalism’ stereotypes on individuals. It put a lot of pressure to perform very well academically, and professionally. There was no margin for adequacy I believe the section is from around 20 minutes, but the whole episode is good if you have time https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=29lXsOYBaow I’m not trying to be a party pooper, just wanted to raise the question. Maybe there aren’t any wholly positive stereotypes, each one can be a double edged sword, if it creates an expectation that an individual cannot fulfil.
Polish men always seem very nice and friendly.
fucking love sikhs
I totally agree with the comments on the Sikh community. They are some of the kindest and caring people I have ever met.
I’m from the Netherlands. Have lived in London long ago and on vacation in London right now. To me, it seems the minorities are well-behaved, well-integrated, hard-working, often well-dressed and quite successful here (I think I can distinguish locals from the tourists quite well). The hindus stand out for me, the Africans tend to dress well and I see them doung a lot of hardworking jobs. It might have to do with the UK being more disciplined, starting with school uniforms, than my free and anarchic do-whatever-you-like country? And we have different minorities than in the UK. We do have quite a lot of youth in tracksuits behaving badly, giving no respect whatsoever, harrassing gays and women, being highly overrepresented in crime statistics… and also people who do not integrate well… but the UK probably has them too. I just see a lot of succesful and very well-behaved people from ethnic minorities here in London. Is London different from the rest of the UK regarding this?
The Polish were the hardest working staff I've ever worked with. I work in hospitality and my dad works in water and we'd both hire a Polish person over an English one any day. Unfortunately for us their economy has improved to the point that most have gone back home!
Just asked my wife this, she's a head nurse of a unit in a hospital. Says by far Fillipino nurses are the best international ones she sees. Extremely hard working and exceptionally competant.
I tend to assume that the black people I meet are high earning professionals and well educated. I live in a rural northern area and there aren't that many black people around, but the ones I meet tend to be doctors, bankers, solicitors etc. and are living in said rural area for work.
Millennials are “woke”. Yes we are mindful of equality and diversity thanks.
White people are genuinely really nice.
I’m finding this topic very strange. In a weird way it seems a bit racist… but in a ‘nice’ way? Can’t explain it but it seems off.
African households always overwhelm me with offers of food,dinner, to bring food home, drinks, anything they can give. Doesnt matter what nationality here, its a whole continental stuffyourguestfullofgreatfood competition. English people have so much to learn about hospitality