What makes us British?
What makes us British? Ask that question of a thousand people and you’ll get a thousand different answers.
We all think we know what defines us, the characteristics which make us different from the French, Germans or Americans but it is easy to fall back on stereotypes rather than scientific research. Bring on the market research.
A poll in this most patriotic year of the Diamond Jubilee and The Olympics asked people what they thought were the best characteristics of British people.
The most popular answer, with 45% of the vote, was a good sense of humour and 34% of those questioned said the British were friendly. Let’s hope the thousands of people attracted to visit this country during the summer agree with that.
According to the survey of 2,000 people our worst characteristic is we drink too much alcohol (50%) and are ignorant of other cultures (33%). The good news is 30% of those questioned thought we were tolerant of all sections of society.
The results for the question: what makes you proud to be British? Make interesting reading. Top comes our history, the NHS was second, the armed forces third and The Royal Family fourth. Perhaps that result might change after the Diamond Jubilee summer.
The Jubilee celebrations this year have been marked with many patriotic events including thousands of street parties often featuring a nice cup of tea with some cake.
The survey confirmed one popular British stereotype; tea is our national drink; it topped the poll (35%) as people’s favourite drink.
One result which didn’t feature in the survey is the British love of a bargain. Today coupon culture is everywhere inBritainand 40% more of us search for discounts on the web than three years ago. Women are much more likely to use a discount code or voucher and the chances are they will spend it in a restaurant.
The money-off coupon has truly come of age and it is all thanks to the internet. Search for special offers in Croydon for example and you’ll be spoilt for choice for bars, restaurants, clothes shops, holidays, hotel accommodation….the list goes on and on.
Buy one, get one free deals (BOGOF), two for one meals and group savings are part of every day life.
We Brits may be much more tolerant of queuing than our foreign cousins but once we get to the front of a queue we clearly expect a bargain!
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