5 Things You Should NEVER Do in the UK | British Culture Explained

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Nobody wants to be rude. And in this lesson, I'm  going to talk about five things that could upset British people. Now, on this channel,  I talk about the real English grammar, the real English British people actually use every  day. I teach you not to sound like a textbook, but to speak naturally. But in this lesson, we're  going to talk about how to behave in England without upsetting British people. And honestly,  from personal experience, some of these things, there are some British people that could  also learn from this lesson as well. These are things that you may want to avoid doing in  the UK. Now, some of the things on this list, they may be absolutely fine to do in your culture,  but as we all know, cultures are different, and that's what makes the world a wonderful place.  So, I want to help you. I want to pass on some information of things that you might want to avoid  doing that could upset British people. And if you want to learn even more about this lesson, there's  a free PDF that you can download to help you learn even more. And please remember to like and hype  this lesson as it helps other learners to watch this lesson as well. Hello you wonderful people.  My name is Roy Roywood House and I am sometimes known as British English teacher Roy. I say that  because I don't want you to think my real name is British English teacher Roy because, well, my  parents weren't that cruel. But on this channel, as I say, I teach you things related to British  English and I help you to sound natural. That's my job, not to help you sound like a textbook, to  help you sound like we really speak. And in this lesson, we are talking about something related to  British culture. And I have to say, number four is a personal thing for me. It is a thing that  I experienced the other day and it was the one that inspired this lesson. But the first thing you  might want to avoid doing that would upset British people relates to one of our favorite pastimes.  It is the Q. Now the Q is pretty much sacred in British culture. It is a line. A line of people.  And it's so sacred, so wonderful that we actually have this specific word Q for it. And one thing  I love about this word Q is it's literally the letter with other letters, other silent letters  lined up behind it. Q, but we say Q. Could be a verb, can be a noun. That's how versatile and  how much we love this word. In most environments, there will be some form of Q. Whether it's at the  supermarket waiting to pay, whether it's at a bus stop waiting to catch the bus, whether it's in  the theater waiting to go in, there is usually some kind of system where people stand in a line.  And it's this idea of everybody waiting their turn and an idea of fairness, this idea of shared  cultural fairness. It's like waiting until it's your turn to do something or have something done  for you. If you disrespect the queue by barging in or jumping the queue, as we say, to jump the  queue, it basically means you move in front of other people who have been waiting for longer.  And this is a big no no in British culture. Do British people sometimes do this? Yes, they do.  And they are seen really negatively. The best way to avoid jumping the queue is to ask people that  may or may not be standing in a line whether or not there is a queue or ask them, "Excuse me,  are you in the queue or is this a queue?" They will let you know and you can go to the back of  the line. Q. If somebody does jump the queue, you will see British people's response and the  response is usually a tut something like and then looking at each other for some kind of support.  You are expected to realize that you have done something wrong and immediately apologize. Oh. Uh,  sorry. Sorry. Is this is this a queue? Oh my gosh.

[00:03:42]I'm sorry. I didn't realize. And then immediately  remove yourself from where you jumped in and go to the back of the line. Accidents of course  happens. Sometimes even I don't realize that there's a queue, but I immediately self-correct  and go to the back of the line. If you do not self-correct, there may be one or two people  that decide to step up and say, "Excuse me, uh, there's a queue here." Yeah, Q jumping  really violates this idea of fairness and social equality. The next one is more about respect for  your environment and your surroundings, and that is public displays of emotion or public displays  of affection. We're going to talk about what's appropriate and what's completely inappropriate.  In a public space, you really shouldn't become too romantic. I'm going to give you a real story  about this. I was on the uh I was on the DLR which is part of the London Underground network and  I was sitting on the train and in front of me two people were kissing so passionately it was  completely uncomfortable. What makes it worse is these people were probably in their late 40s  or early 50s and they were really really going at it and I felt really uncomfortable. What  did I do? Well, I started looking around and seeing other British people also looking really  uncomfortable as well. kind of this shared sense of oh my goodness what am I witnessing. There  was a lot of tutting and this kind of pained expression. It just felt really inappropriate. And  the reason for this is these things are generally considered to be private. Those things  are generally considered to be private.

[00:05:16]Now a kiss on the cheek like that isn't too bad.  A comical kiss like that. She was exaggerating for comedic affairs. like a peck on the lips, like a  or a light kiss. But practically eating each other with tongues involved and a long passionate kiss  just feels really inappropriate. If my wife tried to do this right now, I would absolutely shut  this video down. I wouldn't want to share that with the world. Now, the older we get, the more  inappropriate it is because it's this idea that we should know better that these things should  be private. It's not that British people don't kiss. It's not that we're not romantic. And it's  not that we don't think take things to another level. Of course, we have children. You know this.  But the thing is, we do it in very private spaces.

[00:05:56]We do it in the comfort of our own home. There  are certain environments that could be seen as slightly acceptable. Maybe a nightclub at the  end of the night, maybe a festival where two people have met. In that kind of environment, when  there's music and beer flowing, then maybe, just maybe, but even down the pub, two people really  going at it, you would commonly hear somebody say, "Get a room." which it means basically go to a  private space and do this out of my eyesight.

[00:06:23]Why do we hate this so much? Well, I think it  comes down mainly to this idea of you proving a point. It's like you're showing the world  that you're with this person. Now, of course, you may want to shout your love from a rooftop.  You may want to say, "I'm in love. I'm in love with my wife. I absolutely love my wife, but  I don't need to physically show it to other people and make them feel uncomfortable." Number  three on my list is littering. And this is going to also lead into something related to dogs. I'm  sorry, but littering is a big no no. In the UK, there are litter bins everywhere, public spaces,  on the high street, on the side roads. Rather than drop a crisp packet or uh a can from your drink  on the floor or some other rubbish, put it in a bin. Keep the streets tidy. Now, when I talk about  these kind of rules, everybody's a bit different.

[00:07:12]There are some people who will litter in the  UK and this is seen as a really bad quality.

[00:07:19]Same as people if they're overtly kissing in the  streets or even queue jumping. I'm not saying that British people are immune to breaking their  own cultural rules. But the thing is the vast majority of British people will view these things  as negative or uncomfortably. Even cigarettes, which in general cigarettes are not very common  and really they have their own kind of things that may annoy British people. If you finish smoking  your cigarette, don't put it on the floor. Stub it out on the top of a bin and put it in a bin. There  is a designated area on litter bins for cigarette butts. That's the end of the cigarette. Don't drop  them on the street. Now, of course, accidentally something may fall out of your pocket. And  somebody behind you may say, "Oh, excuse me.

[00:08:00]You've dropped that." Even if that person can see  that it is litter, it's basically saying, "Hey, pick up your litter. I know it was an accident,  but pick it up." There is also a financial reason that you shouldn't litter in the UK because if  you're caught littering, you'll be issued with a fine. I can't remember off the top of my head  how much the fine is, but it is enough to make you think twice and stop you from doing it again.  So, it's best to avoid that in the first place if you want to have a nice holiday while in the UK.  Another thing you will see, and I really love it, is some people actually walk around picking  up litter. These aren't government employees.

[00:08:34]These are people that see litter on the street,  they don't like it, and they will pick it up, possibly like wrap their hand in a bag and then  put it in the bin. And this bleeds into one of my absolute hates. This is like the bonus one. Dog  poo. If your dog goes to the toilet on the street, pick it up. Pick it up. Not with your hand.  You've got little bags. Get those little bags, scoop it up, and put it in a designated red dog  mess bin. The fine for not doing this if you're caught is colossal. And you may be thinking,  well, hang on a minute. I don't have any little bags with me. Well, it is your obligation to take  these bags with you. If you're caught with a dog with no poo bags, you could also have problems.  So, pick up the rubbish, pick up the dog poo, and you're going to be fine in the UK. Now, I  understand we've covered the first three, and this lesson, this lesson could be the first part of a  series. If any British people are watching this, let me know your pet peeves, your hates in the  comments below, and maybe we can make a part two, three, four, five. I'm becoming a grumpy  middle-aged man, so I can feel that this video could be the first part of a series that  could go on and on. But now, let's move on to the one that really inspired this video, and it is  noise. Noise is a thing in the UK that can really trigger British people. Now, I'm going to tell  you the story that really inspired this video. So, I was sitting in a coffee shop with my godmother.  It was a relatively quiet coffee shop. There was no music. There were a few people, but in general,  it was a pretty quiet place. Yeah, you could hear occasionally people putting their cups down. You  could hear some quiet murmurss of conversation, but nothing too much. And then a couple walked  in. They bought their coffees and they sat down about two or three tables away from us. Fine. But  then they started talking and the level of their voices was way too high. It became distracting. I  couldn't actually hear myself think I was talking to my godmother. But I was getting distracted  by the noise that they were creating. Their noise level was actually imposing on me. Simply  put, if you're in a quiet space, match that same level. They were speaking way too loudly. Now, in  this case, they were actually speaking a second language that I didn't recognize, but it kept  distracting me to the point where I said, "Look, I'm just going to finish my coffee and let's  go." It was making me feel uncomfortable. What happened here is that these people didn't match  the same level of noise as everyone else. But it doesn't matter whether it's a second language  or English that you're speaking. This is the same if somebody's speaking English. In fact,  in some ways, it could be even worse because I can actually understand and I start focusing  on somebody else's conversation. People do talk in coffee shops. People do talk in restaurants.  They do talk in pubs and they also talk on public transport. But the key is to keep your voice at a  certain level. You know it's too high when people start looking because they are literally focusing  on your conversation because you are calling their attention by the level of voice. Match the decibel  level of the room. I think that's the key. Now, I went to a weather spoons the other day which was  a lot louder than that coffee shop was supposed to be. A lot of people were talking. It was a  general noise across the room. It was pretty loud. It was a general kind of noise. Now, first  of all, it's more forgivable because people were drinking alcohol. But the second thing is not one  single voice stood out. In other words, everybody was adhering to the appropriate level of noise.  So, I think the best advice in terms of noise is read the room. If it's a quiet room, stay quiet.  If it's a slightly noisy room, then you can afford to increase the level of your voice somewhat,  but don't speak loud enough so that everybody can hear your conversation. That's the key. Now,  there are some exceptions when it may be more acceptable to speak with a bit more volume. For  example, down the pub if you're having a drink, then yeah, it can be a bit louder. Likewise,  where there's a situation like for example, someone is in danger, then yes, you can increase  the volume of my voice. I have a very loud voice when I want to. If my son is doing something  that is potentially dangerous, I will raise the volume of my voice to get his attention. I'll  probably apologize immediately after saying, "Oh, sorry. I've got a loud voice, but I needed  his attention." And also young children. Yeah, it's kind of forgivable to be honest. In that  coffee shop, there was also a young child. She was probably about three or four and she was making a  colossal amount of noise. But children don't know better. Simply put, adults are supposed to know  better. So match the decibel level of the room.

[00:13:08]Don't go above it, otherwise you'll be the only  one people can hear. And also, as a side note, on public transport, also match the decibel level.  And likewise, if you're on the train or the tube, don't listen to music out loud or don't watch  episodes of things out loud, as it really could disturb people who are just trying to get to work  or go home. Now, like I say, British people aren't immune to breaking these kind of social rules. I  have seen or actually heard some British people do this as well, but generally it's not really  seen as acceptable. But that one was inspired by that real story to the point where I actually  left the coffee shop because the noise was that intense. It just disrupted my sense of space and  my personal space. And finally, that brings us on to number five, interrupting. In some cultures,  it's seen as a good thing to kind of debate, to talk over each other. But in general, interruption  is seen as a very bad thing in British culture. If somebody's speaking, listen. I've heard people say  something like, "We have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak."  This is something that always makes me laugh. But generally put, you should wait for your turn to  speak. Again, this idea of turns is very common in British culture. If it's not cues or buying rounds  down the pub, it's actually waiting for your chance to speak. This includes the dinner table.  If you go to dinner, in general, you shouldn't talk over each other. It's not a match of who can  speak loudest. Again, if you're in a restaurant, that bleeds into that previous point of making too  much noise. But in general, only one person should be speaking. Or if you're at quite a long table,  maybe you're speaking to the person opposite you, and this person is speaking to the person opposite  them. Nobody should be too loud that it actually disturbs and interferes with the other person's  thinking or communication style. Of course, accidents happen like in all of them. You could  accidentally jump the queue. You apologize. Pretty tricky to have an accidental public display  of affection, but I suppose if you're caught, you might say, "Oh, sorry." If you accidentally  drop something out of your pocket or you don't see your dog go to the toilet and somebody picks  you up on it immediately, "Oh, sorry. Oh my goodness. I didn't see." And if you're making too  much noise and you become aware that people are kind of looking at you and focusing on you, you  apologize again. And interrupting is no different.

[00:15:19]Sometimes we accidentally interrupt people. We  think that they finished speaking and we start ourselves and suddenly real, oh my goodness,  they had more to say. In that case, you say, "Oh, sorry. Sorry. I didn't realize." And quite  often there's a little bit of a cultural dance where they'll say, "Oh no, you after you. No,  after you. No, no, no, please. You first."

[00:15:37]pretty much in the same way when we hold doors  for each other, which is another one for a future lesson on commonly expected etiquette in  British culture. But in general, if you interrupt somebody, apologize and allow them to continue.  And it could happen on video calls, meetings, it could happen in your daily life face to face.  If it happens, apologize and move on. And also, don't feel bad about it because these  things happen. To give you a real example, even in the podcast that I do with Rob, because  we're recording it, sometimes the internet will be a bit slower and I'll think he's finished  speaking or he'll think I've finished speaking and we will accidentally interrupt. But you can see  on our podcast, we'll say, "Oh, uh, sorry, sorry.

[00:16:14]Please go." So, there you have it. Five common  things that you should avoid doing that could upset British people. And like I say, some British  people could also learn a lot from this lesson.

[00:16:25]Let me know in the comments below if you know any  others. And remember, there's that free PDF you can download to learn even more. And please do  remember to like and hype this lesson. But from me today, I just want to say thank you very much  for watching and I'll see you in the next lesson.