Are The Brits Up Themselves?
Sorting through the Secret Post Club information this morning, making sure that everything is in good order, I started to notice a pattern emerging.
With the exception of a couple of people, everybody that sent in their address from outside Britain had put their country in the address, like I asked. At least 80% of those that live in Britain didn’t, despite me asking.
What does that say about us Brits?
That we assume everybody in the world knows where Reading or Preston are*?
That we are so unworldly wise, despite out constant finger pointing at the Americans for being just that, that we don’t realise others in the world neither know nor care where these places are.
That we assume it’s only right that those wanting to post to us should be made to find out where we live**? And then complain when our parcels never arrive or arrive late?
Is it true what they say about us? Are we Brits rather up our own behinds?
None Brits, is this something you have noticed about us?
*Two places picked completely at random from my brain and no indication of who left their country off their address, ahem.
** Incidentally, I had a least 2 people contact me this month to say that UK was registering as the Ukraine in their postal systems and they wanted to check whether the recipient really lived in the Ukraine or not.
I'm Heather, an ex expat, now back in blighty and living in Lancashire. Which is just like Lapland only less snowy...and stuff.
Hmmm. not sure…..but I am usually so slapdash (don’t you love that word) and busy and confused I get most everything a little bit wrong! Still have a big flower on my cheek form last nights Arabian princess get up fpr a fancy dress party, house a tip, my kids are eating weetos – I’m a mess! I went a bit off track there didnt I?. Order will resume in my home , jkids diet by tomorrow.
In all honesty, I do tend to think people will know where Nottngham is cos of Robin Hood…but that is a wee bit presumptious isn’t it?
LOL-people here laugh at me because I am so by the books. I always thought that was an American trait-if someone tells you to do something a certain way, then do it that way. Maybe not.
Did have a chuckle about the UK and ukraine
I think I put UK – is that ok? by the way, hope the volcanic ash hasn’t stopped our packages from the UK going out overseas. Back to subject, I suppose I do assume everyone knows the contents of this tiny island especially having been brought up with the (parents) opinion that the rest of the world was discovered by us or would still be languishing un-named and unknown! need to review that perhaps!
Sorry, I’m not a member of the secret post club (one day I might get round to signing up…), so not 100% sure of the exact mechanics of it – but maybe everyone is just assuming YOU know where Reading and Preston are? I agree though – having lived outside the UK for a long time, I do still find it embarrassing how insular we are on this island – maybe it is to do with the fact that everyone speaks English, but it is probably time we realised that the world does NOT revolve around the UK!
A tad presumptuous I’d say
But seriously, how would someone that lives
in Malaysia say, or Australia, know things like that?
ha ha ha, maybe it is, I don’t know. i do that almost all Americans Wrote
USA on their address though. Not sure what tells us.
The volcanic ash will definitely disrupt the packages! Of course, there are
no flights and when they start again there will be a backlog. The least of
peoples worries i think in a time when people are being evacuated form their
homes because the volcano melted a glacier…
It is interesting the way we assume things like that though, the fact that
people know that Hants (for example) is a county called Hampshire in
England. why would anybody outside of England know that?
It is frustrating, isn’t it? We Brits really need to wake up and see that
we are not the bees knees we thing we are and there is a whole world out
there that doesn’t really care about us let alone know the names of all our
towns.
Perhaps they did assume that I would know, but that then assumes that i
would add it to every address which is worse somehow, up ourselves
and presumptuous that others will fill in the details for us. I think I may
have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, i’m feeling very
ranty lol
I bet if your blog was ‘from an American in lapland’ people would’ve been more likely to tell you Reading was in the uk.
Could be. However since the address are being sent out to others that must
be worse. They assume that I will fill in the word England 100 and odd
times (once for everybody) rather them all doing it once themselves. As so
many did it, really we are talking more than 80%, what does that say about
us as a nation? It doesn’t look good, does it?
I don’t think the Brits are up themselves, but we can make assumptions like this. Apologies if I was one of the culprits, I’ll give myself a slap on the wrist just in case it was me.
Glad to say that I always stick “England” in the address when I’m sending off for something or writing to someone. This is not done out of humility however as I tend to write England as big as possible and underline it with gold stars.
Only joking. I do always write “England” though.
Oh dear – I fear I may be a culprit! If I am and you have me (easternsparkle) as this month’s partner I am in England!
It’s interesting don’t you think? Or maybe it’s just me lol.
Ahh, a true Brit, good to see the old British superiority still going strong
Fear not, I have changed them all.
Oh Dear…..I think I may be one of the guilty ones *blush*!! I’m not sure why but I just assumed that most of us would be english……urrgh hate being a typical Brit
Apologies!
As a non-brit I can honestly say no, you are not up your own behinds
Then again, maybe being Irish and such a close neighbour I just ‘get it’? If someone from Ireland asked me for my address I wouldn’t put Ireland in 
Jen.
I suspect it was as simple as people expecting you as a Brit to know and add the UK. But it is a bit silly. And I do find the locals to be a bit Brit-centric. I had a bizarre fight with people at (British) work who kept insisting on writing “Boston, USA” no matter how many times I tried to explain that this made no sense without the addition of “MA”… they were absolutely convinced that I (an American) was wrong!
I’m probably guilty of doing it (am I?), so apols. But I don’t think it means Brits are up ourselves. I think it’s more likely to mean that we’re useless at following instructions and possibly only skim read your directions of what to include.
I had no idea that it was going to get this big, or this global and it’s obviously a major PITA for you right now. Going forward, what, apart from the spreadsheet etc, can we do to help?
xx
I think most of your blogging network will be in the UK (am I right?), and assume that that is the default.
And you say “despite me asking”, but I think we are all guilty of speed-reading blogs, and missing details like that.
I do think that a healthy dose of living abroad opens your eyes to these kind of things.
This post actually led me to check my sent mail to make sure I hadn’t been an idiot! Fortunately I was good *wipes brow*
In my opinion, as IotaM, we make the assumption that most of the people involved are in the UK and therefore don’t bother adding it to the address. When giving my address normally I don’t bother adding UK unless I know that the person I’m giving it to is abroad, and in my address books only the foreign addresses have their country attached.
Maybe it’s just a case of habit.
Before I came to live here I was doing wedding invitations for a friend (who was celebrating in England). She laughed at me because I had no idea what the abbreviations – Oxon, Hants, Norhants (or is it Northants?) meant. Absolutely NO IDEA!
ummm yes, actually I should apologise as people reading this may well be affected by the volcano to a serious level and post is the least of the worries – you are so right. I surprise even myself with my airheadiness at times and am working on it.
.
lol. i know the feeling.
You know, I still don’t know what so many of them stand for and I am a Brit. Who in the hell thought Hants was a good abbreviation for Hampshire for crying outloud?
Ah, don’t worry about it. It was just an observation i made this morning as i was sorting stuff out.
You’re probably right, it’s just me being silly. But it just caught my attention this morning and got me thinking – always a dangerous hobby
You’re probably right. although, I don’t live in England…but still yeah.
Ha ha, it is funny how convinced people get that they are right about stuff like that lol
You’re probably right. Maybe we are a nation of skim readers? The SPC isn’t so bad now, have just been catching up on some of the admin and putting some ideas into place that came form our big brain storming session on here last week.
Should run quite smoothly soon. she say crossing her fingers lol
So Brits are a nation of speed readers it seems. lol But yeah, living abroad really does help you see things like this so much better
It probably is. Just my brain be far too over active whilst doing a fairly mundane task lol
I totally agree. It is an overthrow from the old ‘Imperial arrogance’, methinks. Horrible!
It’s disturbing isn’t it?
I just checked back on the email I sent you with my address and it says UK on it! Maybe it’s because I do a lot of international letter writing but to your question about if someone in Australia would know where Nottingham was, my husband says Yes they would assume/know it was England because of Robin Hood and Cricket!!! Probably wouldn’t go down the same in Malaysia!
No – it would be assumed to be Redding, Connecticut!
I always get brought down a peg or two here when I ask a phone operator for a London number and s/he says “Which London?”. Cough, splutter..
Eeeek!! i’ve just sent you my new address. And guess what, I didn’t put on my country!!
I have now though. And I think that the reason I didn’t was much more innocent. Even though I know, when I think about it, that you’re in Finland, I just assume that all the post club members are in the UK. Which is stupid, because I know lots of them aren’t, but most of the bloggers I read and who read me are British, or live in Britain, that it seems natural to assume that we all have a British slant.
That is though, clearly wrong, and almost certainly arrogant. So, for the same reason I have defiantly put “United Kingdom” in the address I’ve just sent you….(As a soon to be Scot, I suspect “England” as shorthand for “the UK” is going to start irritating me a lot…)
You mean to say there is life outside of the UK? … well bugger me!! Next you will be telling me there is life on Mars
I once had to book a last minute ticket from Boston, Massachusetts to Manchester, England. I could have sworn I said “Manchester, England” but when the travel agent told me the ticket was going to cost $400, I thought to double-check. No, in fact she was booking me on a flight from Boston, MA to Manchester, New Hampshire -a roundtrip of 110 miles!! The ticket to Manchester, England cost me $900 – which per mile was much cheaper!
I nearly told that story as my own, and then remembered I had read it somewhere but couldn’t remember where. Thanks AA! (Besides, I don’t fly in and out of Manchester.)
We forget, or dont realise, just how many reading/reddings or londons there are in the world. They stop and end at the shores of England
Probably not lol
which London? My god! lol
$400 for a 110 miles? Bloody hell! but yeah, it reminds us that there are so many places named things like Manchester and London, something us Brits tend to forget or not realise.
I imagine it will after a while lol. I know what you mean about assuming, its something i’ve done too, but when we think about it, it’s pretty silly isn’t it? lol
I know, i know! Hard to get your head around really, but I suppose Johnny foreigner has to live somewhere.
Where do I send the address in? Sorry, I am so late now, and I am way behind with blog reading and stuff. There was just so much going on with the bullying and selling the house and baby sick *weeps a bit* and I really want to be part and send out a lovely package to the Ukraine.
Ummm… yes. Quite a few are. Not all, mind. But quite a few. Like the woman I knew who spent about twenty years living in Brussels, and never bothered to learn either French or Flemish. There are a LOT of them around. Which I find more telling than the address thing.
I can't even remember what I put, I did it on my phone so it was really tricky to fill in. Hope I wasn't one of the one's who didn't put my address, but probably was. I have to say I assumed that most of the people invoved are British, but maybe I have this completely wrong. Bad me. I think we do tend to be a bit arrogant, empire and all that. We are also much better travelled than most people from the US. And tend to know a bit more about the world (I can say that because my grandfather was American). But, I don't think there is any particular arrogance about the way the spreadsheet has been filled in, it's just people being lazy/in a hurry.
There is definitely an superior attitude to the Brits (in general) that i
hadn't really noticed until I left and can look at it from a distance and
see many of our little ways through the eyes of the foreigners around me.
It's really interesting to be able to see it all with a fresh pair of eyes.
but yes, i'm sure most of the info sent or not sent was laziness more than
anything.