“The Most British Thing Ever!”

As a British person living in the US I frequently do things that amuse my coworkers and friends and cause them to say “that’s the most British thing ever!” Here I compile a few of the most recent and ridiculous examples.

1. I filed a trouble ticket at work when we ran out of English Breakfast tea in the kitchen. I also started the ticket with “I’m sorry to bother you but…”. I felt a little guilty about filing the ticket but a good brew is important for my productivitea (see what I did there).
2. I have a tea wallet. I should add that it I did not buy this myself (it was a gift) but I am in possession of a wallet just for holding tea. It’s actually surprisingly useful, if I ever forget my British passport when returning home I’ll just show them my tea wallet and they’ll let me in. Needless to say, everyone who has seen my tea wallet thinks it is the most British thing in the world.
3. Normal people go jeans shopping or coat shopping. This weekend I went cardigan shopping. I now have a grand total of three cardigans so who’s laughing now?
4. I pressed the button on the bus by accident and got off about 5 stops too early because I didn’t want to admit to having made a mistake. I told people this and they said “why did you not just pretend someone else pressed it”. I can’t handle the guilt!
5. I have been known to complain that it doesn’t rain enough where I live. This sounds strange but imagine it’s the middle of a big heatwave in summer and you just want a grey, dreary day for everything to cool down a little bit. Also in winter rain is a lot better than snow because rain doesn’t require shovelling and plowing.
6. I never say “mate” when talking to Americans because it makes me feel like a stereotype but the other day a British guy was in the office and within 10 minutes I was calling him mate. People found this amusing of course.

This is just a small sample of the reasons people say “that was the most British thing ever”, if I can think of any more I’ll let you know!