01355383 Varieties of English and Cultures of English Native Speakers 06 | Page 34

What are the ‘British traits’?
Let’s admit it. The UK is a diverse country. It is very hard to
describe the so-called national characteristics of the people
of any country without the danger of overgeneralising and
making assumptions.
However, to be fair, the British also love to play with the
stereotypes about themselves, and the ability to ‘take a
mick out of oneself’ (meaning ‘to make fun of oneself’) is
considered to be very British. So, here is a list of top 30
things that the Brits do… according to the Brits.
(adapted from the results of NatCen Social Research, 2016).