Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It can also be cultural differences too, Don. Eg, we Brits often come across as "rude" to Americans because we tend to be a lot "blunter" in our speech. Eg, in the UK if you want to say "Fred has died", then that's what you say. I've noticed that no American will ever say that - it's "Fred has passed away", "we've lost Fred", or any one of half a dozen other euphemisms. It's as if there's a "cultural taboo" about using the word "died".
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I thought we were regarded as painfully polite - the stereotype being that we apologise if someone steps on our toes.
And we never complain in shops.
And even within the UK, there are a variety of social tones - Yorkshire seen as blunt speaking, the Home Counties as anally polite, and theress everything in between.
I'm always impressed by the posters who don't have English as a first language - they often put the rest of us to shame.