WE ARE ENGLISH: ACTIVITY

Dont’ touch! We are English!

English people think that you should avoid physical contact with strangers. When they ride on an underground train or stand in a crowded lift, they keep themselves to themselves. They read on trains or buses so that they don’t have to talk to people they don’t know. They avoid eye contact at all costs.

Research has shown that the English are much more conscious of their personal space than other nationalities, especially the Irish or the Scots, who seem more at ease with physical contact. The English allow much less contact, even with friends. And they can be upset if you touch them unexpectedly. You should never, for example, tap an English person on the shoulder if you want to attract their attention. It’s safer to cough or say: ‘Excuse me?’

When the English meet people for the first time, they shake hands, but then immediately move further away. Other nationalities, Spanish people or Egyptians, for example, move closer to someone they are speaking to, but not the English. The English think you shouldn’t get to close because it suggests a desire for intimacy. And they rarely kiss people they have just met at a party when they are leaving.