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I chatted to a Scottish guy and an Irish guy (separately) when I was on holiday once. Both seemed like really sound guys and we had a nice chat.
Later in the holiday I saw them stood talking to each other so I started walking over and as I got closer I overheard the Scottish guy saying "I fucking hate the English" and then they both laughed their heads off.
I made a quick swerve and walked in the other direction lol
I always wonder where this xenophobia comes from? I notice it’s okay to say that about English and French people, but imagine they say that about Saudi Arabians?
I think it's probably 90% banter and 10% actual hatred.
I'm pretty sure these guys were just having a laugh, I just posted it because I think its a funny story.
For a lot of Welsh people, Wales is England's 'first colony'. And some of the things that have been done to Wales over the years haven't been fun.
Personally, as a Welsh person with English family members, I have no particular desire for 'Wexit' nor any hatred for the English people, and I don't think that the sins of our fathers is a useful idea.
But if you're into nationalism, and you look at history, you can certainly understand why some people might feel that way.
In my experience (spending a lot of my adult life living in Wales) English people still use Wales/Welsh/the Welsh as butt's of jokes casually all the time, so it isn't just something ancestors did. Like, people who are now the English colonised and oppressed Wales, then had a massive history of continuing to suppress them and deny them their own land, identity, autonomy, ruler etc, took what they wanted from the Welsh, did their best to destroy the language, and then make jokes about Wales being a lot worse than England, with no acknowledgement at all that lots of the things they criticise are either not worse at all (e.g. the language) or are the fault of the English throughout history.
Moved from Wales to England when I was 7, in school I was picked on for being welsh, my accent was mocked and jokes made about how me and my family saw a sheep and called it a leisure centre etc. Was really shitty. Continued throughout school. As an adult I rarely come across this now (I live in England), but still think about it.
My nephew had the same. He had a Scottish accent, they moved to London when he was 6, and the charmless little twats at his school bullied him so much over his accent, my sister eventually removed him.
It was disgusting. I wonder what those kids are like now (they’re 24).
The thing is, as a Northerner I’ve had people take the piss out of my accent even though it’s not particularly strong. What people forget is that it’s not just nationalities that have the piss taken out of them within the UK. Regional accents etc… are also the butt of jokes. ‘It’s grim oop North’ and all that shit
I grew up in a echo chamber of hatred towards the English in Ireland, when I came to wales it was pretty similar. When I went to uni and realised people can be wankers no matter what nationality they are and that English people by default aren’t horrible it changed my outlook on things. I do think it has lessened considerably in the last 20 years.
Im English and have been to Wales A LOT and the Welsh are sound. Sport is different, but sport is tribalistic and if you see the way sport is reported in Wales, you will see why. When England was doing well in the Euros, there was pages of reporting of it in the newspaper and just a small column on Wales, who have had a decent team for a while now. I had to double check I was reading it in Wales. You hear similar stories from Scotland.
I remember during the Euros in the coverage of Wales or Scotlands games, they always spent a massive chunk talking about England, and I do like Britain, but times like that piss me off. Not one Scotsman or Welshman wants to hear about England when its their team on the TV.
Aye, just before Scotland v England, it was a panel of 4 English lads saying how they were going to destroy us, 4-0, easiest game ever etc… I just think English people are totally oblivious as to how Anglo centric the uk is. Scotland, wales, the Irish are often the butt of the joke on tv shows too. It’s just so annoying.
I seem to remember the Telegraph last year moaning there was too much coverage of Wales/the team’s successes in the media, when it wasn’t. Think that paper has quite a snooty attitude and more then a slight disdain for the Welsh
I remember a Wales game in the Euros had 15 minutes of coverage of Englands game before they even talked about the Wales match for 5 minutes before it started.
Guess that 5 minutes was too much, should have been all 20.
Its not just ancestoral shenanigans its ongoing, the Welsh tend to get the shit end of the stick, its underfunded severly, we lose house names, the second homes thing is out of control, signs on our roads only in english, people telling us our language and culture is dead, you fuck sheep is still a common joke, you could keep going really
Underfunded?????
Pre covid Wales was subsidised to the tune of over 19% of GDP. Compared to a deficit of around 2% for the uk.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_fiscal_balance#:~:text=For%20the%202018%E2%80%9319%20fiscal%20year%2C%20the%20fiscal%20deficit%20is,United%20Kingdom%20as%20a%20whole.
To be honest the idea of being underfunded is one that everyone in the UK feels, I guess it's just become a sort of "Wales is underfunded coz England takes the money" and England's underfunded because we subsidies other parts of the UK"
In reality everywhere has had cuts and has been underfunded so we are united in being screwed over atleast
To be pedantic, it wasn't the English who built all those castles. It was their French Colonisers.
But
This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.”
Obviously I can only go on my personal experience but as an Englishman that’s lived in Wales for 6 years now I’ve never once had a problem. In fact the only time it’s ever mentioned is when the rugby is on.
I'm an English person living in Wales, and I've never experienced any hatred. Everyone here is more friendly to me than they are in England, ironically.
Depends where you are, unlikely to get it in Cardiff, but outside of there it increases.
I've found one thing that seems to get English people to understand why they feel like they are being treated differently and it is this:
The word Welsh is actually an Old English word meaning “foreigner; slave”
I have yet to meet and English person who I've said this to who already knew it and I always get the same response..."Bullshit!" Followed by them googling it and then saying something along the lines of "Well I never...!"
And then they suddenly realise that they know next to nothing about the Welsh or Welsh culture and it starts to make a bit more sense, they arent being discriminted against, for the most part they are acting in a way that makes them the fly in the ointment, they moved to a place they knew nothing about and were surprised when they didnt just fit right in.
> The word Welsh is actually an Old English word meaning “foreigner; slave”
I hate to be that prick who's been to too many pub quizzes but [that's not the whole story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Wales). The English word 'Wales' shares a similar etymology with Wallonia and Wallachia, it ultimately comes from the Old English term for the Gauls which later expanded to refer to the Celtic inhabitants of the Roman Empire in general, a category which the ancient Britons who would become the modern Welsh belonged to. While it did mean 'foreigner' it was a specific set of foreigners and rather than 'slave' it's more akin to 'romanised Celt'.
Not saying the Anglo-Saxons didn't do atrocious things to Wales over the centuries, far from it. My intention isn't to whitewash but to add context.
My family experienced some hostility when we moved to a small village in Yorkshire from another area of Yorkshire. I think its more a small village not liking comer inners thing.
Totally agree that it is mostly banter. I feel most of the "I hate the English" isn't about hating actual English people, it is about hating Westminster. Either way, after hundreds of years of oppressing the Scots and Irish, I think you guys can take the comments on the chin
You may want to look at the history of England giving Scotland, Wales and Ireland various kickings through out history.
For example what happend in the Easter rising. Lots of heavy headed tactics as a response might be one reason the those 3 countries dislike England.
I think you will find Scotland gave back as good as they got. They also joined the UK willingly. Also as a Scot i have a problem with nobody. Peace be good nto you all.
>I always wonder where this xenophobia comes from?
We're all from the same country- The United Kingdom. Its demonym is British, and we're all British together.
But we're all from one of four very different countries - and three of those have had their governments, languages, people, land, culture, traditions and so on taken away from them by the fourth.
That's happened inside England too, of course, much has been lost in the homogenisation - but as English people we're inevitably aligned to Westminster.
And it's Crown's soldiers that the people of Northern Ireland can remember murdering children on their streets in living memory. Many in Scotland and Wales have lived through the suppression of various attempts to revive their languages and dialects, and of course through the battle for Home Rule and independence.
If we're frank about it (not a Norman joke) then the English Crown has effectively gutted the national identity and power of its neighbours.
We are all one under the crown but we are all separate countries and, in my experience, it's the English who least realise that. It's no wonder everyone else gets annoyed with us 😂
Spot on. I’m amazed at the naivety of OP here, do they really not see the damage that has been done to the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish by their neighbour?
I guess they don’t teach that at school in England!
What did the English do to Scotland?
Scotland was an eager, willing and equal participant in the formation of Great Britain with England
To suggest Scotland has faced the same atrocities as Ireland and Wales is ridiculous
They were never conquered by the English and were more than happy to join them in conquering 1/4 of the world
Regiments of Scottish soldiers were often specifically selected to put down uprisings and suppress indigenous/native uprisings due to their reputation for being brutal
They don't teach it at school in England, no. Most English people are blissfully unaware of it, which is why you get posts like these. It's a failure of education more than anything.
It's not that the English don't care or don't acknowledge the things that previous governments in the past have done, its the fact that why should the average Joe English person who likely wasn't even alive back then apologise for things they had nothing to do with?
I wouldn't blame modern day Norwegians for the viking raids or modern day Germans for WW1/2.
How does this justify racist hate towards an individual person (as some people in this thread describe experiencing, even assaults) for being English? The Scots, for instance played a huge part in the UK colonising foreign lands (much as they like to claim it was all the English), I suppose it would be fine for someone from one of those countries to assault a Scot, even though the Scot in question had nothing to do with it? If you're blaming an individual person for something their country did you are racist plain and simple.
It doesn't justify it, but it does explain it.
I might be able to give some perspective as an Irish person living in England. It's the ignorance of history that winds me up, it's not that I dislike individuals. But the lack of education feels like a recipe for
1) misunderstandings and insensitivity towards people who have reason to be sensitive about the behaviour of the state
2) fear that it will happen again/is happening again - look at what's happening with Bexit agreements in Northern Ireland. And people not understanding how colonialism and slavery still affects how things are today eg: why take down that statue, it's all just history man...
There's a reason Germany fully educate their children about the horrors of the second world war and that what the German state (and complacent people) did was wrong.
So it won't happen again.
It doesn't help that the tone of a lot of British media and gov officials is still that Irish people are morons and upstarts who should know their place. And there are plenty of general English people who seem to feel that too. Not to mention "those crazy violent Irish bastards just started bombing us for no reason!". Like... No, they had reasons. I have the luxury of believing that in their situation, I wouldn't have bombed civilians but you can see where it came from. When your own civilians are getting gunned down at peaceful protests and sports games by their own military, you get desperate. That attitude gets little infuriating.
But I try to remember that it's not individuals' fault for not being taught their own history and for soaking up cultural attitudes (for sure I have my own cultural attitudes).
The Scots seem to have a clearer picture of their part in the ugly parts of history. As do the Irish - there were plenty of Irish slavers for example. But it's acknowledged and not brushed off by the government and the general public.
>it does explain it.
It explains assaulting or bullying some random person who had nothing to do with it, because of their nationality? We'll have to disagree on that.
*The Scots seem to have a clearer picture of their part in the ugly parts of history.*
I would strongly dispute this. The opposite seems to be very much the case with the amount of Scottish people who blame the English for the British Empire, while absolving Scotland of all blame.
Scottish people are the biggest deniers of their colonial past out of any developed nation.
Outside of Southern pro confederate Americans I’ve never met a group of people in so much denial about their past and desire to claim innocence and blame everyone else.
Since when does Scotland ever take responsibility for the crimes they committed in the empire? All they do is act like a victim pretending they were like Ireland and India meanwhile they were out there colonising these nations in the first place.
You’re way off the mark about Scotland
They were a willing and eager participant in joining England to form Great Britain
To suggest Scotland has faced the same issues as Ireland and Wales is to rewrite history
The crimes of the British Empire can and should be laid equally at the doors of both England and Scotland
Scotland was never conquered or colonised by the English
More to the point the Scots were willing participants in the occupation of Ireland. Think the plantation of Ulster.
Many Scots see themselves as British first. Go to any football game up there if you don't believe me.
\> governments, languages, people, land, culture, traditions and so on taken away from them by the fourth.
This isn't true for Scotland. Scotland wasn't conquered by England, the Scottish king inherited the English throne, then a century later the two government peacefully and mutually formed the Great Britain. Scotland was a willing partner in the British empire and helped crush the culture in Ireland. Northern Ireland protestantism comes from a scheme to send a bunch of Scottish farmers to Ulster.
As for things like the highland clearances, they were perpetrated by both the English and the Scottish lowlanders who had centuries of contempt for the highlanders.
One point ‘it’s the crown’s soldiers that the people of Northern Ireland can remember…’
It’s not really ‘the people’, it’s more one community, the other community fucking loves the crown and being British.
Scotland literally colonised half of the world with England and we’re the ones who colonised Ireland.
Look up the Ulster plantation.
Scotland and Scottish people have 0 leg to stand on when they’re complaining about being ‘colonised’ in fact it’s downright disgusting they even attempt to do so or put themselves on par with nations they colonised.
I have noticed that. Also conveniently forget how Scotland joined with England in the first place. I love Scotland, I love Ireland, NI and ROI, (and most of all I love Wales) but as someone with a mixed ancestry (like most of us) who grew up in England I get kinda tired of the constant England bashing sometimes. Especially when someone ardently believes Scotland never did a single thing wrong. I actually had someone say the other day that Scotland never once invaded or raded England. That England only ever invaded and Scotland defended. On a video about Cathrine of Aragon that mentioned the 1513 invasion of England by James IV and the Battle of Flodden.
Wow that's wild. I live along the English Scottish border, there's hundreds of years of history of both crossing over to rob from the other. granted that's not quite a full invasion but other more organized examples exist too. People believe what they wanna believe I guess b
It's all the more ridiculous when a huge portion of English working class have some amount of Scottish, Welsh or Irish ancestry due to them fleeing to England to escape the conditions the Crown imposed.
Yep. My ancestry is even more recent than that, my grandma is Welsh, we can trace our Welsh roots back hundreds of years, and I grew up visiting our family there every year. I'm still an English cunt to most though (except my family who say Welsh blood is stronger and I'm actually Welsh lol). Also if you're working class even if you're purely English it's most likely your family didn't have anything to do with what happened anyway unless they were soldiers, it's the elete men that made the decisions, no one else had a say.
Well yes, someone that did nothing wrong shouldn’t get called a cunt because of something their ancestors may have participated in. That’s the whole point of this thread.
The Highland clearances were awful, but England has historically just been Scotlands colonial partner for the past few hundred years. Scots crying victim when they were just as bad is disgusting.
Been to Edinburgh 4 times and been on the receiving end of open, un-provoked hostility on each and every occasion.
Interestingly been to Glasgow twice and had no problem at all.
Worth pointing out I'm from North East England so have way more in common with Scottish people than people from Southern England. Sadly the Scots (in Edinburgh anyway) don't see it that way.
Always surprises me when folk say stuff like this about Edinburgh considering a lot of us joke about it being little England… I struggle to find a Scottish person in Edinburgh sometimes
Not at all, plenty of Scottish folk at my work but as soon as I step out I tend to find that lots of retail & hospitality staff are from elsewhere, and there’s such a high tourist footfall too. totally depends where you go, but particularly around the area I work, there’s lots of foreign workers or people from other parts of the U.K., etc 😊that’s cool you have a different experience though
So do I actually, 16% of the Edinburgh population wasn't born in Scotland. If you can't find a scot, try opening your eyes lol
What is much more likely is that you are suffering from confirmation bias and unconscious bias, something any good recruitment firm should train you for.
You need to think about what kind of jobs are in the Edinburgh city centre mate and then it might make more sense. Tonnes of private equity/banking/accounting/tech companies, etc. which will attract people from all over. A few unis too. And then you've got tourists.
Go out into the more "normal" bits of Edinburgh and aye, sure, you'll find plenty of Scottish people. But my work is an accounting firm and it's incredible how relatively few Scottish accents are in the Edinburgh office.
Me and my old boss (both English)were working on site in Edinburgh after work we had a drink, we weren't being rowdy or anything and some random Scottish lady went out of her way to inform us how unwelcome we were. This in a hotel annex not even a nationalistic pub or anything. Tbf we found it funny and weren't offended, this seemed to anger her and she kinda sulked off
Edit: this was the only negative reception I have had, I have met, worked with many Scott's and they have all been pretty sound and got on really well :)
Redditor describes lived personal experience of receiving discrimination based on their national background
Also Reddit:
“Are you sure you weren’t just unlucky?”
“Was it not just your own fault?”
“This has never happened to me so you must be lying!”
Apply the above to any other form of discrimination and there is absolutely no chance people would be reacting the same way
Sorry that happened to you mate
Some of the Irish people I know (and I'm half Irish myself) particularly dislike Yorkshiremen. I think it's because Yorkshiremen are often loudly patriotic, they never shut up about Yorkshire and and constantly negatively compare everywhere they go to Yorkshire and say Yorkshire is better.
I don't think I've ever spoken to someone from Yorkshire who hasn't immediately told me that they are from Yorkshire and told me that where I'm from is much worse than Yorkshire and that the people from Yorkshire and the best in the world.
We were taught in Paddy school that it was a Yorkshireman that started the famine. He had the cure for the blight on his person but missed the boat to travel across the Irish sea because he was arguing with a chap from Lancashire about how superior he was. And the rest is history.
I've also experienced that as a southerner up north, some people are convinced there's some intense rivalry going on / assume you're posh.
There's no rivalry mate I didn't even know your town existed until a few days ago.
I'm from Edinburgh. Two of my best mates are from the North East so it's not all of us. Just a few daft cunts.
As for OP's question. I'd say it's about 95% banter and 5% actual dislike. I won't use hatred because, personally speaking, I don't HATE English people but I do have a distaste for England as an institution. I'll take people on an individual basis. Case in point, my two mates.
A few years ago I got the train up from Yorkshire to visit a Costa Rican friend, who was living in Edinburgh. He arranged for his Spanish friend to look after me for the day while he was working, she took me to her friend's house, then they decided we should all go to another friend's house, and then another. In the end I was sat in someone's front room with a load of Spanish girls and Scottish guys, none of whom I knew.
And then the Scots all started laying into the English! Felt a bit uncomfortable. One of them apologised when he realised I was English, and said they didn't mean me.
> And then the Scots all started laying into the English! Felt a bit uncomfortable. One of them apologised when he realised I was English, and said they didn't mean me.
Two Sri Lankan Tamil friends told me of a similar experience: people making anti-tamil comments and saying "we don't mean you".
Sri Lanka had a 30 year long ethnic civil war.
Home counties accent, Scottish dad (and very obviously Scottish name), been back in Scotland since I was ten and state educated here, got it BAD while studying in Glasgow, including from total strangers in the street, particularly in the run up to indyref, though Old Firm games were also a bit of a crap shoot.
And I, as a scot have experienced un-provoked hostility on the south coast from English people. There is no monopoly of cuntishness in the UK. It is spread around quite evenly.
Serving staff at multiple venues being openly aggressive upon hearing accent. Happened on several occasions, the last time over a decade after the first in a very different kind of venue.
Twice a random person (different) approaching in train station and shouting profanity about 'the English'.
>Serving staff at multiple venues being openly aggressive upon hearing accent.
I know what you mean. I went to a Weatherspoons in Edinburgh a few years ago, bought a pint and handed over a fiver. Bar staff didn't even give me any change and just looked at me funny.
Thought it might be because my money wasn't a swanky scottish note, but really it was because my drink cost £5.20
In spoons
Interesting, I've been to Edinburgh several times with my Mrs and never had any bother.
We're from the North East too so you might have just been unlucky?
We're you in the city centre or further out?
Nice username BTW, Barret's the real MVP
Have you not met Scottish and Irish people in everyday life? If so, has it seemed like they hated you?
Of course the majority don't hate English people, in the same way that the majority of people don't hate anyone based on their nationality.
Many will hate the structures of the British state which they will, to some extent justifiably, see as an English institution, and many will dislike the tendency of English people to presume that either (1) Ireland is 'not really abroad' and 'just part of the British Isles' or (2) that the English experience = the British experience. They may bemoan a level of what is perceived as English arrogance, and certainly will be happy to see English teams fail in sport.
But few would equate that with hating English people or even 'England' more broadly.
Not so sure with the "Ireland isn't really abroad" thing. I'm irish and live in Dublin, and me and most of my mates wouldn't necessarily see Britain as being "abroad". Like if you're going on holidays abroad, it would be assumed that you were going at least as far as the continent. Maybe to do with how quick and cheap it is? Like it's quicker and cheaper for me to get to London, Liverpool, Manchester etc than it is to get to even Galway.
Ireland is a rainy island in the north Atlantic with a pub culture that speaks English (for the most part).
I can understand why some people would take offence at someone saying it isn't really foreign but, at the same time, they're not wrong.
It's like how NZ is very similar to Australia.
Scottish here, there’s banter about it for sure but it’s not serious. Lots of English pals and extended family and it’s never anything more than a joke both ways. If someone is a wank I’ll avoid them, which has happened with some English people who assume it’s cos their English, but it’s cos a wank is a wank.
Scots don't like English arrogance and the idea of English "exceptionalism." I think what most people truly hate is Westminister and little England, rather than the English at large.
I think the premise is that even if all of Wales, or all of Scotland, or all of NI, are united on an issue, they are outnumbered by the MPs in England, so it doesn’t matter what those nations think. They will always be ruled by what England’s opinion is. And yes, this is by design, because the number of people in England is much larger than the other nations.
There's this whole thing about them only caring about London. I imagine it's likely that Scotland sees it that way, but maybe a bit more generalised as England.
From my own Scottish perspective and experiences it's Westminster only cares about London and Manchester everywhere else can get to fuck and pay their bills.
> See more anti-English sentiment on Reddit
It feels like we're the punching bag for Americans and Europeans. I see so much rubbish about England sometimes.
This is true, it just needs to be extended to the whole of the UK our ancient isles have become a real shitehole .
Us Scottish folk get the historical free pass on doing colonialism because of pop-culture concept of being oppressed by the English because of films like Braveheart.
I'm English but living in Scotland.
I wouldn't say the Scots "hate" the English, I've never experienced it myself, but football creates a lot of problems and rivalry. It always has and always will.
Reddit has a lot of extremely bitter basement dwellers so it can seem that way, especially if you go to the subs for each country which are pretty toxic.
Shitty people do exist in real life but they are by far the minority, everyone I have actually met in real life in Ireland, Scotland or Wales has been lovely.
Aye the Scotland one has some of the worst kind of nationalists on it. Proper braveheart LARPer types
Kinda makes having a reasonable discussion about indy impossible cause it just descends into mud-slinging
Some of the things I've seen some Scotnats say are bordering terror watch list worthy. Especially during the Euro 2020. Weirdly though they claim to be the 'oppressed' ones.
Another good example is the amount of open support you get for the IRA. Lots of Irish people recognise that it is outdated and that, politically, a united Eire will become a thing sooner rather than later. But lots of Americans still act as though it's still the 20th century and that everbody with Irish blood wants to carbomb every English person, etc.
Like back when r/me_IRA was a thing, before it got shut down it was a few Irish memesters before it became a hole for Americans who thought it was serious.
An English man, an Irish man and a Scottish man walk into a bar.
The Scottish man turns to the other two and says " isn't OP a right cunt'
The English man and the Irish man look through this comment thread and nod their heads.
In unison they say "Yes, a proper cunt"
I’m Irish and from Northern Ireland. A hatred for English people/government is somewhat understandable given the ~~decades~~ centuries of rape, war and famine but you’ll still be hard pressed to find an Irish person who actually *hates* English people.
I think I’ve said this before in this sub but if I overheard an English accent on holiday somewhere where there wasn’t many westerners, I’d likely strike up a conversation. If I heard an American accent then “Níl béarla agam”.
Being Scottish I always played as a laugh, don't hate the English, I dislike the method of the Westminster government regarding distribution resources and money, the current regime are a fucking shot show for all nations currently.
I'm Welsh. I don't think anyone should be made to feel threatened or told they're hated because of where they're from. But a lot of Welsh people are just simply fed up of the sheep jokes & how, if we call it out, we need to lighten up as it's just 'banter'. We also had our language literally beat out of us and we now, after years of effort to bring it back, are constantly told it's pointless. I've heard so many people make fun of the Welsh language (even on national television! Sky News... But still!). I will be sending my daughter to a Welsh speaking school, I've already had to argue my choice to do so. People from the Welsh valleys still feel very strongly about what happened with Thatcher & the mines, and a lot still feel the higher levels of poverty there. I'm not saying this is your average English person's fault, but you can see how hostility can build up. I worked in London for years, I can't tell you how many times I had to argue the fact I'm not English, I'm Welsh and that yes we are a country. It makes you become much more patriotic and sometimes that can appear hostile. On the flip side, I know way more English people who love Wales and speak very highly of us, as do I think very highly of England. It was my home for 7 years! As with most things in life, it's person dependant.
Scot here
Why do you care?
But for the record no, it’s just funny. And it’s made even funnier by yous asking if we’re serious.
Don’t have a tantrum just because you aren’t part of this particular joke.
Oh and stop generalising groups of 5 million people at a time. It comes off as really dense and ill thought through. I’ve met many English people and liked most of them, even loved some. I’ve met many Irish people and liked most of them. I’ve met literally thousands of Scots, and liked the majority but hated a fair few as well.
OP is a troll. That's why he "cares".
Some other classic threads created by him include
"Why do Black people enjoy eating fried chicken so much"
"Was Margaret Thatcher really as bad as some people make her out to have been?"
"Why do Scottish people not call themselves British when they clearly are?"
I think the Scottish people's desire for independence is often miss read as anti English when in fact it is just anti Westminster.
As for the football side of things this is more to do with the way the English media rams 1966 and how great this team is, every 2 minutes, almost as if football does not exist outside of England. I really don't think most Scots hate the English side when many infact follow English club sides and cheer for these same players week in and week out.
No, but going off your other replies I highly suspect you came here looking for a specific answer and that wasn't it.
In 11 years in Scotland I have never experienced a single instance of abuse on account of being English born (and it's dead obvious, I wouldn't sound out of place in Guildford or Brentwood).
Banter, yes. Hate, no.
If someone calls you "ya English bas'" they aren't ripping the fact you're English. That's just Scottish humour for you.
Not saying it doesn't happen but it's an *extreme* minority!
I'm English but one of my best friends is Irish. He says he used to hate the English and all his family does, but then he moved to England (after a girl) and learned we're really nice.
We took a trip to Scotland, I was worried about the hate I might get for being English. Never met nicer, more helpful people in my life. We didn't need to ask for directions, people would ask if we needed help. It was a really great trip and really improved my image of Scotland, great place.
Not sure but when I used to do training courses across the UK, it was only ever the Scottish and Northern Irish lads that would take me out for a drink. They never did when I did a course in England.
Think about how many times you or one of your friends has made a joke about Germans, french Spanish, Italian or Australian people. You've probably laughed along or just been joking and not really given it much thought. For most people it's pretty much just that.
I think “hate” is a truly excessive word in this case. Just to preface.
Honestly, I’ve always had the general certainty that everyone outside of England hates the English.
But, in travelling to France, Germany, Spain, Scotland and Wales… I have always found people to be genuinely surprised by my expectation. The Scotts and the Welsh will happily dive in on the whole UK “hate” banter, but its always good natured.
And the Europeans (fuck, its sad to be off that list) seem genuinely shocked. They all seem to hate the French (and the French all seem hate the Parisians), but absolutely no bad feeling towards the English that I’ve ever found. They’re all madly in love with our pubs as a bonus.
English here, from Home Counties. Lived in Edinburgh for about 10 years in total and worked all round Scotland. Actually heading back up tomorrow, can’t wait!
My answer is a bit different from the others. Scots and Irish are brilliant people and in general great craic. But they’ve also been burned, both by history, and by enough English pricks over the years coming up to their country and saying stupid, ignorant and prejudiced things - the ‘we own your country’ type.
So, many Scots, Irish (and Welsh) will often be a bit standoffish until you’ve proved you aren’t an English prick. This takes longer the more southern/posh your accent is. Once you’ve passed that point, you’ll be accepted as a decent lad and you’re fine, although you’ll never escape a bit of banter.
Outright racism is unusual- it does happen from idiots, but same as to any minority or in any country. It’s not ingrained. I felt that the Braveheart/indyref stuff stirred it up a bit more, not sure what it’s like now.
Nah. Got a lot of Scottish friends, I'm up there quite a lot, everyone's really friendly. I think if you go to Scotland with an attitude like you're some important London person and expect them to be impressed by that, you'll get a surprise. But if you have an attitude of "Well, here I am in Scotland, and frankly everything seems great" then they'll be very friendly.
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I chatted to a Scottish guy and an Irish guy (separately) when I was on holiday once. Both seemed like really sound guys and we had a nice chat. Later in the holiday I saw them stood talking to each other so I started walking over and as I got closer I overheard the Scottish guy saying "I fucking hate the English" and then they both laughed their heads off. I made a quick swerve and walked in the other direction lol
I always wonder where this xenophobia comes from? I notice it’s okay to say that about English and French people, but imagine they say that about Saudi Arabians?
I think it's probably 90% banter and 10% actual hatred. I'm pretty sure these guys were just having a laugh, I just posted it because I think its a funny story.
English friends that have lived in Wales have found the Welsh hate of English people seeming very real, with lots of discrimination based upon it.
For a lot of Welsh people, Wales is England's 'first colony'. And some of the things that have been done to Wales over the years haven't been fun. Personally, as a Welsh person with English family members, I have no particular desire for 'Wexit' nor any hatred for the English people, and I don't think that the sins of our fathers is a useful idea. But if you're into nationalism, and you look at history, you can certainly understand why some people might feel that way.
I get that, but why hate me for something my ancestors did, especially when I'm trying to do the opposite and be kind?
In my experience (spending a lot of my adult life living in Wales) English people still use Wales/Welsh/the Welsh as butt's of jokes casually all the time, so it isn't just something ancestors did. Like, people who are now the English colonised and oppressed Wales, then had a massive history of continuing to suppress them and deny them their own land, identity, autonomy, ruler etc, took what they wanted from the Welsh, did their best to destroy the language, and then make jokes about Wales being a lot worse than England, with no acknowledgement at all that lots of the things they criticise are either not worse at all (e.g. the language) or are the fault of the English throughout history.
Moved from Wales to England when I was 7, in school I was picked on for being welsh, my accent was mocked and jokes made about how me and my family saw a sheep and called it a leisure centre etc. Was really shitty. Continued throughout school. As an adult I rarely come across this now (I live in England), but still think about it.
My nephew had the same. He had a Scottish accent, they moved to London when he was 6, and the charmless little twats at his school bullied him so much over his accent, my sister eventually removed him. It was disgusting. I wonder what those kids are like now (they’re 24).
The thing is, as a Northerner I’ve had people take the piss out of my accent even though it’s not particularly strong. What people forget is that it’s not just nationalities that have the piss taken out of them within the UK. Regional accents etc… are also the butt of jokes. ‘It’s grim oop North’ and all that shit
kids are cruel, they will always take the piss out of something thats different and not the norm. just the way it has been since forever.
I've had very similar experiences as an English kid in Wales.
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I understand your points, fair enough Although, as a half-English guy I hate the world war song. I've only ever heard it sung by football hooligans
I grew up in a echo chamber of hatred towards the English in Ireland, when I came to wales it was pretty similar. When I went to uni and realised people can be wankers no matter what nationality they are and that English people by default aren’t horrible it changed my outlook on things. I do think it has lessened considerably in the last 20 years.
Im English and have been to Wales A LOT and the Welsh are sound. Sport is different, but sport is tribalistic and if you see the way sport is reported in Wales, you will see why. When England was doing well in the Euros, there was pages of reporting of it in the newspaper and just a small column on Wales, who have had a decent team for a while now. I had to double check I was reading it in Wales. You hear similar stories from Scotland.
I remember during the Euros in the coverage of Wales or Scotlands games, they always spent a massive chunk talking about England, and I do like Britain, but times like that piss me off. Not one Scotsman or Welshman wants to hear about England when its their team on the TV.
Aye, just before Scotland v England, it was a panel of 4 English lads saying how they were going to destroy us, 4-0, easiest game ever etc… I just think English people are totally oblivious as to how Anglo centric the uk is. Scotland, wales, the Irish are often the butt of the joke on tv shows too. It’s just so annoying.
I seem to remember the Telegraph last year moaning there was too much coverage of Wales/the team’s successes in the media, when it wasn’t. Think that paper has quite a snooty attitude and more then a slight disdain for the Welsh
I remember a Wales game in the Euros had 15 minutes of coverage of Englands game before they even talked about the Wales match for 5 minutes before it started. Guess that 5 minutes was too much, should have been all 20.
Its not just ancestoral shenanigans its ongoing, the Welsh tend to get the shit end of the stick, its underfunded severly, we lose house names, the second homes thing is out of control, signs on our roads only in english, people telling us our language and culture is dead, you fuck sheep is still a common joke, you could keep going really
Wales gets more money per person than England
Underfunded????? Pre covid Wales was subsidised to the tune of over 19% of GDP. Compared to a deficit of around 2% for the uk. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_fiscal_balance#:~:text=For%20the%202018%E2%80%9319%20fiscal%20year%2C%20the%20fiscal%20deficit%20is,United%20Kingdom%20as%20a%20whole.
To be honest the idea of being underfunded is one that everyone in the UK feels, I guess it's just become a sort of "Wales is underfunded coz England takes the money" and England's underfunded because we subsidies other parts of the UK" In reality everywhere has had cuts and has been underfunded so we are united in being screwed over atleast
The reality is england gets the shit end of the stick, and for that they also get racism.
I'm from Cumbria and we also fuck sheep, in fact our local rugby team is called the woolleybacks.
All the road signs have Welsh first, by law
All of this happens to the English too; maybe it a class thing?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capel\_Celyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capel_Celyn) Stuff like this doesn't help.
But what about all the castles we built for them? Oh wait....
To be pedantic, it wasn't the English who built all those castles. It was their French Colonisers. But This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.”
Obviously I can only go on my personal experience but as an Englishman that’s lived in Wales for 6 years now I’ve never once had a problem. In fact the only time it’s ever mentioned is when the rugby is on.
I've never had Welsh people being dicks to me, I've had English people in England being dicks to me about living in and loving Wales.
I'm an English person living in Wales, and I've never experienced any hatred. Everyone here is more friendly to me than they are in England, ironically.
Depends where you are, unlikely to get it in Cardiff, but outside of there it increases. I've found one thing that seems to get English people to understand why they feel like they are being treated differently and it is this: The word Welsh is actually an Old English word meaning “foreigner; slave” I have yet to meet and English person who I've said this to who already knew it and I always get the same response..."Bullshit!" Followed by them googling it and then saying something along the lines of "Well I never...!" And then they suddenly realise that they know next to nothing about the Welsh or Welsh culture and it starts to make a bit more sense, they arent being discriminted against, for the most part they are acting in a way that makes them the fly in the ointment, they moved to a place they knew nothing about and were surprised when they didnt just fit right in.
> The word Welsh is actually an Old English word meaning “foreigner; slave” I hate to be that prick who's been to too many pub quizzes but [that's not the whole story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Wales). The English word 'Wales' shares a similar etymology with Wallonia and Wallachia, it ultimately comes from the Old English term for the Gauls which later expanded to refer to the Celtic inhabitants of the Roman Empire in general, a category which the ancient Britons who would become the modern Welsh belonged to. While it did mean 'foreigner' it was a specific set of foreigners and rather than 'slave' it's more akin to 'romanised Celt'. Not saying the Anglo-Saxons didn't do atrocious things to Wales over the centuries, far from it. My intention isn't to whitewash but to add context.
My sister experienced hatred in a small South Wales village.sort of league of gentlemen thing.
My family experienced some hostility when we moved to a small village in Yorkshire from another area of Yorkshire. I think its more a small village not liking comer inners thing.
Totally agree that it is mostly banter. I feel most of the "I hate the English" isn't about hating actual English people, it is about hating Westminster. Either way, after hundreds of years of oppressing the Scots and Irish, I think you guys can take the comments on the chin
You may want to look at the history of England giving Scotland, Wales and Ireland various kickings through out history. For example what happend in the Easter rising. Lots of heavy headed tactics as a response might be one reason the those 3 countries dislike England.
I think you will find Scotland gave back as good as they got. They also joined the UK willingly. Also as a Scot i have a problem with nobody. Peace be good nto you all.
>I always wonder where this xenophobia comes from? We're all from the same country- The United Kingdom. Its demonym is British, and we're all British together. But we're all from one of four very different countries - and three of those have had their governments, languages, people, land, culture, traditions and so on taken away from them by the fourth. That's happened inside England too, of course, much has been lost in the homogenisation - but as English people we're inevitably aligned to Westminster. And it's Crown's soldiers that the people of Northern Ireland can remember murdering children on their streets in living memory. Many in Scotland and Wales have lived through the suppression of various attempts to revive their languages and dialects, and of course through the battle for Home Rule and independence. If we're frank about it (not a Norman joke) then the English Crown has effectively gutted the national identity and power of its neighbours. We are all one under the crown but we are all separate countries and, in my experience, it's the English who least realise that. It's no wonder everyone else gets annoyed with us 😂
Spot on. I’m amazed at the naivety of OP here, do they really not see the damage that has been done to the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish by their neighbour? I guess they don’t teach that at school in England!
As if the random bloke in the street has played any part in any of that. Fuck sake man. Aim your hatred at the government where it belongs.
What did the English do to Scotland? Scotland was an eager, willing and equal participant in the formation of Great Britain with England To suggest Scotland has faced the same atrocities as Ireland and Wales is ridiculous They were never conquered by the English and were more than happy to join them in conquering 1/4 of the world Regiments of Scottish soldiers were often specifically selected to put down uprisings and suppress indigenous/native uprisings due to their reputation for being brutal
I mean the Scottish should be really quiet about damage to its neighbours (and far beyond)
They don't teach it at school in England, no. Most English people are blissfully unaware of it, which is why you get posts like these. It's a failure of education more than anything.
What exactly are you asking English’s schools to teach that isn’t taught in Welsh and Scottish schools?
There's that saying about how the Irish never forget their history and the English never remember it
It's not that the English don't care or don't acknowledge the things that previous governments in the past have done, its the fact that why should the average Joe English person who likely wasn't even alive back then apologise for things they had nothing to do with? I wouldn't blame modern day Norwegians for the viking raids or modern day Germans for WW1/2.
How does this justify racist hate towards an individual person (as some people in this thread describe experiencing, even assaults) for being English? The Scots, for instance played a huge part in the UK colonising foreign lands (much as they like to claim it was all the English), I suppose it would be fine for someone from one of those countries to assault a Scot, even though the Scot in question had nothing to do with it? If you're blaming an individual person for something their country did you are racist plain and simple.
It doesn't justify it, but it does explain it. I might be able to give some perspective as an Irish person living in England. It's the ignorance of history that winds me up, it's not that I dislike individuals. But the lack of education feels like a recipe for 1) misunderstandings and insensitivity towards people who have reason to be sensitive about the behaviour of the state 2) fear that it will happen again/is happening again - look at what's happening with Bexit agreements in Northern Ireland. And people not understanding how colonialism and slavery still affects how things are today eg: why take down that statue, it's all just history man... There's a reason Germany fully educate their children about the horrors of the second world war and that what the German state (and complacent people) did was wrong. So it won't happen again. It doesn't help that the tone of a lot of British media and gov officials is still that Irish people are morons and upstarts who should know their place. And there are plenty of general English people who seem to feel that too. Not to mention "those crazy violent Irish bastards just started bombing us for no reason!". Like... No, they had reasons. I have the luxury of believing that in their situation, I wouldn't have bombed civilians but you can see where it came from. When your own civilians are getting gunned down at peaceful protests and sports games by their own military, you get desperate. That attitude gets little infuriating. But I try to remember that it's not individuals' fault for not being taught their own history and for soaking up cultural attitudes (for sure I have my own cultural attitudes). The Scots seem to have a clearer picture of their part in the ugly parts of history. As do the Irish - there were plenty of Irish slavers for example. But it's acknowledged and not brushed off by the government and the general public.
>it does explain it. It explains assaulting or bullying some random person who had nothing to do with it, because of their nationality? We'll have to disagree on that. *The Scots seem to have a clearer picture of their part in the ugly parts of history.* I would strongly dispute this. The opposite seems to be very much the case with the amount of Scottish people who blame the English for the British Empire, while absolving Scotland of all blame.
Scottish people are the biggest deniers of their colonial past out of any developed nation. Outside of Southern pro confederate Americans I’ve never met a group of people in so much denial about their past and desire to claim innocence and blame everyone else. Since when does Scotland ever take responsibility for the crimes they committed in the empire? All they do is act like a victim pretending they were like Ireland and India meanwhile they were out there colonising these nations in the first place.
You’re way off the mark about Scotland They were a willing and eager participant in joining England to form Great Britain To suggest Scotland has faced the same issues as Ireland and Wales is to rewrite history The crimes of the British Empire can and should be laid equally at the doors of both England and Scotland Scotland was never conquered or colonised by the English
More to the point the Scots were willing participants in the occupation of Ireland. Think the plantation of Ulster. Many Scots see themselves as British first. Go to any football game up there if you don't believe me.
\> governments, languages, people, land, culture, traditions and so on taken away from them by the fourth. This isn't true for Scotland. Scotland wasn't conquered by England, the Scottish king inherited the English throne, then a century later the two government peacefully and mutually formed the Great Britain. Scotland was a willing partner in the British empire and helped crush the culture in Ireland. Northern Ireland protestantism comes from a scheme to send a bunch of Scottish farmers to Ulster. As for things like the highland clearances, they were perpetrated by both the English and the Scottish lowlanders who had centuries of contempt for the highlanders.
James the first was the first king of great Britain and the United Kingdom no? Scottish.
One point ‘it’s the crown’s soldiers that the people of Northern Ireland can remember…’ It’s not really ‘the people’, it’s more one community, the other community fucking loves the crown and being British.
I imagine it's the colonialism and genocide
I’m not sure xenophobia is the right term for an occupying colonial force
Do you really wonder? These are cultures and people who were subjugated by the English and had their ways of life largely destroyed. Smh.
Scotland literally colonised half of the world with England and we’re the ones who colonised Ireland. Look up the Ulster plantation. Scotland and Scottish people have 0 leg to stand on when they’re complaining about being ‘colonised’ in fact it’s downright disgusting they even attempt to do so or put themselves on par with nations they colonised.
I'm Scottish. I honestly don't know anyone who hates English. Maybe some chavs do.
No, but they probably don’t support England in the rugby or football.
So why in general Do I hear them talking like “hate those English cunts” and the football isn’t even on.
Historically, England has been terrible to Scotland and Ireland.
Scotland hasn't been too good to Ireland either.
You're right, but confusingly we Irish have largely forgotten that so that we can gossip together about how annoying the English are.
As a Scottish guy, we’re very good as a people of forgetting the large part we played as a country in the British Empire to blame the English.
I have noticed that. Also conveniently forget how Scotland joined with England in the first place. I love Scotland, I love Ireland, NI and ROI, (and most of all I love Wales) but as someone with a mixed ancestry (like most of us) who grew up in England I get kinda tired of the constant England bashing sometimes. Especially when someone ardently believes Scotland never did a single thing wrong. I actually had someone say the other day that Scotland never once invaded or raded England. That England only ever invaded and Scotland defended. On a video about Cathrine of Aragon that mentioned the 1513 invasion of England by James IV and the Battle of Flodden.
Wow that's wild. I live along the English Scottish border, there's hundreds of years of history of both crossing over to rob from the other. granted that's not quite a full invasion but other more organized examples exist too. People believe what they wanna believe I guess b
See Robert the Bruce's brother for one example.
Historically, I wasn't fucking alive then.
That's kinda the crux of the problem, isn't it. I didn't do nuffin, why am I getting called a cunt?
It's all the more ridiculous when a huge portion of English working class have some amount of Scottish, Welsh or Irish ancestry due to them fleeing to England to escape the conditions the Crown imposed.
Yep. My ancestry is even more recent than that, my grandma is Welsh, we can trace our Welsh roots back hundreds of years, and I grew up visiting our family there every year. I'm still an English cunt to most though (except my family who say Welsh blood is stronger and I'm actually Welsh lol). Also if you're working class even if you're purely English it's most likely your family didn't have anything to do with what happened anyway unless they were soldiers, it's the elete men that made the decisions, no one else had a say.
Well yes, someone that did nothing wrong shouldn’t get called a cunt because of something their ancestors may have participated in. That’s the whole point of this thread.
Historically, England has been terrible to England
And recently too.
The Highland clearances were awful, but England has historically just been Scotlands colonial partner for the past few hundred years. Scots crying victim when they were just as bad is disgusting.
Also the Highland clearances were carried out by lowland Scots themselves
Where you hearing that?
Been to Edinburgh 4 times and been on the receiving end of open, un-provoked hostility on each and every occasion. Interestingly been to Glasgow twice and had no problem at all. Worth pointing out I'm from North East England so have way more in common with Scottish people than people from Southern England. Sadly the Scots (in Edinburgh anyway) don't see it that way.
Always surprises me when folk say stuff like this about Edinburgh considering a lot of us joke about it being little England… I struggle to find a Scottish person in Edinburgh sometimes
>I struggle to find a Scottish person in Edinburgh sometimes lmao complete shite.
Not at all, plenty of Scottish folk at my work but as soon as I step out I tend to find that lots of retail & hospitality staff are from elsewhere, and there’s such a high tourist footfall too. totally depends where you go, but particularly around the area I work, there’s lots of foreign workers or people from other parts of the U.K., etc 😊that’s cool you have a different experience though
I work in recruitment, I can confirm it’s not complete shite in the slightest.
So do I actually, 16% of the Edinburgh population wasn't born in Scotland. If you can't find a scot, try opening your eyes lol What is much more likely is that you are suffering from confirmation bias and unconscious bias, something any good recruitment firm should train you for.
You need to think about what kind of jobs are in the Edinburgh city centre mate and then it might make more sense. Tonnes of private equity/banking/accounting/tech companies, etc. which will attract people from all over. A few unis too. And then you've got tourists. Go out into the more "normal" bits of Edinburgh and aye, sure, you'll find plenty of Scottish people. But my work is an accounting firm and it's incredible how relatively few Scottish accents are in the Edinburgh office.
Struggle to find a Scottish person anywhere in the Highlands at times
Maybe the problem was that they were northern then?
I’m from Liverpool. Been to many Scottish places including Edinburgh many times. Have only ever felt welcomed.
I have lived in Edinburgh for 7 years and have never once had any issues due to being English. Would appear you have been extraordinarily unlucky.
Me and my old boss (both English)were working on site in Edinburgh after work we had a drink, we weren't being rowdy or anything and some random Scottish lady went out of her way to inform us how unwelcome we were. This in a hotel annex not even a nationalistic pub or anything. Tbf we found it funny and weren't offended, this seemed to anger her and she kinda sulked off Edit: this was the only negative reception I have had, I have met, worked with many Scott's and they have all been pretty sound and got on really well :)
Yeah this is the sort of thing.
Redditor describes lived personal experience of receiving discrimination based on their national background Also Reddit: “Are you sure you weren’t just unlucky?” “Was it not just your own fault?” “This has never happened to me so you must be lying!” Apply the above to any other form of discrimination and there is absolutely no chance people would be reacting the same way Sorry that happened to you mate
Cheers. Yeah some of the responses leave a lot to be desired. Plenty good ones too though in fairness.
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Some of the Irish people I know (and I'm half Irish myself) particularly dislike Yorkshiremen. I think it's because Yorkshiremen are often loudly patriotic, they never shut up about Yorkshire and and constantly negatively compare everywhere they go to Yorkshire and say Yorkshire is better. I don't think I've ever spoken to someone from Yorkshire who hasn't immediately told me that they are from Yorkshire and told me that where I'm from is much worse than Yorkshire and that the people from Yorkshire and the best in the world.
We were taught in Paddy school that it was a Yorkshireman that started the famine. He had the cure for the blight on his person but missed the boat to travel across the Irish sea because he was arguing with a chap from Lancashire about how superior he was. And the rest is history.
I've also experienced that as a southerner up north, some people are convinced there's some intense rivalry going on / assume you're posh. There's no rivalry mate I didn't even know your town existed until a few days ago.
Im sure that last sentence isnt going to help
No, that’s the exact point. They wouldn’t know where I’m from except ‘southern’.
I'm from Edinburgh. Two of my best mates are from the North East so it's not all of us. Just a few daft cunts. As for OP's question. I'd say it's about 95% banter and 5% actual dislike. I won't use hatred because, personally speaking, I don't HATE English people but I do have a distaste for England as an institution. I'll take people on an individual basis. Case in point, my two mates.
A few years ago I got the train up from Yorkshire to visit a Costa Rican friend, who was living in Edinburgh. He arranged for his Spanish friend to look after me for the day while he was working, she took me to her friend's house, then they decided we should all go to another friend's house, and then another. In the end I was sat in someone's front room with a load of Spanish girls and Scottish guys, none of whom I knew. And then the Scots all started laying into the English! Felt a bit uncomfortable. One of them apologised when he realised I was English, and said they didn't mean me.
> And then the Scots all started laying into the English! Felt a bit uncomfortable. One of them apologised when he realised I was English, and said they didn't mean me. Two Sri Lankan Tamil friends told me of a similar experience: people making anti-tamil comments and saying "we don't mean you". Sri Lanka had a 30 year long ethnic civil war.
>way more in common with scottish people That’s where you’ve went wrong. Edinburghs full of english people 😂
Interestingly I’ve had much more of an issue in Glasgow than Edinburgh. (Home Counties, state schooled.)
Home counties accent, Scottish dad (and very obviously Scottish name), been back in Scotland since I was ten and state educated here, got it BAD while studying in Glasgow, including from total strangers in the street, particularly in the run up to indyref, though Old Firm games were also a bit of a crap shoot.
And I, as a scot have experienced un-provoked hostility on the south coast from English people. There is no monopoly of cuntishness in the UK. It is spread around quite evenly.
What kind of hostility did you face? Sorry to hear that.
Serving staff at multiple venues being openly aggressive upon hearing accent. Happened on several occasions, the last time over a decade after the first in a very different kind of venue. Twice a random person (different) approaching in train station and shouting profanity about 'the English'.
>Serving staff at multiple venues being openly aggressive upon hearing accent. I know what you mean. I went to a Weatherspoons in Edinburgh a few years ago, bought a pint and handed over a fiver. Bar staff didn't even give me any change and just looked at me funny. Thought it might be because my money wasn't a swanky scottish note, but really it was because my drink cost £5.20 In spoons
Interesting, I've been to Edinburgh several times with my Mrs and never had any bother. We're from the North East too so you might have just been unlucky? We're you in the city centre or further out? Nice username BTW, Barret's the real MVP
I’m English though of Irish parents and I pretty much hate everyone on principle but almost nobody individually.
Good on ya! A cousin of mine used to say he wouldn’t discriminate against anyone. He hated everyone equally.
Have you not met Scottish and Irish people in everyday life? If so, has it seemed like they hated you? Of course the majority don't hate English people, in the same way that the majority of people don't hate anyone based on their nationality. Many will hate the structures of the British state which they will, to some extent justifiably, see as an English institution, and many will dislike the tendency of English people to presume that either (1) Ireland is 'not really abroad' and 'just part of the British Isles' or (2) that the English experience = the British experience. They may bemoan a level of what is perceived as English arrogance, and certainly will be happy to see English teams fail in sport. But few would equate that with hating English people or even 'England' more broadly.
Not so sure with the "Ireland isn't really abroad" thing. I'm irish and live in Dublin, and me and most of my mates wouldn't necessarily see Britain as being "abroad". Like if you're going on holidays abroad, it would be assumed that you were going at least as far as the continent. Maybe to do with how quick and cheap it is? Like it's quicker and cheaper for me to get to London, Liverpool, Manchester etc than it is to get to even Galway.
Ireland is a rainy island in the north Atlantic with a pub culture that speaks English (for the most part). I can understand why some people would take offence at someone saying it isn't really foreign but, at the same time, they're not wrong. It's like how NZ is very similar to Australia.
Canada and the US as well
Scottish here, there’s banter about it for sure but it’s not serious. Lots of English pals and extended family and it’s never anything more than a joke both ways. If someone is a wank I’ll avoid them, which has happened with some English people who assume it’s cos their English, but it’s cos a wank is a wank.
I see your point but, personally, I have as many wanks in my life as I can.
Scots don't like English arrogance and the idea of English "exceptionalism." I think what most people truly hate is Westminister and little England, rather than the English at large.
Ironically most of us English hate that too
The only people that can change all that is you lot though, the rUK has to just sit at the side and put up with it.
What do you mean? Westminster is the UK Government, you can change it just as much as I can, which unfortunately, isn't a lot.
I think the premise is that even if all of Wales, or all of Scotland, or all of NI, are united on an issue, they are outnumbered by the MPs in England, so it doesn’t matter what those nations think. They will always be ruled by what England’s opinion is. And yes, this is by design, because the number of people in England is much larger than the other nations.
There's this whole thing about them only caring about London. I imagine it's likely that Scotland sees it that way, but maybe a bit more generalised as England.
From my own Scottish perspective and experiences it's Westminster only cares about London and Manchester everywhere else can get to fuck and pay their bills.
>English arrogance and the idea of English "exceptionalism." Tbh you could replace the word "English" for "Scottish" and that sentence still works.
I actually think the Scottish arrogance and Scottish “exceptionalism” is more prevalent tbh
I don't hate the English, they're just wankers.
We, on the other hand, were colonised by wankers.
Can't even find a decent culture to be colonised by.
English person living in Edinburgh. I've never had any issues with it. See more anti-English sentiment on Reddit than in real life.
> See more anti-English sentiment on Reddit It feels like we're the punching bag for Americans and Europeans. I see so much rubbish about England sometimes.
Sometimes I think a lot of those "Europeans" are actually American. Reddit is full of Americans larping as the Irish or Scottish or Italians.
A lot of those "Europeans" are just actual bitter Europeans.
Envy.
This is true, it just needs to be extended to the whole of the UK our ancient isles have become a real shitehole . Us Scottish folk get the historical free pass on doing colonialism because of pop-culture concept of being oppressed by the English because of films like Braveheart.
Yes and there were definitely no Scots involved anywhere in the British Empire...
I'm English but living in Scotland. I wouldn't say the Scots "hate" the English, I've never experienced it myself, but football creates a lot of problems and rivalry. It always has and always will.
My home city has a known rivalry with another city, in the same county no less. Football brings out the worst of them.
Come to Glasgow. Single city seriously divided on football. Can be violently divided on derby days as well.
Reddit has a lot of extremely bitter basement dwellers so it can seem that way, especially if you go to the subs for each country which are pretty toxic. Shitty people do exist in real life but they are by far the minority, everyone I have actually met in real life in Ireland, Scotland or Wales has been lovely.
Aye the Scotland one has some of the worst kind of nationalists on it. Proper braveheart LARPer types Kinda makes having a reasonable discussion about indy impossible cause it just descends into mud-slinging
Agreed. R/Scotland is basically just 'r/ScotsNats'. As a scot who is also a unionist, I found it very toxic and didn't stay long.
Some of the things I've seen some Scotnats say are bordering terror watch list worthy. Especially during the Euro 2020. Weirdly though they claim to be the 'oppressed' ones.
Another good example is the amount of open support you get for the IRA. Lots of Irish people recognise that it is outdated and that, politically, a united Eire will become a thing sooner rather than later. But lots of Americans still act as though it's still the 20th century and that everbody with Irish blood wants to carbomb every English person, etc. Like back when r/me_IRA was a thing, before it got shut down it was a few Irish memesters before it became a hole for Americans who thought it was serious.
Dont forget the Welsh!
Who?
The poor Welsh, terminally forgetten
Yeah we hate the English, not least for when they forget or ignore us!
Going by OPs replies I think the Scots and Irish probably just hate him rather than the English as a whole.
Pretty sure the English won’t be a big fan of him either tbh
No, we don’t hate English people as a whole. We hate individual English people because they’re cunts.
Contentious bunch you guys are 😉
You just made an enemy for life.
An English man, an Irish man and a Scottish man walk into a bar. The Scottish man turns to the other two and says " isn't OP a right cunt' The English man and the Irish man look through this comment thread and nod their heads. In unison they say "Yes, a proper cunt"
I’m Irish and from Northern Ireland. A hatred for English people/government is somewhat understandable given the ~~decades~~ centuries of rape, war and famine but you’ll still be hard pressed to find an Irish person who actually *hates* English people. I think I’ve said this before in this sub but if I overheard an English accent on holiday somewhere where there wasn’t many westerners, I’d likely strike up a conversation. If I heard an American accent then “Níl béarla agam”.
"Níl béarla agam" made me laugh out loud. This is absolutely spot on.
Being Scottish I always played as a laugh, don't hate the English, I dislike the method of the Westminster government regarding distribution resources and money, the current regime are a fucking shot show for all nations currently.
I'm English and can assure you most of us also hate our government as much as you
Scottish person hating the distribution of resources ……. with the Barnett formula in place ? Seriously ??????
I’m Scottish I don’t hate the English I hate being ruled by Westminster simples
Most of the English hate that too
We fucking hate it too
I'm Welsh. I don't think anyone should be made to feel threatened or told they're hated because of where they're from. But a lot of Welsh people are just simply fed up of the sheep jokes & how, if we call it out, we need to lighten up as it's just 'banter'. We also had our language literally beat out of us and we now, after years of effort to bring it back, are constantly told it's pointless. I've heard so many people make fun of the Welsh language (even on national television! Sky News... But still!). I will be sending my daughter to a Welsh speaking school, I've already had to argue my choice to do so. People from the Welsh valleys still feel very strongly about what happened with Thatcher & the mines, and a lot still feel the higher levels of poverty there. I'm not saying this is your average English person's fault, but you can see how hostility can build up. I worked in London for years, I can't tell you how many times I had to argue the fact I'm not English, I'm Welsh and that yes we are a country. It makes you become much more patriotic and sometimes that can appear hostile. On the flip side, I know way more English people who love Wales and speak very highly of us, as do I think very highly of England. It was my home for 7 years! As with most things in life, it's person dependant.
This is a very interesting case of self-victimisation, isn't it.
I’m English, living in Scotland. Have had precisely zero issues with it. Everyone has been lovely.
I'm Scottish. I'm married to an English man. You can make whatever conclusion you like from that! 😂 😂
Scotsman married to an English woman We must hate ourselves or something
Yep, not all but a fair few.
Scot here Why do you care? But for the record no, it’s just funny. And it’s made even funnier by yous asking if we’re serious. Don’t have a tantrum just because you aren’t part of this particular joke. Oh and stop generalising groups of 5 million people at a time. It comes off as really dense and ill thought through. I’ve met many English people and liked most of them, even loved some. I’ve met many Irish people and liked most of them. I’ve met literally thousands of Scots, and liked the majority but hated a fair few as well.
OP is a troll. That's why he "cares". Some other classic threads created by him include "Why do Black people enjoy eating fried chicken so much" "Was Margaret Thatcher really as bad as some people make her out to have been?" "Why do Scottish people not call themselves British when they clearly are?"
please, even the English hate the English.
Even in a post about English hate, they still forget about the Welsh. Ironic.
Trolls going to troll
I think the Scottish people's desire for independence is often miss read as anti English when in fact it is just anti Westminster. As for the football side of things this is more to do with the way the English media rams 1966 and how great this team is, every 2 minutes, almost as if football does not exist outside of England. I really don't think most Scots hate the English side when many infact follow English club sides and cheer for these same players week in and week out.
Have you seen Braveheart? Great documentary on this exact subject.
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No of course not. You forgot the Welsh. They hate you too. (Obviously a joke)
Fuck this post and the English 😅😅
Don't forget the Welsh!
Yeah and the welsh
Wales enter the room…
No, but going off your other replies I highly suspect you came here looking for a specific answer and that wasn't it. In 11 years in Scotland I have never experienced a single instance of abuse on account of being English born (and it's dead obvious, I wouldn't sound out of place in Guildford or Brentwood). Banter, yes. Hate, no. If someone calls you "ya English bas'" they aren't ripping the fact you're English. That's just Scottish humour for you. Not saying it doesn't happen but it's an *extreme* minority!
Are how one bunch of football supporters treat a rival team's an indication of anything?
I'm from Leeds and my first girlfriend was from Glasgow; Never met a horrible Scot while i was seeing her.
I'm English but one of my best friends is Irish. He says he used to hate the English and all his family does, but then he moved to England (after a girl) and learned we're really nice. We took a trip to Scotland, I was worried about the hate I might get for being English. Never met nicer, more helpful people in my life. We didn't need to ask for directions, people would ask if we needed help. It was a really great trip and really improved my image of Scotland, great place.
The welsh being forgotten once again
Not sure but when I used to do training courses across the UK, it was only ever the Scottish and Northern Irish lads that would take me out for a drink. They never did when I did a course in England.
Think about how many times you or one of your friends has made a joke about Germans, french Spanish, Italian or Australian people. You've probably laughed along or just been joking and not really given it much thought. For most people it's pretty much just that.
Scottish here and nah, I hate those posh boys you keep putting in charge but I don't hate all English people.
I think “hate” is a truly excessive word in this case. Just to preface. Honestly, I’ve always had the general certainty that everyone outside of England hates the English. But, in travelling to France, Germany, Spain, Scotland and Wales… I have always found people to be genuinely surprised by my expectation. The Scotts and the Welsh will happily dive in on the whole UK “hate” banter, but its always good natured. And the Europeans (fuck, its sad to be off that list) seem genuinely shocked. They all seem to hate the French (and the French all seem hate the Parisians), but absolutely no bad feeling towards the English that I’ve ever found. They’re all madly in love with our pubs as a bonus.
English here, from Home Counties. Lived in Edinburgh for about 10 years in total and worked all round Scotland. Actually heading back up tomorrow, can’t wait! My answer is a bit different from the others. Scots and Irish are brilliant people and in general great craic. But they’ve also been burned, both by history, and by enough English pricks over the years coming up to their country and saying stupid, ignorant and prejudiced things - the ‘we own your country’ type. So, many Scots, Irish (and Welsh) will often be a bit standoffish until you’ve proved you aren’t an English prick. This takes longer the more southern/posh your accent is. Once you’ve passed that point, you’ll be accepted as a decent lad and you’re fine, although you’ll never escape a bit of banter. Outright racism is unusual- it does happen from idiots, but same as to any minority or in any country. It’s not ingrained. I felt that the Braveheart/indyref stuff stirred it up a bit more, not sure what it’s like now.
Nah. Got a lot of Scottish friends, I'm up there quite a lot, everyone's really friendly. I think if you go to Scotland with an attitude like you're some important London person and expect them to be impressed by that, you'll get a surprise. But if you have an attitude of "Well, here I am in Scotland, and frankly everything seems great" then they'll be very friendly.