Today I'm in London my hometown and it's a holiday for me so I'm going to take a
break from my usual English grammar videos and talk about something
completely different. Now as I said I'm an English teacher and I'm currently
teaching in France but I've taught in many different places and what I find
surprising is the extrordinary things that people say about London and the UK
that have no basis in reality. So today forget the myths leave your
stereotypes and your umbrellas behind you because we're going to look at nine
cliches about London that are not true that's coming up.
OK let's start with the weather does it always rain in London? This is
something I hear every day and with an average rainfall of 557 mm per
year London rains considerably less than the
European average. Less than Paris less the Nice less than Barcelona less than
Rome less Milan in Italy less than Amsterdam less than
Istanbul and less than New York and Miami. It is true that some cities in
the UK it does rain a lot such as Glasgow and Manchester and it does rain
more than Madrid and Athens but otherwise it's a cliche, it's not true!
So they say that London is a very expensive city but this is only partly
true according to The Economist Intelligent
Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey London was the 30th most expensive city
in the world in 2018. Less than Singapore (number one) less than Paris (number 2) less
than Zurich, less in Hong Kong, less than Tel Aviv and less than Sydney Australia
and if you're visiting London you'll find that lots of things are free the
national museums are free, the parks are free and London is one third green space
so there is a lot to hold your attention without flashing the cash.
watching TV in France you get the impression that every British person
loves the royal family and stands to attention and sings God Save the Queen
before going to bed each night. Now it's true that the majority of people in the
UK would keep the royal family but there is a large minority especially in London
who would either prefer to have a republic (I mean do we have really need
an unelected head of state who only got the job through the accident of birth?) or
they just don't care. I remember once walking through
the celebrations for a royal event in London and there were big crowds but I
noticed that most of them were tourists and the few English people that were
there were not from London anyway they were probably some but not so many...
another cliché I hear is that the food in London is terrible in France they think
the British people just eat fish and chips and roast beef and jelly all the
time. If you've ever spent time in them that with your eyes open you'll know
that the food is amazing. Yes it's true that in the past English cuisine wasn't
the best but now it's being reinvented and it's being made in new and exciting
ways and of course London is one of the most vibrant, international,
cosmopolitan cities in the world so you can get amazing food from all over the world
personally I like things spicy Indian and Thai I put harissa on my chips
but that's just me you can find whatever you want
the UK is a tea drinking country? Not true we are coffee drinking country!
Especially in London have a look on any High Street and you'll see that we are
coffee mad. Yes that's right it's cafes not tea houses and the coffee is good
here a big change from 20 years ago since then there has been a coffee
revolution that rancid muddy water that they pass for coffee back then has been
and gone. And while the coffee has got much better the tea has got worse. In
the old days we used to make tea in a teapot with loose tea and
nowadays it's just stick a teabag in a mug and pour boiling water over it no
that's not tea. My grandmother would never use tea bags and I guess I learned
it from her she used to say "tea leaves like people need to be free" and it's
true so my tip is use tea leaves. Now there are some exceptions and if you're
in London this place is fantastic for tea
Now they say British love queuing but is that really true?
I've lived in France I've lived in Spain I've lived in Italy I've travelled
extensively and in Paris every Sunday morning I queue up at the bakery just
like everybody else and they say in Italy it's the opposite cliché that
nobody respects the queue and it's just chaos but honestly between Britain all
those countries I don't really see any difference. We respect the queue or not
respect with queue just like everyone else anyway that's my experience it's
They say that people from London are rude is that true? well it's partly true.
People from South London are rude and unfriendly but people from North London
people like me are really nice and friendly just don't stand on the left on
The London accent is the purest and the most
beautiful and we speak just like the Queen it's charming and it's easy to
understand yes it is beautiful but I'm afraid it's not the same as the English
you learn in the English teaching books the strong London accent, the "Cockney", is
very difficult to understand even for Americans and native English speakers
from other countries so I'm afraid so. but don't worry if you are taking my
classes I will be speaking in standard British English
Another cliché I hear is that in London we are anti European. Well that's not true
what is true that in the referendum in 2016 in the UK as a whole voted to leave
the EU but here in London we resoundingly voted to stay in the EU so we're
pro-european pro-eu - well most of us anyway.
That's it thank you for watching did you know this cliches? and what about
your country are there clichés about your country that are not true
let us know in the comments, thank you for watching stay mellow and see you in the next video