Wherever you come from, when you meet someone new in the UK, you might not know whether to bow, kiss them, or shake their hand. And if you kiss them, how many times do you do it, and where?!
 
We understand that this is one of the biggest things you will worry about when introducing yourself to others. So - the first thing to remember is in the UK we are likely to be much more reserved when it comes to greeting new people. This is normally how things work:

Introducing Yourself

On a first encounter with someone in a work environment, male or female, we only ever shake hands. However, in a social situation things are different and the rules change depending on whether you are male or female and on you as a person.

If you are male and are introduced to another man then you just would shake hands. If you meet a woman, a hand shake is still okay, but most Brits would go for a single kiss on the right cheek. Some women would do the single kiss on the cheek when introduced to both men and women. It is also quite common for people to just say “hello” (or a variation of “hello”) and have no physical contact at all.

Although this is normally the way we do things in the UK, don’t worry too much about it. If you accidentally kiss people on both cheeks, it is unlikely that people will take any offence. They are more likely to be interested in your friendly greeting and ask you where you are from!

So now you have introduced yourself – make sure you don’t use too much bad language…

Swear words

It is very possible that you will learn some swear words during your stay in the UK. It can be great fun to learn and use with friends of your own age. However, if you don’t plan to offend people, be very careful where and when you use them!

It used to be very much a custom not to swear in front of women in Britain. This of course has changed in the younger generations, and many under 30s will swear as part of their every day language. However, many older people are still offended by it.

If you are having a night out in a bar full of young people, you may find swearing is common-place. But if you are at a house party including the whole family, then swearing would be very out of place!

It would actually be rude to list all of the swear words here, but you should bear in mind that some are worse than others. So find out which is which from whoever teaches you them before you go putting them into your working vocabulary!

Manners

You may also notice that most people in Britain are very polite.

It is still expected that you use the formal ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in most situations. If you are ordering a drink somewhere, and a waiter or barmaid is doing their job by serving you, it is still considered rude if you didn’t say please and thank you when making your order.

Many British parents teaching their children call these the ‘magic words’. And even today, anyone who doesn’t use them will be considered to have ‘bad manners’.

If you use your ‘manners’, British people will usually show you respect and kindness in return.

Small talk

People are so polite in the UK, that they often start conversations with people which mean nothing in particular.  We do this when we meet someone and also on the phone. This is called ‘small talk’.

In your native country you might answer the phone and immediately ask what the person wants. However, we will spend the first minute or two making polite conversation before getting to what we actually wanted to talk about.

For almost every situation, there is a standard question that people ask. Here are some examples – you will notice people in the UK use them all the time!

If you have just arrived, someone may ask you:   

“How are you?”
“Did you have a safe journey?”
“Did you find the place okay?”
“Can I get you a drink?”
“The weather is terrible isn’t it?”
“How is the family?”

And it goes on like this for a while before there is any chance of having a real conversation!

The funny thing about the question ‘How are you?’ is that most of the time, people will say fine whether they are fine or not – it wouldn’t be polite to explain your problems to them!

One thing you should remember is that the British love to talk about the weather. So if you have nothing to say, you can’t go wrong by mentioning the weather!

 
By Matt Taylor

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USEFUL WORDS

polite / rude
good / bad manners = social habits & customs
be courteous = be polite, especially in a way that shows respect
small talk = polite conversation about ordinary or unimportant subjects, especially at social occasions
commonplace = done very often or existing in many places
introduce yourself to someone
shake someone’s hand / a handshake
kiss
bow = to move your head or the top part of your body forwards and downwards as a sign of respect or to say hello or goodbye
to take offence / be offended by someone or something = be upset or insulted
swear = use rude or offensive language


Spoken Forms of Address
Someone making a formal speech to an audience: I’ll try to be brief, Ladies and Gentlemen
Polite shop assistant to customer: Can I help you Sir / Madam?
Workman to a man passing by: What’s the time, mate?
Someone to a policeman: Excuse me, officer
Television presenter to people watching at home: Welcome to the Saturday Night Show, viewers
Radio presenter to people at home: Now we have a surprise for you listeners
Woman shopkeeper in a small, friendly shop to a customer: What would you like, dear?


Hand Idioms
We’re living from hand to mouth at the moment = we have very little money
She can turn her hand to almost anything = start doing or be able to do something
I’ve got a lot of time on my hands at the moment = free time
You can’t take the law into your own hands = do something illegal in order to punish someone for doing something wrong, instead of letting the police deal with it
I still keep my hand in = occasionally do something you used to do a lot so that you do not lose your skill at it
That shop has changed hands again = has a new owner
This information must not fall into the wrong hands = be seen or controlled by the wrong person
I’ve got my hands full at the moment = very busy or too busy to do something else
I called the police when things started to get out of hand = difficult or impossible to control
They rejected my idea out of hand = immediately without thinking about it fully or listening to other arguments