There are people who make YouTube videos on travel. When they come to the UK, they make hours of videos on things that they think are ‘shocking’.
Oddly enough, and we suspect laziness comes into this, there seem to be even more videos of people watching them and commenting.
So, just how bad is the UK? Is it so absolutely terrible?
We look at the things people often complain about and find out just how terrible they really are. Not electrics and not food here, but other things.
Cockneys
All Londoners are Cockneys. They speak with incomprehensible accents. They use Cockney Rhyming Slang. Or they are posh and use RP.
No, all Londoners are not Cockneys, but all Cockneys are Londoners.
There is a technical definition of the term: anyone born within the sound of Bow bells. Since this refers to St Mary-le-Bow church in the city, it tends to refer to eastenders rather than west.
It is absolutely true that various areas of London have differing accents. In particular, there is sarf landan (South London) and an eastend accent. These are not really hard to understand.
Cockney Rhyming Slang does exist. You can read about it here: https://cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/
In all of the over 40+ years we have lived in London we have never heard anyone actually use expressions like “apples and pears” (stairs) or “boat race” (face). It seems to be something restricted to cheap tv quiz shows, comedy series and the odd market trader who does it for local colour.
In all countries there are areas where people have different accents and use somewhat different words. They can be hard to follow at first, especially if they are speaking quickly, but your brain soon gets attuned to it.
RP is Received Pronunciation. To some it sounds posh, but we suspect that’s not its true purpose. While no-one may really speak it, it is a kind of standard English that is clear for everyone to understand. You can see (hear) why the BBC used it in the early days, when radio reception could be difficult and when clarity was necessary. It may sound stilted, but it is easy to follow.